08/14 Acquisition of mobile home

Today promises to be a bit stressful. The takeover of our rental motorhome is on the agenda.

First, we (and hundreds of others) have to check out of the hotel, we try to do it online... doesn't work. So we line up. Then we have our car brought back to us (it was parked by the porter) and drive to the Avis Rental Car Return at Las Vegas Airport. We quickly refuel (the car must be returned with a full tank) and the drop-off goes smoothly. Then we hop on the shuttle bus to the airport, where our transfer to the rental station should be waiting.

However, we wait for an hour, no chauffeur, taxi, or bus to be found. Flo runs almost the entire length of the terminal until he finally finds the bus on the lower level of the parking garage. Well, at least he waited. The driver speaks broken German and wants to be funny: "Are you from Tyrol? No? If you're Tyrolean, you're a human, if you're not Tyrolean, you're a ..." We laugh out of politeness and ride with him for half an hour to the rental station. There, the paperwork is done and we get our motorhome (here it's called a Recreation Vehicle, or short "RV") explained quickly. It takes us forever to stow our stuff, and then we're off.

First, we head to the Walmart Superstore around the corner and buy the typical necessities (a piece of cake for us experienced motorhome campers). Food for at least the first three days, firewood for the campfire, an outdoor carpet for comfortable sitting on loose ground, lots of sweets, drinks, and alcohol. We dare to try the Californian Chardonnay (the price, by the way, is surprisingly similar to ours). We are still surprised at the checkout that the obviously under-21 cashier has to call an older colleague to scan the wine and beer (as mentioned before, "land of limitless impossibilities").

The drive out of Las Vegas is still a bit challenging, but soon we are on our way to Zion National Park in the state of Utah, where we (also because we forgot that Utah is already in a different time zone) arrive at the campsite in the dark at 9:00 p.m. local time.