From: "Adele Outland" outlanda60@hotmail.com
To: RicochetGathering@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2003 12:24 PM
Subject: [RicochetGathering] Dell's Mojave Journal

DELL'S MOJAVE RICOCHET GATHERING JOURNAL

APRIL 23, 2003 WEDNESDAY

At 8a.m., I left home from Sarasota, Florida heading for my 11:30 am flight 
out of Tampa airport. It seems crazy to have to arrive so early and wait so 
long in the airport, but those are the rules now and I'm thankful for the 
security checks. My airplane tickets were free due to the occasional 
overuse of a certain credit card so I was flying first class! Alas, I have 
no seat-mate. I'm in a window seat and am being waited on hand and foot. I 
got my first cup of coffee in hand before the rest of the coach flyers 
began to board. Later in the flight we get our choice of sandwich or salad 
so I'm munching on crisp greens and bits of chicken while those in back are 
getting pretzel packs or are hunting in their hand bags for crackers and 
lifesaver candies. Then the movie is turned on and we sit back in 
comfortable darkness to be entertained. I never knew flying could be like 
this! Oh, and we get fresh baked chocolate chip cookies hot out of the 
oven. Umm…maybe I should stop here or no one will be speaking to me.

We arrive in the Mile High City -- Denver, Colorado early, in spite of 
dodging bad weather. I killed some time checking my e-mail at a free 
computer station showcasing nice little laptops for sale. The flight out of 
Denver was not so fortunate; we were delayed an hour and a half due to 
unexpected snow and ice which quickly covered the windows and wings. We had 
to wait for the crews to dig out the de-icing machines from their sheds. 
There must have been fifty airplanes waiting in line--we finally got under 
way at 4 pm. There was no movie this time but the view outside the window 
of the snow-covered Rockies was spectacular.  Later, we flew over more 
colorful terrain of green trees, red soil, and white sand. Add the 
turquoise colors of Lake Mead which is just outside Las Vegas to that 
pallete and you have a lovely creation on Earth's canvas.

It turned out to be a good thing that I arrived late in Las Vegas because 
Roger arrived at the same time. By total coincidence we got on the same bus 
together going to the Stratosphere. I had been worrying about remembering 
what anybody looked like as it had been a year since I had last seen any of 
the Ricochet attendees. But this was not a problem as there was instant 
recognition from both of us. Finding anyone else in the hotel later would 
have been difficult since it is so huge and our idea of putting a notice at 
the front counter didn't work as they were too busy.

The bus ride itself was interesting. The driver was a scary looking tough 
guy but actually had a comedic personality even after we got into a car 
wreck with someone who changed lanes without looking (not seeing this huge 
bus?). Our driver gave him a tongue-lashing that no doubt scared the driver 
to death, but there was no damage done to either vehicle or passengers. 
Said our driver (tongue-in-cheek), "He was from England and forgot what 
side of the road to drive on."

The Stratosphere Hotel was full of chingling betting machines. The sounds 
and garish colors created instant childlike awe mixed with fear on my part 
and I wondered how much I was going to lose. The hotel has another landmark 
feature which can be seen from almost anywhere in Las Vegas - a huge space 
needle that is over 1,000 feet high; one of the world's tallest. If I 
remember correctly from the pictures in the lobby it is even taller than 
the Eiffel Tower. Just being at the top of that in the restaurant would 
have been thrill enough for me but there is also a roller coaster ride and 
another ride that shoots a large chair-like platform straight up the 
needle. You could hear the shrieks from the street level.

I was assigned to the 11th floor overlooking the parking garage. Roger got 
the view from the 24th level. We got together later for dinner at Lucky's 
restaurant within the hotel complex and begin to catch up on events since 
the last Gathering. We have a lot of commonalities and I'd forgotten he is 
also from Florida. He had just flown in from Salt Lake City after visiting 
relatives he hadn't seen in thirty years. I, too, have relatives in Utah I 
haven't visited in that many years. He works for the Department of State; I 
work for the state as well. However, his job is far more interesting: he is 
a paleontologist and digs up prehistoric bones from underwater springs and 
caves - way cool! We made plans to get an early start on sightseeing 
tomorrow and head off in different directions. I also called to reassure my 
family that I have arrived safely for the first part of this crazy adventure.

APRIL 24, 2003 THURSDAY

Up at 6am after fitful sleep but I feel alive! Roger and I begin our trek 
down the Vegas strip. Our first casino was the Sahara, for breakfast. We 
walked around on the purple and red gaudy carpet through the NASCAR 
displays of stock cars and mannequins dressed in drivers' outfits. Just 
like the Stratosphere and most of the places on the strip this casino hits 
you in the face with the slot machines as soon as you walk through the door.

While eating breakfast we heard a siren. I thought somebody had won a 
jackpot but the waitress later told us it was the fire alarm. No one had 
moved to the exits! Fortunately, it was a false alarm but she did tell us 
about the MGM fire back in the 70's. When it was over the firemen found 
bodies still clinging to the pull handles of the bandits, refusing to leave 
the promise of a jackpot even to save their lives.

Treasure Island casino has two Columbus type schooner replicas that do mock 
battle with each other in evening shows. One actually sinks and then is 
pulled up again for the next show. We could see areas of the Pirate's Cove 
"city" that bore scorch marks of the flaming battle. We meant to go back 
and see it but were too exhausted by the end of the day. We did get some 
nice pictures though.

Everything is done on a grand scale here. Where Disney World builds things 
to look cutesy, diminutive, or appeal to kids, Las Vegas builds for the 
full-grown adult. The Eiffel tower is here. So is the Statue of Liberty, 
the Cheops, a Pyramid, a medieval castle. It's all impressive, even if a 
bit cheesy.

The best casino to me was the Venetian. The outside is like a stone 
fortress with walkways overlooking the pool and statues. As you walk in, 
you are overwhelmed by a high domed ceiling which is painted with frescoes 
every bit as dominating as the Sistine Chapel. Royal-looking faces in rich 
red or purple robes cover the walls. The slots were tastefully kept down in 
the basement. Straight ahead through full sized columns was a walkway that 
meandered through shops of all kinds of unaffordable goods. These shops 
were made to look like Venice with facades of stone, trailing ivy, second 
story lighted windows with curtains and oriental rugs hanging over 
balconies. Between the walkways was a river on which there were gondolas of 
polished ebony. These were real and you could purchase a ride and be sung 
to by the handsome gondolier as he sculled through the village while 
ducking low arched bridges. Overhead were soft blue painted skies.

We ate lunch at the Todai Japanese restaurant. Roger loves sushi and did 
his best to introduce me to the flavors, but I'm afraid I'll stick to the 
tempura and crab cakes in future. While we were waiting outside the 
restaurant we heard the sounds of seagulls, a bell buoy, a ship's fog horn, 
and a terrific thunderstorm complete with lightning. We missed the actual 
show which was further down the hall and around a corner from us but 
apparently rain actually pours down from the ceiling into a pond in the 
middle of the walkway. We were too comfortable in soft leather chairs to go 
watch the show.

The next best place was the Luxor. This is the Pyramid and Cheops complex. 
Inside are tall statues of Egyptians that rise to the ceiling and appear to 
guard the gateways. The hotel balconies overlooked the entrance. It's hard 
to convey how huge everything was.

At this point Roger and I were exhausted so we took a crowded bus back to 
the Stratosphere. My left leg was in such pain I could never have walked 
those miles back, so we missed circus circus and Caesar's palace. Maybe 
next time when we come back from Mojave? I did manage to stagger down to 
the package store where I grabbed a small bottle of rum and was able to 
relax later in my room. It did a lot to ease the pain! I noticed a flashing 
message on the phone from Dr. Jerry and returned his message to meet us at 
Lucky's; however, he never appeared and we presumed he went to watch a Las 
Vegas show.

At 8pm Roger and I had dinner at Lucky's again and were just leaving when 
Vic found us with several Gatherers. Hugs all around and we all sat back 
down at Lucky's and talked until 11pm mostly about the trips everybody went 
through to get here. Steve Schroyder took my suggestion and tried the 
chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes smothered in white gravy. I'd had 
it yesterday. The portions are huge. He seemed to enjoy it but couldn't eat 
it all either.

Our crowd kept getting larger and larger as new arrivals found us and more 
tables and chairs were added. This had to drive the waitress nuts since 
some of us were done eating, some of us were still asking for beverage 
refills, and some of us were just getting started.

APRIL 25, 2003 FRIDAY

I was unable to sleep long as usual so showered and went down in search of 
breakfast by myself. I found a McDonalds's on the second floor and there 
ran into Jim Moore. We decided to try our luck at the slots, winding up at 
the "spam" machines. It's amazing what crazy themes some of these games 
have. This one started out like the usual push button, twirl around symbols 
of spam cans and people sporting 50's hair-dos, and a chanting song in the 
background of "spam spam spam spam" etc. I hit a winning sequence and it 
turned into a touch screen interactive guessing game. I would choose one of 
several spam cans to reveal either a dollar amount or a switch to another 
screen. I went through four screens, building up to over $30 winnings in 
nickels (having spent only $3 at this point). Jim had to run around and 
find a bucket to hold all the nickels crashing down into the tray. Then I 
had to rush to scoop them up and carry them to the cashier window because 
by now it was almost check out time and I still had to bring my bags down 
from the room.

Everybody met up eventually with Vic saying we would leave for Nipton at 
1pm. That gave us an hour to kill, so Roger, Jim and I walked down to 
circus circus which turned out to be more of a cheesy carnival atmosphere 
swarming with kids. Jim managed to win a few quarters in one of those 
'Sweeper' machines that sweeps the coins towards a down spout as they 
teeter on the edge.

It was closer to 2pm when we finally managed to all gather at the same spot 
at the same time to load into the van for Nipton. Vic did the driving, Dave 
did the navigating, and Marion did the talking mostly! We picked up a 
friend of Vic's named Chris at the airport. He was coming along to learn 
about the music; he was a delightfully exuberant personality to add to the 
mix. I was sandwiched in the second seat between Roger who mostly slept and 
Steve S., who was fascinated by the desert sights. I pointed out a dust 
devil to him.

When we pulled onto the Nipton Highway, which was an unusual red rock color 
as far as the eye could see for miles surrounded by brown desert and 
mountains rising in the distance. Right in the middle of the vista was this 
tiny little town, Nipton. The one parking lot is shared for the Nipton 
Hotel, a small country store with the usual chips, cokes, and Indian 
souvenirs, and the Cantina where you can eat only between certain times. 
Dinner normally stops at 6pm but since we looked like a large, hungry, and 
profitable group they held it open longer.

To the right of the Cantina is the five room hotel. The rooms are all on 
the left side with the common area on the right, then two bathrooms off a 
small hallway in the rear. The place is full of antique chests, tables and 
cabinets full of old books, glass bottles, tea sets, etc. At least it was 
until we began to make room for the speakers, keyboards, computers and 
miles of cables. All of the antiques got shoved into bedrooms which were 
small enough already, so I imagine it was an obstacle course to retire for 
the evening.

I sat down and was happily listening to "Okefenokee 2001" album on some 
fantastic Peavey speakers, hearing this music with the proper clarity it 
deserves. It's something I rarely get the chance to enjoy, the last time 
being about twenty years ago. I have heard Tangerine Dream on the most 
awful setups, including moldy tapes. The speakers how I met Frank Arellano 
as he brought all four of these huge things from Idaho in his conversion 
van. He works in a potato factory but is a craftsman on the side, building 
cabinets and artwork. At the time I wasn't sure if he was a musician or not 
since he knew what he was doing helping to set up the equipment, but he 
never played an instrument during the evening.

At this point Jens came blasting into the room and began to order the 
re-arranging of the hotel, setting up the equipment and guest chairs to 
rigorous Feng Shui principles. The musicians began to tune up after dinner 
about 7pm and by 11pm we still hadn't heard the first note of music. This 
stuff is really a pain to set up. Then once they started playing, it was 
overkill with too many musicians eager to play all at once very loudly 
drowning each other out. It took an hour or two to settle down a bit and 
begin to mesh.

All of AirSculpture were there, so now I can say I've met Adrian Beasley 
who seemed to me to be the rhythm guy. It's still hard for me to tell just 
who is playing which parts. All of Star Sounds Orchestra was here also 
adding another member, "big Jens" to the line up (he's a big guy with 
shaved head and looks more like a wrestler) and Volker with long blonde 
hair (really long; I was dying to see it flowing, but he always kept it in 
a pony tail). Steve S. Stayed at his keyboard the whole evening, never 
taking a break just like at Okefenokee. I'm amazed he doesn't have carpal 
tunnel.

Marcel was mostly sitting on the sidelines because the style of music the 
rest were playing wasn't his. You could see his frustration building up 
until he suddenly turned his machine on, the volume up and forcibly took 
control of the musical direction. It was the best piece done up to that 
point, in my opinion.

I went to bed at 2pm but they continued to play till 3pm or later.

Now I must describe my sleeping quarters. It was called "the Green House" 
but no sign of plants or potting soil was in evidence. It was a Quonset hut 
of plastic, the upper half colored pale grey (or maybe white turned dirty), 
the lower half green. One side housed the bathrooms and showers. The other 
was a workshop with plywood tables and a dirt floor. That's where I stayed. 
A small table held my suit case. I found a tarpaulin to throw on top of the 
dirt and set up a cot on top of that. My hope was that any scorpions would 
seek the darkness under the tarp not under my blankets. It worked. Upon 
leaving when I shook out the tarp there was a dead scorpion beneath that I 
had probably stepped on and squashed. The best part was a private entrance 
to the shower. I was careful to yell first before entering!

APRIL 26, 2003 SATURDAY

The musicians didn't keep me awake, the numbing cold did. I don't think I 
got an hour's sleep. I've re-named the green house to the ice house. The 
wind outside was roaring in competition with the roaring of the trains. I 
had sweat pants, sweat shirt, jacket, socks (two pairs), and a doubled up 
velour blanket and still shivered. Even my breath wouldn't warm the air 
under the blanket so I gave up around 6am, and walked the grounds to find a 
warm spot in the sun. I found a tree stump by the small lake and watched an 
unknown variety of bird diving for minnows. The day was dawning brightly 
enough--a hot shower and I was ready for it.

I missed the continental breakfast served in the Cantina so wandered into 
the little general store. This turned out to be a blessing. Debbie, the 
cashier, asked how I slept and I confessed to her how I hadn't. She 
proceeded to dig up two thermal blankets for me which I hoped would make 
tonight more livable. Apparently, she mentioned it to the other lady who 
works at the Hotel who then expressed her concerns to someone in the group. 
All day long, different members seemed genuinely worried if I'd be ok, even 
offering to switch with me which I thought was awfully sweet. But, I'd made 
my bed and was going to lie in it.

The first 11am daily "town meeting" was held to plan activities. Vic 
offered to drive us around the desert on a "three hour tour". Like 
Gilligan's island we were gone a lot longer. Fortunately I took a picture 
this time of who went: Marion and Dave, lucky charm Jim, Jerry, Bill, 
Marcel and Rein, Wolfram, and Chris.

Chris seems to like bugs and lizards so he was always finding stuff to look 
at. Somebody spotted the most unique animal of the day which was a horned 
toad. He was so relaxed he allowed Chris to pick him up and hold him while 
we all gathered around to peer over his shoulder. It didn't even run away 
after being set back down. We made a couple of stops to look at flowers and 
take pictures of the Joshua trees in the Mojave Preserve. These spiky 
plants are related to the lily family, which is hard for me to believe.

Needing food and gas we drove to a small town and all piled into a Greek 
restaurant that seemed to serve many styles of cuisine rather than just 
Greek, so they managed to please our various palates sufficiently. Getting 
back into the van I almost did a Brewer. Fortunately, Dr. Jerry managed to 
catch me and prevent what would doubtlessly have been injurious to my 
backside not to mention my pride.

Dinner that night was chicken and corn cooked over an open fire tended to 
by Roger and Morgan, plus green salad, potato salad, and cole slaw. 
Cuddling up to the fire was especially attractive to me. Others found the 
heated Jacuzzi whirlpools more to their liking. Poor Marion and then Dave 
both managed to bang up their shins on the low benches set about the fire. 
Roger's friend, Rob, taught me to throw horseshoes straight ahead instead 
of straight over my head into the tree limbs. We had a good game. He looked 
a bit like Kenny Rogers but younger of course.

Afterwards, the raffles and games for prizes began about 9pm. I managed to 
draw "Augenstern" by Star Sounds Orchestra but Frank with his Bassett Hound 
eyes convinced me to trade it for "Beyond Me" which is a compilation of 
several artists that I have been wanting to hear for a long time (the CD is 
very good). Not that "Augenstern" isn't, but I had already bought "music 
for Qigong Dancing" earlier. On my second draw I chose to grab "Dream Mixes 
3" away from Dave Brewer since it has never reached local stores. And I 
think he was just as happy to get the chance to draw something else from 
the bag since he already had that album.

During Name=That-Tune I surprised myself by guessing enough correctly to 
win five albums:

1) "Oedipus Tyrannus/Live Improvised"

2) Free System Projekt - Unreleased 2002 material. Another copy of this 
Unreleased 2002 CD-R had been pulled from the bag earlier in the evening 
and everyone was claiming it off each other so I felt fortunate to be able 
to hold onto this at the end. Incidentially, I had also bought Marcel's 
double album "Atmospheric Conditions" and now that I have had a chance to 
play both I am extremely impressed with his style.

3) Aloe Die's "Hidden Spring": This one is pure sound research and hard to 
listen to except as background music while doing something else.

4) Star Sounds Orchestra "Phanomene": This has a picture of Steve with long 
black hair and Jens who looks like a little kid

5) A DVD-R of SSO movies: I'll never know what this is because I don't have 
a computer with a DVD drive.

I also bought Dave Brewer's "Phase Shift" which has a lot of piano playing 
style that I like; he has a good ear for tunes.

My only disappointment was that once again AirSculpture did not bring any 
CDs to sell.

The musicians didn't start playing until midnight. They are getting really 
good together, adding more musicality on top of different rhythms. Dave B 
took a turn on Jens' drum machine and really got into it bouncing his head, 
waving his hands across the machine from side to side. Being dead tired, I 
left at 2am and was put soundly asleep by the music drifting across the 
yard. I stayed fully dressed, had three double blankets and slept soundly 
until the train came through at 5:45am.

APRIL 27, 2003 SUNDAY

The Cantina stayed open later for breakfast seeing that few of us were 
making it up in time for their usual hours. They had a nice selection of 
muffins, fruit, milk, coffee, and tea for the Europeans. The tables were 
covered in cheery red checked tablecloths. The walls displayed pictures of 
old trains, western or mining gear. There was a curtained off stage area 
that had become home to a stray mother cat and four adorable kittens. We 
all wanted to smuggle one home.

Dave H took the reins of the van and drove many of us to Hole-in-the-Wall 
where the famous outlaw group shown in the movie "Butch Cassidy and the 
Sundance Kid" hid out.  On the way there we pulled off to explore some 
interesting rocks near the road. Some of the guys climbed up; Rein found a 
natural chair and posed for pictures like a model. This charming gentleman 
tried his best to teach me some of the Dutch language but that was a lost 
cause, however it was wonderful to listen to he and Marcel talk together 
with such respect, like best friends.  I discovered that the purple 
blooming plants were sage and had a wondrous smell which I rubbed all about 
my hands like perfume.

At Hole-in-the-Wall, the towering rocks are bright red and are pocked with 
many shallow holes. We took pictures of each other crouched inside them. We 
started to follow a trail but it quickly became too steep and dangerous for 
my liking. I would have had to cross over large rocks that were covered in 
slippery pebbles or hold onto metal rings sunk into the rocks themselves at 
the steep parts. We heard someone shouting for help and at first thought it 
was someone playing a joke. However, the fourth and last time he shouted he 
sounded "a bit stressed"  according to Dave H. Bill ran to the Ranger 
Station and the woman there called the rescue squad. We had to leave so we 
have no idea what the outcome was.

The dirt road we were on was very much like a washboard. Chris who was now 
driving said that, at certain speeds, it felt like we were sliding. Bill 
said that was the resonant frequency. You have to go either faster or 
slower to break that match between tire and road. I guess that's how 
engineers talk. I just wanted to shout, "Slow down!"

Sunday was the big evening. Vic had set it up with Jerry the manager that 
we would have an outdoor concert on the veranda outside the Cantina. The 
musicians brought out their gear and wires were sprawled everywhere. They 
apparently blew the breaker earlier so the junction box had to be re-wired. 
Jim twisted his foot in helping to haul things around so he was hobbling 
about in quite a lot of pain. I guess his lucky charm works for everyone 
else but him.

The concert was supposed to start at 4pm but it's not easy to set up 
electronic equipment so the music didn't really get under way until 8:30pm. 
The first set was played by Paul, Dave B, and Volker. It was the first time 
I'd heard anything of Paul's who apparently has a more ambient style, very 
slow, relaxed. He said later, after the train blasted past in the middle of 
their set, that they'd had to abandon everything they had planned. They 
noodled about for an hour; it was a nice chill out beginning.

Here I differ from Marion's account. I could have sworn that the second set 
was Wolfram who invited anyone to join him so I believe John and Pete of 
AirSculpture did, and Bill on his yellow guitar. They were a bit more 
upbeat and had more melody. I remember this set because Wolfram, who had 
recorded the train earlier, set the recorder going as yet another train 
came rolling through and we had stereo train blasts that ended the song.

The third set was Star Sounds Orchestra and Bill again. Bill was designated 
as a "floater", there were many jokes about that, and could play whenever 
he wanted. He's good enough to take direction, stay in the background, or 
come forward in the mix with some good licks as needed. This set was high 
powered dance. Nobody could sit still. Hips were swaying, toes tapping, 
heads bobbing. Jens Z. was swinging arms, throwing his head back, giving 
high fives to the obnoxious town biker drunk who was shouting "you guys are 
great!" they kept us rocking for almost two hours.

The fourth set was AirSculpture which brought us back to earth with more 
sedate Berlin School sequencer rhythms. I was really enjoying their style. 
By this time I was so cold that I brought out a blanket and shared it with 
disabled Jim who had shorts on and ice on his foot. Even hot coffee didn't 
stop the shivering. A bit after midnight we both gave up and hobbled off to 
the hotel where Jim claimed a couch and my blanket. I went off to the ice 
house where I could still hear AirSculpture until I drifted off to sleep, 
but that didn't last long. I awoke to something sounding like two rocks 
being scraped together--another of Wolfram's experimental sounds I 
think--being accompanied by a very loud booming beat that echoed through 
the shed. They all played until about 5am. The owner and employees stayed 
almost to the end and loved it. I think Nipton will never be the same again.

APRIL 28, 2003 MONDAY

With Dave H. in the driver's seat again, we set off around 11am for Hoover 
Dam by way of the hospital in Las Vegas. There we dropped Jim off to get 
his foot x-rayed. While waiting we strolled around K-Mart for film and then 
drove down the Las Vegas strip. Wolfram and Steve S. hadn't seen it yet. 
The traffic was terrible and Dave had a tendency to drift too close to the 
right-hand lane which worried Roger in the front seat since he could see we 
were only inches from hitting other cars. But Dave pulled us through 
without mishap. Jim was released with the diagnosis of a broken bone on the 
right side of his foot so he now had a support cast and crutches. It was 
already 5pm and too late for the Hoover Dam so we headed back to Nipton.

Several of the musicians (John, Adrian, Wolfram, Dave B., Bill, and for the 
very last song, Peter) went through all the trouble of setting up their 
keyboards and computers in the hotel again. They were incredible--the best 
music yet--with Wolfram pretty much leading them in timing and key changes 
as far as I could tell. This time I got up and stood behind John and Adrian 
to watch what they did. For the first time I could finally see how the 
sounds were created, changed, who was playing what. John had one program 
called snotty-nose which created a whiny sound. I got a laugh out of that.

We didn't stay up as late this time--only a bit after midnight--since we 
all had to get up early to pack and put the hotel back in some sort of 
order. Jim decided to stay and sleep on the couch rather than go back to 
his hotel room thirty miles away with Dr Jerry. I was tempted to take him 
up on his offer to use his hotel room, but didn't feel like riding that far 
either. So I borrowed yet another blanket, which didn't help much and I 
still froze.

APRIL 29, 2003 TUESDAY

We did our best to try to move things back the way they were in the hotel 
but nobody could remember exactly how it all went. Plus we had to keep 
stepping around luggage and gear. Myself and several others had to leave no 
later than 10:00 am to get Jim to the airport so we had to trust the hotel 
clean-up to those left behind. Vic drove, stopping for gas where there 
happened to be a UPS truck. He hurriedly accosted the driver to check his 
schedule to see if our as yet undelivered Mojave t-shirts were in the back 
of the truck. They weren't. Unknown to us at that moment they were being 
delivered to the lucky few still at the Nipton hotel. We were all dropped 
off at the airport since he had to hurry to turn the rental van in by noon. 
Goodbye hugs to Jim and Bill then the rest of us hired a limo to take us to 
the stratosphere. We felt like rock stars.

I met up with Roger at 3pm to catch some of the sights we had missed the 
first time. Our first destination was by bus, this time to Caesar's Palace. 
It was pretty spectacular with large statues of roman men and women, a lot 
of them nude (explain that to the kiddies!). We watched an impressively 
animated water show with a robot king explaining the loss of his kingdom of 
Atlantis. His daughter and his son - also robots- were fighting over who 
should succeed him. The daughter was ice, the son was fire. The battle 
between her crystal staff and his flaming (literally) sword created a lot 
of hissing steam as they all sank beneath the ocean.

We walked down to Treasure Island from there to watch the pirate ships do 
battle but it was cancelled due to high winds. We met Marion there (Dave 
had rented a car to go to Hoover Dam with Steve S. and Wolfram). She had 
gone to the Star Trek bar in the Hilton and said people walked about 
dressed like Klingons or Vulcans etc. She bought a glow-in-the-dark t-shirt 
with a skull on the front and bones up the back which she can wear playing 
Dungeons & Dragons with her group. We sat down and had coffee with the two 
Jens and Volker at the outside cafe under the pirate town replica but the 
wind was all but howling at this point. Marion and I left the guys to do 
their own thing and we grabbed a cab back to the hotel.

Even though I'd taken a shower at Nipton that morning, I was so chilled 
that the 1st thing I did was to take another hot shower. The 2nd was to 
pour a rum and Coke. The 3rd was to crawl under nice fresh sheets with the 
heater turned up to eighty degrees. The Nipton adventure was fun and I 
wouldn't have missed it for anything, but it sure was nice to be back in 
civilization. Feeling better, I dressed and found a store in the lobby that 
sold liquor. That small bottle of rum cost double what the street stores 
charge but I just didn't feel like walking outside and getting cold again.

Later in the evening, Marion called to ask me to come on up to their room 
to celebrate Steve's birthday. He was 53 years old today! I grabbed the rum 
to share; they had beer on ice in the sink and potato chips for dinner. 
Wolfram had his computer through which he was playing music he'd copied 
into mp3 from Bill's CD-R while we were driving to Las Vegas. The music is 
part of what was recorded Friday and the Airsculpture-only track from last 
night.

Wolfram is a fascinating person. He's not only a musician but an inventor. 
He has produced and is patenting an electronic device that you hang like a 
back pack on your shoulders. Ear phones plug into it along with a handheld 
control with nine buttons. The device can change incoming sounds including 
your own voice. We played with it Monday night. For example: a delay button 
makes you hear what you've said two seconds later, or you can sound like 
Minnie Mouse, or sepulchral tones make someone else talking sound like they 
are singing a hymn in church. I had a great time trying to recite the 
jabberwock poem and laughing hard. The device has a more practical purpose 
as well. The delay setting forced me to speak slowly or it would cause me 
to stutter; which is the same principle as devices created to help someone 
who stutters to stop doing so.

Vic showed up and was finally able to relax. His organizing and hosting 
duties were over, until next year's Poland adventure that is.

APRIL 30, 2003 WEDNESDAY

There's not much to tell about this day. I was alone in my room mostly 
until I ventured out at dinner and strolled around the second story shops 
where I found nice, well-made Las Vegas themed t-shirts at 3 for $10. I ran 
into Pete and we did a quick exchange of well wishes for a safe flight. 
With that, Mojave was officially over for me. I played the slot machines 
until I had lost all that $30 I had won plus some and then Las Vegas was 
over for me. The next day I would go on to the second half of my vacation 
with relatives in San Diego.

The End.

As time slips into memory, memory fades into dreams.

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