Well, this wasn’t we had planned for Day 2 of the trip.
Harry and I waited around in Death Valley for Paul from Las Vegas Eagle Rider to turn up.
Harry checks out the village (it's tiny)
And that he did at 12.30 after a 4 hour drive from Vegas (sorry Paul!).
It was into the big Eagle Rider 4×4 with the bike trailer on the back and off to find the bike, about 37 miles away.
That took a while because the road the bike was on was closed to vehicles over 25 feet – Paul’s truck and trailer was way beyond it, so we had to head out of Stovepipe Wells on Highway 190, down the Panamint Valley Road and then off to the Trona Wildrose Road where the motorbike was happily sitting waiting to be collected.
Lazy bike having a rest
The Push of Shame
Paul had a crack at starting her up but she refused to co-operate (thank goodness for that, I would have felt a right idiot if she started up just fine!), so it was the Push of Shame into the trailer for her.
The Push of Shame into the Eagle Rider Trailer (Paul sitting relaxing, me pushing!)
We then settled back for the long drive into Vegas.
Eagle Rider couldn’t have sent out a better guy than Paul – loves working for Eagle Rider, a great guy to chat with and made us feel like this 8 hour drive we’d subjected him too was nothing.
Sure, his jokes were rubbish (nice bloke, but he’s not half as funny as me – and you can tell him that if you ever meet him!), but a great guy.
Again, sorry Paul!
We Hit Vegas After Dark
I can’t remember what time we hit Vegas but it was well after dark.
Paul made it as simple as possible for us – it was literally pull into the Eagle Rider car park in Vegas, hand us the keys, point us to our hotel and we were off.
I always reckon the way to tell if a company’s customer service is any good is to see what happens when things go wrong.
Having a bike break down in the middle of Death Valley – smack bang between LA and Las Vegas – would rank up there as about the worst.
But the guys from Eagle Rider’s had us organised after 1 call and the service couldn’t have been better.
So, no risk with Eagle Rider. Simply no mucking about if there’s a problem.
2 Corners & We’re On The Strip
After turning a couple of corners, Haz and I were on the Strip.
Vegas Baby!
As you do, we roared up and down the Strip having a look and then found our hotel – the Flamingo Las Vegas ($31 a night for a double room), one of the original casinos in Las Vegas.
Parked in the car park and walked in checked in and started our Vegas fun.
View from the Flamingo - all for just $31 a night
Out & About
We headed out into Vegas and checked out the Fountains of Bellagio and then headed inside for dinner.
After a great meal at the Bellagio buffet (all you can eat for $30 a head) , it was off to the gaming tables.
One For The Punters
I’d read somewhere that the average punter lost $168 in Vegas. So I made my first bet $170. Heh, I didn’t want to be average!
Sure enough I won that and doubled up. $340 on the next hand and another winner.
I was $510 up in Vegas in 5 minutes – how easy is this! (We all know how this story is going to end!)
A Bit More Sightseeing
A few more hours of wandering around Vegas and we were heading to head back to The Flamingo and bed at about 2 am.
The thing that really struck me about Vegas was, apart from the guys handing out the cards of hookers on the main strip, that it’s remarkably devoid of sleaze on the main strip.
No obvious strip clubs or hookers. It’s got a real family feel in the middle of Vegas.
Kids Can Walk Through The Casinos
Children are allowed to walk through the casino, but not loiter.
That is, walk through but don’t stand about watching.
When In Vegas…………..
Harry, being 6 foot 3 and very manly (that’s what he tells me anyway), got away with standing watching me have a bet.
Later in the night he thought he’d better get in the spirit of Vegas and break a law, so he had a $50 bet on black on roulette. Up it comes – allowing him to brag about his 100% winning record in my gambling career.
Harry collects in Vegas (photo is cut off because I had to rotate it)
I was hoping he’d get caught and thrown out.
If he pleaded that he was staying in the hotel with me, I was going to deny all knowledge!
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