The Big Day was finally here! We were taking off in the new coach (Behemoth) for an extended, open-ended road trip, with all four kitties in tow. My original plan was to start with Death Valley and Joshua Tree NP in southern California. But by mid-March, there was already a heat wave in the desert, with temperatures in the high 90s. Plan B: head to cooler Las Vegas to visit my friend Zelda, and then on to various points in the Southwest.

After a miserable overnight in Bakersfield, we hit the jackpot in the Las Vegas Motorcoach Resort, or as I call it, the Ritz-Carlton of RV parks. This is a class-A-motorcoach-only resort where you can buy a site and add improvements, such as built-in dining, outdoor kitchens, fireplaces, and even TVs. We started out renting an improved owner site, and later extended our stay for a few days in an unimproved site. Both were outstanding.

A main reason for revisiting Vegas was a chance to see my friend Zelda, who has recently moved here. Zelda and her husband Paul treated us to "Jersey Boys" at Paris. The show was excellent, and afterwards Zelda's stage-manager daughter gave us a backstage tour.

Besides visiting with Zelda as much as schedules would allow, we took in some other shows. I had seen Cirque du Soleil's "O" years ago from a very bad seat in the top balcony; this time our seats were excellent, elevated but close enough to watch all the fantastic technical workings and even see the scuba divers in the pool! We also saw Penn & Teller's long-running magic/comedy show, and got a photo with Penn afterward.

I thought the best show we saw was Bill Maher doing stand-up. Even though he was clearly stoned out of his mind, he had me howling with laughter and holding my sides as he delivered his patented liberal outrage for ninety minutes, only occasionally referring to a notebook for the main points. Yes, I think it was unprofessional for him to show up so impaired; but I had to marvel at his ability to perform anyway. I got my money's worth.

We had only intended to stay a week in Vegas, but a combination of factors made us decide to extend a few days. For one thing, we were still struggling to get comfortable living on the road. Mike had a backlog of work from the appraisal class he was teaching remotely. There were a few minor problems to be solved in the motorcoach. The AT&T store was just across the street from the resort and I decided to finally buy myself a smartphone and learn how to use it, so naturally we couldn't leave TOO soon after that. And frankly, it was just too dang comfortable at the resort, with everything it had to offer.