This particular week was dominated by two news events that overshadowed things that I did. First, the Democratic Presidential Nominating Caucus for Nevada took place on Feb. 22 and it dominated the airwaves here for a least a couple of weeks beforehand. Local newscasts were full of coverage of visits by the candidates and a plethora of political commercials. Some station breaks between programs consisted entirely of ads for one of the several candidates still in the race. Once, the caucus was over, the regular mix of commercials returned. Thank goodness for Netflix, that allowed me to escape the political ads on TV.
The other event is the Coronavirus illness that is getting worldwide attention. As I write this, there haven’t been any reported cases in Nevada or the Las Vegas area. However, local news media report that several conventions have been cancelled and this is sure to hurt the local economy dependent on tourism and conventions.
Because of my age and my history of asthma and pneumonia, I am becoming increasingly concerned about this. My biggest concern is about flying home and spending several hours sitting with 150 or more people in a pressurized, sealed tube breathing recirculated air. I am continuing to monitor local news reports and considering going home early. If I do get sick, I would rather be quarantined at home or in an Akron hospital than here for obvious reasons.
Getting back to the election, the day of the caucus, it rained heavily at times in the morning and let up by afternoon. I worked out in the morning at the Black Mountain Rec Center and then came home to watch some basketball. Because Las Vegas is in the Pacific Time Zone, the games are on TV earlier in the day and that’s still an adjustment for me. By mid-afternoon I was able to see Kansas beat Baylor and my Kentucky Wildcats beat Florida.
After dinner, the Nevada Caucus results were coming in so I spent the rest of the evening watching coverage of that event.
Sunday the sun returned and I tried out another new church, an ELCA Lutheran church in the Green Valley area. The pastor greeted me wearing a shirt decorated with guitars and he was also wearing sandals. He played guitar and sang as part of a five-piece band that provided music during the service. His wife is co-pastor of the church and the service was really enjoyable.
That afternoon, I went hiking on a trail near the entrance to the Lake Mead National Recreation area. Then it was back home for dinner and some TV free of candidate ads.
One problem I am having here is I keep getting up earlier than I want. The sunrise here is pretty early, a little after 6AM because we are on the very eastern edge of the time zone. So, I tend to wake up by seven, something that hardly ever happens at home. Also, the house across the street has two large dogs that stay outside and bark at anything all hours of the day and night.
In fact, I saw two police officers visit another house nearby one afternoon and I’m pretty sure it was about the dogs. That’s because, the amount of time they are outside now has decreased considerably.
My “big” excursion this week was to drive about 45 minutes on I-15 towards LA and get off at the town of Primm, NV. This enclave is located on the border between Nevada and California and is surrounded by miles and miles of desert on all sides. It consists of three large casinos, a truck stop, an outlet mall and several restaurants. The three casinos are the first that travelers from California see as they cross the border.
I went to see a display at Whiskey Pete’s Casino that is reputed to be the car that legendary robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were using when they were ambushed by police and both killed in 1934 in Louisiana. For more than two years they had terrorized the Midwest and South with a string of robberies and murders that gave the duo national notoriety at the time.
Director Arthur Penn’s 1967 film “Bonnie and Clyde” starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway ends with a very violent and graphic scene of the death of these fugitives in a hail of machine gun and rifle fire. Here’s the clip and viewer discretion is advised because it is very gory:
Anyway, the display seems authentic and has loads of documentation. There were copies of news articles, police reports and the like on display. The local coroner reported that each of them had more than 50 bullet wounds, so many he couldn’t get an accurate count. The car itself is riddled with bullet holes. Here’s the car.
Also on display is the car driven by gangster Dutch Schultz that features bullet-proof glass and armor plating. After Schultz was jailed for a variety of offenses, gangster Al Capone allegedly used the car until he too was imprisoned.
I walked around the casino for a bit, but there was a heavy odor of cigarettes in the air so I decided to leave. I had a delightful gyro at a restaurant called the Mad Greek, drove by the other casinos and went back to Vegas.
That evening I went grocery shopping at Smith’s, which has several stores in the Las Vegas area, and discovered that it has Kroger store brand products. A reminder of Ohio out here in the West.
I spent the rest of the weekend enjoying sunny weather on the patio and watching some basketball on TV. Sunday was March 1 and that means March Madness, my favorite sporting event of the year, is just around the corner.
So, until next time…
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