Friday 23rd may

Left Laughlin separately, John and Max going via the I95 and us the I93 - this was deliberate! We both encountered horrendous cross-winds and neither road had any services for miles and miles! By the time we reached the Hoover Dam we were virtually running on air. The terrain was mainly flat and scrubby, we were between two mountain ranges but they provided no shelter from the wind, in fact they probably made it worse. We rode over the dam, I jumped off to take photos and the plan was to meet Mick on the other side - this proved to be impossible as you are not permitted to do what I did (no wonder I got strange looks) and there is NO dropping off, picking up or crossing of the barriers permitted AT ALL and UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES!!!! A friendly security man pointed this out to me after I had been spotted on camera trying to break the law! We were lucky not to get a fine, but fortunately although the bike was on camera, we had no registration plates as it was a brand new bike! Lucky eh?
The wind and the unexpected drop-offs stopped John and Max on the other side of the dam, so we met up with them there and as it was about to bucket down, stopped for lunch. A wise decision as it absolutely threw it out of the sky for some time.
We continued to Las Vegas together, but after getting lost and losing each other, we went to Harley Davidsons to get the bike checked out and John and Max continued to the hotel, where we met up at almost the same time. The Stratosphere was ok, huge and very noisy, but....when in Rome. Lugged all the bags into hotel, we have more than we started with - its all those t-shirts the boys insist on buying. We, on the other hand, have been really good and not bought a thing - well, not much anyway! Ours take up less room.