Las Vegas Bikefest 2014 with Vespa Steph

Sash & Vespa Steph with a couple of guys outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon

When I think about the fact that Las Vegas has suburbs, and people actually live here, it somehow changes the way I think of Sin City.

As I rode down Las Vegas Blvd one afternoon, through the city's Downtown area, I imagined what the city looked like without casinos and resorts. What if you took out all the tourists, save for those who stop for gasoline along the freeway exits, what would the city look like?  What would it be it's main industry?

Sash and I arrived here on Wednesday, October 1, just a couple of days before Las Vegas Bikefest officially started. Our primary reason for coming here was three-fold, one to celebrate a couple of birthdays, Sash and Joan Krenning, two to attend Las Vegas Bikefest to meet people and market our business, and three to attend NACS 2014, a convenience store trade show, to visit a client of ours.

Las Vegas Bikefest this year is far from what it used to be when I attended in 2005.  Officially, it takes place at Cashman Center, a baseball stadium.  But these days, Bikefest at Cashman Center is just a trade show of vendors and custom bike builders.  It's actually rather boring.

Otherwise, all the fun takes place in Downtown.  In years past, Downtown was packed with bikes like Sturgis.  But lately, attendance has waned.  The City has since prevented bikers from congregating along Fremont Street.  What's left is a biker party outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon on 3rd Street.  So, Sash and I booked a room at Downtown Grand, the former Lady Luck Hotel, located next door to the saloon.

We originally planned to stay 7 nights, but extended it to 10.

• Our friend Vespa Steph rode her Vespa 250 from the Bay Area of California to visit us. Steph shared a cabin with us in Sturgis, and roomed with us here in Las Vegas.

• As Bikefest, we hung out with Joe Sparrow, a fellow motorcycle vagabond who's been hitting the pavement the past 5 years on his Honda Goldwing. He doesn't document his travels, but he does post photos on Facebook. Joe manages to earn enough money working a booth for J&P Cycles.

• Sash briefly met Petra Stridfeltd here at Downtown Grand. She and her husband Anders are motorcycle vagabonds too, but started out in Manchester, England, and venturing across the world. They document their travels on Two Bikers One World.

• Vespa Steph met another scooterist, Robert Devlin here at Downtown Grand. He lives locally. He managed to get us free tickets to see Criss Angel Believe, a popular contemporary illusionist.

• On the night of her birthday, Sash took her dominatrix paddle (made by one of the guys at Monkey Butt Radio), and swatted people outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon in Downtown. All she had to do was stand there with it, and people asked if she could paddle them. One woman actually stuffed money into Sash's shirt to paddle her husband.

• I spent an afternoon with Justin Havlik, the CEO of Thanasi Foods.  Thanasi is the maker of Dukes Smoked Meats and Bigs Sunflower Seeds.  His company was here for the 2014 NACS (National Association of Convenience Stores).  Thanasi advertises their beef jerky brand on my beef jerky blog, but I've also built a friendship with Justin over the past year.  He got me into NACS, which was hosted at Las Vegas Convention Center, and the show was astronomically huge.  Imagine dozens of football fields filled with every consumer brand you can think of (Coke, Hershey, Frito Lay, et al) all trying to stuff free food into your mouth. They were giving out so many free samples, collectively they could've fed every hungry child in America that weekend, and turned them all into diabetics at the same time.

• Sash and I, along with Vespa Steph, went out for dinner one night at a Brazilian BBQ inside Planet Hollywood.  Steph never had Brazilian BBQ before.  The concept of 20+ varieties of grilled meats brought out one-by-one on a skewer and sliced off on to your plate was too tempting for her.  Interestingly, Sash managed to negotiate the price down from $43 per person to $33 per person.

• Sash ended up getting an ear infection during our 10-day stay.  It threw off her equilibrium, made her dizzy, and thereby made her nauseous.  She got some meds for it from a local urgent care center.

• Downtown Grand has been great.  It cost us only $55.00 a night during Bikefest, and $65.00 after.  It's nicely renovated and very modern.  They have a cool cafe called "The Commissary", where the three of us spent a lot of time.  While we were hanging out in The Commissary, Sash met one of the owners of the hotel, who hangs out there everyday.  Whenever we saw him, he'd ask us about our stay, and anything we asked for, he got on his cell phone and got the hotel manager to get it for us. 

If it weren't for the casinos, Las Vegas would not have existed. But if you could imagine for a moment, if all the casinos and resorts just disappeared, Las Vegas really isn't much more than a Flagstaff or Grand Junction.

People who come to Las Vegas usually spend a lot of money, and therefore demand a lot back in return, and perhaps that creates the frenzied and irritable vibration that permeates the air.  It's not like other towns we've been to where a relaxed atmosphere puts us at peace.

As I write this, Sash and I had ridden south to Yuma, AZ to spend a week.  Our plans from there, to head to Bakersfield to visit her grandbaby for a week.

Photos from Las Vegas...

These two guys were on a bachelor's party in Vegas.	The scene outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon in Vegas	Vespa Steph scored free tickets to Criss Angel Believe.
Girls danced on the bar at Hogs & Heifers Saloon	The Duke's Jerky Truck at NACS 2014	More girls dancing at Hogs & Heifers Saloon
I worked out at our hotel gym 7 of the 10 days we were there	I wanted to eat a burger here, but kept myself away from it.	This bartender at Hogs & Heifers has a beautiful butt.
Street level scene at Hogs & Heifers Saloon	The biker party scene from our hotel.	Hogs & Heifers Saloon hired a bunch of security.
We met Joe Sparrow, a fellow motorcycle vagabond.	Sash met Kristy Swanson from Buffy the Vampire Slayer	Our bikes outside Hogs & Heifers, ready to leave Vegas
I ran into Lorie, an old friend at Cashman Center	My beer at Pizza Rock, Downtown Vegas	Sash met Josh, an MMA fighter at Hogs & Heifers
Sash met Laz, a regular at Hogs & Heifers Saloon	Sash being interviewed by Cycle Source Magazine	Sash paddling butts outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon
Sash dances on the bar inside Hogs & Heifers Saloon	Sash and Vespa Steph along the Las Vegas Strip	Sash and Vespa Steph outside Hogs & Heifers Saloon
Working inside the cafe of our hotel building	Found inside Hogs & Heifers Saloon	Vespa Steph getting ready to leave Las Vegas
The three of us resting after a long walk through Downtown	Sign outside Pizza Rock in Downtown	These nuns punished sinners along Fremont Street

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Route 66: Oatman, AZ

Oatman Highway is a stretch of the original Route 66

Oatman, AZ is one of those towns that motorcycle riders always seem to talk about, particularly if you live in the southwestern United States.

There really isn't anything special about Oatman that makes it conducive for the motorcycle lifestyle, except that the original Route 66 runs through it. While the road is pretty tight and twisty, and offers some great views of the Black Mountains, it's a very rough ride, narrow, full of burro crossings and slow moving vehicles.

But I've had countless riders ask me if I've been to Oatman, and yes actually, but it was years ago and I was driving my pickup truck. I hadn't been there on my bike, and nor have I come from the east along the twistiest stretch of the 66.

I can't imagine 50 years ago when big Buick Skylarks and Cadillac Fleetwoods made these 15 MPH hairpin turns with 10% grades. Even riding on motorcycles, there doesn't seem to be much room. The bumps and potholes on these roads, along with sand and gravel, magnified the luggage weight on our bikes as Sash and I rode carefully along.

Wild burros populate this area and can be frequently seen traversing down the rocky mountain sides. I spotted several, and wanted to photograph them, but they were far enough away that they'd only blend in with the rocks and scrub. I opted to wait until we got into town, where I knew we'd find plenty more.

Within the town, Oatman is just like any other old west-themed tourist trap. It's filled with souvenir shops, mine tours, and gunfight shows.

It's really the wild burros that make it unique, however. There's probably 20 of them there when Sash and I rolled in. A few of the vendors sell burro food which keeps them coming back. As such, the main drag is cluttered with burro poop. For the most part, they're friendly, passive, and let you pet them. Even the baby burros are getting in on the action.

Just as we got into town, a group of Germans on rented Harleys pulled up. There was probably 20 of them, all on brand new, shiny bikes. The tour guide spoke in German and explained the significance of Oatman. The group was focused on tracing the original Route 66.

We didn't spend the night in Oatman. We moved on and reached our hotel in Las Vegas.

Photos from Oatman...

Route 66 just before we get into the Black Mountains	Cool Springs Cabins offers a neat little tourist stop.	Inside Cool Springs Cabins is a small museum of Oatman
Tight turns and steep grades along Oatman Highway	The end of a gun fight show in the town of Oatman	A burro picks up scraps from the boardwalk of Oatman
Sash says hello to a baby burro.	Burro Breath Burger at Olive Oatman Restaurant.	Sash getting up close and personal with an ass

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US-93 Arizona: Anonymity of the Highway

US-93 northbound through Arizona

After three weeks of being grounded in Scottsdale, AZ, Sash and I packed up our things and left town, headed northwest.

We left September 30.

Our destination is Las Vegas, but we intended to overnight in Kingman, AZ, a mere 200 miles up the US-93, with another 100 miles into Sin City.

The thing is after a few weeks of remaining largely stationary, with the exception of a trip out to Jerome, it feels strange to uproot ourselves and get back on the road. Sash and I have become spoiled with staying at Residence Inn's for their comfy digs, modern amenities, and free breakfasts and dinners. I figure it's OK to spend extra on these rooms because they save us money on food.

But it's still good to pull myself up from the Earth and hit the pavement.

I mean, there are reasons why I do this on a motorcycle instead of a car, most of which I still struggle to explain in writing. It's just a thing.

The US-93 is not necessarily a road I had wanted to ride. 

In fact, I had never ridden this road before. And if you look at it on the map, it's doesn't look all that interesting. It's somewhat a straight line from Phoenix to Kingman. But when you ride it, it's not really that way. It still has its curves, albeit the wide sweeping variety.  But it's still fun leaning into turns at really fast speeds.

And then there are the Saguaro Cactus that the Grand Canyon State is famous for, which interestingly, give way to groves of Joshua Trees which I hadn't seen anywhere but in California.  I often imagine myself as Francisco Vásquez de Coronado, exploring previously unexplored lands and journaling them in my logs for future explorers to come.

If anything, US-93 gives you a great look at vast stretches of Sonoran desert country. Every now and then, I'd see a lonely little home out in the distance with a crude dirt road leading out there. I could only imagine how cool it must be to live there. But on the other hand, I'm really a city boy at heart, and I love the anonymity of a chaotic, frenetic downtown.

I think that's really what riding down a long stretch of desert highway does to me. It makes me anonymous; a tiny fleck of shadow moving along a grayish line. I can observe people and places like a ghost, speeding by and never being seen.  I can get away from people and hide my imperfections when I think the world expects better things from me.

I wouldn't mind moving on more often, except I hate packing.

Photos from our stretch from Scottsdale, AZ to Kingman, AZ

Some Joshua Trees along US-93 in Arizona	Sash riding north along US-93 Arizona	You can kinda see Sash's new leather vest with tassles
Lunch at The Mecca Sports Bar in Wickenburg, AZ	Drinking at San Tan Devil's Ale at Mecca Sports Bar	Sash pulling into our hotel in Kingman, AZ

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