Back on the road today, after our night with Clint. We started off by having to drive a section of the historic American 'Route 66' which took us past all sorts of wacky 50s diners and old Motels that were just as quirky as last night's stay. Although it was tempting to stop and go for a second breakfast of pancakes and bacon, we decided we needed to press on as we had a good distance to cover.
But not before a quick stop to get some of our clothes freshened up.
After a successful laundrette stop, which was run by a friendly man with an alarmingly fully tattooed head, we were back on the road and following the railway out of town.
An hour or so of desert wilderness later and we crossed state lines once again...
We had a lunch stop to take a peek at the 'Hoover Dam'. I must admit, I was a little under inpressed by it. I think the scale of the gorge in which it is built is so vast that it makes the dam seem small in comparison. Still, you can't argue with the fact that it's a damn big dam and a serious engineering project!
Shortly after the Hoover Dam, Las Vegas appeared out of the desert - and this was much bigger than I expected! It sprawls for miles and the huge skyscraper hotels of the main strip stand tall in the middle of it all. We managed to bypass the city by negotiating the ring road around to Red Rock Canyon National Park.
We've decided to spend a few days climbing and then head into Vegas after the weekend (as the accommodation prices double for the weekends!). The only gamble was that the Red Rocks campground takes no reservations and is first come first served. We arrived mid afternoon to find a 'Campground Full' sign hanging at the entrance. It had been a long day, and we couldn't believe it! By this point we were in no mood to take no for an answer, so Clare said we should take a drive through anyway just to be sure. And would you believe it, one site had just been vacated! We couldn't park next to it, so had to carry the tent a short distance over to it, but were just happy to have a space for the next few nights! Phew! After putting up the tent, we set off for an explore of the outer canyon.
Well the rocks really lived up to their name! Such bright colours! We didn't climb today, but enjoyed the walk through the formations in one of the side canyons in the Calico Basin. We followed a small climbers track and I was careful to give any cacti a wide berth as we explored before sunset.
Luckily, we didn't have to carry all the camp kit to the tent, so enjoyed a mega burrito dinner in the comfort of the van.
Last light at Red Rocks gave a great sunset. From here at camp, you'd never know that in the other direction, behind a small hill, Las Vegas is only a 20 minute drive away. That is until darkness arrived: there is now a massive green laser beam shooting up into the night sky from one of the Casinos!
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