Day 12 -- NV, AZ, UT

Day 12 -- Trying to leave Las Vegas again. I must be getting wiser or something because I went into Tuesday with an accepting attitude that I was going to spend a lot of time waiting at the mercy of others. And of course that's exactly what happened. A very helpful young man named Shawn at the BMW dealer in Henderson noted which warning lights were on and tried to get one of the shaman (service advisers) to squeeze me in. Like trying to get a doctor at a clinic -- and they seem to have that same attitude. After an hour or so, no luck, but Shawn was nice enough to get me a name of a guy at the Las Vegas dealership . who could squeeze me in. Butch was his name and he was very pleasant and courteous, if not ultimately helpful. After another four hours there -- I just accepted the wait without too much frustration -- they could not determine what was wrong with the front end but the warning lights were off and the cruise control worked so I considered it a minor success and was happy to hit the road.

While I was waiting a couple of courtroom shows were on the TV and I couldn't find a way to change the channel. Are these people for real? Of course they just want to be on television. I guess the real question is who voluntarily watches this. I'm not afraid to say that I love People magazine, but reality TV leaves me cold. Our lives are reality or something like it, why do I want to see average (or below average ) assholes on TV?

It does amaze me that it's so hard to get a straight answer from the shaman, again like with medical professionals. What I wanted to know was what was the worst that come happen if there was a wheel bearing making a noise. -- Did I mention that their diagnosis was completely different from the L.A. dealership; and there solution, if I left the car all day Wednesday was too bizarre to understand. -- I just wanted the guy to say something comprehensible like "the wheel will freeze up." or "The wheel will turn to fire and the car will explode." Just something. But no. Just "It'll get real loud." No shit. Should I turn up the volume on the radio?

So Mellow Jim departed for Utah with a nagging urge to loose some money before I left Nevada. And amazingly enough there were massive tacky casinos at the NV/AZ border just waiting to serve my need. My thought was that if they fixed my car, that would be such good luck that I would have to hit the slots and watch the winning flow in. Since they didn't really fix the car, I lost -- ya, that must be the reason. The casino was the Oasis, by the way, and it was light years less creepy than Whiskey Pete's.

Back to the Heart of Dixie I went. Remember the big D on the side of the mountain? About 6 blogs ago. Well Erin, the knower of all facts, knew that southern Utah is nicknamed Dixie. And I am back at the same motel where I fell down and went boom in St. George.

What do you on Wednesday? Bryce Canyon? Grand Canyon? Return to the gaming tables? What's a guy to do.