TorstenInLosAngeles

The last days I was busy to sell all my bad investments of the last year. Sharebuilder, as I mentioned earlier, did not work out for me and I sold it. I lost about $150 on my original investment of $1300 (or $1248 after fees) and even with the Costco sign up bonus and some interest I am still under water. I also sold my Scottrade shares of Fremont (FMT). That too, cost me about $2000 and that really hurts. At least, I can claim some losses in my Tax Return but it won’t help much. For the new year I look forward to engage in online lending with either Prosper or Lending Club. I signed up for both but yet undecided which one is the better choice. I will transfer my Sharebuilder money to on of the accounts and plan to make small lendings of not more than $50 to restrict the risk. Hopefully the new year will bring some better investemt return. In the meantime I am continuing to put money in my online savings account with fnbodirect which is at 5.05% and still on of the best money market/savings accounts.
Happy New Year !

We have been so many times in Las Vegas, driving the I15 back and forth but there is on place I was always interested to go but I never went and that is Cafe Bagdad in Newberry Springs. It became somewhat famous because of the movie Cafe Bagdad (or “Out of Rosenheim” in the german release). Finally, I made it, but first I took a wrong turn, because I thought Cafe Bagdad is in the town of Bagdad at the Route 66. But this town does not exist anymore and after I asked somebody at a Cafe in Ludlow I realized my mistake.
Anyway, I got there, took some pictures and then we made it home and our X-mas 2007 road trip was officially over Saturday December 29 at 6pm.

Today, we skipped all the State Parks and continued straight to Las Vegas. We just had seen to many stone formations, canyons, or wildernesses. We wanted to look for a cheap hotel next to a casino where they still have $2 Black Jack tables. There are still some casinos in North Las Vegas, for example the Silver Nugget, but unfortunately they don’t have hotels and the nearby motels are sometimes very expensive. We found a complete run down motel close to the Silver Nugget but they still wanted $66/night. Also our backup, Nevada Palace on Boulder Highway, was too expensive, they asked for $87. We then decided to go further on the Highway 95 to the city of Searchlight. The only Casino with tables is the Searchlight Nugget Casino. It has a very cozy atmosphere and the nearby (1 block away) Del Rey Motel was cheap ($42) and acceptable too. Driving to Searchlight just took 1h on the 4 lane highway and we then gambled away another $80. But it was fun and they have a really good spicy chicken snack. The next day we took the Cottonwood drive in Searchlight and drove about 14mi to the Lake Mohave and Colorado River. There is a really nice Motel/Resort/Camping at the end of the road.

There were actual warnings in the Hotel Nevada shower all over the place about its unexpected changes in temperature. I was bracing for the worst but I found that if you opened just the hot water all the way the shower was just right. We then left Ely and took the highway 93 further south to the Great Basin National Park. The scenic drive to Wheeler Peak was closed and we instead visited a 90min tour through the Lehman Caves. The tour was o.k. but nothing spectacular. The cave is pretty small compared to other caves we visited in California and Arizona. They have though a very strange and rare formation called “shield” and they are also still growing. After the tour it was still early and we decided to go further south on the 93 towards Las Vegas and stop over in Caliente for the night at the Shady Motel. The price ($57) was o.k. but we realized too late that it was right next to a busy train track and we had some noisy traffic till late night.

In the morning we just had another last brief look around in SLC. We went up to the Capitol and to a small park close by where you had a nice panoramic view over SLC. We then took the I80 east in direction to Wendover with a short stopover at Saltair in Salt Lake State park. Unfortunately it was closed for the season but it was cold and snowing anyway. The drive to Wendover on the border between Nevada/Utah took about 2h. Right on the Nevada side there are about 5 Casinos and since the hotel rates weren’t that great and there was nothing else to do in town but gambling we decided to go further on the Highway 93 to Ely. There are several Casinos in Ely but the only one that has table games and one of the most beautiful ones is Hotel Nevada in Ely. It was also the cheapest one with about $40 for the night and they have Wifi too. Table games opened at 5pm and we had a little bit time to walk around in downtown. It is a typical old mining town, with some of the older buildings boarded up and a the charm of an old town that had seen better times before. But, I guess gambling and the state parks around will keep it alive for a while. It was also freezing cold (0 F) and we soon retreated to the hotel. They had a surprisingly good pizza (“the motherload”) and I can just highly recommend it. For the rest of the evening did we loose about $100 at Black Jack and 3-Card Poker, but it was fun….

On a ice cold morning we started from Green River to Salt Lake City. We took Highway 6. Going further north the landscape became whiter and around Soldier Summit it started to snow. Luckily, it was not too much, so I did not need my snow chains. After about a 3hour drive we arrived in SLC and stayed in a Ramada Inn on State Street. It was easy to reach the Temple District or the State Capitol from there, just follow State Street north. We did the usual Temple district sightseeing and some in downtown (trolley square). Tomorrow we will check out the Salt Lake Park and then head West on the I80 for Wendover/Nevada. Casinos and gambling once more…

9am we hit the road to Arches National Park, 70East and then 191 direction to Moab. I did not expect the park that big, but it took us the whole day to explore it. I have to admit we stop at every “point of interest” and I shoot about 300 pictures on my digital camera. I know, its excessive, I call it “Compulsive Picture Taking”. Anyway, it was very cold but sunny and we managed to view many of the famous arches, including “The Windows” and the “Landscape Arch”. The “Delicate Arch” was a little bit a hike and because we already walked so much we decided to take a picture from some distance. At about 4pm we left the park and headed for some diner at a chinese buffet in Moab/UT and after that we headed back to Green River. Tomorrow, we will head to Salt Lake City.

After spending the Day cruising around at some State Parks we ended up in Green River, a small town at the Highway 70 and a transitional stop to out next destination, the Arches National Park. Yesterday, we entered the Capitol Reef National Park first from the Burr Trail, a 75mi trip to Bullfrog at Lake Powell. We just drove 30mi though because there is a dirt road in between and I did not want to risk my small car. Later we entered the Park from Highway 24 and drove a nice road all the way to Capitol Gorge. Today, we will visit Arches National Park and after that make our way to Salt Lake City.

Today, we drove to Bryce Canyon. A 4 hour ride from Mesquite/Nevada where we stayed (and gambled - and lost $100) overnight. First we took the I15 to Highway 14 and from there Highway 89 into Bryce Canyon. Entrance fee is $25 but we have a Year-Pass (about $80) for all the National Parks which is a really good investment. The drive in Bryce Canyon is very scenic, I guess it’s best to drive all the way to the end to the Rainbow Point (about 20mi) and then stop on the way back at the different points of interest. It was bitter cold but the road was free and clear and luckily the weather was sunny. Tonight we are staying at the Brycevalleyin in Tropic (What a name for city when it is that cold). It’s about $50/night including breakfast (and they also have wireless). Tomorrow, we will drive to Capitol Reef and maybe stop by the 3 State Parks on our way (Kodachrome Basin, Grand-Staircase Escalante and Anasazi State Park). Most roads in the park are for 4-wheelers though and I don’t know if I can risk my little Hyundai on them… will see.

I am on the road again, like always at this time of the year. This year me and my partner are going to a roadtrip to Southern Utah (Zion, Bryce, National Monuments) and maybe further north to Salt Lake City. I just hope they don’t have to dig us out of the snow.
I bought snow chains though …