DAY 59

St George, UT to Zion National Park, UT

Upon waking we discover Ada's rear tyre tube is absolutely cactus so we start the day on an annoying note. 14km's out of St George, on what should be a nice short day to Zion, Ada's bike starts feeling really heavy, her breaks are jammed against her wheel, preventing it from spinning freely. Stupified (as two bike mechanic complete and utter novices would be) we decide we have to backtrack back to St George to find a bike shop to sort it out. Let it be said that unnecessarily backtracking while cycle touring is the most undesirable situation.  So we backtrack through the busy outskirts, and after being directed to a shoe shop then a motorcycle shop and finally to a bicycle shop, we discover that all it was was that we didn't put the wheel back on properly after changing the flat this morning. Idiots.

Unspectacular roads all day, after a very depressing greasy take-away pizza lunch (which we don't actually take away but eat in the greasy shop).  

We make it to Zion, where the view of the red cliffs and our free camp site makes us instantly forget the day that was and make us want tomorrow to arrive already.

Sidenote: We also purchased a waterproof tent!

DAY 58

Mesquite, Nevada to St George, Utah

We get away from the freeway and take the old, practically unused highway, which turns out to be a great ride!   The first half is a slow climb past a conservation area of Joshua Trees and a small mountain range.  The descent is through a stunning Indian Reservation, some of it very green with a thick slab of red rock on the horizon, as we roll into St George.

DAY 57

Valley of Fire, Nevada to Mesquite, Nevada

An early start as the sun broke over the red mountains.  The wind is already about and ferocious!  A 6km trip to Rainbow Point a stunning vista of the prehistoric wind carved valley.  The headwind/side wind is pummeling us with sand  and blowing us all over the road.  When for however brief a moment it is a tailwind, things are smooth sailing. At times we are actually blown uphill.

Lunch and blogging session in  a library Overton, (a windy town where everyone must be in a perpetual bad mood because the wind NEVER subsides) where Luke leaves his driver's license.... 

Then our path takes us to our first stretch of freeway, where the wind is buffeting us from one side and the traffic from the other- its deafening and such a slog. The road is littered with glass and tyres and rubbish too. To get some sort of reprieve from the wind we stopped by a stinky dumpster to eat lunch!! You could liken the experience to playing Mario Kart, you are Yoshi, minding our own business, trying to avoid all the banana peels and green shells flying everywhere, while Bowser screams past every 3 seconds. You're also out of coins so you spin out every once in a while... We arrive at Mesquite late and stay in a crusty casino and watch the third presidential debate, on foreign policy, Obama kills it!

DAY 56

Callville Bay (Lake Mead) Nevada, Valley of Fire, Nevada

Perhaps the best days riding of the trip in terms of scenery, completely unexpected.  Every twist in the road brought a new volcanic sandstone/limestone/lake/desert view, plenty of colours and contours.  However, there was a ferocious side-wind mixing with the desert heat which made it a little challenging.

Valley of Fire on first impression, is named so aptly.  It is red rock sandstone walls that are carved by wind, and when the sun hits them it is ignited.

That tiny dot in the middle of the road is Luke!

 

DAY 55

Las Vegas, NV to Callville Bay, Lake Mead NRA, NV

Begin the day riding the length of the Las Vegas Strip, passing all the big name casinos, weaving in and out of traffic, so much fun! Crash bang down to Earth (not literally), we spend the next hour riding through the very average (read: run down, rough) Las Vegas outskirts. We climb a tiny pass and suddenly the city is gone and we're back in the Mojave Desert, a reminder of the pop-up form this bizarre city takes, it's really in the middle of nowhere. The rest of the day is spent leisurely making our way to Callville Bay, a popular boating spot, on the lake created by the Hoover Dam. A day of 3 completely different sides.

DAY 54

Rest Day - Las Vegas

Gee whiz we love Vegas! We spend almost the entire day treating our bodies to a little luxury at the spa/salon at Caesar's Palace, soaking and steaming away in style. We leave feeling somewhat like we did 2 months ago before the trip. Normal, that is.  We also saw a Dale Chihuly (American glass artist- all hand blown) exhibition and installation at the Bellagio, which was stunning! 

When we're done we head to the local University, UNLV, which is hosting an NBA pre-season game between the LA Lakers and Sacramento Kings. For those of you who don't know, and there can't be many of you who don't, Luke has been obsessed with basketball and the NBA his entire life. So an unexpected game in an unexpected city was a dream come true, really. The stadium is packed to the rafters, and we are 2 of about a combined 5 Kings fans in the entire joint to see the Kings cause an upset. Seeing Kobe, Nash, Gasol, World Peace (yes, that's his surname) and the Kings young guns in action was awesome. 

Back on the strip, we both played a midnight poker tournament at the Luxor, in which Ada is, believe it or not, chip leader at one stage after a couple of big early hands. While her stack dwindles, it lasts just enough to finish one spot higher than Luke, something which qualifies her as better than Luke at poker, if you ask her.

 

DAY 53

Rest Day - Las Vegas

On with the show. First things first, we bus to old Vegas again for lunch at a restaurant Ada had read about pre-trip and was dying to go to (pardon the pun): the Heart Attack Grill. We order the "triple bypass burger" and a "butter thickshake". The menu also contains a burger it claims is the Guiness World Record holder for most calorie filled hamburger. The waitress' dress as nurses and patrons are admitted, hospital style, and made to wear gowns. Punter's weighing over 350 pounds eat free. Unashamed over-indulgence. Very gimicky, we loved it. On our way back we continued to get our tourist on by stopping at the pawn shop from the Pawn Stars TV show, which was actually pretty disappointing, none of the fat dudes and grumpy grandpa who run the joint were there, and half the shop is full of souvenirs. Oh well. The night is spent at the MGM Grand casino where we are treated to one of the best things we've ever seen in our lives: David Copperfield. The world's most famous magician completely surpassed everything we hoped for. 10 out of 10. Disappearing, reappearing, going into the future and back, he was funny, he was genuine, spontaneous. Every act completely blew our mind. If you're not familiar with him, Youtube him right now. We also played blackjack at Hooters.