Travel Log Week 9

Monday 28.8.00 Houston to Kerrville, Texas. We'd used the Sony Vaio to find DHL's local office address in Houston, as we had not managed to send our tapes and films back from Guayaquil last week and it was just round the corner. So after the usual breakfast of muffins and donuts, we rode round the corner to see if they could help us. Maybe it was just the language barrier in Ecuador, but here it seemed to be no problem and Karen Mitchell kindly agreed to walk it through for us and make sure that the tapes did not get x-rayed if possible. That was a weight off out minds and we went back to the Sleep Inn to load up the bikes and get ready for the ride out of Houston. We struggled down the long corridor with all the boxes on a trolley - it's amazing that all this stuff goes on the bikes at all, you'd have trouble getting it and us in an estate car! We needed to negotiate our way round the ringroad, which became a Toll route, $1 each bike, but we did not worry about this as after our Bolivian experiences. It's worth any money to ride good roads and this was a 5 lane monster. We found the junction for Interstate 10 easily enough, keeping together with the help of the Nady Intercoms from Motohaus, now we'd got some new batteries and we rode for another 1/2 hour to clear Houston heading towards San Antonio. The weather was blisteringly hot, over 100 degreesF again; we'd taken all the liners out of the Rukka gear, but it was still very hot & sticky riding and actually with hindsight we preferred being slightly cold if anything as we were in Patagonia; with this humidity it meant you did not dry out in the breeze, no pleasing some people though! After a fuel and Ice-cream stop ("Man, you can't be serious. Where is Cape Horn anyway?") we made good time towards San Antonio, the Interstate proving to be a magnificent road, similar to the smooth French Route Nationales and a pleasure to ride.

There are lots of quirky little signs around, "Don't mess with Texas, $1000 for littering", and we had a good laugh when we crossed a river called "Hollering Woman Creek"; named with feeling by someone! We could not quite work out the sales pitch of "Full Funeral Service for $1350, Have you ever met an Undertaker you can trust?" Strangely enough, we also saw a couple of squashed Armadillo's. We had not realised they came so far up the continent, the last one we'd seen in the wild was in Patagonia, 5000 miles ago. San Antonio is another big city and we wanted to get through it before we stopped for the night, and the freeways were fairly well packed as it was rush hour, but when you have double-deck 4 lane motorways heading out of town, traffic does move fairly well! As we left the city once again the contrast with South America was immense; there we had carefully planned our stops each day of necessity, but here there were motels and guesthouses every few yards, with a huge range of prices and services, loads of fuel stations, tyre stops and malls, quite incredible. You actually don't need a plan at all, just pull over when you feel like it.

We wanted to get a little further out and kept going into the Texas Hill Country towards El Paso still on IS10. The landscape was changing and getting higher, with hills and cuttings starting to appear. We'd seen signs advertising motels with pools, which sounded good. OK, we know we are supposed to be roughing it, but its' really hot......... the Motel 8 at Kerrville fitted the bill nicely, and we relaxed around the courtyard listening to incredibly loud crickets up in the trees and discovered they'd also got a hot spa. Oh well, it would have to do instead of a massage & sauna! For supper we crossed the road to the Cracker Barrel store who do craft stuff and and have a restaurant. We had to get some interpretation on the menu as we weren't sure what "hushpuppies" are, not dogs or old shoes but a local corn ball fried, very nice. We also tried Root Beer which tastes a bit like traditional cough mixture, but is actually very refreshing. The milkshakes were immense and John could not finish his main course as the shake had filled him up, so it was back for a lie down!

At last, a day's riding to new places and the contrast of today's 270 miles with the previous 6000 could not be more extreme. We have gone from having one pavement road only in some countries to having everything paved here and you can pull over anywhere and get a pint of coke and ice for $0.75, fuel is $1.50/gallon and all the vehicles are new. The trucks are all long bonnet US models with some big Volvo's around, but with these long straight roads you can see why, although they would quickly get shaken to pieces in Peru or Bolivia where European models are the norm. Plus, we can talk to people easily, though it has to be said there is still sometimes a communication problem with accents and words, apparently we sound Australian! But at least we can get technical and ask for double extra fries and mayo and know we are not going to get 2 fried eggs or a towel!

Tuesday 29.8.00 Kerrville (GPS N030.04.06.7'/ W099.06.28.2) to Fort Stockton, Texas (N070/W102.5 alt 3500ft) We had decided we wanted to get an early start in while it was cool, and after a quick breakfast (more donuts!) we were on the road by 09.30, continuing along Interstate 10 to put in a solid few miles before refuelling. Paul had decided to ditch the leg brace today, as it was just too hot with it on and it had gradually fallen down his leg during the ride yesterday, so he was taking it very steady at all the junctions. Honestly Gloria, he is being very careful! The landscape looked very similar to Patagonia, with long table top mountains separated by valleys and small scrubby bushes giving a lot of ground cover. The road was again superb, cut in smooth contours through the hills with plenty to spare each side and the temperature early on was perfect. The rivers in the valleys meant that a lot of crops were growing in good sized fields and there were also a lot of Hawks and Vultures around. We did see road-killed animals which looked like Racoons and Skunks, but not having seen either of these before in real life we'll have to find out if they actually were! We pulled off the Interstate for fuel at Sonora and while parked up at the Texaco having an Ice-cream, we were interviewed by the local newspaper "Devils River News" which was a good chance to make some contacts and talk about the Trip so far, and discuss Downs Syndrome issues, which again is a problem locally. It seems we were a "news item" and hopefully some feedback will come of this chance encounter, which would be good. We also met a couple of guys in a big Ford 150 pickup who had seen us earlier on the road, they were driving to Anchorage as well to start a diving job on the Oil Rigs up there, they reckoned it would take them 3-4 days to get to Seattle, doing 900 miles a day, a bit too hectic for us!

We headed back onto the Interstate and just kept going, we wanted to finish early before the heat of the day and by 14.30 had covered 250 miles, so we decided to stop at Fort Stockton, which had a good choice of places to stay. After checking out the relative cost against Pool size, we took a room at the Best Value Motel, a 1940's building which was partly renovated but quite comfortable. The lady of the couple next door had first stopped here in 1944 with her first husband and they regularly revisit the place and said they were happy it was being looked after again. After a pleasant afternoon staying out of the heat and swimming in the slightly slimy pool, we decided to go Mexican for dinner, and went 8 blocks down the street to the restaurant. We have to admit, as its' Texas, and hot, and you don't have to wear helmets here, we did ride the bikes down with only John's cap as the official headgear. Stupid we know, but we were very careful to steer clear of other road users and if you forget about the consequences of a crash, it is the only way to travel! Dinner was excellent if a little hot and the portions were vast, it obviously requires a lot of practice to eat this much and John is working hard at improving his technique, but we still could not get used to being surrounded by people wearing cowboy hats, you really feel like you are in a film, but again its all relative, only last week we were surrounded by Ecuadorian security men with shotguns all the time, just like a gangster movie, but it seems normal when you are there.

One really big difference we have found compared to South America is that here we are not noticed at all, we no longer stick out like aliens on large bikes and strange gear, so we can fade into the background quite easily, as big guys on motorbikes are not uncommon around these parts. This is quite a relief in a way, as we do not feel quite so much under the microscope all the time and it is so much easier to relax and take in the culture surrounding us now, rather than becoming the focus wherever we stopped before. We had a look at the map and since we were quite close to Roswell, the site of the "UFO" crash in 1947, decided to go that way tomorrow and see if we could spot any real Aliens!

Wednesday 30.8.00 Fort Stockton to Roswell, New Mexico, (GPS N33.24.28.1/W104.31.10.6 alt 3600ft ) The Best Value price did not include breakfast, so we hit the road at 08.30 and found Highway 285 north from IS10, which was a nice straight blacktop heading across the plain. The weather was overcast from last night, when thunderstorms were rumbling about and it was really quite pleasantly cool. The plain was covered in Nodding Donkey engines pulling oil up and there were quite a few road tankers hauling it away. Although the land is dry, irrigation schemes like those in Peru are operating, some farms seem to mix this with Oil extraction, presumably quite a good earner. We stopped at the McDonalds at Pecos for breakfast, lots of people in and out all the time, and typically standard meals, though they eventually gave up trying to fix the Shake machine and John had to make do with plain milk. We pressed on to the State Border and as soon as we crossed out of Texas, the landscape became much more hilly, and again with water from the Pecos River close by there was a lot of crops being grown. We stopped for fuel and lunch at Artesia, in the excellent "Chaos Cafe", good service and food and the bikes actually did attract quite some attention today. David Vorlage noticed the UK plates as he'd only been in London on business last week and could not believe there were 3 Brits just passing through! We got a really good reception and best wishes for the rest of the trip, which as we've said before is one of the great things about this trip, we can meet so many new people.

We arrived in Roswell mid afternoon, and were surprised to find it is a big place, from the documentaries we've seen we were expecting a single street town. The UFO centre is on Main Street, and we also noticed the Civic Museum and decided to stop closeby, in another traditional Motel, the Zuni, having first checked that the pool was satisfactory(!). We unloaded and went straight down to the Civic museum, we were not too interested in the art exhibition, but there is an excellent Wild West section featuring the Cowboy, the Army and the Indian, with actual clothes, uniforms and weapons, including a rifle (traced by its serial number) taken as booty by the Indians at the battle of Little Big Horn, some incredible 0.50" calibre Plains rifles used for hunting Buffalo, and a complete collection of Tomahawks. Add to this a collection of Spanish Armour and Muskets from the 1500's and it was quite informative. One local exhibit featured the workshop of Dr Goddard, who from the late 1920's was building solid fuel rockets here, very much along the lines of Werner von Braun in Germany, but ultimately without the same success, and he was eventually overshadowed by Von Braun who came to work in the US after WWII, eventually founding NASA.

We rode round to the UFO museum, which was started by the men who originally broke the story of the "UFO Crash" at Roswell in July 1947. There are lots of exhibits of models of UFO parts as recalled by those who saw the bits, affidavits from witnesses and service personnel, articles from the press, analysis of the various military explanations and some good recreations of events then and in similar sightings. There are three "crash sites" around here and some of the testimony is quite convincing, but of course there is no physical evidence available. One exhibit was brought in a couple of years ago by a guy who claimed it was metal from the UFO, but the museum has demonstrated it is probably a hoax and is actually a rare example of Japanese silver/copper lamination! Like our visit to Nazca, all you can really say for sure is that there certainly seems to be a cover-up of something, though what is being covered up is anyone's guess, but certainly very interesting. Their web site is at www.iufomrc.com if you'd like to have a look.

The other weird exhibit is a meteorite found by a guy on his ranch, which he claims proves that there is life on Mars. We had a look at the inside of a split (it is about 12" diameter) through a microscope, and it is strange, with little things like hairs growing in the middle which do move around. He claims no-one will analyse it scientifically, again, all you can say for sure is that it is strange. www.marsmeteorite.com is his site and worth a look if you are interested. So, suitably mystified, we risked the giftshop, as John needed another T-shirt and we also decided to risk Wal-Mart which seemed to be the only place around we'd get more DV tapes for the Video. It was a big risk to go in with at least two shopaholics in the team, and 4 shopping hours left, but we got off comparatively lightly and not only got the tapes, but razors, antiperspirant, sweets and a couple of watches as well, so much choice in these places.

At last it was time to hit the Pool, which was voted the best yet. We watched the thunderclouds gathering again but they missed town fortunately, and we decided to try the "A Taste of Europe" restaurant and you can imagine Paul's delight when he found the house speciality was Polish Golombki, or more simply, stuffed cabbage! It was superb as was all the food and the deserts. Many thanks to Eve Strzyzewski and the team for a wonderful meal, lucky it was not far to walk back! We had a look at the map and decided we'd be able to head west again tomorrow on smaller roads, passing through the secret test area's of the US Military which sounded interesting, and after a quick check for UFO's we downloaded the mail from the UK which was as ever great to receive, and sent you off the latest report, which we hope you are finding interesting, certainly it is a relief to be seeing new things each day again!

Thursday 31.8.00 Roswell to Datil, New Mexico Regretfully the Motel did not do breakfast so we got going early, hoping to find somewhere just out of town for a snack but unfortunately we got a bit lost. As we said, Roswell is bigger than you'd think. We got sorted out and found 380 West and stopped at "The Outer Limits" restaurant, where we had a full on breakfast. Apparently runny yolk should be requested as "over easy" and people are very fussy about having them done just right. It still seems strange having maple syrup and pancakes as an option, which Paul went for, and it was far better than the sorry McDonalds effort. Suitably fortified, our host suggested we stop at Lincoln and she was right quite, apart from connections with Billy the Kid, it is a beautifully preserved turn of the century small town, adobe and plank houses still as they were in the 1902 photos and set in beautiful scenery. Coming west from Roswell (having seen a sign saying "Caution, speed monitoring by Aircraft" !?) the plains had given way to limestone mountains, which gradually climbed and became wetter and it was like riding through a park, short green grass with neat little conifers everywhere. It looked as if it had just been mown moments before and since this was where the thunderstorms had been, a wonderful smell of fresh grass and pine resin. The next town on the road was Capitan which is also famous but for a very different reason - it is the home of Smokey Bear, who was found as a cub badly burned and clinging to a tree after a forest fire nearby. He was nursed back to health by the locals and spent the rest of his life as the figurehead of the Forestry campaign for Forest Fire prevention, the museum and film on him was most interesting. We carried on along great roads sweeping through the hills, not much traffic about but still very green and stopped at Carrizozo to refuel. Heading on out across the plain, the landscape started to dry out again and we crossed an amazing area of Lava, black and scorched, which had big flow marks and puddles in it, looking like it could have been red hot only yesterday. One of those monster retro styled Yamaha 1400 Lowriders went by, two up with no helmets and the biggest trailer we've ever seen on a bike behind, still doing 80!

Now we were climbing steadily again and went over yet another big mountain range, then suddenly we were in a huge valley maybe 30 miles wide and 100 miles long, which is the infamous "White Sands Missile Range", scene of the first A Bomb and Hydrogen Bomb test explosions and a very eerie place it is too! It definitely has an atmosphere all of its own and is very desolate. At one point Adam saw two white spots of light high up and moving directly apart. We pulled over and watched, but the speed they were moving, they could possibly have been planes? Not commercial ones though, for sure. A little further on Paul spotted a silvery light low down, and we actually got some video of this, which came out OK but on the camera viewfinder you can't really see what it is, so we'll have a good close look at that on the studio monitors when we get back! There was a road crew upgrading the pavement out in the middle of the valley and while we were waiting for them to convoy us through the works we chatted to them; they said they definitely do see some unusual things out here and they don't like staying over at night......So, mystified once more, we finally joined I25 and went north for a few miles before turning west on 60 again, climbing another fantastic road up onto another high plain and out across it dead straight for 25 miles, fantastic views of the sun setting, and for contrast the largest Radio Telescope Observatory imaginable, 50 huge dishes in the middle of nowhere.

The other side was another climb into more hills, with more of the parkland style setting and we pulled over at a small town called Datil. Attached to the garage was a store, restaurant and rooms, no pool but with the height we were at, the temperature was perfect, and we decided to stop for the night as it was a wonderful setting. The "Eagle Guest Ranch" was a real experience for us, off the beaten track and a genuine working place, guys just back from hunting stopping for beer and supper, other bikers who hate using Interstates going by or stopping, a horseman hitching up outside while he posted a letter, and locals in and out all the time collecting groceries etc. A big red notice requested all Firearms to be checked in, elsewhere that would look like a gimmick notice, but not here. They very kindly let us have the room free for the night after they asked what we were doing and it was a really nice place to stop, so quiet an peaceful, looking over at the mountain opposite. We cleaned up and went round the front for dinner, we just had to try the steaks, as we'd seen so many cattle out on the ranges today; and sure enough they were the biggest pieces of meat we've ever seen served, hanging off the sides of the plate, but so juicy and tender, quite exceptional! Unlike the last couple of evenings, they did beer, but it came with a frosted Jamjar to drink it out of, a new one for us. Another family came in and sat down for a meal, we could not help noticing the jangling of spurs as they came in, it is just a natural part of the scene, but it does give you the impression you are in a movie. We suggested John should start a barfight so we could get some good action shots, but he didn't seem to think it was such a good idea! We were going to have Desert, but had to let the steak settle and ended up outside chatting to Scott, Keith and Louie who had rolled up on lowriders, like us, old enough to know better. By the time we'd exchanged stories - they'd just been to the Sturgess Rally, biggest in the US apparently) we'd missed pudding, but never mind, those steaks were really quite sufficient on their own! Paul tried a lowrider for size and reckoned it was really comfortable, you have to admit, seeing a Harley in its natural environment they do make sense, but on anything rough or needing brakes, you'd be in trouble! So another good days riding and we are able to make good time on these roads, which means we can travel further or stop earlier, which is a major relief after some of the roads we've been over in the last few weeks.

The Crusaders at the wonderful "Eagle Guest Ranch", Datil, New Mexicoo

Click on photo for larger image

Friday 1.9.00 Datil, New Mexico to Flagstaff, Arizona (GPS N35.11.52.3/W111.39.13.6) As we expected our first night with fresh air and no aircon for a while was bliss and the view across to the mountain opposite was beautiful in the morning light. We went round the front for breakfast in the restaurant which was a proper nourishing menu to start the day. John was still full from the night before and just had a drink but Paul had a go at a pancake with syrup, while Adam had the "Over Easy" eggs, wonderful. Keith, Scott & Louie rolled up from their campsite and joined us for breakfast as well and gave us an insight into the local biking scene. They were off to another rally this weekend, unfortunately the wrong direction for us to go or we'd have joined in. So, now refreshed, we checked out. The Eagle Guest Ranch shop next - to stock up on sweets and hats. We noticed with a start that on the wall they had the skin of a Rattlesnake caught locally, it was huge, probably 20' long, yes really! We were advised to tread carefully when we stopped for a pee!

In good time and in cool but sunny weather we hit the road and before long the parkland scenery continued, beautiful rocky bluffs with pine trees and grassland looking like it was artificial, but no, it really is like this. As we rode the scenery gradually changed from limestone to red sandstone and we saw our first real Buttes, red fingers stuck up just like the cowboy movies, but still big grassy ranches with beef cattle out on the range. One ranch we noticed was the "Hooper Ranch", Adam's distant relatives perhaps? We stopped in Springerville for lunch, John was now ready for something small, Paul managed a meat filled Bagel with chips, while Adam was intrigued by the Belgian Waffle with Maple Syrup, Strawberry Jam, Cream and a choice of Bacon or Sausage! The waitress said yes, that was right, so it had to be tried and sure enough, as advertised it turned up with 3 rashers of bacon, weird! Individually the bits were lovely, but the combination.......and he still prefers Roy Penny's Bacon Butties! The other funny thing was the waitresses, all five were pretty and blonde, we could not work out if they were sisters or whether it was an employment policy? Well, we didn't ask and now we'll probably never know! We rode out of town past more Hooper Ranch signs, they're doing all right it seems, and carried on up towards I40 which is the new Interstate running west to Los Angeles. It basically chops up the old Route 66 and we really wanted to ride some of that famous route. Sure enough, after running over a long section of dusty red desert north from Show Low, we found a short section just before we joined I40 and it seemed we could pick up a longer section the other side of Flagstaff. We pounded down the Interstate towards Flagstaff making good time and saw a massive Train crawling across the plain, 3 engines pulling double deck carriages of containers, it must have been nearly a mile long, with 2 locos pushing at the back as well, quite a sight.

About then we noticed signs for the "Meteorite Crater" and since we'd been following a bit of a cosmic theme recently, we thought we'd have a look. As the side road wound up to it, the crater walls looked just like you thought they should and we happily parted with $10 to go inside the Viewing Hall and Exhibition. The view from the top of the crater wall was brilliant, the hole is 700' deep and 4000' diameter and it really looks the part. Apparently it was the first proven meteorite crater identified here on Earth,and it has been calculated that it took less than 10 seconds to form from start to finish! The Meteorite was only 150' across, going at 40,000mph, but it weighed 20,000 tons, as it was 97% pure iron! The Meteorite itself was vaporised, a shame for Daniel Barringer a mining engineer who spent 20 years and $250,000 up until 1920 looking for the solid lump of iron he believed was under the ground! The specimens we saw were apparently pieces which fell off just before it hit and were found in a nearby canyon, the biggest one weighed over 1250lbs and was fascinating to look at and touch, like a sculpture out of nickel iron. It was this red herring which caused Barringer to spend so much time and money! The Nasa Moon and Shuttle astronauts still do part of their training here in full suits and we could see why. The exhibition inside was really good, a computer game allowed you to model different sizes, compositions and trajectories of meteor and hit the earth with them, and it was quite alarming just how small you could make one and still wipe out life on the planet. A Meteor the size of the Arizona one hits every 50,000 years approximately, although it was a tiddler really, but the evidence from this site supports the theory that a monster strike in the Gulf of Mexico finished the Dinosaurs off....... www.meteorcrater.com is their website for more info. We felt it was a really good visit, much better than Houston and stayed longer than we meant to so we pulled into Flagstaff as the sun went down, but since we were now in Mountain Time it was only 5pm, or 6pm by John's new watch, or 7pm Houston time by the clocks on the bikes, take your pick!

There were loads of Motels on the road in, so we thought we'd shop about and quickly discovered that since it was Labour Day on Monday (the last Bank Holiday of the Summer ) all the prices were doubled. Plus, the first few places we looked at were seriously dodgy, in one the Staff looked like they were spaced out, in another the huge trains went by the front door every 22 minutes and in the next one when John and Paul went to look at the room, the guy in the adjoining room had the door open and was lying naked on the floor. We did not take that one and went through the town centre and finally found the Family Inn, which was much better, further from the trains and cheaper too! Dinner over the road was at Granny's Closet, plenty of salad from the Carvery and good desserts to follow. We got talking to a Moroccan guy working there who used to be a top athlete and still follows English football, he wanted to know how Seb Coe is doing these days, but he had not heard of William Haugue unfortunately or not! The plan was to head into Vegas tomorrow to fulfil one of John's ambitions by riding our bikes down the strip, one of the little waypoints we had set ourselves when we first started talking about this trip 3 years ago!

Scott, Keith and Louie after breakfast at the "Eagle Guest Ranch", Datil, New Mexico

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Saturday 2.9.00 Flagstaff to Las Vegas (GPS N36.07.06.8/W115.03.50.7) It was great to walk straight out of the door with all the gear and load up the bikes. Paul had gone for his early morning walk and come back with coffee & donuts from the gas station opposite, so we headed off out of town well fed and in more sunny but cool riding conditions, perfect. One thing we have noticed here a lot is the "Adopt a Highway" litter schemes. You can sponsor the state to clean a mile of verges and have your name put up on the sign for that section, there are some gems amongst the companies and church groups, we particularly liked "Pecos County Sherriff's Posse", it tells you a lot about local issues as you pass through! Mind you, it does work, invariably where no-one has adopted sections, there are big chunks of shredded truck tyre and beer cans all over the place, maybe we could do something similar in the UK? The Pine forest we'd entered on the way into Flagstaff last night continued, "Watch out for Elk" said the signs, and we believed them. We were due for a fuel stop and pulled over to a station - Paul lost his helmet and panicked for a while until he realised he hadn't taken it off! The cashier here was another one like the motel people last night who looked a bit out of it, very strange. We rode on down I40 to Williams, and stopped for some pics of John by the sign, then pulled off onto Route 66, and got some kicks out of pics in front of the sign marking the start of this 100 mile section. We found an old hubcap on the verge and tried to do a UFO video, but could not get it to hover properly, more practice needed!

Route 66 is a great road, meandering west through Indian reservations and you can see the ridges which border the Grand Canyon at times. The Indians certainly got a bum deal, the plots of land they got given back seemed to be the driest and most barren bits, though to be fair we did see big investment in schools and housing as well, so hopefully things are improving for them, but having seen some of their civilisation in the Roswell museum, its a tragedy that their way of life was destroyed so completely. While we were reflecting on all this scenery, John had the rude interruption of a Bee going up his sleeve since we had all the Rukka cuffs on full open for ventilation; he got stung quite badly and we had to stop to get the Bee out and make sure John was OK. No lasting harm done and he doesn't suffer reactions luckily, so we kept going and as we came to the end of this section of 66 it suddenly got a lot hotter and drier and turned back into desert proper. At Kingman we turned due north and back onto our original route at last, up 93 towards the Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, passing up over more hot desert with scrubby vegetation. We'd dropped a lot of altitude since Flagstaff so it had got much warmer and humid. We noticed lots of trailers and mobile homes out amongst the the bushes and one small community which seemed to have planes instead of cars in their drives, there were maybe 10 Cesnas in various states of repair, plus a few microlites and several with the engines out, very odd!

The road turned from dual carriageway to single track and started dropping down through big ravines towards the Hoover Dam, illuminated signs warned of delays over the Dam and soon we hit the back of a queue. No problem, we carefully went down the middle and pulled up at a viewing point looking over the lake, down at the Dam itself. It was very impressive, and we took loads of pics, despite the heat which was beginning to give us sunburn. We weaved down to the dam itself and crossed, it really is a wonderful piece of work, built 1931-4. Little details like the doors of the lifts taking people down inside which are a beautiful piece of Art Deco sculpture and the quality of the stonework and concrete are superb. We pulled over naughtily in a no-stop area to film the downstream side and just got it done before the security guard noticed and gave us a hard time, and after we'd pulled the dopey English people bit he did kindly tell us there was an official spot higher up, so we also filmed from there. We had time to spare so we rode up alongside the lake which is spectacular to look for a tea shop or something to have a break, but although it is a National park, the main facilities are marina's, Recreational Vehicle (RV) parks, swimming beaches and Personal Watercraft launching areas, all of which have BBQ sites behind, but you have to bring your own food & drink, quite surprising. Still, we did see one of the Mountain Ibex (?) with huge horns, and several of the "Roadrunner" birds, we don't know their proper name but they do look just like the cartoon one, spindly necks and legs and they do move fast across the roads, seeming to prefer this to flying!

So, somewhat parched, we passed up the Helicopter rides at $29 each (would have been good tho') and headed into Vegas 20 miles away to see the sights. As we dropped down onto the plain, the huge Hotels on the Strip really stand out, in particular the Tower, and the huge Pyramid of the Luxor complex. We found our way to Caesar's Palace and the Valet (who had ridden his BMW to Alaska a few years back) kindly said we could park round the back of the fountain for a pic session, this was just behind the bit where Evel Kineval did his jump. He also said we'd find it difficult to get a room for the night as it was Labour Day weekend of course, and suggested we phoned around, but a couple of waiting Chauffeurs helped out and got us a room at the Budget Suites, only catch was it was about 3 miles out, still, not a problem with our transport. They asked which soccer teams we supported, they were Liverpool fans since they'd met the team when Liverpool were in Vegas; they had some interesting stories about a couple of high profile players, but we will check with a lawyer before going into print with them........

So, pics done we headed out and found the Budget Suites, which is actually a small town of rent apartments. People really live here full time, complete with their dogs & cats, though it seemed odd to us. We got in trouble with security for parking on the grass in front of the room, but he assured us it was safe to park around the back, even though it was next to the road. After cold drinks and a swim, plus collecting and sending emails, we decided to unload the bikes and head back uptown to cruise the strip and get some more pics, then eat, since it is a 24 hr operation up there. As we were leaving, we asked one of the residents if we had to wear helmets here, she wasn't sure about that, but she knew it was definitely the law that you have to wear Shades!? Just as we were pulling away, she came back to say yes it was necessary (we'd already decided to wear them anyway) and could she have a lift uptown for a thrill. Tara didn't have a helmet or shades, or even shoes, but she was very insistent so we did give her a ride, very nice but also a bit weird, or maybe it's us?

The Strip was actually a traffic jam, we'd been told we could park under Caesar's Palace and after dropping Tara we cruised slowly down to the Tower, which has a ride round the outside, about 500' up, and back past The Miracle, which has waterfalls that burst into flame every 20 minutes, very spectacular. Add to this Treasure Island and its Pirate show outside, no wonder the pavements were packed, we've not seen so many people walking all the time we've been in the US! We parked under Caesar's Palace looking at the Valet driving Porsches & Ferraris' about, then walked back through the Casino to find the street. The number of people gambling in there was mind boggling, simply unbelievable. Security stopped us filming again, oops sorry, didn't realise it was a casino!) and we eventually found our way out onto the street. The sheer size of these Hotels is immense, it would take you a good day to explore each one; the Flamingo alone has real live Flamingos and Swans running around inside it! The Shows in the Hotels are mega too, Elton John; we heard Elaine Page got huge bucks for 4 nights; Seigfried & Roy the Magicians are booked 90 days in advance, so no point trying to see a decent act tonight. We tried to find somewhere to eat but it seemed all the restaurants did close at midnight and we were 3 minutes late, so much for customer service then! We ended up at the Coffee Shop which was actually good and had our first meal of the day, at 1am in the morning. We then went and did a bit of gambling, at least, Paul & John used up their spare change in the slot machines but no wins though!

We got the bikes back after getting lost in the huge shopping mall inside Caesar's Palace and cruised down to the far end of the Strip to take some more pics. The Pyramid is really impressive, bright lights up the edges run in different sequences to the top, where there is a huge searchlight shining straight up, quite a sight. We rode back past Paris, the Harley Cafe and the MGM to get back to the room. On the way down we stopped at a 24 hour gas station for drinks and were surprised to find people playing slot machines in there too, this is certainly Gambling City! The amount of stuff going on here is incredible, you'd need a week to see it all and a lot of cash. A great experience to see it, but not really our thing somehow. So, after a very long day we hit bed at 4 in the morning and tomorrow was going to be a crunch day, as Paul was now really worried about getting back to the UK, soon, and we had to decide what to do next.

The Cape Crusaders hit Cesars Palace, Nevada	The Hoover Dam, New Mexico / Nevada Border	John in his Rukka gear outside Ceasar's Palace, Nevada
Click on photos for larger images

Sunday 3.9.00 Las Vegas to the Grand Canyon (GPS N36.13.55.4/W111.58.21.2) Air conditioning again, so we did not sleep too well and no proper breakfast either. We got some bits & pieces, then tried to plan out our next move. Paul needed to get to Vancouver as quickly as possible really, as he has several deadlines he has to meet back in the UK. Our original route runs up the eastern side of the Rockies, away from Vancouver where we will be return-shipping the bikes from. The plus side about the western option was that we'd be able to see Death Valley and the Redwood forests, the downside that we'd miss the Grand Canyon, the High Plains and Yellowstone, and we'd have to swing east out of Vancouver to go north again. We could not do it all, as we'd heard that Autumn was closing in rapidly in Canada and we'd soon run out of time to be able to ride in Alaska. Paul did not want to risk crossing the Rockies any further north in case of bad weather, so, extremely reluctantly we decided to split up with Paul running up the West Coast, while John & Adam continued on the original route up the east of the Rockies. At least this way we'd be able to report on both sides of the Rockies and if he made good time to Vancouver Paul had his Continental $300 credit from the delayed flight at Guayaquil, (return fare Vancouver-Anchorage is $350) so he'd still have the chance to see Alaska. So we shared out the essential paperwork and tools to make sure everybody had the bits they needed. All we were short of was a set of tyre levers, there were motorcycle shops nearby but its a Bank Holiday today, of course! We rode up to the nearest gas station together and filled up, also John & Adam picked up another map of Nevada/Utah.

We said a sad farewell to each other and we all hit I15 and rode our last few miles together on the continent, till Paul split off and headed up 95 towards the west coast. We'd covered 7500 miles together, sometimes in atrocious conditions and it was really sad that we'd not be able to ride together to the end, but we'd conquered surely the most demanding parts of the trip together and achieved in hindsight an awful lot. We did not know what we were getting into in South America before we went and again with hindsight we were really glad we had decided to start there, otherwise we would have been lulled into a false sense of security by North America where, relatively, it is so easy to travel. Fuel is cheap (fill up for £5), the roads are good and where they are supposed to be and we can speak most of the language! The one factor we cannot beat is time, South America took us a long time due to the conditions, we lost a lot of time avoiding Columbia, the winter in Alaska will come, and in particular Paul cannot spend any more time away than he already has. However we have in many ways already exceeded our own expectations of the Trip and if Adam & John can get somewhere up north in Alaska before the snow shuts it down, then it will be a moral victory for us all. Without Paul's initial idea none of this would have happened anyway and we will be in contact with each other all the way as we complete our separate strands of the trip, so we will all share in the completion of each final chapter.

Adam & John, Pauls day to follow We carried on up I15 which was, as ever, a mega road, past the outskirts of Vegas and into the desert. It was baking hot again and as soon as we stopped for a map check, the heat really hit you. We rode on up to Washington and pulled off for a refuel and snack, more of John's favourite ice cream, "Big Ed's Flying Saucers"; two huge chocolate chip cookies with vanilla between, a meal in themselves! We chatted to a couple of guys also filling up, they were really into UK touring car racing and lived locally, but did not know the Canyon that well when we asked the best viewing points. In fact one had never been, but then there is so much of England we've never been to so it must be the same everywhere, we never visit our own attractions. We left the Interstate here and headed off down 59/89 to Fredonia, a lovely run around huge Buttes of red rock, we'd climbed up from Vegas's 1700 ft to more like 5000 and it was much cooler and great riding conditions, as could be seen by the number of Harleys about. (Weird sign of the day, "Six Mile Village - 3 miles" ). The other strange thing was most of the Pickups had Quad's in the back and many of the RV's were towing trailers full of them as well.

We cut south along Alt 89, which took us down to the border of the Kaibab National Forest and we climbed up to 8000', off the red sandstone onto limestone and to our surprise immediately we were in a big Pine forest, the deeper we went the thicker it got, and the road curved in and out of the woods in a fantastic sequence of bends, modest speed as its a 55 limit, but great to ride. We were worried about losing the light as we'd started late obviously and had already done 250 miles, but it held on as we finally got to the border of Grand Canyon National Park. We paid on the gate, where the Ranger asked if we had reservations ( Labour Day again! ) as they were booked solid, but we said we were just dropping by. Once inside the Park it was just like a Disney set, beautiful meadows running either side of the road up to big Pine trees, Larches and Juniper, with Deer about looking exactly like Bambi, big ears and spotted, very pretty! We spotted an adopted road sign which told us that litter collection on this section was paid for by "Scary Larry", whoever he is, his money is well spent, its spotless! We got down to North Rim just as the sun was setting and asked a Ranger if it was possible to take pics of us and the bikes on the edge of the Canyon, having told him our story so far. He gave us a hard time about pulling up in a non-designated area, but did give us directions to a good spot on another side of the Canyon about 10 miles away. We thanked him and set off in that direction, but just up the road came across a likely spot and pulled over. We'd just got the Vaio out and fired up when our Ranger friend pulled up with flashing lights and told us this was a non-designated area and he could now fine us $100 for being there. We hastily did what we could with the Vaio and moved the bikes 10' back onto the gravel, and got a lecture about being good. He did have a large pump action shotgun between the seats as well. He let us off, thank goodness, but then he immediately stopped next vehicle along the road with more flashing lights and they had to unload all their kit and seemed to get fined; we couldn't see what they'd done wrong either! So, the light going fast we rode carefully round to the point he'd suggested, which was actually superb, a stunning view, but we could see the sunlight moving up the Canyon walls, and literally got the pics with moments to spare, so sorry if they are a bit dark! We then took in the view which is absolutely exceptional, the gorge we rode around the top of in Aerequipa, Peru, is probably a longer drop, but the sheer scale of the Grand Canyon cannot be beaten. Add in the fantastic colours and shapes of rock formation and it is surely one of the wonders of the world. While we were stood there in the dusk we chatted quietly to another couple, (Kimberley & Alan, who are coming to fly around Europe in a light plane next summer), when some Deer came out of the woods to graze, a memory to savour.

We packed up the kit and rode carefully back, as we knew the Deer were about, and again it was like riding through a film set. Adam had been knocked off by a Deer some years ago and tried to keep John close behind, but sure enough, a Deer shot out of the bushes after he'd passed and went for the gap, John got sideways but just missed it! We refuelled at the park station, they said there might be rooms at the Hostel opposite, so we decided to try that rather than risk the ride 70 odd miles back to Fredonia with more deer about. A woman also filling up could not work out why we were dressed as Martians, then she realised we were not in a car......... The Hostel had no room, but they did say that it was possible to camp 1/4 mile away, which sounded great, so we had an excellent meal and the imported beer just happened to be Guinness, Praise the Lord! We rode back until we found the track up into the woods, then tried to put up the tent in the dark, not having had any of the camping kit out at all on the trip so far. John had spent 3 weeks "testing" it in the garden at home but it's not quite the same when you have an extension lead, bedside table and matters in there. Still, we did it in the end, and what an idyllic place to camp, a pine forest under the stars, with nobody else around. We went to sleep after a very long couple of days, listening to the owls screeching and smelling the wonderful night air, wondering what the next stage of the trip would bring.

Cape Crusaders Adam & John at the Grand Canyon	Proof we did get the tent out	John at the Grand Canyon
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Link to next update: Week 10