Leaving Las Vegas

Banjo playing George lives in Norco, horse capital of the US. We met him on our last night of camping in Mexico when he kindly invited us to stay at his house. The generousity of the North Americans amazes us. Everywhere we go, we have met strangers and friends alike, who can't do enough for us. From accommodation, food, directions, to help in any way, shape or form, there is always someone around wanting to do something for us or at least give us a friendly wave.
George had emailed us his address explaining that the back door would be unlocked and probably the front also. He would be away picking up his daughter from college and he may not be back to see us, but we were to go in and make ourselves at home. Fortunately he and Sarah made it back the same evening as us and we were treated to some banjo before bed.
An oil change for Mike in the morning before we head to Vegas, baby!

Dualling banjos!

Getting back into true KLR form, what should have taken us 4 hours takes us 7. The temperature was maxing out my thermometre at 50 degrees. Route 15 is the main thoroughfare to the Canadian border, inland, and the traffic doesn't sit still at over 75m/h. My little baby couldn't cope and overheated. I was flatout sitting on 120km/h and with the thinner oil put in by the mechanic in San Diego, she struggled with the heat. Just across the border into Nevada, we chance upon a Tourist Information Centre that has a phone line set up for the sole purpose of organising accommodation in Las Vegas. With that sorted, we decide to take a look at an outlet centre across the way and hang out in the airconditioning until it cools off to a more acceptable 45 degrees. Shopping done, we get to Las Vegas, at sunset. It's absolutely roasting and we shower and hole up in our airconditioned room for a good few hours.

2am is the best time to stroll along the 'strip', it isn't so crowded and the temperature is almost bearable. We missed all the cheap all you can eat buffets though so it was dodgy food at some cheap dodgy casino offering $1.99 margaritas. How could we refuse.
We drag our weary butts out of bed the next morning, knowing that it will be unbearably hot outside. As we didn't see much of Vegas the night before, we pack up, don our jeans and boots ready for an afternoon departure but head out for a look see. After checking out a few casinos, you get the idea that they're pretty much all the same. Sensibly and for some reason, I'd remembered that you can get into Ceasar's Palace hotel pool easily enough and remember to keep our swimmers in my day bag. Looking totally out of place in jeans and boots, we stroll around the pool, pick up some unused towels and stake our sun loungers in the shade. About an hour of frolicking in the water and relaxing, we decide we really should be making a move. Back into jeans and boots we head up to New York, New York for the roller coaster ride. Standing in line, Mike and I look at each other, both thinking, 'What the hell are we doing?' It was literally a scream and we finally recovered about a half hour later. Next on the list of things to do in Vegas was the all you can eat buffet. The cheapest one was at the Sahara. Another hour later, bellies full, we catch the mono rail back to the Imperial Palace, where our bikes were parked. It's hot, we're full and very tired. Maybe we should stay one more night.

Vegas, where anything goes!

After discussing the various merrits of the buffets on offer at the diiferent hotels with the check-in lady, and explaining that the little convenience store within the hotel was charging $4 for what equated to a cup of milk, she kindly threw in two vouchers for the breakfast buffet the next morning.
We played $2 on the 1 cent slot machines on our way back to our room and that was Vegas pretty much done for us. Phew, I was exhausted.