Day 23 – The Strip.

Total miles – About 20 more than yesterday, I only road to the shop and back.

Today I slept in for the first time in weeks and didnt get out of bed until about 9am.The plan was to head to Robin and Jimmy’s (friend’s of Grahams) to pick up a scooter part and a care package that Graham has sent for me and then head to scooter nation (http://scooternation.com/) to get my third and final oil change done.

Once again my GPS was playing up and was telling me that the street that Robin and Jimmy live on doesnt exist so instead of getting lost in Vegas in the heat I got a cab and retrieved the packages. The care package consisted of a load of proper tea (not property that would be hard to fit in an envelope) and a genuine scooters t-shirt,thank Graham.

After cooling off in the hotel for a but I headed to Scooter nation.The guys there had never seen a 200 cc manual scooter before and showed a lot of interest. After staring in a quick promo interview and and making a very rare appearance in a photo we got down to changing the oil.

There were a few slightly worrying moments with the change,about half of the threads on the oil drain bolt were stripped so it was difficult to torque it down properly but with some careful wrenching the job was complete. The oil was very black but the filter was in pretty good shape and the oil screen filter didnt contain too many worrying things just a couple of slithers of metal,nothing to worry about.

FF as always wanted to  pose in front of the shop for a photo and then we headed off for breakfast (Eggs again) before heading back to the hotel for a shower.

More great customer service from another scooter shop,some of the UK dealers could learn a lot from how these guys do things over here.

After a quick shower and a change out of my jeans we caught a can to the strip so lose some money and see the sights of Vegas.

There is so much do see and do here its all a bit overwhelming especially when you are on your own and a total travel novice. I got dropped off at planet Hollywood and after grabbing a Ben and Jerrys milk shake we headed to the casino.

We tried to join the roulette table but just like back in Chicago FF wasnt allowed anywhere near the table. I think maybe he has been here before and got caught cheating or something. I noticed security keeping a close I on me as we sat down at one of the slot machines.

I ended up putting about ten dollars in this thing,pulling the handle lots and walking away with nothing which is probably a pretty common gambling experience.

We headed back out on to the strip and walked past the Eiffel tower.

And the statue of Liberty (FF said it was better than the one in New York).

We then wandered around the shops,in the various casinos losing more money on more machines until we spotted something that looked very much like the London eye. In the past I have hated this kind of thing so I thought I better force myself to go on it as it might actually be fun. There was no queue so we walked straight on and joined a couple in a ‘pod’,they gave me and FF a few funny locks for some reason but we didnt care.

The ‘High roller’ is pretty much an exact copy of the London eye but apparently bigger and it gives you the best view of the city. It takes half an hour to complete the trip and is well worth doing even if its just to escape the sun a bit.

We spotted a couple of guys wearing sandwich boards in the car park down below-

The couple in the pod with me took more selfies in that half an hour than I think I will in my whole entire life and I am planning on living until I am 107.

After the wheel we walked further down the strip to try and find something to eat that didnt have meat in which is tough in most parts of America. We eventually ate some pretty below average Chinese food had a couple of beers in a ‘pub’ and then headed into the flamingo casino to lose some more money.

After a couple more beers and a couple more hours walking around in the 33 degree heat I started to feel a bit weird so I got a cab with an interesting woman who offered to take me and FF for a massage with a happy ending. FF was well up for it but this cabbie was old enough to be my grand mother so I declined. She wasn’t bothered and proceeded to tell me about how many homeless people she knows who are actually millionaires.

Vegas is pretty much what I was expecting. Its loud,very American and full of people I would generally avoid. Tens of thousands of tourist spend all day putting their money in to machines and getting nothing in return while the streets are lined with homeless people begging for a dollar and getting nothing.

I was meant to be going out with the guys from scooter nation for some whiskey,beer and popcorn tonight but I think I have a bit of sun stroke so more booze is probably a bad idea.

To be honest I wish I had only spent a couple of hours at the strip and then gone out down town with the scooter nation lot to see a bit more of the real Vegas away from the hoards of tourists with their foot long margaritas. I think this is the kind of place its best to come with a load of friends. Just like all the other major cities I definitely want to come back and spend some more time here at some point.

Tomorrow I am going to leave at 6/7 am to try and get out of the desert before it starts getting mega hot. I have a 280 mile ride to Benton a very small town with natural spring hot tubs in Yosemite California,my final state.

Thursday I ride 226 miles to Tracy (a city not a random person) and then for my final riding day on Friday I have an easy 70 miles to cover into San Francisco to drop my scooter off.

I have decided to name my scooter lucky because it isnt,or it is depending on how you look at it. Hopefully lucky will be lucky for the next couple of days and get me to San Francisco without any dramas. Fingers crossed,all of you !

NIGHT !

Oh and P.S Nick I tried to take my camera and FF into the naked pool room and was told neither were allowed in,sorry 😉