sandiego.com Blogs

I slept late (8am), rose and wrote a little, then packed up and headed to the Running Bear Pancake House for eggs, sausage hash browns, orange juice and coffee all for $8.76. Then I hit the road for a long day. With no one to talk to anymore at quick stops, I wore my full face helmet to help slow the leaching of moisture thatwould come with the rising temperatures as I headed south.

At each fuel stop I drank a lot of water with an energy drink now and then. About 4pm I was feeling a bit overheated so I stopped in near Cedar City at a Dairy Queen for lunch and a long slow sip of a large chocolate milk shake. I met Jumpin’ Jack Flash from San Diego…he and his wife were on their way back from Sturgis, towing a harley on a trailer in an un-airconditioned van. He said that another Harley rider at the stop who’d introduced himself to me earlier had noted we were both from San Diego. I got started again and just a few miles down the road, Bill, the other rider, was pulled to the side of the road. He’d mentioned having electrical problems, so I drove back up the shoulder to make sure he was still mobile. The problems didn’t affect running of the engine or riding, but he didn’t have any speedometer, tac or (on his bike) the electronic cruise control. (I have the poorman’s version, a thumbscrew underneath the throttle handle…makes the throttle stick so I can relax may hand and just make adjustments for hills and wind. Bill fell in behind me and we rode the rest of the way to Vegas as I set the pace.)

Turns out Bill’s family has been in business in Laughlin Nevada for a long time and he’s even run for mayor. We parted in Vegas and I pulled off the freeway to find a hotel. It was about 1:30am MST but 12:30am in Vegas. Deciding to cruise down the strip to look for something nice for my last night of vacation, I checked first at Caesar’s Palace, but they were booked. It was so hot, and the traffic so snarled on Las Vegas Blvd (where you can’t split lanes as in California) my Harley had a difficult time starting up when I came out. The res clerk had said that the Rio, their sister property, was selling rooms for $100 a night so I went over there and checked in.

The Rio now have a customer for life. Nicole at the res desk put me into a suite on the 39th floor with a Jacuzzi, a living room and dining room and two bathrooms. That solved the question of whether I would try to beat the heat by rising early or by sticking around until later. I got a 1pm checkout; deposited my things in the room, freshened up a bit and headed out to explore a bit. I wound up having a drink in the lounge on the 50th floor and then hitting the sack. The setting was quite the contrast to the previous two days: going from hiking gingerly around a grizzly to looking out at the lights of Vegas.