Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Day Twenty-three, 090323 - Las Vegas, NV

Day Twenty-three, Date Tuesday, March 23, 2009
Time in Saddle: 1:22
Distance for the Day: 13.6 miles: From Boulder Station Hotel, To The Las Vegas Strip
Accumulated Trip Distance: 938.72
Altitudes: Starting 1808’, Highest: ??, Accumulated: ??
Speeds: Avg: 9.9 mph, Max: 65.9 mph (false)
Weather: Mid 60s into the low 70s, still breezy
Expenditures: $49

(Note: To read this blog chronologically, start at the bottom, and work your way upward from one installment to the next. If you start here at the top, and read the installments going downwards, you'll be going backwards!)

As mentioned in the previous day’s blog, my sinus headache was fast on the wane, and by the time C&E were ready, I was debating whether to risk going out into the still windy conditions to possibly get yet another sinus headache, or to just stay in the hotel and work on blog and do some webwork for the Yosemite Hang Gliding club. Eventually, I decided to join them to see The Strip, so we all went down to the hotel’s buffet for a mid-morning brunch (they paid for mine), before cycling over. We found the Palazzo Hotel parking structure at the north end of The Strip, tucked our cycles away in a corner of the facility, got up to the street level, and began walking south. We hit most of the big casinos (Venetian, MGM Grand, New York, New York, Excalibur Bellagio, and most points in between. Eusebio and I did the roller coaster at New York, New York ($14 per person) (that was his first roller coaster experience), and we played one of the dollar slot machines in one of those casinos. I won $4, and Eusebio won $10 (yeehawwww!) We took our ill gotten gains and fled. I bought a grey longsleeve shirt at Banana Republic ($30), and got a bag of trail mix and a soda ($5) to hold me over until dinner back at our hotel’s buffet (love that buffet) (they again paid for mine). Two amazing things about the day: my sinuses did not act up, despite the fact that it was still breezy, and the other amazing thing: I walked around all that time with my cycling shoe cleats still in, so I clicked as I walked wherever I went. After that, it was back upstairs to blog updates and bed by midnight. Funny: C&E were more tired from walking The Strip than from a 6 hour bicycle ride over mountains.



















4 comments:

Unknown said...

Hey Don! Just wanted to say hi and glad you made it to LV. Hi to John and Janet too please! Where to next??? xoxo poo

VinceC said...

Don--

Hello from Herzogenaurach, Germany! I´m glad you made it to city of urban volcanos, glass pyramids, and fake Eiffel towers (Prague has a mini Eiffel too, btw). After spending weeks traveling through vast expanses of desert & mountains, arriving in L.V. always struck me as being a surreal experience.

They´re pulling for you at OTT--an update of your trip made it onto the agenda of the last staff meeting before I went on vacation. Take care . . .

--Vince

Unknown said...

Hi Don - can you put where you think your next destination is on your google map before you leave your currrent location? :)
xoxopoo

obi_donkenobi said...

Hi Poo: Oops, didn't get your comment until several day later - sorry. This is a very time-delayed form of communication for me, where days can pass before I get a chance to see and respond to comments, or update the Google Maps route. I'm afraid you'll just have to wait for those updates. Besides, I almost *never* know where I'll be, or exactly which route I'll take from day to day. Sorr-eeeeyyy :-(

Hey Vince: Wow - Germany! How cool is that? Hope you're having a great time. You're not hittng anyone with sticks over there, are you? Cool that OTT is kept appraised of my progress. Let 'em know it would please me to see more of them actually following along (on their own time, of course!)