Coyote Eggly and Road Food

I promise, I promise there will be Spring Sproing pictures as soon as I get my hands on some.

So Saturday night was the burn, on Sunday morning I decided to ride down to Vegas with MyLarry and a load of steel. We ran with Bob, who also had a steel load. I'd quite forgotten that I don't have "trucker butt" anymore. That's sort of like a sailor's sea-legs, takes a while to get used to sitting for so long with limited breaks. Watched the gorgeous Utah scenery roll from Mountain West Desert to Desert-Desert scenery. I like the prairie dog towns near Beaver; I am sad when I see "commercial land for sale" signs in their fields. Progress means ticky tacky houses and big box stores, alas.

We took our Easter hats and went to Coyote Uglys. The guys still get ushered in, but the free drinks aren't as free as they used to be; Bob can drink a lot of beer. That's okay, I don't drink as much as I used to do. Good thing too. Some dancing on the bar/stage, which is always fun. I did not lose a bra, they take them down periodically. Lots of friendly people, it was a good time.

There is a lot of good food in Vegas, but there is not a lot of good, quick and cheap food. We ended up with a "family" dinner of fried seafood in the New York New York. I gorked quickly, I am not used to eating fried foods anymore. Tasty and fresh, but I've had better. Maybe the calamari next time.

Road food: the small diner in the Moapa Indian Casino just north of Vegas on I-15. There's been a music video made there, with trucks and fireworks, but I'll be darned if I can recall the band off the top of my head.

I woke up Monday morning hungry and tired, but Larry had to deliver the steel on time, there was no going for breakfast or even coffee. I made do with two tiny oatmeal cookies and a swig of his too sweet thermos coffee. Had an interesting chat with the site foreman about Mardi Gras beads and boobs. (Insert wildly inappropriate moment HERE). Then it was straight out to pick up drywall, that was interesting. There are so many broken bottles on the road east out of Vegas that the dirt buttes and hills look like they're coated in pave diamonds. Pretty, but sad. He says there used to be a lot more trash, but the city/county cleaned up. Still, the idjits have started in again; there were tires and couches and mystery buckets of construction goo.

The drywall place has a huge warehouse; the trucks drive into the building to be loaded. Then the truckers pull forward and strap the loads, tarping if there will be rain or snow. There wasn't, Larry just threw straps. This is more complicated than it sounds, it involves corner protectors and big ratchety things and a bar to secure the load tightly. Then it was north on the maintenance road, bumpy and ill-paved and nothing but desert and power stanchions in sight. We got onto I-15; I was whiny and head-achey. We stopped at Moapa on the rez for breakfast/lunch. This is an Indian casino plus liquor store plus diner plus gift shop plus FireWorks! store. There are signs all over saying "no cellphones" because in theory use of a cellphone can set off fireworks. What did I see? Doofuses (doofii?) walking around yapping on their phones. Anyway, we sat down for a meal. Larry had a Big Honkin' Burger, at least a half pound on a nicely toasted bun, with onion rings. I got a patty melt. Wowzer, it was HUGE! A half pound, on yummy grilled bread, with grilled onions and mystery cheese. Grease and salt on a half hung-over morning, exactly what I needed. But truly, it was a good patty melt, the cook did an excellent job of it. I was so full I didn't eat the rest of the day. I had a nice nap in the sleeper until we hit Cedar City; then I got back in my seat for the ride home. I love sitting eight feet above the regular four-wheelers.