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Hi Everyone,
Onward to Las Vegas, this is the bottom leg of our journey around the Western United States. The temperature shot up as we headed towards the Nevada desert and theTpulsating oasis that is Las Vegas, but first we visited the Hoover Dam.
When we arrived the outside temperature had reached 114 degrees and felt like you had a hair dryer blowing full on into your face. The Dam tour was quite good but was more of a relief than anything else as you could get out of the heat. The whole thing is very informative and a major piece of engineering. At the tours conclusion you are invited to go onto the observation deck a top the side of the dam. Once outside it was just so hot the guide was warning people not to touch the rail because it was being measured at 120 degrees. I snapped a couple of shots in a nano second and that was it, we headed for the comfort of an air conditioned car! There are major road works taking place around the dam and a new by-pass road and bridge are under construction, this will make access a lot easier and again I say to you that this is well worth a visit, if only to marvel at one of mans great creations.
Now. Onto Las Vegas and The Tropicanna, not the prettiest hotel in Vegas and not the most swish but good, solid, and reasonable was what was required and that is exactly what we got.
2 -4 July - Las Vegas is completley crazy. Everything about it is crazy. The temperature never dropped below 98 degrees at night and topped out at 114 on several days, or one teens as they said on the forecast. Never heard that one before! There are more 'theme' restaraunts, more Clubs, more gamblers and more extremes! than anywhere I have been. There is also a well earned saying here. 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' I am not going to disappoint. If you want to know what it is all about, you will have to visit, my lips are sealed!
One thing I did do which I can tell you about, is visit a Lotus dealership. Yep there they were, the little beauties, all lined up waiting to be driven away. I spoke to the guys there who said that most people either buy them for their wives to look good in (not what I wanted to hear!) or just buy them to Track them, much better. They had a new version of the Elise with the Super Charged engine, very cool indeed and apparently goes like a rocket, you never know, I might be tempted upon my return.
Okay, back to the trip, we are heading off to the Sequoia forests for our next stop.
05 July - We left Vegas early and again drove in extreme heat towards the Sequoia National Park in California. This was a journey of mixed emotions for me because I really wanted to visit the area at the start of the trip but due to logistics had decided to leave it until the end. Therefore, this marked the start of the end for the whole trip. En route lunch was taken in a retro 1950's diner called Peggy Sue's, a great little place in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing else there apart from a load of scrap metal dealers and thousands of old vehicles, but the journey was a means to an end and we eventually made it to Visalia, California.
06 july - Now depending on what you read and who you talk to, you can take your pick as to which are the 'biggest' trees in the World and where they are.
You can have the tallest trees, Oregon, or you can have the densist trees, California. Well we have seen the Oregon trees and driven through Redwood forests both, or actually all, were very impressive. Now we are going to the Sequoia trees which are renowned for being physically enormous as opposed to just tall, and ARE the biggest trees in the World. The biggest of them all is The General Sherman which is apparently still growing and is a few thousand years old. A viewing area on the path leading to the tree has a paved area showing the circumference of Old Sherman, I wonder if they have to get the pavers back to increase the size every now and again to relay the stones?
As trees go, this one is pretty big, about the size of your average living room, if that gives you any idea. One of the most amazing things about them though is is there natural defence mechanism against fire. The bark grows up to three feet thick and can resist fires, so even if it gets scorched or even burnt, the tree continues to grow. Of course there are those which become badly burnt and measures have to be taken to deal with these. For trees of such magnitude they have surprisingly shallow roots and this causes some to simply fall, if undermined, and die. For a tee the size of a small skyscraper it seems a bit odd that this should happen but as with most things in nature, only the strongest survive and old 'Sherman' seems set to carry on for another 1000 years.
The forest is very peaceful and just a lovely place to be. It would be lovely to spend longer however time was short and we moved onto the Village and then drove through the National Park towards Fresco. We actually returned to Visalia because the hotel was so good and we wanted to set ourselves up for the final journey to San Francisco.
I have really enjoyed this journey and have achieved something I have wanted to do for as long as I can remember. We have driven 5500 miles in a full blown Chevvy and only got a maximum of 23 MPG! I'm not sure what we have done for the environment, not much I shouldn't think, but we have met some great people and had a fabulous time. Before I leave San Fran for the next stage of the journey to South America, I will give you one last update regarding the City.
Until then, take care, Chris.
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