To help save some frustration and sanity after driving into The Meadows in hopes of hitting it big or scoring that major account, I wanted to recommend some tips when leaving Las Vegas on your trip back to LA.
First, leave as early as possible, and by early I mean like 5-6AM. I left downtown around 12, went to Pinball Hall of Fame for a few minutes then left around 1-1:15pm. When I got to the Jean Exit, it was backed up. I drove 10-15 mph for the next hour until I got to Primm.
Second, have some money or a Credit Card handy. In my case, I was stuck in Primm, I wasn't willing to go 10-15 mph because it would take 3 hours to get to Baker. So I went over to The Mad Greek and got one of their famous Gyros(pretty good) and had some Coke, I didn't pay for Coke and I'm surprised they weren't mad at me. I stayed at Primm's Landing for 4 1/2 hours checking out some new games and walked around in the outlet mall. Not bad for purgatory. So I left Primm around 7 PM and 15 miles later, around the Zzyzx exit, it was backed up again. I didn't get to Baker until about 9 PM. I pulled over for a second time.
Third, drink plenty of water. So I go into Baker, at 9 PM it was 108 with the wind blowing around 10 MPH. I felt like I was in a convection oven. So I went to Del Taco and got some ice water. Despite the traffic being backed up, I only waited 15-20 minutes and decided to suck it up and deal with one of the longest traffic lines in the world. I went through the California Agricultural Inspection station around 10 and got to Barstow around 10:30 PM. To get where I wanted to go, I took I-15 to I-210, then traveled on CA 134 and caught I-5, exited CA 118 where I re-exited onto I-405.
Finally, I got into the valley just after midnight...MONDAY MORNING.