I found all these cool looking rocks laying by the side of some side street on the west side of downtown...I was down by the Vdara and I don’t remember where I was trying to get to...the main strip I think...oh yeah, I was trying to get back to my $35 hotel with the $30 resort fee per night for use of their executive gym for which I had no use...I was a little uh...confused at the time after having lost some of my money playing blackjack and losing some more on roulette...at least the drinks were free and thanks to that, I lost my senses for a bit...I had to get away for a while so I took a long long walk down Tropicana Boulevard and the flashing don’t walk signs and found myself at In and Out, the burger place that everybody raves about...I mean it was OK, but I prefer a Whopper myself...once I got close to the strip again, I tried to take a shortcut and found myself by the Vdara...I just know I had to cross some busy streets that you weren’t supposed to cross and it would be a good idea to make the sign of the cross before trying to cross them--I almost got short circuited...cars, trucks, taxis, other trucks that were decorated with an advertising sign on the back of them, all zipping by me at a frenetic speed...I eventually made it back but before I went to my room, I decided to see if my luck had changed...blackjack (again), roulette, craps, baccarat, and then some electronic poker, some various slot machines, pai gow...no, it hadn’t changed... so I decided to walk off my frustration and hit the streets again...a kaleidoscope of colors rainbowing my eyes from the neon of the casinos and hotels, buskers performing in front of open mouthed gaping tourists straight from the streets of Cornpone, Iowa--beggars, some holding signs that said, ‘Need money for marijuana’,...at least they were being honest...masses of humanity moving en masse down the massive Las Vegas Boulevard past the shops full of souvenirs, magazines, candy bars, cheap liquor...past the shabby old man wearing old ragged clothes and handing out pieces of grayish paper advertising some girlie show somewhere in Vegas...passing the ghost of the Riviera Hotel...where I got drunk and somehow won some money years ago...it warms the heart to think about it, but it’s gone now like a lot of old Las Vegas...by the Flamingo where Elvis and Diana Ross played at so many years ago...I’m surprised it’s still there...it’s so dated it’s still got the old fashioned pay phones on the wall by the lobby...the Tropicana which has been updated, MGM Grand, and further on down to the pyramid looking Luxor...I saw a topless show there, but it was so-so...I keep looking around for my good friends Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Sammy Davis Jr. but I can’t seem to find them... I don’t know where they’re keeping themselves these days...I do believe I saw Howard Hughes standing over by a bus stop for the RTC to go to the Desert Inn...I could tell it was him because he had these super long fingernails and was carrying around some sanitizer and kept using it constantly...when he wasn’t using Kleenex...I wanted to ask him to write my name in his will, but I didn’t get the chance...after a little more roller derby on the sidewalk, I’m tired of being jammed and I get on the Deuce bus which reminds me of their upcoming holiday schedule and also reminds me that I can change buses to go to the airport if I want to, but I don’t want to just yet.
