Day 2 – Thursday
We awoke around 8 a.m., ate some breakfast and prepared for the other half of our drive. We left Circus Circus at 10 a.m. and turned north. I knew that Shelby Automobiles was based in Las Vegas, but couldn’t remember exactly where until I saw some signs along the freeway touting the Shelby Museum and factory nearby the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Since we had to drive right past there, I took the opportunity to stop and look around. The boys know who Carroll Shelby is and can recognize a Cobra by sight so they were eager, too.

The museum was kind of neat, but more like an over-sized gift shop. We stayed about 20 minutes and then drove through the factory complex and looked at some of the cars on which they were working. The was also a huge parking lot full of Shelby GT Mustangs awaiting delivery.

The fuel gauge on the RV showed a quarter tank of fuel remaining, so I passed up the opportunity to fill the tank near the Shelby factory. In hindsight, that decision turned out to be a critical error.

I think it was about 10 miles north of the factory that we exited the freeway and began to drive on two-lane roads which would comprise the rest of the trip to the salt flats. As I drove, I kept one eye on the fuel gauge and the other on the road. The lower the fuel level in the tank got, the harder I looked to spot some sign of a gas station on the horizon. With every hill we crested, I expected to see the next town. After traveling 38 miles from the Shelby factory and the last known gas station, the fuel gauge showed very little remaining fuel, so I found one of the rare places to stop on the side of the road which stretches through the barren desert landscape. I booted up my laptop computer, connected the GPS, and viewed our exact location on the map.

If we stayed the course, we’d need to drive 51 miles to the nearest town. If we reversed course, we’d only have to drive 38 miles. I knew we didn’t have even enough fuel to go back! The boys could tell that something was wrong and asked me what it was. I told them, “we’re going to run out of gas.”

After analyzing our options, with my heart in my throat, I decided to turn around and head back towards Las Vegas. I figured that we’d be better off running out of fuel near the freeway and closer to civilization than in the absolute middle of nowhere. I was also concerned for our safety if we ran out of fuel on the road that we were currently on because there’s almost no runoff area or shoulder on most parts and no phone service. I was going to bring my dad’s satellite phone, but he was using it while hunting in British Columbia at the time.

Trying to depress the accelerator as little as possible in order to save fuel, I turned the RV around and headed back towards Las Vegas.