Up bright and breezy, Bruce had already fixed his ignition switch. Just as well, because he went round to the other house and the Explorer battery virtually died on him. He tested it and it was kaput, so he needed to use his bike to go and get a new battery for it.
Meanwhile, Kev was working on his bike, for which he'd borrowed Bruce's lift, investigating his oil leaks. I had a crack at my brakes and then Kev and I rebuilt the front master cylinder and then bled both brakes. They seem OK but we'll see.
We had breakfast (brunch) at the North Star bar and Grill. Kev and I had Baja sandwiches ,i'd seen scenery his chicken, mine beef, and a beer. We then went to Sinister Cycles, to collect his brake kit and we bought two sets of q/d windscreen rubber bobbins, from H-D Las Vegas, one for Kev and one for me. I needed them to fit the windscreen from Bruce on to Ruby, and Kev wanted them to replace perished ones on his bike back home.
We decided to see the Strip and Freemont Street this afternoon and evening. This was going to be how I'd expected Vegas to be, from seeing it on films and TV. Remember that so far I had only seen vast urban sprawl, beautiful scenery and quiet residential developments.
Bruce drove us down to the Strip. We parked in Caesar's Palace and went in to the casino.
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Kevin had been to the Strip before, two years ago, so was familiar with it. This was the area that I thought I 'knew' about, but - just like the desert - until you are actually there you've no idea of what it's really like. The sheer scale of size, extravagance and kitsch is overwhelming. As soon as you enter a building you're in a totally artificial world, where temperature, humidity and oxygen levels are all completely controlled, as is time; there are no clocks to be seen anywhere around here.
Like I said, you think you 'know' what this place is, because you've seen so much Las Vegas imagery, but as you walk through acres of slot machines and tables and past hundreds of yards of shops, in one single casino, then you really know what it's like.
With Kev leading the way, we walked for miles, but only covered a tiny bit of the whole strip.
Outside it was still really bright and hot, making you want to get back into the cool twilight of the casinos. Below is the half-sized replica of the Eiffel Tower:
The cops looked a bit gay, in their yellow polo shirts and shorts, but they must be very fit to ride their bikes in that heat - plus they still have guns. They carried their bikes on a cycle rack on the back of the car.
At this point, my camera battery went flat. I'd left my phone in the car, so no more pix from this area!
As we returned to Caesar's Palace, to rendezvous with Bruce, my feet were telling me that they'd walked a long way, whether or not they'd covered only a fraction of Las Vegas Boulevard.
We saw the fountain display and that summed up the Strip experience for me - you've seen it several times on screen, but have no idea of how big it truly is!
Being re-united with the car, we set off for Freemont Street, the old central gambling area and in many ways epitome of Vegas.
Freemont Street and Light Canopy
The biggest gold nugget in the world
Freemont Street had a great atmosphere, filled with noise, light and bustle, but it was time to have a few beers. Bruce led us to Hogs and Heifers, which was something else!
Kevin nearly didn't get in because he had no ID. I persuaded the doorman to let him in, tho', seeing as I had mine.
The bar was pretty dark inside, with loud country music. Bruce said it was the bar on which the film 'Coyote Ugly' was based. Somehow, I immediately attracted the attention of a cowboy, not any old cowboy - a Norwegian one called Joe. 'Uh oh', I thought, 'Brokeback Fjord', but he was just having a wild time and wanted to share his enthusiasm.
The two girls behind the bar were real bartenders. They had eyes like hawks and would push a fresh drink forward as soon as you were empty, or nearly empty. They were really good grafters and earned their money, for sure. That Jill from Woodie's in Yutan and (Am)Erica from Gunnison may be potty-mouthed princesses, but these girls were just plain foul-mouthed. At some point, they danced on the bar like in Coyote Ugly, which was cool.
I got told off for this!
As always happens in bars, we struck up a bond with a group of guys from Minnesota? on a stag do. We shared beers and shorts, Kevin wanting to teach them the proper way to drink whisky. I left $20 behind the bar for a birthday cake for the guy getting married. His birthday is on Sunday, the same as my lovely grand-daughter Caitlin's, so we will celebrate it at the Hogs and Heifers BBQ on Sunday afternoon. YeeeeeeeHaaaaaaa!
