Take a Gamble

"The Vegas Strip" was the scene for our final epic battle with Las Vegas traffic ... in 105 degree heat ... sitting atop a hot engine ... road weary from a long day's ride across the desert. A fully loaded Harley isn't easy to keep upright at a normal stoplight. The strip was three miles of bizarre and garish hell.

We checked into our room on the 34th floor of Treasure Island, I soaked in the tub for a full 30 minutes.  

We slept for two hours and headed out at 10 pm recharged for Marty's first time in Las Vegas since he was 3 years old.  We walked the Strip, my favorite place on the planet for people watching.  We played blackjack at the Bellagio, I won enough to pay for a day of fuel.  About 1:00 am we headed for the parking garage and checked out the bikes for a ride to Fremont Street in downtown.  We gambled more and we won again, we were now up over $100. I shot this time lapse video on the ride back to the hotel.  Our heads hit our pillows about 3:30 am.

Thursday morning I rose about 8:00 and left Marty sleeping while I got breakfast.  It cost me $120.  The first $20 was for huevos rancheros, coffee and juice.  The rest was quickly consumed by a blackjack table.  Easy come, easy go.

We loaded our gear ... everything had gone up to the room except the can of spare gasoline ... and about 11:30 am we hit the road once more.  Our mission for the day was to cross the Mojave Desert and Death Valley bound for Santa Barbara.  It took brute force to ride into the 30 mph headwind.  The thermometer on Marty's bike read 115 degrees.  Partly out of boredom and partly to survive the wind blast, I took to "wake surfing" the 18 wheelers by riding close beside them as I passed then cutting away from them as I plunged through the bow shock of wind at their nose. 

We refueled at Barstow and road in search on an In-N-Out Burger for lunch, but we never found it.  Instead, we found another long stretch of old Route 66.  Marty commented that this was a nice break from the interstate highway.  The old road had been simply laid on top of the gently rolling desert, so it was fun to ride the long straight undulating highway.

Marty and I ride with a Chatterbox intercom that connects us to each other and lets us list to music or make phone calls.  Voice dialing with Siri on the iPhone is terrific.