The desert to Las Vegas.

Dear son-
You can feel Las Vegas long before you get there. It's something in the air-it thickens with exhaust from the hundreds of thousands of rental cars and taxi cabs that clog the streets by the main strip of casinos. Planes seem to hover in the air as they line up and wait their turn to drop off the thousands of tourists with fat bellies and silicone breasts that arrive here every hour of every day.

At night the lights of Las Vegas are almost blinding as you come over the last rise and out of the darkness of the desert, careering at 85 miles an hour down interstate 15 from Utah. As you approach-me with the moon roof open to view the stars-the spot light of the Luxor reaches into the sky, which apparently you can view from space. You know you are getting close because the stars which were bright and clear a few short minutes ago are suddenly blotted out by the bright lights of the artificial city.

What is it about a place like this that attracts so many people? Is it the allure of easy money and the illusion of instant millions? Everyone knows someone who knows an aunt of someone who put their last quarter into a slot machine on the way out of the casino and hit it big. I wonder how many people come here and play that life-altering nickel slot so they can buy that new Dodge Ram with the double tires and Calvin urinating on something, anything, that isn't American enough.

We're obviously afraid to travel to the real Paris and see the actual Eiffel Tower and why should we go? It's here, along with the Statue of Liberty and some pyramid that has to be as good as the ones in Egypt without all that sand and camels and people who don't speak English.

The actual airport is a real treat. People wonder around aimlessly from one side of the concourse to the other. Stop. Search through a bag. Turn around. Switch directions again. Oh, there it is, the bathroom. Cut left and head straight there. Four double wides stretch across the walkway, bags, carry-ons, a couple of kids run in circles and block your every move to get around them. I just smile because this is the country I love. The one I joined the Army for and why I get so angry every time I see the president's face on TV telling lie after lie-and the marks, they all eat it up.

Love,
Dad