Texas, Arizona & California
2000/01
Nevada, Utah and home!
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Decided to spend a few days in Nevada, so we headed up to Laughlin
on the Colorado River for the night, where the casinos let you stay in
their parking lot in your RV for free. It's a mini version of Las
Vegas with several of the same casinos , like The Flamingo, Hurrahs,
etc. We found the buffets to be a better bargain than Vegas
- we ended up having the dinner buffet (all you can eat and drink - beer
and wine - for $6.99), the breakfast special (build your own omelette,
hash browns, toast and coffee for 99 cents), and then the buffet lunch
(same as dinner but no booze for $4.99) all at the Flamingo!
Took a bike ride in the morning to Lake Apache and then over the mountains
before leaving for Vegas, where we stayed at the Showboat again (now called
the Castaways) for 3 nights as we like the facilities there - full hookups
including telephone for $18. First stop on the Strip was at Bellagio
where we watched several of their water shows (synchronized fountains and
music). Checked out the new Aladdin but didn't think much of it as
it really just had an indoor shopping mall and the casino - no extravagant
stuff like many of the others - and had a ride up the Stratosphere tower
($6 for Sandy but I got the $4 senior rate!).
Took a couple of very scenic bike rides - one to Valley of Fire
and Lake Mead, and the other to Red Rock Canyon.
Laughlin, NV
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Laughlin Casinos
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No thanks !
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Las Vegas, NV
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The Strip, from the Stratosphere
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Bellagio Water Show
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Bellagio & Caesar's Palace
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Red Rock Canyon
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Sandy at Rabbit Rock
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Red rocks
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Sandy
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Valley of Fire
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Arriving at Valley of
Fire
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Squirrel Rock
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One of the Seven Sisters
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Multi coloured rocks
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Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon in Utah were our next
stops. We'd seen many pictures of these parks and had wanted to visit
for a long time. Stayed in Zion two days before going to Bryce, which
is much higher (8000') and still had snow on some of the roads and hiking
trails. Both parks were really good, but Bryce was more spectacular.
Zion had the road mainly in the bottom of the canyon so the views were
upwards, whereas at Bryce, you really didn't see anything when driving
as the road was along the top of the canyon - so you parked, walked to
the edge and looked down on it all - making it more breathtaking.
Zion National Park, Utah
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Driving around Zion
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Turkeys, climbers and
coloured rocks.
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We needed an escort through
the tunnel as we were oversized (cost extra $10)
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View from the hike above the
tunnel.
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Bryce Canyon, Utah
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Sunset Point - the main scenic
overview
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Inspiration Point (8100')
was still snowed in.
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Rainbow Point (9115')
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Natural Bridge (8627')
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Hiking path through the Hoodoos
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The last stop on this trip is Moab (elevation
4000' and population 5000), probably one of the most scenic areas in Utah,
with Arches and Canyonlands National Parks being close by. Everybody
in Moab has either a jeep, an off-road motorcycle or a mountain bike (or
all three). Moab is definitely the capital of off-roading in the
USA. Tomorrow (April 7) is the start of Jeep Jamboree week where
1500 jeeps will attend a week long meeting and every hotel and campsite
in town is full. I was planning to join the "Moab Spodefest" - about
40 riders, mainly from Colorado but some coming from California, Oregon,
Wisconsin, Georgia - even one from Australia! These guys have been
coming here every April for over 10 years and the ride is organized over
the Internet. My first ride with a couple of them was an experience
- the trail, Moab Rim, turned out to be the hardest in Moab and had several
3'+ rock steps on a very severe slope up the side of the Colorado canyon.
These guys were just hopping up the steps like they weren't there but I
gave up pretty quickly after dropping the bike a couple of times and bending
'important bits'. I rode with them at Slickrock and did pretty good,
but I decided to join a breakaway group the next day who were doing an
easier ride than the main group. Turned out good overall and I had
some really good rides - even though the weather deteriorated and was cold
and wet for a couple of days. Enjoyed being in Canyonlands RV Park
as it's right downtown (and Moab is very small - the main street is less
than a mile) and we usually just walked to the grocery store, restaurants,
etc.
Arches National Park, Moab
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A bike ride through Arches
National Park
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Rock "Fins"
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Landscape Arch
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Skyline Arch
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Moab Trails
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Rock fall !
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The Schafer Trail in Canyonlands
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Porcupine Rim Trail, before
and after the storm
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Colorado River from Slickrock
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Spectacular scenery on the
2001 Moab Spodefest Bike Ride
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Packed up and left Sunday morning (April 8) for a 3 day 3000 Km drive
back home. For the last leg of our trip we always just drive
from 9 am to 11 pm and pull into a truckstop overnight. Our route
took us through Denver, CO, Omaha, NB, Des Moines, IA, Chicago, IL, then
home, arriving late Tuesday night, completing a 22,000 Km trip - 17,000
in the truck and 5,000 on the bike.
There are also many photographs from this trip on the "Bike Stuff" part
of my website - click here for a
shortcut there or go back via my home page.
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This page last updated on May 4, 2001