Well, we can now say what hell must feel like – 42 degrees Celsius driving across the Hoover Dam . . . but maybe I should start at the beginning.

This morning started out beautifully chilly at 18 degrees Celsius with some clouds – perfect driving weather for us.  We can just drive and drive in this kind of weather and not even looks at our odometer.  We did a quick stop in downtown Winslow, Arizona for the touristy “corner” photo opportunity and then hopped on the I-40 again to cover as much distance as we could before we needed breakfast.  We were quickly surprised by greener and greener vegetation and larger and larger trees (no more shrubbery!) even though we were still in Arizona.  By the time we reached Williams, Arizona we could almost believe we were in Jeremy’s home province of British Columbia.  Williams was even more bustling and active than Gallup, New Mexico.  As we get farther and farther west, the Route 66 towns are becoming less and less ghost-like.  We figure Williams is still a going concern because it operates a tourist train to the Grand Canyon and other excursions related to the canyon.   And no, we are sad to say there was no time to see the Grand Canyon – sorry to disappoint anyone awaiting those photos.  We are already behind schedule by about three days, so we could not afford to spare another day in Williams and we had reservations in Las Vegas.  We did take a photo of the Grand Canyon from a distance at the embarkment point from the train, though, and we have added Williams, Arizona to our list of places to which we need to come back and spend more time.

Our final Route 66 stop and Arizona stop was Kingman, Arizona.  Once again, it was a busy little town.  We stopped at a Cracker Barrel to have some of their raspberry ice tea and to try and get mentally prepared for the run through the desert on Highway 93.  I do not think enough rest and fluids could have prepared us for that stretch into Las Vegas.  It started out not bad, when there was no construction and the speed limit was 65 MPH.  Our first 100 KM seemed to be OK.  The last 50 KM was deadly hot and was done at construction zone speeds and through the Hoover Dam project.  My bike’s gas gauge went crazy and our radios refused to function in the heat.  It was miserable and, unfortunately, did not allow us to really appreciate the Hoover Dam.

When we finally got up to highway speeds and made it into Las Vegas, we thought we were through our suffering and we would be at The Venetian in just a few short minutes.  It was only 5 KM down Tropicana Boulevard after all and then just a quick jaunt down the Los Vegas strip – how hard could that be?  Those were the longest 5 KM ever!  Traffic was crazy, lanes suddenly ended or were closed for construction, and the red lights seem to be about an hour long.  Also, Las Vegas does not have “slow” days.  It is busy all the time, weekday or weekend.

By the time we got to The Venetian we were soaked in our own sweat and then discovered there was no luggage valet service from the motorcycle parking area.  We walked into The Venetian and we were bombarded by people, lights, and sound – sensory overload – and then we had to wait in a line like at the airport to check-in.  By the time we got to our room, we were in a pretty sorry state . . . and then we still had to make two more trips to the motorcycles to get our luggage! 

Maybe they put something in the Las Vegas water but somehow we managed to perk ourselves up and get out to supper and to The Blue Man performance for which we had tickets.  We almost fell asleep waiting for the show to start but once it got going, there was no way we would fall asleep.  What an amazing experience!  I do not even know how to describe it – you definitely just have to see it.

We’re here for two nights, so tomorrow we’ll check out “the strip” and see what all the fuss is about.