Day 22 – HOT DAM !

Total miles – 3,429

The plan today was to leave at sunrise and get to Vegas before it got mega hot. My alarm woke me at 4 am and I decided I didnt mind the heat that much and went back to sleep. I eventually left the hotel at 7ish after forgetting my headphones and having to go in and ask for my room key back to retrieve them.

I felt good today,even though my scooter was being held together by something designed to stop bolts coming undone and even though I had a 4 hour ride in temperatures up in the high 30s to look forward to.

The first part of my journey involved a 40 mile ride on the interstate. The interstates are pretty much like the motorways in England except the speed limits are higher and the lorries are bigger. As long as you dont mind being surrounded by big rigs and blown all over the road riding on the interstate isnt actually that bad.

I eventually pulled off the interstate and on to historic route 66 and stopped for fuel,to drink some water and to check that my oil stopping bodge was still in place.

The thread lock was doing its job so I carried on down 66 to the first ‘ghost town’ of the route Seligman. The town is full of gift shops and tourist traps as well as some old relics of the glory days of 66. I pulled over for a walk around and stopped off at one shop for a chat.

The old bearded guy in the shop asked me how far I had travelled on ‘that thing’. I explained how far I had been and where I was heading and he gave me one of these –

My official route 66 drivers license,he said that I had earned it.

The out side of his shop was dressed with a load of manikins and FF was desperate to pose with them so I got a few photos so that he can add them to his portfolio.

I then headed out of town back along 66 for another 40 miles until the next town peach springs. Peach springs looked pretty dodgy and there were any shops selling crap so I didnt bother stopping.

The next ghost town up was Truxton,the sign outside this place said ‘please stop we are bored’ so I did.

(I forgot to take a photo so I nicked this one from google).

Sat outside was a woman and three young children. We got talking,I bought a can of Fanta and she explained that her and her husband had up sticks from Colorado and bought pretty much the whole town with the intention of renovating all the old buildings and putting Truxton on the map. She didnt like the fact that it was referred to as a ghost town. We chatted about various things,she told me the story about how the day before she had been humped by a 4 year old who referred to her as ‘spicy momma’. Her daughter drew me a picture of the incident while her two sons played with the ‘disconnected’ pay phone while telling me they were going to call the cops on me.

About 45 minutes later I was just about to leave when suddenly a police car sped into the car park. The officer got out of the car and said that there had been a report that somebody had died and it had come from a pay phone at this address. There was another car as well as two ambulances on the way.

One of the boys suddenly looked very guilty and it turned out the phone was as disconnected as they thought ! The officer asked the kid to come and speak to him and he ran inside crying thinking that he was going to jail.Another police car showed up followed by an ambulance and a fire engine.

The boy was eventually coxed out and given a firm talking to by the cops. I spoke to the Sargent and he said they had all driven 60 miles from the nearest big town thinking that there had been a murder.Mum wasnt very happy so I thought it was probably best I left her to teach her boys a lesson so I headed off back down 66 in the increasingly hot sun.

By the time I reached Kingman it was blisteringly hot and I started to feel a bit weird. I pulled up in some shade at a gas station,downed a bottle of powerade and cooled down a bit. I still had a least 2 hours left to ride.

I eventually felt a bit more normal so I battled the wind along highway 93 towards the hoover dam. After about 10 miles my scooter started feeling like I was running out of fuel again every now and then. Basically its all down to heat,its all a bit technical but due to boiling and evaporation not enough fuel is getting to the engine. At first I would pull over and let the bike cool down but then I found out that if I pull the clutch in while riding and give the engine a little break it seems to solve the problem for another 5/10 minutes.

I took breaks when ever I could to check the oil leak situation,drink loads and drench my tshirt in water which feel amazing for about 5 minutes. After about 30 miles I reached a gas station so stopped to use the toilet and buy more water.

While I was having a drink I decided to take one of the side panels off my bike to let the engine cool down a bit quicker I was a tiny bit shocked to see what the desert had done to it !

While hanging around outside a guy came over and asked me if I felt safe on the high way on ‘that thing’. I told him that I had ridden it from new york and that although I had come close once or twice I hadnt died yet. When he realised how far I had travelled he exclaimed ‘Holy smokes’ which made me smile.

I set off for the last 30 miles to the hoover dam,the running out of fuel thing happened every 5 minutes (the sun is so strong that the roads are too hot to touch with bare hands) but the wind helped keep me cool slightly. We passed a sign saying ‘scenic view’ so we pulled over for a look.

Pretty scenic.

I got talking to a guy in a wolf tshirt about my trip and he told me about his travels before awkwardly shaking my hand and ending the conversation. FF started moaning that he wanted to see the dam because one of his friends cousins (another dog) helped build it or something I didnt believe a word of it but we got going anyway.

We arrived at the dam and I got talking to three brummies on Harleys,they looked hotter than I felt and their bald heads werent doing them any favours. I was pretty excited about seeing the dam so we passed through the security check and parked up.

First up was a memorial to all the men that died while making the dam.

There were two of these huge statues and apparently if you rub their toes you get good luck so I rubbed them more than most people.

I then noticed this little plaque on the wall and FF pulled me over to have a look at it.

‘Told you’ he said with a irritating smug look on his face.

We then walked round the corner to the dam itself –

Its HUGE ! and nearly vertical the whole way down. I did have quite a strong urge to slide down it.

I had to hold on to FF because it was very windy. He moaned about me holding on to him and said he wasnt a baby so I dangled him over the edge and asked him if he still wanted me to let go. He shut up after that.

We crossed the road to the other side of the dam

Cooled off in the wind while looking at the bridge,

and then headed back on the road for the last 40 miles to my hotel in Vegas.

Vegas is hotter than hell and every single traffic light I got to turned red as I was approaching so the ride seemed to go on forever. I finally pulled up,parked and unloaded then had a shower and headed to the bar.

This place is swanky,very fancy but has a slight wiff of sugar daddy sleaze. There is a naked swimming pool and crappy house music is piped all around the building. The barman was cool and we had a good chat,he has travelled all around England and thought the way I pronounced ‘bath’ was funny. I drank a few beers then headed to a Casino down the road for some food. I spoke to a guy in the queue who had just moved back to the US after living in Cambridge for 5 years which was nice.

Now I am back at the hotel,its 10pm and I am exhausted. Time ran out really quickly today, I was planning on going to the strip tonight but I dont have the energy to deal with big crowds and bright lights.All these really early starts and long hot days have really taken it out of me. I have booked another night in this place so after getting my scooter fixed tomorrow I will head into town to do all the tourist stuff,gamble and get FF’s photo taken with an Elvis.

Today was a good day,the ride was hot and hard but the hoover dam was amazing and I met some really cool interesting people. My one biggest fear with this trip was that I would just ride coast to coast without anything interesting happening but it has been the complete opposite,even all the bad stuff makes the whole thing much more exciting.

So tomorrow I spend the day in Vegas,get my oil changed for the final time and fingers crossed get the broken part replaced without any bother and then on Wednesday morning I make my way 282 miles north west to Benton California for the night at this place https://historicbentonhotsprings.com/inn_rooms.php

I now officially have 558 miles to go and I have been dreaming of arriving in San Francisco every night.

NIGHT !