The 30 Hour Las Vegas Turnaround Trip March 26-27 2009

I'm going to break this post into 4 parts: This first part will be about the ride, the road conditions, timeline, etc. The next part will be hotel-specific, touching on check in, amenities, interesting tidbits, etc.. The next part after that will be Vegas-specific, i.e. things to see and do, little nuances regarding gambling and things we found out, and the last thing will be motorcycle and trip planning-specific.
PART ONE: We left Brea around 10:45 AM when it was a LOT warmer than 7 AM, trust me! Had breakfast at Denny's (to the left is us plus our friend Diana, who used to watch Jackie when Jackie was little!) so that we wouldn't have to stop on the way up (good thing, too, because of the wind). Usually, if I go someplace, I like to GO and get there unless there are some really neat stops that are cool. But that's if they're planned in and I can know about them. Anyway, got to Barstow around 12:05, got about 40 MPG right there, 100.1 miles (up Cajon Pass, not too bad, traffic great) and the price per gallon was $2.299. It was a little windy, a little cool, but doable, I was doing about 74-79 MPH. Left Barstow around 12:20 and arrived in Baker around 1:20, 69.8 miles, MPG was 39. In the desert there, they had rain a few weeks prior. Rain means flowers. Flowers mean BUGS. SO many frikkin' bugs that my windshield was splattered with yellow and Bub practially had to scrape them off from our windshields! Gas in Baker on Thursday was $2.499 and on Friday $2.439. The wind in Baker was blowing us around, practially off our feet while we were getting gas and I was beginning to have second thoughts about going up into it. One of the guys who was coming down the I-15 said that the CHP was escorting drivers up the freeway due to visibility problems. Great. All I could think about was the I-15 in Norco at Limonite when the wind and visibility are nil when it gets bad. We left Baker around 1:40 and hit a couple of 'interesting' situations: firstly, WIND. The wind was bad to very bad. We were riding at a 15 degree angle sometimes. The wind outside of Primm and at Primm was so bad that there were dust clouds blowing across the freeway. I'd try to time it where we'd hit that part of the freeway just after that dust cloud gust would pass. It was so windy that even though I had these wraparound glasses on, the wind got in there and was wicking the moisture from my eyes and nose. (Ok, it made my nose run, happy now?) It was one of the more challenging rides I'd ever rode. I did take the 'crampbuster' off my throttle on a hunch, and I am so very glad I did.
Secondly, CONSTRUCTION. There was construction on the road and the speed limit was 55. TRUST ME, you go 55! CHP everywhere.
Thirdly, and this didn't surprise me at all because I was warned (thanks, Johney! This won't be the last time I appreciate your input!) about going from Baker up to Halloran Springs and Halloran Summit. Baker is about, what 1000' above sea level? Well, within 15 minutes we went from that to 4,000' above sea level and I SWEAR the temperature dropped at least 15 degrees.

We got into Vegas proper at 3:10 and I KNEW I should have gotten off at Russell Road for the Vegas sign! I KNEW IT! We continued up the freeway to Tropicana and spent about 40-50 MINUTES getting off the freeway, because everyone who's going to the airport gets off at Tropicana. Shit.
Finally was able to turn onto Las Vegas Blvd S, pass Russell, and there on the left, in a little meridian/park type area was a parking lot and the sign. So the sign is about 1-2 blocks SOUTH of Russell, on the left. I was surprised there weren't many people there, but it IS hard to find unless you REALLY search online for it and ask friends. Went down Las Vegas Blvd. S. to Sunset, east on Sunset to Eastern, then east again on Tropicana, turned left onto Boulder Hwy, up 1 1/2 blocks and into the parking lot of the Eastside Cannery around 4:20 PM. Looked like a nice place. It is.
Checked in and told them we were probably going to stay 1, maybe 2 days and they said no problem, just check out by 12. I saw a sign regarding refunds could take up to 15 days and thought that was interesting. It freaked me out a bit later on, so keep reading.
Up to the room (I love checking out the rooms and seeing what amenities are there), did a bit of calculating mileage and stuff, called Richard Von Luft and he said they had gotten there around 4:00 PM. I was surprised that they got there that late, since the latest they could've left was 7 AM, but they kind of went a longish way, through Pahrump, but that way usually only takes an additional hour, if not less.

I had figured out that there were 4 THINGS THAT I REALLYREALLYREALLY wanted to do in Vegas: Get our pics at the sign (did that), go to the Fremont St. Experience, have shrimp cocktail at the 4 Queens, and cruise the Strip on the our bikes. Got ready to go to Fremont Street for the Fremont Street Experience because I wanted to see the George Thorogood show at 7:30 PM, so we left around 6:30 PM, got gas at Rebel on Boulder Hwy, 2.119, MPG was 33 due to the wind and slow speeds. Fremont Street was pretty cool. You can hear the wind on my first video-it was really blowing. Below, is video of Bub walking before we went to the 4 Queens.Got there around 6:50 PM, went to the 4 Queens, had a couple of 16 oz draft beers for $2.50 and 6 shrimp cocktails for $1.50 ea. Each shrimp cocktail was around 20-25 small shrimp on a bed of lettuce that makes the shrimp cocktail look 'fuller' than it is. Oh well, what can you expect for the price, plus I like lettuce anyway. Went walking down the street (which is actually enclosed, no traffic vehicles allowed), took pics & video of Barry walking, then got startled wildly when the George Thorogood 'Bad to the Bone' presentation started.Had barely enough time to start my video and was wondering if I had enough battery or memory.Yup, I had enough for all my pictures PLUS 2 light shows. One thing I will do, however, is learn to look with an artist's eye for the picture vs. thru the camera viewfinder-I need to turn the Vegas montage video about 90 degrees right.

After the light shows, Bub was hungry and I tried to get him to go for steak at Billy Bob's Steakhouse (TripAdviser or somebody like that rates it really good) but he wanted something RIGHT THEN. So we come to Vegas just so he can have PIZZA. GMAB.

Had pizza and I noticed in the mirrors there that one of my eyes was really red from the wind today (the wind which crossed inside my wraparound glasses and was wicking the tears out of my eye) so I went into WalGreen's there on the corner and got some Visine. Helped alot.

We did everything on the list except ride the Strip, so for our final venture, we started out at Carson and Las Vegas Blvd S, and headed down the Strip. Bub complained that I was catching every single freakin' light, but I WANTED to so that I had time to take off a glove, raise my camera, take a pic, put on my glove, then drive. I think I got some nice pictures!

The construction was a bit much, but the lights were still wildly glowing. I heard afterwards that on Saturday nights, the lights would be dimmed to 'go green'.

After a good night's sleep, we got up for breakfast, or rather, Bub got up and checked stuff out. He SAID they didn't have coffee to go, but I checked afterward and they did. He was mean.

Check out the portions of the breakfast! That ham steak breakfast was $4.99. My ground sirloin with mushrooms and onions was $6.99.