Announcing ...

Finding myself missing ....well, travel, actually, on this bleakly misty day, I consoled myself by posting a new poem from my recent trip to Nevada. You'll find it here.

It's strange to notice how often I clock Las Vegas as a backdrop to drama and reality shows on TV, now that I've been there. It didn't feel familiar while I was in the place, but now I feel it should have. Maybe I simply felt the unreality of it, as if I too was part of some fiction.

But the most real part was the desert, and the thought of the uses to which we put it in the last century - and that's what the poem is about.

All happening in Alamo

Alamo, Nevada
Originally uploaded by goforchris.

This is Alamo, Nevada. We stopped there to refuel car and bellies. There was, as far as we could see, one shop and two gas stations before the desert began again. But The Lincoln County Record - pages of which were wrapped round the Area 51 shot glasses we bought in Rachel - tells us there is more to Alamo than meets the eye.

FM RADIO STATION IN ALAMO?

Harvey Caplan of Pahrump wants to build an FM radio station in Alamo. Caplan is the co-founder of an Internet talk station in Pahrump and says he has an FCC permit to build a new station in Alamo within the next three years. Although he would like it to be a lot sooner than that....
...
.... He said his plan was to have the station to ..."be as local as possible. ... We will start as best we can, as many hours as we can, with responsible individuals who will not curse over the air.."

The technical end would be professionally run, "but the content end," Caplan said, "would be relaxed and casual. I have nice people come in and do interesting shows."

In the same paper there was news of the prospective builders for the new Alamo rodeo grounds and an advert for - I imagine - real estate near Rachel, Nevada. (If you've read my previous post you'll know about this even less likely place):

Beautiful views, excellent recreational opportunities, mild climate and peaceful environment. New subdivision with CC&Rs (whatever they are). Eight, 1 acre, buildable lots left i Phase 1, with toads*, water, power and telephone available to the lot line. Only $16,500 per lot. Financing and home construction available. View our website at www.lincolnestates.com.

Don't all rush. Remember what they test out there - and the aliens.

Update: Sorry to disappoint - but the *toads were a typo. It should have been, boringly, roads.

Reality check

Right - the deal is a photo with a moblogged post, or a proper post on Neil's Asus tiny PC. This is the latter.

I have never been in such a crazy place. Today I have visited Paris and Venice, to say nothing of the Sphynx outside my bedroom window. Today I kept feeling as if I was wandering in Second Life - and on more than one occasion forgot I was indoors. Today I had champagne and tacos for breakfast, as well as more conventional items like fruit, granola and bacon. Oh, and pancakes and maple syrup. There will be photos to record all this, but right now I'm too jetlagged to think of such things and need a wee lie down with the Oscars ceremony before we go to the Cheesecake Factory in Caesar's Palace for dinner.

Our tour leader, it has to be said, is displaying amazing fortitude and patience. The Cheesecake Factory is his reward ...