Biking For Wishes and Quest West: June 24th, 25th, 26th

Day 24

Although I hadn't planned on staying in Las Vegas another night I found out Rush was going to be playing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and I really wanted to go. I saw them several years ago at the same venue for the 30th anniversary tour and it was awesome! I asked the Stratosphere if they would allow me to stay one more night and the very friendly staff said yes! I purchased my ticket and hung out at the hotel for a while before heading down to the other end of the strip. Had some pizza and a couple cocktails at New York New York and then headed over to the MGM Grand for the show. Met some good people and saw an awesome Rush concert, so much fun! After the show I stopped at Paris for another delicious Mojito and then walked back to the Stratosphere checking out a few of the hotels along the way. It was pretty late by the time I got back so I headed to bed to try and get an early start out of Vegas tomorrow morning.
www.stratospherehotel.com

Preshow Beer

One of the views from the Stratosphere

The Lion Habitat at MGM Grand

Ha!

Rush

Day 25

By the time I got all packed up and was ready to go it was about noon and very hot. The bellman at the Stratosphere was very helpful and I was on my way out of Vegas. Got a little lost but figured it out pretty quick. The first half of the ride was downhill and I had the wind at my back which was very nice! I got some really nice views of the Vegas strip from the East and before I knew it I was at Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Thanks again to Mark and Cynthia Stensaas for the National Park Pass! The entrance to Lake Mead started downhill but then I had to go up several hills and fight the wind. It was very hot, around 115 but I was lucky that there was a marathon in the park and they had set up water stops throughout. Lucky for me! I even had a bucket of water dumped on me, felt great even though I dried within minutes. I met some people at the campground from England who were bicycling from LosAngeles to New York. They were struggling with the heat as well but still doing it. First thing I did after setting up camp was head down to the lake for a swim and it felt great! So refreshing but once again as soon as you got out of the water you would dry almost instantly. When I got back to the campsite I met my neighbors Tom and Karen from Belgium. They were very nice people and offered me dinner. The three of us had spaghetti and talked about America and Belgium. After dinner we went to the marina bar and had a couple of cold beers and ice water. So nice to sit in the air conditioning. Thanks again for dinner Tom and Karen, it was really nice to meet you both!!! Tried to go to sleep early to get an early start but it only cooled off to about 90 and it was really hard to sleep.

Thanks for everything Stratosphere!

Saw this sign on my way out of town

Tom and Karen

Day 26

Woke up to a very hot morning, a flat tire, and little sleep. Not the best start to a pretty tough day. I biked along the lake during the sunrise and then passed over the new Hoover Dam bridge and into Arizona. I could not see anything because the walls on the bridge are very high and to visit the dam I would have had to go out of my way and up and down a very large hill. If I had not been there before I may have gone. About 28 miles into the ride I started to suffer from pretty severe heat exhaustion and had to call for help. I had no water left because I had drank it all and was not able to re-fill where I though I was going too. Luckily my good friend Stephanie was able to contact a man named Steve in Kingman who came and picked me up. I became dizzy, nauseous, and even had some strange hallucinations. Thank you so much Stephanie and Steve for helping me out!!! Steve gave me a ride into Kingman where the visitor center arranged for me to stay at the Hill Top Motel. I'd like to thank Diane Silverman at the Kingman Powerhouse Visitor Center and the Hill Top Motel!!! I checked into my room, took a long nap, and then walked down the street to the steakhouse for a delicious dinner. Spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watched a movie. Felt so good to be in the air conditioning after today!

http://www.kingmantourism.org/

http://www.hilltopmotelaz.com/