spontanity: fun, not always wise

thursday night, after a few whiskey drinks, some beer, and one of the funniest shows i've ever seen, some friends and i started throwing around the idea of going to vegas. it was already 1am but no one had to work on friday and phil was sober and anxious to try his new car on a roadtrip. it took surprisingly little encouragement to get four of us on board. there was a brief moment when the plans seemed to have fallen through. phil had disappeared. we were all extremely disappointed. a minute later he was back. he had only been in the bathroom. the trip was back on. we piled into his honda civic and went to a gas station to load up on beef jerky, pre-packaged sandwiches, and a few of those cans of starbucks drinks. we were on the road by 2am.

around 3:30 we stopped to urinate on a place called Boron. there was nothing around and several million stars were visible in the night sky. it was cool. george's brother took a picture of us (see above). by 4:30 i was sober and enthusiasm was a thing of the past. george and his brother were asleep in the backseat. i was in the middle, leaning forward, talking to phil and brian. the sun was starting to come up. it looked cool. brian decided to take a 20 minute nap that actually ended up being more like 5 minutes, but he woke up refreshed and re-energized. by 7am, we were in vegas, completely exhausted.

we decided on the Orleans Casino, as it was the shittiest-looking one we saw. we played a few slots and looked for a place to eat. the French Buffet was closed. the sign displaying breakfast hours had been scribbled out. an employee told us breakfast wouldn't be served until 8. we decided to buy some movie tickets and sleep in the theater. but movies didn't start until 11. brian asked if rooms were available by the hour. of course they weren't.

we found a fuddruckers that was open. i had never eaten at a fuddruckers. i will never eat at a fuddruckers again. remember what really lousy cafeteria food tasted like? take that, shove in your exhaust pipe, drive around for a day or so, then heat it up in the microwave. THAT'S what fuddruckers tasted like.

out of ideas, we got back in the car and headed back to LA. i fell asleep in the backseat immediately. when i finally woke up, we were parked at a gas station. i asked brian if he wanted me to take over driving. he said no. i asked how long i had been asleep. "fifteen minutes," he told me. we were still in vegas.

what seemed like four days later, we arrived at home. the entire trip had been just over 12 hours. only one of those hours was actually spent in las vegas. it was a good trip. ill-planned, but good.