Day 9... Rocking in the free world

Having got to bed just after 1am and having decided a lie in would be nice on our first and only unstructured free day... I awoke at 6am. A bit surprised that there was no coffee and breakfast made for me, I thought about taking down my tent.... oh that's right... there wasn't a tent... and I could have another shower... and it wasn't snowing outside! The bonuses of being in Vegas 😁

Eventually I dragged myself up and down to breakfast... or was it dinner? For there in front of us at the buffet was a full carvery, the possibility of mimosas, Asian food, Indian curry, pancakes... in short, anything you wanted for breakfast you could have. So plate loaded up with a variety of different things, I sat down and planned my day in my head.

Souvenir shopping was the main aim, as I was only staying here once in my life and then... well... plans were forming...

The noise had not decreased in decibels and there were people sitting at the casino tables that I'm sure I saw last night... not having moved so breakfast was eaten surrounded by noise and lights and no place to have any kind of quiet reflection. Just as well that I was joined by Kirsty, Julie and Capt. Grey, so it ended up being a very nice breakfast. Then we were off, wandering once again up the strip, or trying to... because whenever we went into a hotel, we got sucked in and couldn't find our way out again, which I guess was the idea, though it made shopping difficult.
The hotels/casinos all had the same kind of layout and after ending up in the Luxor we decided shopping would be easier if we just stuck to the strip and didnt venture inside a hotel again.

Souvenir shopping was soon done, and whilst Kirsty shot off to the golf club for the golf with Rockstars day, me and Julie continued wandering round until we were totally Vegased out (new word!)

Julie then declared her intent to sit by the pool until we met up in the evening to go to the golf club for the Rock The Pines gig, leaving me to carry out the earlier formulated plan....

In the evening I needed to Uber everyone over to the golf club. Having never Ubered before, I decided to give it a test run and ESCAPE the madness for a couple of hours. I didn't have the time ti go to Red Rocks Canyon which was a shame, so instead I found a small nature park on the outskirts of the city. Ok so it cost $13 to get there and $14 to enter but what price to breathe air again???

Uber worked well and in no time J found myself in a poor man's London Zoo... just what the soul ordered!

I spent an hour and a half meandering through the gardens, the animal cages, where I saw snakes and other cool things, and walked on a desert trail to a natural Spring. From the little rise in one direction I could see the mountains rising on the horizon, in the other direction, the man made mountains of the Vegas hotels. From this distance Vegas looked quite inviting... without the noise and the neon😜

It was soon time to Uber back, change, shower and meet the others. It was only now that the limitations of Uber became apparent. As easy as it might sound to organise an Uber ride for 26 people... it proved to be anything but, as apparently you can't order another Uber ride when you are currently on an Uber ride. With the help of a few people who had Uber already downloaded, we managed to get us all there, roughly on time.

There I met up with a great friend of mine, Marc,  who I had first met in Vail when I jetted out there to take part in Vail Rocks. Cross continent friendships are great!

The gig began with Robin on his guitar, then Billy Duffy, and the jumping began. We created a mosh pit at the back as we were unwilling to ruin the view of those sat down in front of us, but were soon persuaded go get to the front.

Friends old and new together, complete strangers at the beginning of the week, now firm friends and as we all linked arms whilst the words Love Hope and Strength echoed around the pines, I was filled with absolute gratefullness that I was here, with these people, the LHS family.


The end of the gig came too quickly and we all milled around, saying goodbye over and over again, sometimes to the same people. Weird as it was, having know most of them for only a week, we had shared so much in that time, that it was a bit sad to part ways and return to our real lives, which for me began with a 04:30 check in time and continued with three flights back home, with four Long Days (12 hour shifts) back at work. Such is the price I pay for these jaunts! 

The journey home was spent in a bit of a daze. I flew from Vegas to Phoenix, the literally back over Vegas to San Jose, then back over Vegas to London. At least on the last flight home, there were so many spare seats that I had a whole row to myself!

Fast forward to wednesday as I sit writing this last blog on my second Long Day at work....

My colleagues, friends and family have all asked me about the trip and the inane words of stunning, beautiful, amazing trip off my tongue... 
But they don't describe it....
Nor do my blogs convey what I want to put into eloquent words... but cannot

The cameraderie, the pride at being a part of this charity and knowing Mike and Jules, the feeling of exhaustion, being freezing cold, the laughter and the tears ... all wrapped up in each other as to make them inseparable... 
....and unexplained... 
...except for those that were there!

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