California Day 1 - Las Vegas to Primm, NV

 I can see California from here. Primm is on the state line.

Primm is almost a ghost town. It used to have three casinos with big hotels, a monorail, a roller coaster, and a shopping mall. Now, it is one casino, with a two star hotel. All that other stuff is abandoned.

The hotel was claimed to a Travelodge when I booked my room online, but there is no sign that says Travelodge anywhere, which makes finding it an adventure. It's pretty nice for a Travelodge.

There are also a few fast food restaurants and a gas station. I ate at this Mexican place.

I wound up with a Chile Relleno Burrito somehow. The girl at the counter didn't speak English, and I don't speak Spanish. It was tasty regardless.

Walking back, I discovered what I suspect is keeping the last casino hotel afloat.

There is a ginormous Tesla Supercharger, so people are probably going in to play slots when they are forced to charge here. I'm grateful, because the next hotel is 60 miles away.

It's probably not because they have the actual car where Bonnie and Clyde were shot to death in the dead shopping mall.

It was only 40 miles today, easy peasey, great weather. The first miles were a gentle 2% climb, the last half was all downhill.

I had fully loaded up the snack bag at a Whole Foods by the airport, where they have this totally natural looking xeriscaping with native cacti.

I had lunch at the last restaurant before the desert started, which was about 10 miles from the Flamingo.

It was almost completely empty. The edge of the developed area in Las Vegas is cheap, dense apartment blocks.

The wings were OK, the flavor was right, but they were very mild, and not very crisply fried.

But I am very far from Buffalo.

The plan today was to ride Las Vegas Boulevard the whole way to Primm. It runs parallel to I-15, and it has no traffic and a nice shoulder. 

Also, there is art.

For some reason, quite a number of people have driven clear out here to walk around these stacks of brightly painted rocks. You can see them if you look close. The rocks are very big.

My plan to ride Las Vegas Boulevard clear to Primm had a problem.

The road is closed. This is one of more than a few signs making it perfectly clear that the bike route is the shoulder of I-15.

So the shoulder it is.

It's a really nice shoulder. Glassy smooth, and very little debris. You can actually see Primm off in the distance 12 miles away, in front of the mountain.

Here's the Strava track: https://www.strava.com/activities/17701848144