23 September 2007
06 September 2007
Rachel, NV
Day 21, Caliente NV to Rachel NV, June 22
Today is my drive day with Jon and we're bummed. Since it's summer solstice, tradition is that we all ride naked for at least a mile of today's ride. As we're fixing breakfast for the team, however, I spot 2 aprons in the church kitchen so we had our own version of naked day. Katrina asked me if I could "top off" her coffee. Ahhh... I had a blast driving through the desert today. What I do enjoy about driving is that I get some time to myself, so I jammed out to some tunes which really made it feel like I was on a road trip. All day at my rest stop I got to hear "Coming into Rachel" jokes, and I must say, some people were impressively creative with their one-liners. I've forgotten a lot of them, but "I think I'll take the back entrance into Rachel" 
was a favorite of the guys. It went on and on. The town of Rachel is in the middle of Area 51, and they take pride in their "alien encounters". It's 70 miles from Caliente and 110 miles for Tonopah, and we're told, is home to 60 people. The motel we stayed at consisted of the 21 of us packing ourselves into a single wide mobile-home trailer, one of about 5 that made up said motel. It was called "The Little A'le'Inn". Our hosts were awesome and fixed us dinner in their store/lobby/restaurant. As I'm eating I'm wondering why the cute waitress, near our age, lives in this town.
After dinner, 8 of us packed into the van and hauled ass for 2
hours to Las Vegas to check out the city. I never thought I'd like to go to Vegas, and I've turned down several invitations to go, but one of the reasons I'm taking this trip is to see new places. The way we did it however--laid back and cheap--I really enjoyed it. Maybe because I've been in the middle of nowhere lately and it's nice to see civilization again, but regardless, I had a great time. We finally got the van parked, although we thought at times it'd be impossible to find a parking garage it would fit in with the bike racks on top. Ryan Hill can pull off some amazing feats.
We grabbed a couple of beers and walked down to check out show at the Bellagio, won $20 on one hant the waterd of Black Jack, got 'ritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, headed to the Venetian and then to the newest hotel in Vegas, the Wynn.
As we were walking back to the van, I said to the rest of the crew that I it would be so awesome to run into someone I know in this huge city that I've never been to. Not 2 minutes later, as we're going up an elevator I lock eyes with a girl coming down the one next to us, and we both have that "I know you from somewhere" feeling. We continue to stare at each other as we pass on the elevators and even when I get to the top, and her the bottom, we're still looking at each other. Then all of a sudden she yells up to me, "I was your bartender in Albuquerque!" Totally unbelievable that the chick who served us drinks in a bar almost 2 weeks earlier would remember me in Vegas.
Today is my drive day with Jon and we're bummed. Since it's summer solstice, tradition is that we all ride naked for at least a mile of today's ride. As we're fixing breakfast for the team, however, I spot 2 aprons in the church kitchen so we had our own version of naked day. Katrina asked me if I could "top off" her coffee. Ahhh... I had a blast driving through the desert today. What I do enjoy about driving is that I get some time to myself, so I jammed out to some tunes which really made it feel like I was on a road trip. All day at my rest stop I got to hear "Coming into Rachel" jokes, and I must say, some people were impressively creative with their one-liners. I've forgotten a lot of them, but "I think I'll take the back entrance into Rachel" 
was a favorite of the guys. It went on and on. The town of Rachel is in the middle of Area 51, and they take pride in their "alien encounters". It's 70 miles from Caliente and 110 miles for Tonopah, and we're told, is home to 60 people. The motel we stayed at consisted of the 21 of us packing ourselves into a single wide mobile-home trailer, one of about 5 that made up said motel. It was called "The Little A'le'Inn". Our hosts were awesome and fixed us dinner in their store/lobby/restaurant. As I'm eating I'm wondering why the cute waitress, near our age, lives in this town.After dinner, 8 of us packed into the van and hauled ass for 2
hours to Las Vegas to check out the city. I never thought I'd like to go to Vegas, and I've turned down several invitations to go, but one of the reasons I'm taking this trip is to see new places. The way we did it however--laid back and cheap--I really enjoyed it. Maybe because I've been in the middle of nowhere lately and it's nice to see civilization again, but regardless, I had a great time. We finally got the van parked, although we thought at times it'd be impossible to find a parking garage it would fit in with the bike racks on top. Ryan Hill can pull off some amazing feats.
We grabbed a couple of beers and walked down to check out show at the Bellagio, won $20 on one hant the waterd of Black Jack, got 'ritas at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville, headed to the Venetian and then to the newest hotel in Vegas, the Wynn.
As we were walking back to the van, I said to the rest of the crew that I it would be so awesome to run into someone I know in this huge city that I've never been to. Not 2 minutes later, as we're going up an elevator I lock eyes with a girl coming down the one next to us, and we both have that "I know you from somewhere" feeling. We continue to stare at each other as we pass on the elevators and even when I get to the top, and her the bottom, we're still looking at each other. Then all of a sudden she yells up to me, "I was your bartender in Albuquerque!" Totally unbelievable that the chick who served us drinks in a bar almost 2 weeks earlier would remember me in Vegas.
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