Sixth chapter

To live like a Swede in Las Vegas

Well, I can not stop workin 'cause I like to

work when nothing else is goin 'on

Well it's bad for the body but it's good

for the soul - might even keep you

breathin 'when you lose control

Neil Young

An extremely disappointed woman on the other side of the train's gangway reveals that now her only hope is that a maniac is going to shoot Trump. Hopefully before he is installed as the president of the United States. I get really angry and ask how the hell she can see violence as the solution to democratic problems. She defends herself that she has no plans to shoot herself.

The woman in her 60s is constantly spitting her hatred against Donald Trump and all the idiots who have voted for him. I agree with her most of the time, but not the hope that Trump will be murdered.

The angry woman works as a physician and has taken a lot of time convincing her patients and everyone else that they should not vote for Donald Trump.

I'm getting really tired of her and closing my eyes for her to believe I've fallen asleep. Now I will make a new plan for the rest of the trip. I will stop talking with oldsters and try to get in contact with young people to discover new approaches to life.

Above all, I want to be quiet, listen to myself and try to think in new ways, inspired by what I see and experience. Maybe there is a risk that if I listen to myself, there are no new courses, but at least I want to try to think differently without talking to all the oldsters I see.

Really tired of Greyhound, I have taken the train most of the way from Albuquerque to Las Vegas. I'll be able to switch to a connecting bus somewhere in western Arizona. Amtrax connecting buses work much better than Greyhounds, so I do not suffer from spending a few hours on the bus.

After  a long walk, I call on the front door of the air bnb in Las Vegas, where I have booked a room. The host is very welcoming and I am shown around in their big white villa. Here is a swimming pool, which I can use if I want to. I do not care to tell him I'm hesitant to swim because of my urinary tract problems. On the other hand, I would really like to test their gym. It may be tomorrow.

Here are smart TVs in each and every room, but I'm more comfortable watching CNN and Swedish television on my computer in peace and quiet in my own room, which is big and has a private bathroom. The host pair shows that in the fridge there is a carafe filled with waffle batter. I'm welcome to bake waffles for breakfast. They also offer jams and whipped cream to the waffles and also coffee powder.

I can not help wondering how many globes would be needed if everyone lived as my host couple in Las Vegas. At the same time, I realize that they may stay at home and avoid traveling to other continents. Everything is not as it seems at first sight.

For all that is offered in the villa, I pay just over $ 30 a night. I've heard that much in Las Vegas is cheap, because the hotels earn so much at stake and double. Living cheap appeals to me, who sometimes feel like a Scotsman.

When I feel installed, I walk a few miles past beautiful and ugly villas to a street lined with casinos, making me laugh at all their exaggerations in shape and color. I suspect that the commercials lights are likely to need an entire nuclear power plant . My impression is that Las Vegas is not the greenest city in the United States.

I'm a little upset about the waste of Mother Earth’s resources.

Then I will keep in mind that I have also been wasting, even though in a little sparse way. For many years I have been driving around with unnecessarily big SUVs, although I have tried to choose quite fuel-efficient models and blame the need for four-wheel drive on my forests. So my SUVs have really been a tool in the forest. I have also travelled cross the globe. Like many men, I've changed stereo unnecessarily often and bought more discs than I've listened to. It has happened that I came home with a new disc just to find out that it was already in the shelf. Now I've stopped buying discs and listening to new music on Spotify.

A less male interest I have cultivated is design furniture. We live in an unnecessary large house, and I have converted it to something of a furniture museum, even though I have not yet received paying visitors.

Since I became an adult, when I was 60, I tried to reduce all consumption, but I have not yet been very successful. One exception: When I was young I spent a lot of money on clothes and shoes. Now I have lost all interest. I walk around in my old worn garment until it falls apart.

I go to a casino to study the people who gamble and to take some hopefully cheap drinks in the bar. Since I have never been the least interested of any kind of game about money, I do not really understand what the gamblers are doing.

I understund there is a river of money here. How many are here because they have unnecessary money and do not care so much about the money they are losing? And how many are here because they are poor and see this as the only way out of the misery? It is difficult to judge. Everyone looks neatly dressed and I cannot judge which clothes are expensive brand clothes and those that come from H & M or any similar low prize chain.

Not so many people look particularly lucky. Most seem to try to show some kind of poker face. The men who gamble are many more than the women. Are the women left in the hotel room with their children?

Some women are sitting in the bar. They do not look so fancy, they remind me more of the women who were sitting in the socialist Europe's restaurants before the fall of the wall. There they often called themselves economics students, but they only tried to sell their bodies. Here I speak with haunted housewives with a taste for alcohol. They do not interest me, so I try to concentrate on my mojito. When I quickly emptied my glass, I first order a daiquiri and then a coconut rum. Then it is enough.

On my way out of the casino, I meet a heavy man who, without hesitation, hugs me. It takes a fraction of a second before I understand it's Martin, who I met on the Greyhound bus to Albuquerque.

I turn around and go back to the bar together with Martin and there I order two Irish coffee, which is not really the low calorie drink that he really needs. That was very stupid and obsessive of me.

Martin tells me that he has spent a few days studying how things work here and trying to talk to someone who has been winning money. He has not yet managed to figure out a good strategy for how to win as much as possible as safely as possible. Gambling In a safe way sounds like a contradiction to me. He says he will study one more day before starting the gambling. He stays for free by an old friend who works as a security guard at another casino, so he is not in a great hurry.

Martin would like us to meet again in a day or two. I'm not sure how many nights I've booked here in Las Vegas, whether it's two or three. I know, at least, that I reluctantly intended to move on with Greyhound to Joshua Tree, but I have not yet booked a ticket. We decide to keep in touch via facebook and agree on something.

Now the catheter of the evening is calling me back to the air bnb.

It feels safe to walk back in the dark, which is not so dark. The first thing I do when I'm back in my room is to check the Greyhound time table to Joshua Tree. I find there is no Greyhound to Joshua Tree, so I'll have to think about it. Either I can skip Joshua Tree or rent a car and drive through the Mojave National Preserve, a total of 200 miles only. By public transport it would take 20 hours and mean a big detour, so the car hire option seems attractive. Three days with a car I rent here and leave in Los Angeles would probably work out well.

Now that I'm lying down, I cannot sleep, even though the bed is amazingly comfortable.

I wonder what consequences today's thoughts about consumption and sustainability will have for the rest of my life as an old man. Traveling by air and car as much as I have done so far in my life is not defensible with regard to the climate and the future of my grandchildren. That thought often flaxes in my head.

I really do not want the grandchildren to remember me as the old man who destroyed the climate by traveling thoughtlessly.

At the same time, travelling is what makes my life worth living. Do I want to continue to live without traveling? If I leave Earth Life soon, "My carbon footprint", my carbon dioxide emissions, goes down to zero when I'm cremated. To hire a gunman to kill me might be a way of taking responsibility for the future.

I remind me of John Entwhistle, the bassist of the British band the Who. His "carbon footprints" ended entirely in a hotel room in Las Vegas. He never woke up after an evening with a prostitute and far too much cocaine. I think he lived in the rock myth, not that he deliberately stopped his carbon dioxide emissions.

However, a better way might be to stay home and fight for more  people to understand that they must take personal responsibility for the future. It is also possible to travel at home, both through the help of the Internet and by visiting restaurants serving food from other countries. And to meet refugees in my home town.

At the same time, I am annoyed by all those who are disturbed by others' environmental footsteps, but not their own. Those who eat beef criticize those who travel and vice versa. Owners of fossil fuel-driven cars can complain about the buyers of GMO food. Dog owners can be annoyed by SUV owners even though there is research that says that industrial food for one dog have as much environmental impact as one SUV. I have not yet heard any owner of SUV criticizing dog owners, but that will certainly come.

That actually reminds me of a biblical quote: "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?".

When I am lying here and pondering in the Nevadan night, I think how much I have enjoyed all the meetings on this trip. Traveling is also a way to broaden the perspectives and to learn more about the world beyond the little hole in which I live.

I'm looking at tripadvisor.se that keeps track of where in the world I have been. According to their statistics, I have been in 57 percent of the world. There are quite a few exciting places that remain in other words. Do I want to visit the other 43 percent?

There may be ways to compensate for the trips. Climate compensation feels a bit like a letter of indulgence, but there may be other ways.

Another sick idea appears in my confused head. I may do something good as a suicide bomber and go to Damascus and blast al-Assad in the air. Not because I think I'm coming to heaven but to get rid of a tyrant from the earth's surface. At the same time, I would get rid of an environmental destroyer, myself.

I'm getting really tired and feel that the fight between my good and evil side will not be settled this night.

Six hours later, I wake up from a dream where I travel around the world by buses, boats and trains. Between Hanoi and Saigon, tumult occurs when I demand to take over the driver's job. It resolves when I agree to drive the train without pay.

Once I've shaken off my dream, I'll turn on the computer and check out what sights I should not miss in Las Vegas. Apart from a number of casinos, most of the attractions are located outside of the city. Many tours seem to go by helicopter to the Grand Canyon, but I feel more for a day trip by bus to Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam. In addition, the bus service costs only a quarter of the cost of flying a helicopter.

After a while in the gym and a pair of waffles, I'm going to Las Vegas city to arrange a ticket for a trip tomorrow and a rental car until the day after tomorrow. In addition, I want to see the chapel, where people go to get married by a vicar in an Elvis suit.

Visiting the Elvis Chapel and buying a ticket to the bus is easy to arrange. Renting a car is a little bit harder. The only available cars are an electric car and an open top Mustang. An electric car is a good alternative for the climate, but running out of electricity in the middle of the desert does not seem so attractive. So in two days from now it I will drive a gas-powered convertible through the desert.

I go to Caesar's Palace to see which artists appear there in the near future and watch advertisements for Elton John and Celine Dion. No, it does not attract me. On the other hand, it would be fun to see a concert with Van Morrison appearing here in January next year. Once a long time ago when I was in San Francisco, he sang on a small club as I passed. The door was open so I saw him close, but was so curious to discover more of the city so I went on. Oh, how I've regretted that. The next day the city was left, but Van Morrison was gone.

It is nevertheless nothing compared with all other mistakes I've made in life. All the earth's resources that I have wasted, the ones I will now try to recover before I die.

I drift around a little hollow and realize that Las Vegas does not really attract me. When it begins to darken, I send a text message to Martin and ask if I can invite him for dinner. Yes, I get it. He says he has something new he wants to tell me at dinner.

We decide to eat in the copy of the Eifel tower, where it turns out to be fraudulent. Martin looks a bit embarrassed when he sees the prices, but I urge him to choose what he wants. I can afford to pay.

Martin orders a meal that I understand is very calorie-low and also contains many things like broccoli and Brussels sprouts. I have decided to spend some money tonight. So I start with a seafood platter for $ 69 as an appetizer. To my delight, I discover two vegetarian dishes on the menu. In addition, they are quite affordable, but that's not why I choose them.

When we have made our selections, I am very curious about Martin's news. He pretends it is a prize-giving ceremony on a sports gala. When we finish the main course and wait for a cup of coffee and a glass of rum, Martin tells her news.

He has decided not to gamble to increase his money. It is a consequence from that he has also decided not to do any surgery of the stomach. Instead, he has decided to use his savings on to the gym while starting to eat a lot more healthy and more low calorie food. His mate the security officer has gone through that trip and has lots of good advice to give.

I congratulate Martin on what I think is a wise decision. How did he get it?

Suddenly he had begun to think gambling is boring. It turned out to be more fun trying to find alternatives. He had googled to become Swedish, but also to different methods of losing weight. It had ended that he had come to the conclusion that the healthiest way to get rid of the obesity is to change his lifestyle.

He promises that if we meet again if I come back to the next four-year presidential election, he will be able to sit by the window if we get back on the same bus. I'm looking forward to it.

What are your next plans? I ask.

Martin tells me that he'll take the bus home tomorrow. It turns out that home to him is not Amarillo, as I had believed, but much further away. He leaves Las Vegas this afternoon and is home in Atlanta in the state of Georgia almost two days later. He must be back on his job as a teacher in a school for poor childning no later than next week. A friend of his is taking care of the pupils while Martin is doing this excursion.

We say farewell. He says he may come to Sweden before I come to the United States in four years. At the same time, I reveal a dream that I might realize in four years. I want to go with a cargo ship from Hamburg to Savannah and then continue to Atlanta and then continue through Alabama, Sweet home Alabama.

On my way back to my rental room, my smart phone rings. It is my wife who tells me that there is a terrible storm in Sweden and that it has taken down almost 50 trees on our farm. Some of the trees have crossed several roads, but my wife knows how to handle a chainsaw, so she herself has been out freeing the roads from obstacles.

But she will not have time to take care of all the trees that now need to be sown up. Should I come home and take care of them or will she hire someone who takes care of the devastation?

I think quickly, and decide that I do not want to go home yet. There is so much more to see and experience on this trip.

So I ask my wife to hire any of the Poles who usually take care of the things I do not have or cannot do - or have no desire.

My wife sounds a bit sour, but promises to solve the problem. She says it's a bit quiet and lonely at the farm when I'm gone. I get a bit of a bad conscience, but try to keep it away from me. And I succeed.

Today I have been riding a bus, seeing great sights. The bus is half full of old people from different countries, mostly in Europe. On the other side of the aisle, there is a woman from Zurich in Switzerland. She is traveling with a bunch of friends. They are on a group trip that takes them to the most anticipated sights in the United States for two weeks. She is a bit bored and would love to travel in my way.

In the air over the Grand Canyon, the helicopters hoover. It ruins the nature experience.

On the way back, I speak to an older couple from Stoke, England. They like to go on a group trip, which makes It possible to let go of all the thoughts on the practical.

The man tells me that they have voted for England to leave the EU because they think there are too many immigrants from other continents in England. They are bothered by the smell of curry as they pass the Indian restaurant on the street where they live.

They think Donald Trump will be a good president for the white middle class and that's what they care about. I'm not trying to convince them that they're wrong. They look like they will soon die anyway.

From Kurt Andersson's Facebook 

Megan Reeves, Albuquerque

Kurt! What are you doing in Las Vegas? I did not expect a good man like you to go to a place like that. I hope you are not gambling. Where are you going next? If you are going to San Fransisco I have a friend who is running an air bnb there. She is a journalist and is called Angela. I think you would really like her. If you are interested I could send you her mail address and phone number. Of coarse you could find her at the air bnb website. Her house is in a really nice part of San Francisco called North Beach.

Paul Jones, Dallas

Hi! It has been great fun following your travels on facebook. I followed you backwards, so now I have read about you being in Washington DC. But I have a question. Why do you not write in English? You speak good English, so that would not be a great problem. Of coarse I could understand most what you write with the translate function, but it would be faster for most of us to read in our own language.

Mia Turner, New Orleans

Hi Kurt!

I have a small message from Tina:

Yesterday she had a Swedish customer in her taxi. It was a young man who told her he would have voted for Trump if he were American. The customer told her that he is a politician in a right wing nationalistic party in Sweden. They talked a little more and Tina realized that she had a racist who despised black people in her car. Then she pulled over and asked him to leave the car. He had to take a long walk.

Robert Nelson, Kansas City

Hi Kurt, I read about you canvassing for the democrats. I have to tell you that I am a republican, but I didn’t vote for Trump. For the first time in my life as a grown up I did not vote at all. I do not trust Hillary Clinton and I don’t trust Donald Trump. It is embarrassing for everyone in the United States that such an important election is turned to a big joke.

Facts about Las Vegas

• Las Vegas is located in the state of Nevada. The capital of Nevada is called Carson City.

• Las Vegas had 603 488 inhabitants in 2013.

• The University of Nevada in Las Vegas has approximately 28,000 students.

• In Las Vegas there are copies of the Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, and Venice's channels.

• In addition to the tourism and gaming industry, there is the Las Vegas defense and agricultural industry.

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