We tried to sleep in, but after so many days of waking up early, we just couldn't manage it. Justin went downstairs to get himself some soda and Crystal some coffee. As usual on a Vegas morning, particularly a Saturday or Sunday morning, everyone was a zombie. Whilst waiting in line with all of the other zombies (to be clear, Justin was definitely included the group), it crossed his mind that Vegas is actually a pretty fair microcosm of the world, not just the USA. We all make bad decisions, wake up like zombies, but do it all over again (credit: DJ Quik). Pretty much everything we do is utterly pointless in the grand scheme of things, and we're just trying to distract ourselves and enjoy ourselves until our inevitable demise. The two of us just wish people would distract and enjoy themselves in a way that wasn't harmful to others trying to distract and enjoy themselves.

No one was wearing their masks correctly at the coffee shop. Almost no one was covering their nose, and several weren't even covering their mouths, just wearing chin diapers. Justin realized that all adults are just grown up little kids, trying to get away with as much as they can until someone calls them on their actions. Right now, no one is calling anyone on crap, so it's just 5 and 6 foot tall little kids everywhere, getting each other sick and pretending everything is fine. [It must be remembered that neither of us had our caffeine when this was all being considered.] In the coffee line, there were bright stickers on the floor, every six feet, leading towards the cashier. The woman behind Justin was standing right behind him, as if the distance from the cashier (as opposed to the number of people) was what mattered to her getting her coffee. Justin just looked over his shoulder, looked down at the sticker on the floor, and stared at it until the woman said "sorry" and stepped back. One down, 99,999,999 to go...

Upstairs, Crystal did her weekly Hungarian class via video chat. She missed it last week because we figured we'd be up early to go to the South Rim, which we were, but we figured today would be no problem, and it wasn't. She finished class around 10:30, and Justin had packed almost everything while Crystal was in class, so we were out of the room by around 10:45. The hotel elevators were fine, but the lines for the parking lot elevator were packed again, and everyone was huddled around the elevators. This combined the "best" of America. Everyone was too lazy and/or out of shape to use the stairs, so they all crowded together in the hopes of piling into a tiny enclosed box with an airborne virus all around.

Before leaving Las Vegas, we drove a couple blocks to get some Raising Canes, which Justin had been craving after hearing rave reviews from Van Lathan. The chicken strips were good, but not Popeyes good, which we suppose is good, since Raising Canes aren't anywhere near us in San Diego. We ate in the car in the parking lot, then went next door to fill up gas, hopefully for the last time this trip. We got on the freeway around 11:30 and put on a playlist of Beatles songs in chronological order. It's interesting to hear their stuff chronologically, as you can hear them going from boy band to actual band to master songwriters and musicians, all in the course of a couple hours.

The Vegas drivers on the 15 were just as poor as the day before. It reminded us of the Philippines, people just choose whatever lane, no matter where they are going or how fast they're going. Things calmed down a bit after we got out of town, but every so often we'd inexplicably slow down, probably because someone was going way too slow in the left lane or hit their brakes for no good reason and the braking propogated backwards like a wave. At the California border there was a huge solar farm with these insane lights that looked like something out of Close Encounters of the Third Kind or some other sci-fi movie. Apparently the Ivanpah solar plant uses concentrated solar thermal energy with mirrors focusing solar energy onto boilers. We hope it works, and that it hasn't blinded any drivers on the 15.

Like yesterday, the sky was very hazy and smoky everywhere. Traffic continued to be mostly go, with some slowing down, but we hit some real stop-and-go traffic around Hesperia. It turns out there was a motorcycle accident on a frontage road right next to the freeway. We checked the news when we got home, and the driver was airlifted, in critical condition. We never saw any stories that he passed away, however, so hopefully he is recovering. The only other big slowdown was coming down the Cajon Pass, just north of the 210 intersection. The Tom Morello show on Lithium was playing again, so we got motivated to play some Rage Against The Machine, which got us most of the way from the Cajon Pass to home. We got home right at 5pm. There was almost an accident right in front of us as we got off the freeway, just a few blocks from home, but thankfully the person realized at the last moment that cross traffic wasn't stopping. In the parking garage, one of our neighbors noticed the VW and commented "you look like you've had some fun." Yep, we certainly did. About 3 weeks of fun packed into 10 days. 2341 miles of fun. Upstairs, we chilled with Lola and Avon, saw the one benefit of all the haze - a great sunset - and got ready for the coming weeks, which we hoped would be fun, or, given this is 2020, at least not horrible.