Gino's Travels

Wednesday, 5 June 2013

Vegas to the Grand Canyon plus getting our kicks on Route 66

I was quite glad to leave Vegas to be honest, not my kind of place really but interesting I suppose. We headed to Kingman via a stop at the Hoover Dam, quite some feat of engineering but I thought the highway above it was worthy of note also. Kingman was a funny little place but friendly enough, nice campground where we fell in with a French Brother & Sister on a road trip, we had a good night but started on the Whisky far too early so we ended up eating our emergency rations we’d carried all the way from Argentina as we were in no fit state to cook!

The following day we rode part of route 66, this iconic American road trying to re invent itself, its not that easy to stay on the road as parts of it have been superseded by the Interstate that sounded its death knell in the first place. It is full of guys on Harleys from all over the world trying to live the dream, all thinking they are individuals and all exactly the same ! Matter of fact I’m now seeing it as quite entertaining watching these guys (& women) Each to his own and I respect that but its not my cup of tea, even less since I’ve witnessed it first hand now. Now I’m really wishing I was on my Norton!

Today we went to the Grand Canyon, a very impressive hole in the ground, don’t tell the environmentalists but it would be a great landfill site! Only joking of course, it is a spectacular sight and well worth the effort to see it. Tomorrow hopefully we head across the National Park through the Navahoe reservation towards monument valley. So the next few blogs will probably have loads of pictures of Rocks & Canyons which will make a change from Colonial churches!

Funny animals

Hoover dam Rear

Its big!

We later wen't over this bridge, very impressive!

Another State

Living the Dream??

Living the dream!!!!

Using pannier as a cool box, added a bag of ice, it leaked, no trying that again!!

Getting merry with our new French friends

Route 66 is full of stuff like this!

Route 66 cool!

Honest I was there!

Grand Canyon, Grand is the word!!

Honest , we were there!!

Bored with the 35mph speed limit so some photography on the move

Monday, 3 June 2013

Plastic People and well done to the REAL people

So a day and night in Vegas, my idea of hell, I'm not a gambler as I'd rather spend my cash on important things like petrol and beer! Its just as I thought it would be, people being fleeced of all their cash while thinking they are having a good time. To me its quite sad to see the people at the slot machines and the gaming tables hoping the next spin of the wheel or next slot machine jackpot will be theirs while desperately blocking out the fact that they have to work hard to make that money and now they are squandering it away. That's just my opinion and I don't mean to be a party pooper but do you realise how rich the people who run and own this place have become on the back of false hopes? I had a flashback to some of the countries I've visited this trip and how the people there have had nothing yet here the people have so much money they are desperate to throw it away, crazy.
It is impressive though in a movie set over the top extravagance kind of way but I'll be glad to head out of here tomorrow to somewhere although no doubt commercial (it all is) somewhere less crass.

The Real people however are at this moment pitting themselves against the mountain circuit at the Isle of Man TT, congratulations to my friends from Perth, Peter Burgess (Budge) and Jimmy Storar on good finishes in Saturday's sidecar race (Budge) and Sundays Supebike race (Jimmy) Matter of fact well done to all the competitors there, a mile apart from the mentality I've experienced lately. Good luck for the rest of the week, if you're interested all details on www.iomtt.com

Our "Hoose" In Las Vegas, quite nice actually

My God am I meant to eat it all?

I couldn't even bring myself to put money in for a photo , I know, miserable git, I gave some money to a beggar instead, made me feel better

The "Strip"

Pizza delivery and now girls delivered to your door, not sure how they fit in those boxes on the scooters though

I Know some sad people will like this....

Big props to get you in!

Venice in the desert

Another "Holiday" Snap, sorry David!

When did my French friends sell this??

Got to admit it is impressive though

Sandwich & Coffee in Bellagio (The Hotel, I much prefer the real thing!)

Money Pit (This was 11am)

Posh shops, posh prices!!

Inside the very impressive Wynne hotel where a bottle of Stella only cost $8 plus tax!!

Sunday, 2 June 2013

Into Vegas via Yosemite Park and Death Valley

We left San Ramon after saying our goodbye's to our host for the week, Pete Balshaw, thanks Pete for your help & hospitality! We headed East to Yosemite National Park, impressive place, especially the valley, it was also a first sighting of a bear on the trip! We kept a safe distance and managed a shot so then we happily continued along the amazing road to Mammoth Lakes where we camped for the night, our first night camping in Bear Country and the first time we had to use secure food lockers so the bears didn't come into the tent at night looking for food! I must admit the thought of sharing a place with bears didn't make for a good nights sleep, anyway my clothes must have smelled bad enough to keep them away!
Friday we headed through Death Valley, aptly named, it was so hot it was incredible, hotter than any other place on the trip so far. my high Temp warning light came on at one point, luckily next to a car park so i parked my bike at the back of the toilets in the shade to cool it down, the shade was good, the smell wasn't! The little BMW's run hot anyway so I was keeping a close eye on them for just that reason. At one point I opened my visor to get some air but it was like opening an oven door, hot air burned my face so I quickly shut it again. I wish I could figure out a way to export some of the heat home!!
We camped last night in Shoshone Village, just outside Death Valley, very hot but no Bears, only scorpions & Rattlesnakes the barmaid told us...... Today we took the recommendation of some guys we met this morning in the campsite pool (they flew up from South California for a swim in the Natural hot spring water then were going to fly home for a BBQ in the afternoon!) and visited China Ranch which involved a little ripio, my head bearings are quite bad now and the bike felt terrible on the gravel! After a chat with the nice lady there we headed into Vegas where we've booked a Airstream caravan on a campsite near the strip (no tents allowed), some exploring to do now!