(Hoover) Dam! We're in Vegas

Day Sixteen: Kaibob Forest AZ to Las Vegas NV

Last night a pair of coyotes sang to each other from within this campground. My hearing isn't very good, but the Pirate thinks our tent was right in between them.

Speaking of coyotes, we have decided that we need to watch all of the Roadrunner/Wile E Coyote cartoons again. The landscape of the cartoons seems so fictional, but after being out here we see that there is direct and blatant inspiration. At both the Grand Canyon and Mesa Verde we realized that it was entirely possible to be running along, run straight out into mid air then fall just like Wile E Coyote always does. Well, without the subsequent episodes that Wile E. gets.

Leilo's

We head south to Williams to fuel up, then steer the Girl west again. Our plan is to take Rt. 66 ( to get our kicks) as far as we can. It turns out that we have to ride I-40 for about 29 miles first. I like that I-40 goes through Raleigh and Asheville too, and that is was possible that some of ya'll were on the hwy at the same time as we were. Anyway, Rt. 66 is goofy, lots of corny 50's memorabilia that distracts from how cool this route probably was in the 50's. We saw old rail cars from the Grand Canyon Railway that inspired some romantic day dreams. I also enjoyed all of the Bermashave signs. They are the tiny signs that are placed at intervals one after the other, I don't know what to call these. Anyway, one read “Cattle crossing......means go slow.....that old bull.....is some cow's beau.....Bermashave”. Another read “Train's a-comin'.........whistle squeeling.....pause! avoid that......rundown feeling....Bermashave”. Pretty cool. We ate at a place called “Leilo's” in Seligman. We had the chicken fried steak (which was the official house specialty), but I wished we'd gotten the brats. The owners are German, and from the looks of the food coming out of the kitchen, the brats and schnitzel are the way to go.

If you have a little 4 gallon tank like ours, make sure you fuel up in Seligman before you get on Rt. 66. There only other gas is in Truxton. Also at this gas station is a sweet natured donkey who will let you feed him hay and rub his ears.

We've lost about 3000 feet in elevation so far, so it's hot again. Riding in this kind of heat is really draining. I can feel my eyelids sweat. At breaks I can drink a litre of water and never have to pee. This is not Mermaid weather at all. The upside is that the air is constantly perfumed with white sage. I will never be able to pay $5 for a bundle of it back east now that I've driven through it for 5 days.

Storm over the Hoover Dam

We realize we're riding into another big storm as we approach Las Vegas. This troubles us, because we know we have to cross Hoover Dam, which is already known for having high winds. This looks like a typical desert storm with driving wind and rain and lightening streaking from the clouds in disturbingly close intervals. We pull off the road and watch it pass along with some other bikers (we're getting smarter). Once the storm passes, we bolster ourselves to cross the dam. It turns out to be a very short distance, no problem at all. We were prepared for something more dramatic.

Soon enough we are at our Casino where we've found a room for $36. It's in an area a little outside of Vegas proper, so I have yet to see The Strip. I have to admit, I just don't think casinos are my thing. I can see why everyone else has so much fun, but I'm really only interested in the big fat bed and big fat air conditioning that's waiting in the room.

Our decision today is: do we leave at 4 am in order to cross Death Valley before it hits 117, or do we rest a day. It's tricky, because neither of us really want to linger in Vegas, and the room rates are going up because of the weekend. But, we're also exhausted. It seems that our rhythm is to ride for 3 days and rest for one. Riding takes more energy than I ever realized. Well, there is at least one easy decision, we don't need to think about food. Vegas is known for quantity, not quality, so we're happy with our granola bars and fruit in the room.