A quick summary...
Vegas was brilliant, then I went to Tonopah, Nevada which was also great (and host to the Central Nevada Museum, a gold and silver rush museum which was pretty cool). I stayed in St George for way too much money, slept beside the road near Joseph, Utah and chatted to a great-great grandmother who is in her sixties (?!!), stayed at a motel mostly frequented by truckers in Parachute, Colorado, saw amazing mountain landscapes along route 70 and am now in Boulder.