Las Vegas, Part Deux

Today’s been a mixed bag. Some very good, some very…well, not “bad”,
because how can a motorcycle trip on a work day be bad, but perhaps
cumbersome.

Just so we’ll end on a good note, the cumbersome first. This was my
first time planning an entire vacation’s worth of route for more than
just myself, and I made some mistakes. I thought I’d factored in the
“multiple people make longer stops” equation, but apparently not by
enough — I think we’ve done at least 50 miles in the dark every night.
I feel rushed, anxious, nervous…like I’m simultaneously constantly
running behind schedule yet still not seeing everything I want to or
stopping when I want.

Tonight, Peter learned the hard lesson that we’ve all been through —
that horrible feeling of touring craziness where you try to convince
yourself you can go “just a bit further” until you finally just
physically and mentally shut down completely. Peter started shutting
down in the desert about 60 miles outside of Vegas, but I was blissfully
unaware, so I didn’t even have an inkling until he pulled off in the
outskirts of Vegas which — to put it nicely — isn’t a very nice
neighborhood. We got back on the highway and I started leading us down
the Strip, but he zipped ahead and pulled off at the Bellagio, where we
made an emergency stop alongside the valet parking so he could hydrate
and rest for a minute. The upside was the looks from the
tuxedo-and-evening gown crowd as they passed us sitting on the curb
pouring water over Peter’s head as he tried not to pass out.

The desert is a cruel mistress.

But I promised to leave things on a good note (and Peter is just fine,
btw, after some water and rest).

We had a great time in Zion today. We did a short (mile and a half-ish)
hike to some water falls and rocky pools, which was really nice. Then
we did an hour long horseback riding tour from the Zion Lodge to the
Court of the Patriachs and back. I brought up the rear on a short
little cutie named Chalkboard, who was reluctant to follow too closely
behind Lovey, Peter’s horse….a curiousity until Lovey started, well,
farting incessantly. 😉 We did two river crossings, some steep uphills
and downhills, and just nice relaxing trail riding with the beautiful
Zion scenery as a backdrop.

There, see, I left things on an “up” note. 😉 Must remember the
tourer’s creed: adventure is just misery repressed. 🙂