Laughlin to Las Vegas

Today is a shorter one, with only about 100 miles travelling. We slept in a little. 7am rise for breakfast and Mark to do the blog. It couldn't be done last night because they wanted money for wi fi in your room. Stuff that its been free all over America.

We stepped outside at 9am and hello its already over 100 degrees. Desert here we come.

We rode the Memorial Highway. An Interstate type of road so you barrel along at 80mph and the miles disappear very quickly. Every so often a piece of road was dedicated to "Veterans of WW2" or Veterans of Vietnam" one piece of road was dedicated to "Veterans of the Global War on Terror"

Marks been really enjoying the novelty of the straight boring roads and heat blast. Gerry has been enjoying it but the heat has been harder work for her. A surprise as she normally can "out heat" Mark any summer.

We arrived at Hoover Dam for a look around. We got off and had a poke about and rode across the Dam. Its a beautifully made piece of engineering.

The newly finished Hoover Dam bridge  is spectacular. It soars high above the Dam and Canyon below. It spans across Nevada on one side and Arizona on the other. The best views from it are by walking the bridge, so that is what we did, despite it being roughly 45 degrees in NZ money.

We had some great views up there of the Dam.

Then because it would be rude not to, we went back down the motorway and rode both ways over the bridge.  Mission accomplished.

Time for a 99 cent Shrimp cocktail at one of those revolting Casinos in the area, and then into Las Vegas.

Its bit of a shock after living in small town America and out of a saddle bag to see it loom up for the first time.

You feel like George Jetson as suddenly there are flyovers, multi lane interstate, cars whizzing past you on both sides. You had better be on your game driving around here.

You see the city from 15 miles out and already its like the Auckland motorway on steroids.

Las Vegas is big, loud, crude and in a hurry. It's packed with people. It's hot too.
Sitting in a gridlock with your air cooled Harley pumping all its engine heat from beneath you is probably bad for the reproductive system.

We arrived into our nice Hotel and waited about half an hour to get our key. Gerry used the time to cool off with a dip in the pool.

We decided to see a show, which we did. Tick. Then had a look around the strip on the dark. The temperature was pleasantly hot.

So far we have found the place a bit of a culture shock and haven't really enjoyed it. Its a false seedy place, but maybe our attitude will soften after a bit if time here.We have two "rest" days here so we'll find out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFw5a5Bp_Pw