_ .  And, as is the state custom in Nevada, there was a scuzzy little gambling hall called the Say When Casino located just feet over the border.  The Say When is open 24 hours, and it has 25 cent slots, so to celebrate getting to Nevada we stopped.  Even at 6:30 in the morning there was a crowd inside.  We walked to the closest slot machines to the door and dropped in our quarters; with Chase’s quarter he won back 50 cents, and is probably the only person in the state of Nevada who is currently 100% ahead in gambling winnings.

_      From Winnemucca we jumped on the I-80 for a short hop to Battle Mountain and then took Highway 305 south to Austin.  Highway 305 felt like an extremely lonely road, and it didn’t seem that there was any reason for someone to drive it unless they lived or worked out there; and despite a couple ranches and mines, we can only assume very few people lived or worked out there.  Ironically, Highway 305 dead-ended into Highway 50, which is billed as the Loneliest Highway in America (despite having more tourist traffic).  Highway 50, though, is an amazing road.  We immediately entered the town of Austin, which is a quaint little mountain town.  Steeped in gold rush (and oddly enough, Pony Express) history, the town was situated at 6,600 feet elevation and when we pulled in the air temperature was exactly 100 degrees.  We did the only obvious thing, and stopped at the Toiyabe Café for ice cream.

_      On our way out of Austin the road started climbing, and climbing, and climbing, until we finally reached Austin Summit at 7,484 feet, which has been our highest elevation of the trip.  From there it was all downhill.  (Las Vegas is all the way down at 2,181 feet elevation.)  Highway 50 to Highway 376 to Tonopoh to Highway 95 to Las Vegas!  On the way we passed some sketchy-looking military outposts in the desert, including the alleged Area 51; we also passed Angel’s Ladies, a legal brothel in the desert, though we didn’t want to investigate the quality of the ladies who would choose to work in the rural desert when Las Vegas was less than hour away.  Managing to avoid military security, aliens, and prostitutes, we soon found ourselves driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, more popularly known as The Strip.

_      Pulling into the Stratosphere, we commented that neither one of us could remember the last time we had been in a parking structure so large.  The hotel has more than 2,800 rooms, making it approximately ten times the size of the Hotel Alyeska, where Chase works in the winter.  Exiting from the parking garage, guests must drag all of their luggage with them from one end of the casino to the other to check-in for the room before dragging all their belongings back across the casino to get to the elevator.  There are three elevator banks, depending on which part of the hotel your room is in.  We finally found our elevator bank, and sped up to the sixteenth floor for our mountain-view room.  We barely left the room, instead relaxing and reveling in the fact that for the first time since July we had walls, electricity, air conditioning, a shower, and a bed.

_      We woke up among the Klondike gold rush-era facades of the Attic, as Freddie’s apartment complex is known among the residents.  Once again it was time for more blueberry pancakes using Charla’s blueberries from Talkeetna!  (Readers might have noticed that by now they’ve been smuggled across a second international border, so we should get around to eating them.)

_      We spent the rainy afternoon getting to know Freddie’s roommates and coworkers, and then ventured back into town for a stop at the local brothel.  The Red Onion was Skagway’s brothel back during the gold rush days of the 1890s (and a post office, telegram station, military barracks, etc., before becoming the museum it is today; hence, the 1940's and 50's pinups on the walls), and the fully-functional bar gives tours of the upstairs where the girls never missed a trick.  Today it costs $5 to get upstairs for 15 minutes, which is the exact same that it cost in 1899.

_      Before departing on the trip we had become accustomed to Burger & Brew at the West Rib Pub in Talkeetna on Friday nights, where you get a burger and a PBR for $6.95.  We were adrift in Skagway without our Friday night staple, until a whispered rumor sent us to Jewell Gardens for Friday night Hippie Hour where the burgers are $5 and the PBRs are $2.  Though an extra nickel changed hands, we were able to keep up the Friday night tradition!

_      After dinner, we started up a new Friday night tradition at the Skagway Brewing Company.  Well, perhaps not a tradition since it won’t happen again, but we all wish it was a tradition.  The BrewCo was offering 75 Cent Mystery Shot night, which we descended upon with Freddie and a couple of his roommates.  In addition to 75 cent shots, the BrewCo also had its signature Spruce Tip Blonde back on tap, a favorite of ours after sampling a brown and an IPA the night before.  After a wild time at the BrewCo (where we were the only table ordering mystery shots and also the only table being wild) we made a quick stop back at the Red Onion.  A lowly brothel by day, the RO turns into a dance club at night, luring in the likes of a bachelorette party all the way from Whitehorse.