Viva Las Vegas !

The drive from Santa Fe was wonderful, it took two days and en route we passed through Flagstaff close by the Grand Canyon and through some wonderful wilderness complete with cactus and tumbleweed. It was reminiscent of a scene from " Once upon a time in the West", and I expected John Wayne to come galloping over the plains at any minute.

It's amazing what you see in the desert!

Our journey took us over the Hoover Dam, by way of the new bypass, built in 2010, that is 2,000 ft long and towers 900 feet above the great Colorado river. Unfortunately for security reasons you cannot pull over on the bypass, which meant that taking a photo was completely out of the question, so you will have to follow this link to see the breathtaking views we missed!

After crossing the dam we were only about thirty miles from our destination. We had decided to overnight in a truck stop just half a mile away from our ultimate destination, the Mandalay Bay convention centre, which lies at the beginning of the famous, or should I say infamous, Las Vegas Strip, next door to the prestigious The Hotel at Mandalay Bay.

The reason we stopped at the truck stop rather than go to the RV campsite was because we were going to arrive at the venue early the next day to get a good position, ready to unload the show gear before it got too hot and before the queues for the trolleys grew too long. The Mandalay bay convention centre is a union venue so exhibitors are not allowed to handle their own gear! We had to unload everything from the back of the RV and then stand in line to be allocated a guy who then loaded everything onto the back of his cart so that he could take it into the hall. Luckily enough Tony helped load so we managed to get everything onto just two cart-loads. They charge by the load! 

We got set up pretty quickly and were able to get the campsite, the Las Vegas Oasis RV resort, while it was still light. It was the swankiest campsite we have ever stayed in with a hotel-style reception, grass areas beside each site, a selection of swimming pools and hot tubs, a very well stocked convenience store, and even an area where you could get involved in a Texas Holdum Poker game if you felt lucky.

The staff there were incredibly helpful and we couldn't fault the place, we will definitely stay there again, and it wasn't any more expensive than the other sites we have stayed in. Tony got the awning, chairs, and BBQ out and we were cooking!

SuperZoo is a very large pet show, not quite as big as Global Pet that we do in Florida in the spring each year, but it certainly draws in the pet store owners from the western states of America.

Our stand at Superzoo

Day one was relatively quiet, but we were told that this is not unusual as the visitors are all just viewing the various vendors and making up their minds which booths to visit in the coming days.

Day two was much busier, with a lot of interest in the products, we had customers come by who had seen us earlier in the year in Florida, but this is a slow business and I think with the economy the way it is, people are being very cautious about taking on new products and spending money.

Day three was our best day with several stores coming back to place orders. We met a new member of the Mud Bay team, whose stores are up in the Seattle area of Washington state. Katy is veterinarian who joined the Mud Bay team not long after Tony and I did the training session with Mud Bay in April this year. I took the opportunity to go through the dog and cat products with her in detail and was able to provide her with a more in-depth knowledge of the various herbs in the products, she is going to be a great asset to this fantastic forward-thinking company.

The show finished at 3pm and I am currently doing this blog whilst waiting for the union guy to turn up with his cart, so we can get all the gear back out to the RV in the carpark. Only been waiting two hours!!

Viva Las Vegas!