The past couple weeks we have worked our way from upstate New York to Las Vegas... via stops in Indiana and southern California. Our one-year stint with Mercer - which garnered us much needed experience in the art of securing just about anything to our trailer - ended this past week. It's been an adventure that we mostly loved... except for tarping loads in the winter cold and summer heat. We've spent most of the past week jumping thru the necessary hoops as we switch gears (pun intended). It was also a good time to put the truck in the shop for a few minor things that always add up to a major expense. Today we'll do some cosmetic things Jorge is adding a layer of sealant to the wood floor of our trailer while I try my hand at applying the new graphics to our truck. It must be done early as the Las Vegas heat is unbearable this time of year.
We've enjoyed the pool, our time with sweet little Emma, and today my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Francis and I made our way to the Korean spa. If not for Francis, who is half Korean, this is a place I would NEVER have ventured into on my own. She introduced it to me a couple years ago and I had a gift card for a scrub and massage still left from this past Christmas that I needed to use. So what better activity to do on a 108 degree in Las Vegas than to go sit in a hot tub?? Well, to be fair, there is more there to do than that. There's the super cold tub, the medium hot tub, and the super hot tub. We arrived an hour before our appointments as they like you to soak in these tubs before your 'session' begins. Even the medium hot tub was more than I could bear today and we found our way to one of the other rooms, an ice box. It's a regular potpourri of things to do in this place. Most involve sitting in various hot rooms such as the sauna, the jade room, and one room with a bed little red clay hot balls that one can lie on, among other things. I don't get most of it but they've added this awesome cold room since we were last there, and on this hot summer day, we were sitting in a room cold enough to hang meat. Then back to the hot tub for more soaking. It's all leading up to the grand finale... the Korean scrub and massage. This boils down to lying on a table while this girl wearing gloves that feel like an SOS pad scrubs every inch of your body. That takes about 30 minutes and when it's over, your skin is as clean and soft as the day your mother birthed you. Jump in the shower and come back for an hour long deep tissue massage where the girl is using her elbows on your back and shoulders. There is no chance you'll have a kink in your neck or tight muscles by the time she gets done working you over. After she has you reduced to jello, she kicks you out of the room, hands you an envelope in which to put her tip, and sends you back to the hot tub or whatever room you choose to sit in for a recovery period. Did I mention you're naked thru this entire process? Like I said, it's not even remotely close to a place I would ever choose on my own.
Having survived that spa ordeal, I'm ready to face the new experiences that will be ours next week. We leave Las Vegas on Sunday for southern California. We have one more thing to do and that's have a qualcomm installed in our truck. That will allow the company to keep track of where their load (and we) are via satellite at all times. Once we get that done, we'll be ready for our first load. We're anxious and excited at the same time. Wish us luck!
Emma's newest song she loves to sing is the chorus of the Nevada state song -Home Means Nevada. This isn't her best redition as she's been known to belt it out pretty good. It's still cute though anyway. Here are the words...
Home, means Nevada, Home, means the hills,
Home, means the sage and the
pines.
Out by the Truckee's silvery rills,
Out where the sun always
shines,
There is the land that I love the best,
Fairer than all I can
see.
Right in the heart of the golden west
Home, means Nevada to me.
We've enjoyed the pool, our time with sweet little Emma, and today my soon-to-be sister-in-law, Francis and I made our way to the Korean spa. If not for Francis, who is half Korean, this is a place I would NEVER have ventured into on my own. She introduced it to me a couple years ago and I had a gift card for a scrub and massage still left from this past Christmas that I needed to use. So what better activity to do on a 108 degree in Las Vegas than to go sit in a hot tub?? Well, to be fair, there is more there to do than that. There's the super cold tub, the medium hot tub, and the super hot tub. We arrived an hour before our appointments as they like you to soak in these tubs before your 'session' begins. Even the medium hot tub was more than I could bear today and we found our way to one of the other rooms, an ice box. It's a regular potpourri of things to do in this place. Most involve sitting in various hot rooms such as the sauna, the jade room, and one room with a bed little red clay hot balls that one can lie on, among other things. I don't get most of it but they've added this awesome cold room since we were last there, and on this hot summer day, we were sitting in a room cold enough to hang meat. Then back to the hot tub for more soaking. It's all leading up to the grand finale... the Korean scrub and massage. This boils down to lying on a table while this girl wearing gloves that feel like an SOS pad scrubs every inch of your body. That takes about 30 minutes and when it's over, your skin is as clean and soft as the day your mother birthed you. Jump in the shower and come back for an hour long deep tissue massage where the girl is using her elbows on your back and shoulders. There is no chance you'll have a kink in your neck or tight muscles by the time she gets done working you over. After she has you reduced to jello, she kicks you out of the room, hands you an envelope in which to put her tip, and sends you back to the hot tub or whatever room you choose to sit in for a recovery period. Did I mention you're naked thru this entire process? Like I said, it's not even remotely close to a place I would ever choose on my own.
Having survived that spa ordeal, I'm ready to face the new experiences that will be ours next week. We leave Las Vegas on Sunday for southern California. We have one more thing to do and that's have a qualcomm installed in our truck. That will allow the company to keep track of where their load (and we) are via satellite at all times. Once we get that done, we'll be ready for our first load. We're anxious and excited at the same time. Wish us luck!
Emma's newest song she loves to sing is the chorus of the Nevada state song -Home Means Nevada. This isn't her best redition as she's been known to belt it out pretty good. It's still cute though anyway. Here are the words...
Home, means Nevada, Home, means the hills,
Home, means the sage and the
pines.
Out by the Truckee's silvery rills,
Out where the sun always
shines,
There is the land that I love the best,
Fairer than all I can
see.
Right in the heart of the golden west
Home, means Nevada to me.