Muito sucesso, felicidade, tardes de sol, risadas com os amigos, brindes, pedaladas, filmes do van damme, noites jogando jackie chan, aquecimentos pra balada, casas na arvore, musicas tiradas na guitarra, promocoes no trabalho, ondas surfadas, projetos executados, licoes aprendidas, caminhos trilhados, objetivos alcancados e sonhos realizados!!
This day was intended to be our ride to Las Vegas, but the heat had something else in mind for us. Kingman, our origin, was about 90 miles away from the city limits of Las Vegas, and about 100 miles away from the downtown area. Regardless, we decided to give it a shot and leave early.
Right on our way out we decided to make a quick stop to drink coffee. We parked our bikes at a gas station and got our drinks and some snacks for the way, but just as we were preparing to leave we saw an amazing car parking right in front of us. Not a Ferrari, not a Lamborghini, no; it was a 1924 Ford, all original! The owner got to talk to us and offered for us to go inside the vehicle. Of course we accepted and took a few pictures in and around the car, and with the owner as well.
After that we packed our snacks and moved on towards the road. The way out of Kingman was beautiful. We stopped at a park and saw a flea market happening outdoors. Then we headed out to the highway and the serious pedaling started.
For the most part we were going downhill and therefore were able to maintain very high average speeds. We advanced about forty miles without much trouble and then decided to stop to have lunch. The only place in our way was a gas station, so we parked our bikes outside and locked one to another, then went inside to eat. On our way out, we saw two guys with a van watching our things and looking around. When I stepped outside they quickly moved away. Clearly they were checking to see if the owner was around, maybe preparing to take both bicycles into the van.
We then moved forward still having Vegas as our destination. However, the last forty miles were not as easy as the first forty. We reached a point where very intense elevation was on the way. We started going up and down very long hills, and that slowed us down significantly. The heat was also intensifying fast as we reached lower elevations.
About twenty miles further and we entered the Hoover Dam area. Again we face long hills, even more intense than the previous ones. It took us about an hour to get to the dam itself. From the road we had no easy access to the bridge where we could get a good view of the dam, so I jumped the wall separating the bridge from the highway and walked over there to take pictures and make a short movie.
Once we were done observing Hoover Dam we resumed the ride, entering the state of Nevada just a few meters after Hoover Dam’s main bridge.
Since the sun was setting and the heat diminishing we thought the harder part has passed already, but we were wrong. Before Vegas we would pass through a small place called Boulder City. It turns out that city was located on a 5 miles long steep hill. With our bicycles fully loaded, we could not move faster than 5 mph, sometimes slowing down to 3 or 4 miles per hour. We walked our bikes a good part of this hill.
After about an hour and a half trying to cross Boulder City we were physically destroyed, so we decided to stay there for the night. We went to a supermarket to get food, then headed to a nearby hotel.
Unfortunately the hotel was another drama. Once we got there, we started unpacking our things and not even five minutes into the night I saw a bedbug walking over my bed. Later that night I killed another one, and during the night I could feel them walking over me, so I would just slap them away. My uncle was luckier than me and didn’t feel any bugs in his bed.
Needless to say, that was not the best night of sleep we got during the trip.
We're approaching the Bakersfield area. So far the road has been mostly downhill for us and, besides a flat tire, we didn't have any troubles.
Here we can already see the chanfw in the type of vegetation and the cooler air, probably due to the proximity with the coast.
Right now we found a shade below a bridge and are resting a little.
Just 10 more miles to go!
