Nevada Desert
Tom, a stunt man living in Pahrump
Nevada's Spring Mountains
A quick glance at the strip from afarAfter staying a night in Grand Canyon Village, I planned to drive to Las Vegas the next day. The weather once again prevented me from riding a full day...most of my trip involved riding for a few hours followed by heavy rain and wind...I would systematically pull over at a gas station or rest stop and wait for the nucleus of the storm to pass by. As soon as I made it to Kingman, AZ the skies cleared up and it turned out to be a beautiful evening. I rode further west to Laughlin, NV and found a suprisingly clean but antiquated room at the River Palms hotel and casino for $17.99.
For all of you who never heard of Laughlin, NV here is brief description: First, Laughlin is Vegas's ugly red-headed step sister, complete with braces and a metal mouth guard. It is where the bottom feeders of the gambling world go...the scagly wags and skit skats...those who have lost their house, wife and kids to their gambling obsession and now pull slots for a living. They used to be high rollers in Vegas but they've since become penniless zoombies trapped in this dark purgatory called Laughlin. The River Palms played loud 80's music (obscure songs that never made onto the radio or MTV) throughout the entire casino. When I tried to escape the noise of 80's synthesizers and electronic pianos by going outside, I discovered that the casino management thought it would be wise to put speakers next to the pedestrian park benches and sidewalks...there was no escape...even the women had frizzy hair and cheesy bangs.. Needless to say, I was happy to leave Laughlin for fear that I would spontaneously combust and turn into Boy George.
I rode north to Vegas where I bought a new camera; and tmobile gave me a lender phone...I resigned myself to the fact that the remaining 800 miles of my trip would be made without the ipod. I headed northwest through Pahrump, NV then began a late night descent into Death Valley.
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