Viva Las Vegas!

I wasn’t overly excited to go to Vegas because I’m not even to go get a quick game of Blackjack in but I was pretty excited to see the craziness and the circus that is Las Vegas! I was also pretty excited because where we were staying was on the street where the strip is and is in between the strip and the Fremont Experience. The ride in was especially difficult and it was the ride that we all decided that we hate Nevada and there is nothing but desert there and we felt like we were riding through the part of the country that the government buys so they can blow stuff up. It was so hot – like space heater in your face hot. And there were so many hills. And so many head winds. What I remember the most was how Colleen kept telling me that there would be a gas station at mile 50 and everything would be okay. When we got to mile 50, there was nothing but desert…and more desert. That was the hardest part about the ride: there was nothing. Not even a tree that we could take protection from the sun under. Finally, we started getting to civilization when we got a bicycle path leading us into the city, even though we were still about 30 miles out. There was even one part of the path that was such a steep uphill that half of my group got off our bikes and just walked up the hill because we were so over it. Looking back, it was really funny how miserable we were because we were so pouty and annoyed but we had some great conversations and some hilarious rants about the desert and how much it sucks! Finally, 20 miles out, we got to a Sonic!!!! Sonic is like our favorite place of all time and we were all so happy that I thought I was going to cry! I was able to put ice in my Camelbak, buy a slushy, chicken nuggets and tater tots! We stayed there as long as possible so that we didn’t have to go back out into the sun and be miserable again. Eventually we made our way and, thankfully, ended the ride with a tailwind. My group and I biked straight to the bike shop in Vegas because they had offered free maintenance to all of us and tune up all 32 of our bikes, which was so amazing of them! While waiting to drop our bikes off, Colleen, Rhys and I fell asleep on the floor of the place and were eventually woken up to walk back to the host. On the way back, we saw the pawnshop from the TV show, which was really cool! Everything they sell is extremely expensive though. That night, we were staying at a place called the Veterans Village, which is a halfway home for veterans living in Las Vegas. They allow people a place to stay while trying to find permanent housing, so that they don’t end up homeless and ruined by the extremely flawed system. The people that run the establishment were so extremely grateful for us being there and couldn’t contain how excited they were that we were going to build with them tomorrow. After dinner that night, the group that was in my room took a quick nap before getting ready to go downtown and walk up and down the strip. My room ended up sleeping a little past what we had planned and didn’t go downtown until about 10 that night. We just took the bus to the front of the strip and then walked all the way down until we were too tired to keep going. Everything was so crazy! And so huge! Like the signs were towering over the people and all of the building were stories tall. It was insane to see all of the different kinds of people walking around and all of the lights that illuminate the streets. I also got to see the Bellagio fountains and go in one of the casinos. In the casino I went in (I think it was the New York one), there was a performer dressed as Michael Jackson dancing on the tables. It was really awesome and super impressive.