The Final Stretch

Day #7 Miles:282

Day #7 States: 2 (Nevada, California)

Mileage Total: 2835

 The goal of today's drive was to get me close enough to my soon-to-be home that I can get there tomorrow during business hours. Getting nervous now. Soon enough I'll be all alone in my new apartment with no furniture. I've been smart enough to bring along some of the necessities (a towel, a sleeping bag...), but there's going to be a lot of unpacking when my stuff arrives (Friday morning, anticipated), and in the mean time, a lot of shopping and prepping to get done. 

But nonetheless, I woke up in Vegas. 

And I had some pretty great Vegas-style souvenirs to add to my road-trip collection of housewares. 

As the world can see, I am a tremendous fan of large coffee mugs. 

We settled on sushi, a personal favorite. Although Vegas is landlocked, I was assured that the place we're going is pretty great. However, seeing the exterior, I was skeptical. 

It's a slummy-looking place on a strip mall, so I became immediately concerned about things like E-Coli, but I trust my hosts. The place is all-you-can-eat sushi, which typically means stale-tasting rice, fishy-tasting fish, and getting overcharged. But this place does it right, wildly so! I suspect it's the type of place where locals go, instead of tourists, because it's simple, good food. It's made-as-you-order all-you-can-eat, and my rolls were both delicious and fantastically named:

 The 'Dancing In the Street' roll

 The 'Man Whore' roll

 After re-packing the car, I drove off into the sunset. The landscape was familiar, rocky deserts, shrubs, and giant sky space. 

Soon after passing into California, I hit the agricultural inspection station, which was quite possibly the least-effective means of searching entering vehicles for potentially invasive species.

My cousin advised that I should 'just play dumb'. After all, I have some serious doubts that my aloe plant (which I don't think has ever been outside, and I don't think ever will be outside) was going to cause too much trouble for the rough climate of... my kitchen. 

The drive was boring, but beautiful. Because some of the areas are so unpopulated and rural, there's no development, no street lights, and it's just open skies. Which meant that the stars were brighter and clearer than I'd seen them in quite awhile. I was almost a little annoyed when I got back to more densely populated regions and the light pollution stopped it. 

I'm here for the night. Doing just fine. Tomorrow, I show up at home.