Las Vegas or Bust

This blog is about a period in my life that many have heard about. Some know very little, some know more, but I don't think there's anybody who really knows the full story. So, here it is, in its full glory. A two-part tale of two starry-eyed dreamers who ended up right back where they started.

In 2011, my wife and I were feeling that itch. Not the one that you rub some cortisone on. That itch to get out. To escape. To run away. People always say that Midland is a great place to grow up, grow old, retire, and die. And that, I'm sure, is very true for many people. But for two people who love big city life, Midland just wasn't doing it for us anymore. We had seen it all, done it all, and just didn't feel like the Tall City had much to offer us, beyond the family and friends. Therefore, a plan began to take shape.

My wife and I had traveled to Las Vegas countless times, and absolutely loved the city. Not the gambling (we don't gamble), not the expensive restaurants (we're cheap), and not the showgirls (we're freaked out by the feathers), but the city. The vibe. When you get away from the Strip or the downtown casinos, Las Vegas is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains, hiking trails, and breathtaking scenery. It's less than five hours away from Los Angeles, very close to major lakes, and has multiple industries in which one can make their living. We were pretty sure that we wanted to make a move, but we needed one more visit to LV, just to be sure.

That July, we went to Las Vegas with some of our closest friends. Some had been before, some hadn't. While our friends were enjoying all of the vices that Las Vegas has to offer, my wife and I were silently soaking in the city, not as tourists, but as potential residents. We would stare out of our hotel room window, not at the lights of the Strip, but at the nameless-to-us city streets. We wondered what goals could be realized in those nondescript buildings plunked down in the middle of the desert. We did the one thing that keeps everyone alive; we dreamed.

As the plane took off to take us back to Midland, we watched the city get smaller and smaller. My wife, melancholy and with a hint of a tear in her eye, softly said, "I don't want to leave." I grabbed her hand and said, "We'll be back soon."

We spent the next two months silently making preparations. We were searching for jobs, housing, and moving companies. As luck would have it, one of our dear friends from Midland had just moved to Las Vegas, and offered to put us up in his home until we got on our feet. Things were moving fast, yet seemed to crawl by. We told our families of our plans, and made the inevitable Facebook announcement. There was even a small going-away party for us. Sure, the excitement of Las Vegas living was overwhelming. But I think the sense of pride was even stronger. We had a dream, and we were making it happen.

An odd hiccup occurred just about a week before our departure. It turns out that the mortgage on our friend's Las Vegas house had somehow hit a snag, and our friend couldn't officially move in yet. So, we booked ourselves a hotel room in downtown Las Vegas, just a block off of Fremont street. No problem! This move would start more like a mini-vacation! We had no idea how significant this "little snag" would become.

On November 27th, 2011, my wife and I loaded our two dogs into the back seat, hopped into the front, and hit the open road. My wife's parents were kind enough to drive behind us in the U-Haul, which was towing my car. As Midland got smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror, I thought about what I was leaving behind. Friends. Family. A lifetime of life-changing memories. But this wasn't an abandonment of meaningful things. It was a quest for a new set of meaningful things.

Our two-vehicle caravan stopped in Albuquerque for the night, and the next day, we geared up to complete the trip to Las Vegas. We drove through the rest of New Mexico, into Arizona. We gazed out the window at the sun bouncing off of the reddish mountains. We even considered pulling off of the highway when we saw a sign offering "Real Indian Artifacts." No time for that! Vegas calls! Morning turned to afternoon, and afternoon turned to night, as it tends to do daily. With about an hour left in our drive, I looked up into the night sky, and noticed a strange glow in the clouds. It looked like something out of a movie. The glow never moved. Moments later, I realized that the glow was the lights of the Strip, shooting up into the sky and bouncing off of the clouds. It was a beacon, welcoming us to our new home.

We pulled around a large bend in the highway, and out of nowhere, we were on a stretch of road that overlooked the entire city of Las Vegas. I turned to my wife and said, "We live here now." We parked the U-Haul, checked into the hotel, and even enjoyed some free drinks from the hotel bar. Hey, it wasn't in the original plan, but staying in this hotel wasn't a bad way to kick things off. I mean, it was only going to be for a week...or so we thought.

That's when we got the phone call.

STAY TUNED FOR PART 2

Filed Under: Justin Tate, Las Vegas, Trips

Categories: Articles

Las Vegas or Bust – Part 1