19.11.-02.12.2007: Reno - Lake Tahoe - Auburn - Las Vegas Winnie was taken in early on Monday to get the transmission fluid and a new screen. Later we got a smog test done where we got really good results so we should pass the smog test in California. Mike also adjusted our head lights for us. Then we had to pay the bill which hurt our pockets but at least we can carry on in Winnie for, hopefully, a couple more years! We spent the next two days cleaning our bikes and showing them to prospective buyers and Gary (who bought our kayak), came around and invited us to join him and Marty and their family for Thanksgiving on Thursday. It was really sweet of him to think of us and we accepted - it will be the first time we have celebrated Thanksgiving with an American family. We got picked up on Thursday by two of Marty's daughters, Angie and Shelley plus a friend of theirs, Penny. We drove to Fernley and had great fun in the kitchen helping to prepare the food. Marty had already done most of it but there were still things to be done. And despite the fact that most of the food was already done, the fridge was still chock a block full!! There was an unbelievable amount of food and although there were nine of us eating lunch (Gary, Marty, Angie and Ray, Shelley, Chrissie and Penny plus us two) we hardly made a dent in all the wonderful food on the table. There was turkey and roast ham, two types of stuffing, home grown beans, mashed potatoes, corn, various salads, gravy, rolls, and it looked like everyone would get a full pie for dessert to themselves!! But it turned out that only Helen and Gary could manage dessert! They had seconds later when everyone else had room! Marty's sister Deborah joined us later and showed us Paul Potts who won "Britain's got Talent" earlier this year. She had found some clips of the show on the internet and was fascinated that cell phone salesman could have such a fabulous tenor opera singer could win. Then we played Monopoly. Inflation must have got really bad because we were now playing with million dollar notes!! It wasn't easy to work out! In the end it was a tie between Chrissie and Kirsten as to who won. But we had a lot of fun. We got a lift back at 8-30pm and gave our Milepost book to Angie for Gary and Marty who are planning on driving up to Alaska next summer and so it will come in really handy for them. On Friday, the garage was shut so we pushed the key to the gate through the door and left a CD with photos for Tolly. We drove south just outside Reno and stopped at a Wal-Mart where we both got hair cuts. Helen got a German stylist who had been living in the US for over 40 years and spoke German, whilst Kirsten spoke English to the Greek hairdresser!! We got woken up at 2am when our propane heater came on even though it was switched off!! When it starts up it sounds like a banshee is screaming for a few seconds so it really startled us. Then it switched itself off. 2o minutes later it came on again! So Helen got up and, sure enough, it was definitely switched off. So she altered the thermostat which stopped it from coming back on but we still didn't understand why it could switch itself on in the first place! We drove up to Lake Tahoe and stopped at a few viewpoints. Unfortunately it was too cold to go out and do any walking (5°C). We stopped off in South Lake Tahoe to take a look at the marina and then carried on the following day to Auburn, California and then took Winnie in for the Smog test on Monday. Well!!!! We very nearly failed. The levels that could be tested in Nevada were very good but the nitrous oxide level was 1084 when the limit for a pass is 1092!! Normally we would get around 80 to 100 so we were ten times higher! We also noticed that coolant was leaking out! So we drove to the nearest DMV but were told that our sticker had automatically been sent to our mail box which meant that we would have to get it forwarded to us. We also filled out forms to try and get a refund for our driver's licenses because they weren't going to be issued to us. Then we drove back to Reno and went to tell Tolly about the leaking coolant and the fact that we nearly failed the smog test. So we spent another 3 nights back at our "Home" whilst the leak got sorted out and we had to have a new EGR valve and gasket that regulates the nitrous oxide and had got blocked when they did all the work on the engine. We took Tolly out for a meal at Baldini's on Wednesday evening and then said goodbye to everyone again on Thursday morning. It took us two days to drive to Las Vegas and it was really cold. We parked up on the car park of the Tropicana Hotel and walked about 8 miles along the Strip. Kirsten asked about tickets for Andrea Boticelli when his surname is Bocelli but the tickets were too expensive ($125 each). We watched the fountains at the Bellagio, were disappointed that the Treasure Island show was closed for a month, got lost in Caesar's Palace looking for the pools and had great fun with all the stuffed toys in FAO Schwarz! Then we got lost in the Venetian Hotel and ended up where we started! Then we got accosted by a guy who wanted to know where we were from and Helen said "Deutschland" to avoid having to stop and talk. But he said "Ick sprecke Deutschland!" so Kirsten had to talk to him!! We got back 5 hours later, feet aching, hips aching and exhausted!! Walking on concrete really isn't the same as hiking in a National Park!! (Well, maybe we should also admit that we are really unfit because we haven't had any exercise for 5 months!!!) On Sunday morning, we got woken up at 6am by helicopters hovering right above us, and then explosions!!! Helen went out to take a look - a huge firework display was taking place across the road at the Mandalay Bay Hotel. What on earth they were thinking of at 6am on a Sunday morning we will never know!!! After going to the library to use the internet we drove across to Lake Mead National Recreation Area and parked up at a free camping area for the night.