I have hardly been home other than to sleep lately. We usually wait until I know that one of us (wife or I) will be home most the day to keep an eye on the jerky. I usually cut the meat and marinade it the night before letting it sit in the refridgerator until morning when it goes in the dehydrator.
We also try to grab the steaks on sale when it is $3-5 per pound and we'll get 5-6 pounds for jerky. Many people don't realize the amount of money and work that goes into a decent batch of jerky. It takes some time to prepare and clean up, too.
My six year old loves jerky and always wants to have some for our road trips.

His favorite is turkey jerky (mine, too).
There is a Jerky Store in Vegas just off of Fremont street. We stopped in and did some shoppng last year at SEMA.
The Beef Jerky Store, Your Omiyage Headquarters! I'm sure well stop in and do some shopping there again this year. :bigups
Randy