I had tried
to find a way of taking my own Harley over to the US for a couple of months,
but time availability and cost made me opt for a tour organised by a UK
company, with benefits of better support than I would have had on my own. Visiting Sturgis is the Haj for a Harley
rider, the mother of all rallies, and it was to be this year that it was to be
done. The trip was to take me from
Nevada through Utah, Wyoming and South Dakota, to return via Wyoming, Colorado,
New Mexico and Arizona back to Nevada.
My trip had
to start in Las Vegas as that's from where the Harley was hired. I hadn't been there since the 80's and it's
obviously changed and grown. My hotel,
the Excalibur, was chosen by the tour organiser and it wouldn't have been my
choice, a casino with over 4,000 rooms around it, with architecture more in
keeping with Disneyworld, fast food courts to keep the punters spending, both
rather tasteless, and a buffet of regiment-feeding size. Mind you, most other hotels on the strip are
of similar proportions. It's easy to get
into hotel casinos as you often have to go through them to get anywhere, but
not so easy to get out due to the lack of windows and clocks together with
minimal exit signage. Gambling is, of
course, the primary purpose, but there are many world class shows on offer too.
The Excalibur
You have to
marvel at the sheer scale of the glitz and the excess of Vegas, even though its
appearance is sometimes as misleading as its astro turf and plastic hedges when
viewed up close! It's hoovers and hoses,
not mowers and clippers, that you seen out early in the morning when you get
out and about to beat the 40deg dry heat that comes later. And, where else can you see the Statue of
Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge, a Sphinx and the Eiffel Tower side by side!
New York, New York
There were also the waters of the Bellagio, with its fountain show every half hour. But, it served as a start and finish point
for the round trip to Sturgis in South Dakota.
I took a 45 min helicopter ride that passed over the
Hoover Dam, with its new highway bridge and Lake Mead behind it, to get to the Grand Canyon. It was very noticeably how low the water level had dropped.
Dropping 4,000'into the Canyon was fabulous,
landing on a small flattened pad to take a short trip on the Colorado River to
gaze up at the rock faces all around.
Afterwards, it was a short lift back up over the lip to the airport and
a bus to Eagle Point. Here is SkyWalk, a
glass floored walkway above the Canyon, which opened only a few years ago, with
spectacular views below your feet and outwards to the surrounding area. Some vertigo sufferers clawed their way
around it clinging onto the handrail or being dragged by unforgiving
partners. The Canyon could also be
viewed from the edge where there were no barriers or guard rails. I found it interesting that Starbucks have to
give you a cardboard collar and a warning that their coffee could be hot, but
similar warnings were completely absent at the Canyon and there was no barrier
at the edge. It was explained by our
pilot that this was most probably because the area is Native American land and litigation
is not as prevalent as it is elsewhere.
No doubt, in the fullness of time.
I was amused by a native guide who, when asked the time, looked up at
the sun and said 12:40, only to then check his mobile phone and proclaim it to
be two minutes slow! Guano Point also
offered outstanding views down into the Canyon.
Hoover Dam from the air
View above Skywalk taken from a helicopter
It concluded with a flight over Las Vegas on the return to the airport, my hotel visible on the right.
The above is an collection of some clips from the helicopter flight, a bit jumpy.
I saw four shows - Blue Man, David
Copperfield, Nathan Buckley and a Circle du Soleil production. The first was an utterly unique experience of
3 men covered in blue makeup, no spoken words and lots of percussion, much of
which was produced by them on instruments made from plastic pipe, vacuum hose
and various fittings. It was very
entertaining, ending in the audience being covered in rolls of crepe paper
dragged over our heads from the back to the stage!
David Copperfield was outstanding with huge
scale illusions and some up close magic with lots of comedy thrown in. Impressive were his appearance on a Harley
and a vintage car, each revealed within seconds from behind curtains. Audience selection was random as balls or
frisbees were thrown to them and by them, giving answers to questions that
were, in one case, locked in a box that had been suspended in view above the
stage just before the show began. He's
been around for some time but is still captivating. Nathan Buckley is an illusionist also, and
very impressive too. The Circle due
Soleil was just breathtaking, a very
cleverly staged show in and over a 1m gallon 25' deep pool, with swimming, high
diving from the rafters, acrobatics, trapeze, clowns and lots of comedy. A floor moved up to create a stage over the
pool at times, and swimmers were held underwater until needed with the support
of around half a dozen frogmen. It was
just awesome and top class.
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