The three text messages included two photos, which Jason said had been sent to him by Spencer Jack's uncle, my favorite nephew, Joey.
Jason indicated he had no memory of when these photos were taken, but guessed that the first one you see here was taken atop the Stratosphere Tower in Las Vegas.
Jason wondered if, due to my youthful appearance in this photo, that he and his brother had taken me to Vegas to celebrate my 21st birthday.
Well, on my 21st birthday, if I remember right, the arrival of nephews on the planet was a few years into the future.
I do not know how Jason managed to forget that during August of 1998, months before I moved to Texas, Jason and Joey flew me to Las Vegas for four days, staying at Excalibur.
This trip to Vegas was documented via a webpage, years ago, titled, if memory serves, Nephews in Vegas.
That webpage documentation documented, in detail, the troubling incident which found us stranded for hours atop the Stratosphere Tower, waiting for electricity to be restored. It was well over 100 degrees, which soon had the Stratosphere Tower interior heating up to an uncomfortable level. Eventually cooling libations were provided. When we finally were able to get back to ground level we were greeted by the casino's manager who comped us a buffet dinner after I told him we were starving after the lengthy ordeal.
The other photo which Joey sent Jason which Jason then sent me is that which you see below, which had Jason asking me if I remembered to what Joey and I are pointing.
Again, I am shocked Jason does not remember these type important details.
On the second day of our four days in Las Vegas we learned that on that day there was a chance that Death Valley would break its temperature record at the lowest location in the Western Hemisphere. A location in Death Valley called Badwater, a couple hundred feet below sea level.
The nephews were onboard with driving to extreme heat. We loaded up with plenty of liquid and headed west.
In Pahrump we stopped to get gas. Hovering overhead a billboard advertised Pahrump's Bordello Museum. The nephews thought going to the Pahrump Bordello Museum would be a good Nephews in Danger experience, but I nixed that idea, and so we continued west to begin the long descent into the Valley of Death.
Badwater was HOT, but several degrees short of the record. We continued on, eventually getting to that which Jason asked what Joey and I were pointing at.
It was Zabriskie Point to which we pointed.
The memory of being in Vegas with my two oldest nephews seems recent, but so much has happened, and changed since then. In 1998 I still had a house in Mount Vernon, Bill Clinton was president, 9/11 was just a date which occurred every year. Donald Trump was a sleazy philanderer.
And, apparently, I looked to be only 21....
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