May 16-26

We are still enjoying Las Vegas, but plan to leave for home on or about May 29. We have been looking at properties for sale to see if there is anything we would like to buy. Nevada has no income tax so if we stayed out of NC at least 6 months, we could claim NV as our primary residence and save some money in state taxes. And, since the price of real estate in and around Las Vegas is going down, we think there might be some deals. We like a condo complex called SoHo Lofts on Las Vegas Blvd., near the Strastophere. Nice, big units, concrete construction and very nice amenities-pool, exercise, etc. Also, we have looked at McDonald Ranch, a Del Webb 55 plus community in Green Valley. They have nice homes for around $200,000, however, we like the location of the SoHo Lofts the best. We'll just have to see what happens regarding real estate in LV. But, we really like there and if we buy a SoHo loft, we should be able to trade it for lodging around the world-Paris, London, NYC. It would provide us the opportunity to continue traveling and hopefully saving on housing costs when we do so.

We ate at the Sahara Buffet one evening. They have an old-timey buffet for only $6.99 per person. It is really quite good for the money. We also had some two-for-one coupons at the Palms Casino buffet and ate there for lunch one day. LV has so many deals on food, you certainly won't starve to death nor break your budget eating out!

We decided to leave for Beulaville on Thursday, February 29. We drove for two long days, 14 hour days and arrived home on Saturday evening, May 29. We stayed in Oklahoma the first night and in Chattanooga, TN the second night. We drove through the Appalacian Mountains into NC on Saturday. The drive was beautiful. We had lunch with Doug's niece in Morganton and dinner in Durham with his sister and newphew and family.

So what did it cost?

The groceries and resturant meals was as cheap or cheaper than at home.
The number of local gallons of gas used were the same or less than at home.
As usual on trips, we did not spend enough on entertainment.
Extra costs were:
It cost about $350 in gas one way.
The rental cost about $1,800 per month.