I managed to make it out of Vegas with all of my possessions still rightfully mine. I was now going somewhere, and then hopefully on my way to the Grand Canyon. It was my last day to be able to make some great eggs, bacon, hash browns, and toast and it tasted great. I made it a little ways out of Vegas, but everything felt different. I wasn't used to pedalling and it took me a few miles to remember how to do what I needed to. The traffic was busy just as it was when I was coming in to Vegas. There were only a couple of roads going in and out of Vegas and so they were all interstate traffic. I was on a road that had a nice big shoulder for a little while, but after a few miles the shoulder went away. I was left with a divided highway that was being overrun with traffic. I didn't want to get hit and it seemed like most of the cars were slowing down and then passing me when they had the opportunity. I was getting closer and closer to my first big stop for the day. the Hoover Dam was only about 30 miles away from Vegas and it was extraordinary. The size of it absolutely blew me away. It was incredible to see how everything was set up in the area to make sure that it was running for everyone in the area. There were a lot of cars and people in the area for the afternoon and everyone wanted to see everything. It seemed like quite the tourist trap directly in between Nevada and Arizona. As soon as I made it over the Hoover Dam I was in Arizona and was starting to climb up some hills. I had gone down to a little over 1,200 feet to get to the Hoover Dam and now I was going up hill it seemed for quite a ways. It was about mid-afternoon at this point and the heat was starting to get to its' hottest point. I didn't enjoy riding in such incredibly hot temperatures, but I was in the desert and I couldn't expect anything less. The only thing that continued to cool me down as I pushed forward was the wind that seemed to be blowing from the south to the north. I was headed southeast so I was getting a majority of the wind. As I pulled out of the Hoover Dam the road I was on split into a divided road. There were two lanes of traffic going each direction with a patch of land dividing the two sets of roads. The shoulder was in horrible condition and so it left me to ride on the road. I'm pretty sure that it was considered a freeway and it made for an interesting 70 miles ahead of me. Not very many cars were driving on the road, but when they were they seemed to come down the road in groups. Four or five cars at a time and all that I could do was hold on tight and hope that I didn't feel any sort of an impact. It was very interesting riding. I pushed against the wind like this for a good portion of the day and after making it through the afternoon I was exhausted. I learned that when in a desert, looking for water was just about as easy to find as shade. When you found one you could find the other, but it seemed like it could almost take forever to find one. I had gone about 30 miles without finding any water and I was starting to rely on some Gatorade that I had packed with just in case. I wanted to save a little water for the evening because I wanted to be able to use the little stove that I had recently purchased and have some spaghetti. As the night approached and I was feeling too tired to push forward I saw a sign for a small town on my left. There couldn't have been more than 50 people that lived in the small town and I started to hunt for any nice patch of land to put my tent down. I looked and found a small little gated area with two picnic tables on a desert ground. I think it was a park, but it was unlike any park that I have ever seen. There was no green grass or anything living nearby. Only two picnic tables and dirt surrounded by a fence. It looked strange, but it was exactly what I needed. I unloaded all of my stuff on the picnic table and started to prepare a meal. The stove was able to cook my pasta in only a few minutes and it was an incredible addition to have while on the road. I was so happy to have a nice hot pasta at the end of the day and to be able to change the routine of the peanut butter sandwiches. I set up my tent and had a little trouble sticking the stakes in the ground, but I eventually was able to get them in. Since one of my poles had broken in half on my tent it was a little difficult to get it to stand upright, but it worked for the time being. I wasn't able to ever find the right pole for the tent I was using and I was thinking at this point that the only thing I could do was buy a new tent. I went to bed fairly early since the sun had gone down at about 7:30 and the light was my sense of time at this point.
Daily mileage: 72.6 miles
Average speed: 10.8 mph
Daily mileage: 72.6 miles
Average speed: 10.8 mph
Total mileage: 3,975.4 miles
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