Las Vegas

I had a really nice trip to Las Vegas, NV earlier this week. It was for business but still enjoyable.  I flew the RV-3 over as it is always a beautiful flight.

I left a bit late as I flew to Grants, NM for a breakfast gathering with friends and, of course, I paid the price for it.  It was fairly bumpy on the way over. That is just the way it works in summer over the mountains of the southwest.  I landed at Henderson (HND) and left the plane in the transient tie-downs.  I had called ahead so knew that there was a $10 per night tie-down fee and self-serve 100LL aviation fuel was $6.00/gallon. The tower guys were very professional and made getting into and out of HND quite easy.  Nobody greeted me with a fancy golf cart nor red-carpet but I wasn’t too surprised since I was the smallest airplane on the ramp! 🙂

I stayed at the South Point Hotel, Casino, & Spa which was a pretty nice place.  I’m not a hotel/casino connoisseur but the rooms were very nice and food was plenty good enough for me.  It had all the typical casino dinging noises and cigarette smoke that nearly cause my tiny little brain to go tilt. It is way past the southern tip of “The Strip” and most certainly not within walking distance. I wasn’t there to spend time on the strip so this worked out nicely for me. If that is your goal, you probably won’t like this location. I didn’t gamble a single dollar, didn’t make it to the pool or spa, and didn’t see a single show. I know, that is terrible – I need to learn how to have more fun on business travel.

I snuck out of town just as a front was approaching. The winds were blowing about 20 knots from the south on the ground. I took off on 18R and it was an elevator ride straight up (with those headwinds)!  The flight home was pretty enjoyable with a few bumps.  I made the return 485 statute mile return in 2:45 at an average speed of 176 mph burning 7.1 GPH for an economy of 24.8 MPG – better than my car!!

The negative is that I left my camera in my hotel room.  Apparently this isn’t uncommon as the hotel had a lost & found claim page on their website.  The item was found the day after I left, I was emailed, and paid $12 online for return shipping of my item.  Pretty slick!

The following photos were taken on the way to Las Vegas. Lots of reflection from the canopy but some of them turned out ok.