Wheelsucker Blog - Week Nine

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Sunday 13th July

Dumas, Texas. 85 miles. Average speed 15.5mph. Quite warm when I left at 7.15am in gillet, top and shorts. Only 10 miles to the Texas border and a new time zone (now 6 hours behind UK). Normal roads for a change and with the new transmission fitted felt really quick. Lots of long climbs but manageable compared to what I had been riding, but with that nagging headwind and the temperature about 90F. I felt good after a week off the bike and no after effects.

Saturday 12th July

Clayton, New Mexico. Left Gallop about 8.45am and arrived in Clayton at 3.30pm. I was going to re-start my journey in Springer but decided on Clayton to try and get away from the mountains. Steve had a long drive, about 460 miles and then he was driving back to Albuquerque (270 miles) to stay the night. Then driving onto Laughlin the next day, another long drive. Because I am now ahead of schedule I have decided to reduce the daily mileage and try to have easier days. Unfortunately when I arrived the wind was blowing against me, it should be blowing in an west/east direction, hopefully it will be in my favour tomorrow. Picture shows me and Steve just before his long drive back to Laughlin.

Friday 11th July

Gallop, New Mexico. Had breakfast in Laughlin and then took Paul and Stef to the airport in Las Vegas for their flight home. An emotional goodbye then Steve drove me down to Kingman to collect my bike from The Bikeshop. Checked the bike over and brought some more chain oil. Then drove east as far as Gallop, arriving about 8pm. Steve is going to drive me to either Springer or Clayton, leave me there and then drive back towards Laughlin. He will probably stop around Albuquerque and drive on the following day. Picture shows us leaving the casino the night before!

Thursday 10th July 2014

Laughlin, Nevada. We all had a chilled out day by the pool. We hired a poolside tent thing which was great. Had TV, fridge and it's own chairs, and it looked down on the Colorado River.

Wednesday 9th July 2014

Laughlin, Nevada. Had a chilled out morning. Went and had a buffet breakfast at one of the hotels. Did some research on my iPad about future hotels and motels. Then at 12.30 we set off to Las Vegas airport to pickup Stephen. It's good to be a family again. Picture shows me at Hoover Dam yesterday.

Tuesday 8th July 2014

After taking pictures at the Las Vegas sign we had some breakfast at a McD's and drove down to the Hoover Dam. Unbelievable feat of engineering. Paul and Stef booked a tour of the dam for me. We went down inside the dam, saw one of generating rooms, went through tunnels deep down in the rocks and had a tour guide explaining all the history in the building of the dam. We then Drove down to Kingman to take the bike to the Bike Shop. From there we drove Route 66 (Kingman to Oatman, where they have donkeys walking in the street). When we reached Laughlin it was 115F.

 

Monday 7th July 2014

Las Vegas, Nevada. What an exciting place this is. So many people. 24 hours of total madness. We went from one hotel to another on the slot machines and eating whatever, whenever! We went to the local Harley Davidson shop and had this picture taken. Unbelievable experience. You have to visit Vegas just once in your life.