Rock 'n Roll in Las Vegas by motorcycle

It's mid-November and we're still having fun riding the BMW. This weekend we headed north to warmer weather in Las Vegas. We live at about 1 mile elevation in Prescott, AZ, and Las Vegas is about 2000' and in the Mojave Desert, hence the warmer weather.

After riding north on Arizona Route 89, we headed west on the longest original stretch of Route 66 from Seligman to Kingman. Interstate 40 takes the majority of the east-west traffic through this part of northwestern Arizona, and we rarely saw other cars or even populated towns along Route 66.

What we did see were miles of desert, tumbleweeds blowing across the highway, and the famous Burma Shave signs that encouraged us to slow down, read each line of the jingle, and try to guess the last, rhyming line.

If Daisies are
Your Favorite Flower,
Keep Pushing Up
Those Miles Per Hour.
Burma Shave.

 

Cattle Crossing

Please drive slow

That old Bull

Is some cow's beau.

 

You can drive

A mile a minute

But there is no

Future in it.

 

From Kingman we headed north on Interstate 93 into the mountainous 2337 square mile Lake Mead Recreational Area formed by two dams on the Colorado River.

at the scenic overlook

 

 

 

We rode over the new bridge at the Hoover Dam into Nevada, with sweeping views of Lake Mead as we headed closer to Las Vegas.

 

 

 

 

 

After riding through the Mojave Desert and down through the mountains into Las Vegas with miles of little to no traffic, it was jarring to ride through stop-and-go traffic in congested Las Vegas. We parked the bike at Harrah's for the next two days, walking or taking the monorail instead of riding.

 

 

 

We spent two days wandering through lavish casinos, watching the amazing Cirque de Soleil Beatles Love show, and at the Rock 'n Roll marathon before we loaded up the BMW and rode south, retracing our route back home. We decided that we both prefer fresh air and the quiet open roads to loud and crowded cities, and that if we're going to spend time in Vegas, it's far more fun to get there by motorcycle.