California Day -1 Riding Around Las Vegas

I spent all day today, until 6:00, inside the Flamingo Hotel at the Airport Noise and Emissions Conference. The conference is very worthwhile. They brought in Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so there was no need to leave. The conference attendees can roughly be divided into these sets:
* Academics, who study noise and pollution from aviation. They hold the conference.
* People who work for airports and carriers, who are responsible for the noise and pollution.
* Consultants, who are looking for work from the people who are responsible for the noise and pollution.
* Community activists, who complain about the noise and pollution.

I am in the community activist group.  There was a networking session just for us yesterday, and we all decided we are each other's people, and we are the only normal people here. We have gardens and raise chickens and ride bikes. I think everyone else is probably Reptilians. Today is probably going to start making me have work nightmares again.

But at 6:00, I'd had enough, and it was time for a bike ride. The sun goes down at 6:30. I wanted to put some air in the tires (which I purposely had at fairly low pressure for their unpressurized plane ride), so I headed east for a bike shop three miles away where I figured I could use a floor pump with an accurate gauge. Unfortunately, they were closed. So I kept on going east a few more miles, and then turned west towards downtown.

I'm out of range of the tourist megacasinos at this point, and the sun is setting behind the mountains, and the billboards are now targeting the needs of the local residents.

It was pretty dark at this point, so I went to put on the headlight, which was stored in my decaleur bag. Only to find I packed the light, but not the mount. This was not so cool, since there was no way I can get back to the Flamingo before it's completely dark. 

I decided the thing to do was to ride the busiest streets possible past as many casinos as possible, and hope that all the casinos would be lit up enough for me to see. 

This plan worked, and riding around Vegas after dark is definitely the way to go.

Las Vegas has a small downtown that predates all the big casinos that were built starting in the 1960s. The big casinos are on "the strip", which is Las Vegas Boulevard south of downtown. The casinos on the strip are huge, impersonal, corporate spectacles.

Downtown is really cool though. It's on a much smaller, human scale. It has so much neon. And it leans hard into the sleaze.

Here is the road entering downtown.

The entrance to the historic Fremont Street pedestrian mall. This is the intersection with Las Vegas Boulevard.

The neon cowboy is about 40 feet tall.

And last but hardly least, the "Heart Attack Grill" where you eat free if you weigh over 350 lbs.

Tomorrow's mission is to go to REI, 10 miles away, put air in the tires, and buy a headlight. Since the conference ends at 3, I should be able to get there and back before dark.

The weather on this bike ride was perfect. It's so comfortable outside.

Here's the Strava Track: https://www.strava.com/activities/17680638828
 

California Day -2 Las Vegas Airport to the Flamingo Hotel

I got to the airport at 6:00 AM to make sure I had plenty of time to get the bike checked and get through screening. This was especially gruesome because daylight savings time started yesterday, so it was really 5:00 AM.

Checking the bike box was an adventure. This used to be so easy. You used to give the Southwest clerk the box, they charge you $50, done.

Now, though, the clerk has never seen a bike in a box before. I explained that it is a bike, and per the Southwest web site, it is "athletic equipment" and as long as it weighs less than $50 and the combined length/width/height of the box is less than 110", I can check it as baggage for an *additional* fee of $75 dollars, on top of the $35 checked bag fee. After searching around on her terminal for the Southwest web site, and using the tape measure, she agreed that I can check the bike as baggage.

The next step was a very long process of figuring out how to enter this exotic, unheard-of situation into her system so I can pay for it. After much consultation with other clerk, I think she just punted and entered it as a regular bag. Baggage was checked, and I had plenty of time to drink some bad coffee at the gate.

And my bike and duffel bag containing my loaded panniers arrive according to plan at Las Vegas.

This is by far the most stressful part of the trip. 
Will my bike arrive? Will it be damaged? Did I forget anything I need to put it back together?  Will the airport be a jerk and not let me put it together?

Everything was fine, here is the bike fully assembled and ready to ride.

When I'm actually out riding, I have everything I need to handle pretty much any situation. Including  camping gear. But when the bike is in the box in the hands of the airline, all bets are off. Who knows what will happen.

I did get some reassurance when I asked the Southwest guy at the baggage claim if anyone would care if I put the bike together right there. "Naw, it's a public space, you can do anything you want." Spoken in what sure sounded like a Wisconsin accent. 

The next adventure was leaving the airport. There is always a side road that will lead you out from the terminal. I thought I found that road but it dumps you out on this, which sure looks to me like an Interstate, even though there are signs that nobody apparently notices that says the speed limit is 35. Right. And this goes through a long dark tunnel UNDER THE AIRPORT for like a mile. In the wrong direction from my destination, which means I have to ride back around the airport on super busy roads. I have not yet seen a bike lane in Las Vegas.

But look what I stumbled upon right next to the airport! Yowza. I miss my GT500 convertible.

No sense in passing up the opportunity to add Nevada to the list of states where I've had pho when that opportunity presents itself. 

And it was very good pho, although there was no tripe.  The top song selection for the cool jazz background music was "Somewhere Over the Rainbow."

I am spending the next three days at the UC Davis Airport Noise and Emissions Symposium here at the Flamingo Hotel. I took the early flight so I would arrive in plenty of time for a networking session with other community members fighting airport noise, which happily came with a nice buffet dinner. I am talking on Wednesday morning.

Here is the campground for the next three nights.

 The Flamingo is one of the classic hotels on the Vegas strip. It is nice, but not so fancy anymore. 

The weather was in the upper 70s, sunny, and very low humidity. It was very comfortable riding.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/17665030290/overview

Eastern Shore Ride Day 8 - Georgetown to Cambridge

 The last day of our Eastern Shore adventure was pretty uneventful. We rode back to where Jim's car was parked in Cambridge, through the Land of Industrial Chicken Production. 

This is a Purdue feed mill in Hurlock, MD.

There are vast expanses of flat agricultural fields around here. We rode through them all day, which was especially miserable because there was a strong headwind. And no forests or trees or anything to block the wind and give us a break. It was a 44 mile grind. It took over 5 hours.

We had lunch halfway at a rural market/gas station in Reliance, which is on the Delaware/Maryland state line. We are winning and winning some more with gas station fried chicken this tour.

All in all, this was a really fun and interesting week of bike riding. In eight days, I rode 420 miles.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16575670598

Eastern Shore Ride Day 7 - Berlin to Georgetown

 It was the easiest ride ever today. Flat, 60 degrees out, strong tailwind, and only 36 miles. Why can't the tailwind be on the 60 mile day and the headwind on the 36 mile day?

We slept in, had a leisurely breakfast, stopped for snacks at a gas station, and got in at 3, when Quality Inn check in starts.

This is a really nice and really cheap Quality Inn. It's next to a huge shopping strip with a Walmart and a beer store. There is a Fins Oyster Bar for dinner too. Not scenic, and not glamorous, but way, way cheaper than Berlin.

Berlin was so fun though.

We are in Delaware now, and most of the day was spent riding in Delaware.

Delaware is the same as Maryland when you are away from beach towns. There are lots of stinky chicken houses, and farm fields where they grow food for chickens. And forests in swamps. Today was mostly about the chickens.

One weird thing here is the fields are all planted with radishes.

I've ridden by many fields so planted, and I was puzzled by what was planted, because it sure looked like radishes and I was mystified about why anyone needs so many radishes. Do chickens eat radishes? Today, I pulled one up, and it sure enough was a radish. The picture this app says it's a radish.

So I asked perplexity.ai "Why do farmers in the Delmarva peninsula plant radishes in the fall?" The answer is that it's a cover crop to improve the soil and to take up and stabilize excess nutrients so they don't end up in the bay. The radishes are left in the fields to decay.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16565698319

Eastern Shore Ride Day 6 - Crisfield to Berlin

 Time to say goodbye to bleak and sad Crisfield. The view over the bay from the condo is amazing though. That's Smith Island in the distance.

Monday morning in Crisfield has even more limited dining options than Sundays, so we made do with the First National Bank of McDonalds.

A crazy person was ranting and raving inside Micky D's, and he struck up a conversation with us about our bike tour. 

Turns out he had a great tip about the ruins of a very old church just off our route, in the tiny but ancient town of Rehobeth, MD.

The church in ruins was built in the 1780s, on the site of an earlier church from the 1680s. I can only imagine what it was like here in the 1600s. There probably wasn't a giant chicken house behind the church then.

Since we are riding back roads as much as possible, the only place for lunch was Pokomoke City, where we chose gas station fried chicken over McDonalds again. 

Turns out the Krispy Krunchy chicken was fantastic, and the sides were made there and fantastic too. This could be the next R&R Taqueria, which also started in a Sunoco station.

There are a surprising number of old churches back in the woods here in the lower Eastern Shore. I think there are almost as many churches as houses.

Today was a long day. It was sunny and nice out, but it was 60 miles with plenty of headwinds. We made it into Berlin right when it was getting dark.

Berlin is quite a nice town. It's just inland from Ocean City, and there are lots of restaurants and a fancy historic hotel. It's a town for romantic getaways for couples with a lot of money. For people like us who are cheap bike tourists, well there are a lot of cheap motels 20 miles farther along the way to the beach with McDonalds next door.

Since the Atlantic Hotel is near brewpubs and breakfast options, we booked two expensive rooms, because this is still the best option. The room is so small the bike barely fits inside.

We had a lot of fun at dinner last night, first at the Berlin Brewing Company two blocks over, then at the hotel bar. At the bar we were sitting next to a couple where the woman was trying to set the guy up with one of her friends. She said she was a turtle and he was a Nittany Lion. Jim said his wife went to Penn State, and I asked her if she had ever been to the 'Vous. Which got her going ("Of course! I was in a sorority practically next door!") and now we are best friends for life, until she had to get a ride home so as to leave her friends she was setting up with no escape. They were still talking when we went up to our rooms.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16556480698

Eastern Shore Ride Day 5 - Chincoteague to Crisfield

 It's Day 5, and for the first time the sun has come out. Sunshine is so nice.

And it was a very scenic day, featuring salt marshes and forests.

Sometime there were chicken houses hiding in the forest. There were a lot of chicken houses not hiding in the forest too.

And sometimes there were bald eagles hiding in the forest.

Bald eagles are abundant on the Eastern Shore. I've seen dozens on this trip. They eat dead animals on the side of the road with the turkey vultures.

Our end town today was Crisfield, "Seafood Capital of the World". Every soft shell crab comes from Crisfield, I hear. It's a big seafood processing place, and it used to be even bigger. At one time, Jim says, there was an overnight direct train from Crisfield to New York City to deliver fresh seafood to fancy restaurants.

But these days, it is very beat down. Population is 2500, and vacant buildings abound.

My goal was to get in to Crisfield before the Ravens game started at 1:00, and find a bar or restaurant where I can get food and watch the game. The challenge was the big headwinds on the last 20 miles of the ride. With a major effort, and by abandoning Jim, I made it. To discover that there are no bars in Crisfield, and only two restaurants open, neither of which have a TV at all. 

We are staying at Jim's sister's condo in Crisfield, which would be the only place possible to watch the Ravens. Why on earth would anyone buy a condo in Crisfield? Because it was really cheap, Jim says. Apparently, right before the financial collapse in 2009, some foolish developers thought Crisfield would be the next big boating resort, and they built a bunch of condo towers on the waterfront. Crisfield is clearly not the next big thing, and so we are here in a very nice condo with a spectacular view in the saddest waterfront town ever.

So I wound up riding around Crisfield for a half hour waiting for Jim to catch up, because the only place we are going to watch the Ravens is in the condo. My mission became "where can we find beer and takeout food that we can bring to the condo on our bikes?"

There is a beer store that was open, and where the is a will there is a way.

And there was a tasty takeout BBQ stand, which was open because the owner did not want to be home helping his wife put up Christmas decorations, he said.

We got to watch the second half, where the Ravens (who do not look good) pound on the Jets (who are bad beyond belief). In the comfort of the fancy condo.

We ventured forth for dinner at the only restaurant in town, the Waters Edge Cafe, a couple blocks away. It was busy at lunch, but it was empty at 7:00. 

Here is a picture of me, accepting that I have missed the first half of the Ravens game, but at least I have a bunch of BBQ and beer in the panniers.

The Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16546761233

Eastern Shore Ride Day 4 - Salisbury to Chincoteague

 No stinky chicken houses today! Instead it was a beautiful ride through forests and wildlife refuges.

There was light rain all day, which was actually no big deal, and a nice tailwind. We knocked out 55 miles and we were done by 4:00. All in all, a terrific day of riding.

We rode by the Nassawango Iron Furnace, which is a historical landmark. They made bog iron here in the 1830s. There used to be several furnaces in Elkridge where I live in that time period, but they are gone now. likely because their bricks were valuable and were reused.  Also because they exploded when the river flooded while they were in blast. The Nassawango furnace is intact and preserved. Probably because it's in the middle of a swamp far from anything and it was never worth salvaging the bricks.

The whole site is a museum, with various support buildings still there that were part of the iron-making operation.

It's all run by the Nature Conservancy.

Lunch was at the scenic town of Snow Hill.

And just a bit later, we crossed into Virginia. We had a lot of quiet back roads today.

We are in Chincoteague tonight.

Chincoteague is an island between the mainland and Assateague Island, which is a long barrier island next to the ocean. Assateague is famously home to wild ponies, which possibly descend from the survivors of a shipwreck in the 1500s. The herd is managed by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department, who round them up every year and auction some off to keep the herd at a sustainable level. Sure beats running a Bingo game.

To get to Chincoteague, you have to ride down a 5 mile causeway, which mostly has no shoulder and is pretty much no fun. One side of the causeway has billboard after ugly billboard.

Chincoteague is a popular low-key vacation spot in the summer. There is a nice undeveloped beach on Assateague, which is a wildlife refuge with fantastic birding. This time of year, it's pretty dead.

There are a couple restaurants open, and I had a ton of oysters for dinner at Danny's.

There are two big motels right at the bridge, a Comfort Inn and a Hampton Inn. The Comfort Inn is cheaper, and humorously, the Comfort Inn's parking lot is jam-packed with work trucks, while the Hampton Inn is deserted. You know you have the right place when all the highway crews are staying there. 

The Comfort Inn is really nice, especially for a Comfort Inns.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/16537298385