Well I've been busy. After leaving Bishop Friday morning, I rode through Death Valley and made my way to Las Vegas. But let me tell you about this interesting couple of retirees I met in Bishop. This episode starts at the Starbucks as I'm waiting dor my order. A gentlemen approaches me and offers to take my bike keys and to go out with it for an hour "just to keep it warmed up". As it happens Ron, is retired and rides a BMW GS. He's also a newlywed of 10 months and he and his wife Janice, a former California Stae employee are on a trip through Death Valley and Yosemite,from their home in southern California. Ron warns me to make sure that i have plenty of water to drink as the temperature will be very hot in Death Valley and dehydration is a real possibility. We agree to keep an eye out for each other later in the day.
Well, about three hours later at a small nothing place in Death Valley as i'm turning around in a parking lot I see Ron and Janice in their Caravan. They've seen me and they want to taks some more. Well, what they really want is to make sure I'm still alive.
- "Well, what took you so long?"
-I dawdled, stopped at a bunch of places to take pictures.
- "Show me that water you said you had."
So I did. and Ron went to the back of his Caravan, opened a cooler and gave me a bottle of frozen water. And as though that were not enough generosity, he gave me three other bottles of water, and an admission pass for Death Valley Park - a $10 gift. We talked some more and he wiped the few drops of rain that had fallen on the bike(and my helmet)as we spoke. It was a wonderful encounter of strangers; we shook hands and parted company, doutless never to seee each other ever again but happy and enriched by the moments we spent together.
Well it did get hot; at the point some 240 feet below sea level the temperature gauge on my bike was showing 50 degrees. I told jane that i now know what a chicken in a convection oven feels like.
Having made a reservation for a room on the internet I arrived at the Riviera in Las Vegas late in the afternoon. After a quick shower I was off to discover. What a place. It felt like there were as many people on the sidewalks in front of the major casinos on "The Strip" as there are in Times Square. I had a great dinner of crabs, sauteed spinach with a glass of Sonoma valley chardonnay at Joe's, an establishment with its roots in Miami, in the Ceaser's Palace Mall.
Even if it was a late night Friday, I was up very early today and made my way to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon. Both of these sites are truly amazing, the former for its engineering grandeur and the latter for the natural beauty and magnitude. While there were many people at both places, it bwas not crowded and I was able to easily see what I wanted to look at. One could easily spend days exploring Grand Canyon and it's certainly something Jane and I could do, along with Yosemite.
I left the canyon after six which meant that I would have to find a room quickly. I was quite lucky to find one at the Menkopi Legacy Inn and Suites, a fine establishment which just opened this May in Tuba City Arizona. The Inn is owned and operated by the Kopi tribe business development association and the native staff are clearly quite proud of their place of employment. I was told I could park my bike right by the front door, and i mean right by, and that they would look after it during the night.
I've yet to finalize tomorrow's route but it in the direction of north and east.
I haven't figured out the problem that's preventing me from uploading pictures but I'll continue to work on it.
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