Viva Las Vegas

Today was a rest day to explore this great town.

We are staying at the Paris Casino and were amazed at how well done it was inside. They have created a French Village theme and you would swear that you were in France not in Las Vegas.

There is a monorail which connects all the major casino's so we purchased a day pass and hopped on and off the monorail whenever we wanted to.

We wandered around checking out all the casino's as it was too hot to walk between each one.

Our favourite was Caesars Palace then the Paris Casino followed by the Bellagio.

Kerry was excited to hear that there were live lions at the MGM casino so we wandered over there to have a look and take photo's.

There are plenty of places to eat and drink and we were spoilt for choice.

Tomorrow we leave Ken and Christine who are heading up to Salt Lake City and we head back to LA to drop off our bike and rest before heading up to Canada for the next phase of our trip.

We are also looking foreward to catching up with Don and Carolyn who are over here at the moment on a car buying trip.

An old Morgan on display... I would love to own one!

Inside our hotel...

The foyer of the Caesars Palace Casino.

Kerry and Christine hamming it up.

A Kerry shot from inside the MGM casino.

Grand Canyon to Las Vegas

We awoke to find some Elk feeding outside our room again so the day was started with the camera clicking away again.

Today we are heading to Las Vegas so it was time to pack the bikes and head off. The day started out quite cool as we are still over 6,000 feet but as we headed down to Williams it got a lot warmer. Before too long we were off the main highway and on Route 66 again. This route is going through a resurgence as people are realizing that it is so much a part of the history of travel from West to East and who knows how long it is going to survive modern changes.

We stopped at a town called Segman which has a lot of memorabilia dating back to when Route 66 was in its heyday (See photo's).

From there we headed to the Hoover Dam and boy did it get hot. We saw the traffic build up and thought that it was because all traffic has to go through a security checkpoint bur when we went through we realized that there had been an accident earlier and the traffic so bad that it took an hour to cross the wall. In the meantime the temperature reached 126 degrees (approx 45c) and as we were stopping and starting it felt like we were in a furnace. Kerry was almost passing out in the heat.

Once we were through the dam it was a straight run in to Vegas and as soon as we arrived at our hotel we hit the bar for a couple of beers before we checked in.

The massive new bridge being built over the Hoover Dam.

This has taken years to build.

The Hoover Dam near the wall.

The traffic going over the dam wall (Temperature 126F)

A layabout in the Route 66 town of Segman.

James Dean found his number one fan.

Early morning over the Grand Canyon.

Elk feeding outside our room.

The Grand Canyon South Rim

Wow, wow, wow. What a fantastic way to have a 2 night rest from the bikes. We are staying at the Grand Canyon South Rim lodge called the Thunderbird Lodge which is only a few steps from the rim itself.

We arrived here from the North Rim which is only 10 miles as the crow flies opposite us but took us 5 hours on the bikes to get around to the South Rim. Once again we are at over 6,000 feet so it is a bit cooler than down in the valley. We managed to walk around when we got here to take some photo's and Kerry was in her element with all the squirrel's running around.

After our evening meal we retired to our rooms and as Kerry and I were getting organised for bed there was an excited knock on our door from Ken and Christine who had seen two Elk feeding on the lawn next to our lodge. I don't think 2 people had ever got dressed and grabbed camera's that fast before as we headed out the door to see 2 enormous Elk heads down eating away right in front of us.

Kerry snapped away for the next half an hour before the ranger came and made us remove ourselves to a safer distance. What a way to finish the day.

The following morning the four of us made a booking to have a 50 minute helicopter ride over the canyon and to fill in time before the flight we took a walk along the canyon rim and surprise, surprise Kerry braved her fear of heights and actually ventured to near the edge of the canyon which she has never done before. I was so proud of her.

We did the canyon flight with Maverick Helicopters who were well recommended to us and we were not disappointed. The flight was fantastic even though we had a couple of rain showers. We were taken over to the North Rim where we stayed a couple of days ago. The view of the canyon from the helicopter is absolutely wonderful and gives us a different perspective from the rim of the canyon.

We are about to celebrate our stay with a nice meal and a quiet drink.

Our trusty chopper...

Part of the Canyon near our room.

A shot from the helicopter.

And another

Kerry in action again!

Aren't we brave?

This is Kerry overcoming her fear of heights.

I am so proud of her!

And again...

Mexican Hat Utah to Grand Canyon North Rim (248 Miles)

We were pleased to leave Mexican Hat after a hot stay but did not anticipate how cooler things would get by the end of the day.

We headed out through Monument Valley to a town called Page which had lots of boats on trailers but no sign of water. There was a large power station there but not much else. Shortly after that we came down the side of the canyon and stopped at a viewpoint which gave us tremendous views over the valley. There were also quite a few local Indians selling hand made jewellery and their work was very different than what we have seen in the past.

After continuing down we turned left at the bottom of the valley and headed up to the end so that we could cross a bridge at Marble Canyon to enable us to get to the North Rim.

We had decided in our planning before we left that we would see both sides of the Grand Canyon as most people only see it from the South Rim.

After crossing the bridge (See photo) we continued up the other side of the valley and after about 20 miles we started climbing and as we got higher the scenery got much better and the temperature dropped dramatically. Along both sides of the road there were conifers growing with large tracts of green grassland in between.

We eventually arrived at the North Rim Lodge where we were staying and the altitude was 9,832 feet and it was getting quite cool. After checking in to our unit we wandered around taking photo's before having a lovely meal at the main lodge which had huge windows overlooking the canyon.

Checking out the view from the North Rim.

The views are breathtaking...

Kerry's view from the back seat...

View from the bridge at Marble Canyon which crosses

the Colorado River.

Another of Kerry's magnificent shots from the back of the bike.

Alburquerque New Mexico to Mexican Hat Utah (386 Miles)

The four of us are now on our own now that Clint and Charleen are staying on in Alburquerque for a few more days.

We headed west knowing that we had quite a long ride ahead of us and it was mainly highway cruising to the Arizona border where we then turned north towards Utah.

The country was not that interesting until we got into Monument Valley when the rising peaks and rocky outcrops became quite spectacular. On the way in to Mexican Hat we found out why it had the name. From a distance there was a rocky outcrop with a large boulder on top we did resemble a hat. It was very hot when we arrived and stayed hot throughout the night. We had to change rooms once as the air con could not keep up but did manage to get a reasonable nights sleep.

Some more pics below....

The upper reaches of the Colorado River near Mexican Hat.

Our Motel at Mexican Hat (Yes, that is the name of the town.

Kerry found this...

Our motel unit was at the bottom of this cliff!

Crossing another state line.

Amarillo Texas to Albuquerque New Mexico (379 Miles)

Who is pointing out the obvious???

At 5 am I was wide awake and already trying to work out in my mind how the day was going to unfold. Every time when we head off to the next destination we may know where we are going to stop for the night but we never know what scenery and experiences may unfold for the day.

Today was no exception. We left Amarillo after a fantastic night at the Texan Steak House (See previous post) and headed out on the main highway to Albuquerque and after a quick 80 mph cruise for a couple of hours we turned off on to the old Route 66 once again.

After following this we found another town called Las Vegas but not the one everyone knows but a small village with the mexican feel like all the other villages that we were to encounter.

Further on we came to a village called Madrid where we stopped for lunch. This village was a haven for local artists who had settled in the area to create their mexican/american style artwork.

From there we continued on to Albuquerque where due to a GPS malfunction in the group we became separated from the rest of the group and by following our GPS we ended up checking in and settling in before the rest.

Jack who travelled with us from Tulsa happens to live in Albuquerque and invited us along with his wife Linda to their favorite Mexican restaurant and we finished the day off with great food and a couple of margaritas.

We leave Clint and Charleen here until we meet again in Las Vegas so tomorrow Ken and Christine and Kerry and I will head back up to Utah.

Our steeds parked in front of a diner in a small village

called Madrid.

Kerry liked this one....

Kerry relaxing after lunch.

A small church in a mexican village.

The flat and uninspiring plains of New Mexico (Other

parts are very different with great hills and valley's)