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The vacation from a vacation turned imperfect yesterday after discovering I could only stay one night at the motel. I wanted to stay at the same motel if only to relieve any pressure on the legs. I definitely would have slept in this morning, but instead, woke up at 8:00 am to search for place to stay. There are plenty of motels with vacancies even on holidays and weekends because downtown was no longer the trendy place to stay in Las Vegas, but The Strip with all the megaresorts. Most of the rooms ranged between $30.00-$45.00, and the hostel charged a rediculous $18.00 for a dorm bed.
Across from the Western Casino was a motel which charged $23.95 (including taxes) for a 2-bed room, but their earliest check-in time was 1:00 pm. Other than the cheap price, the other beauty of this motel was they do not take reservations, so I could just walk up at 1:00 pm and most likely get a room. Suddenly, I felt less stressed about staying in Las Vegas, and I headed immediately back to get a couple hours more of sleep before the noon check-out time.
During check-out, I asked on last time if anyone had cancelled their reservations, but no luck. Since I had over an hour before the other motel would allow check in, I went to do laundry. No problems with check-in because rooms were available! Now this impromptu secondary vacation was turning out well.
The Fremont Casino has jumbo long hot dogs and 16 oz sodas for $1.25, which was super cheap. On top of that, their non-alcoholic shrimp cocktail costed only 99 cents! That was a hefty meal for $2.40 (with tax), and I know they must not be making any profits on the deal, especially the shrimp cocktail (full of shrimps). I knew where I would have at least one everyday regardless of how fatty because I needed the calories. After the first week on the trail, the backpack felt as though it wanted to slide down my waist constantly.
My intention in Las Vegas was simple, to unwind and recover, not to gamble. But this was Las Vegas. I stopped at a casino with very good play conditions without any intentions of playing, but ended up winning $30.00 during a short run, which would pay for one night's stay and food.
At 5:30 pm, I stopped at the mini-mart next to the laundrymat and bought a gallon of orange juice, a 2-litre Pepsi, and a king-size Snicker's bar. I relaxed in the air-conditioned room for the rest of the day and watched the movie Final Destination on FOX.