June 29, 2010 – We had quite the journey driving out to Moab, Utah from Long Beach.  Our first stop was Las Vegas for lunch at the Rio. We met my brother Bob and were greeted with VIP treatment and complimentary meal at there famous Carnival World Buffet. The manager Jocelyn was wonderful and everyone was so kind.  Hopefully she will email me the picture we took with her and I will post it. The monks also got a peek at the inside of there casinos and showrooms. I can’t say we blended in =).  We wound up placing a $1 bet for fun and won a $1.  So we quit while we were ahead.  Then we were off to spend the night in St. George, Utah.

St. George – we pulled in the Travelodge where we had booked our tickets online to discover that the manager (Vamil) was from Sri Lanka and a Buddhist. What is the odds on that – staying at a place run by one of the few Buddhists in the whole Tri-City area?  Karma! He was so happy to see us and was so kind. He made sure we had all the tea, coffee, snacks, and towels we could ever want.

In the morning, we hit the road only to burn out the wheel bearings on side of the new trailer we just purchased. We did not even get a mile on the highway.  However, if you are going to break down, this is way to do it. We used the cell phone to find a repair shop at the first exit. They had a tow truck that could pick up the trailer and had us back on the road in a  few hours.  Robert and Jime at Tri- City Auto and RV Repair took great care of us and the monks were able to go back to the Travelodge were Vamil took excellent care of them.  So we were so fortunate – instead of problems, we found new friends and continued the journey to Moab.

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