August 19th-
It wasn't the earliest of mornings, but the sun was still waking up. I collected my things in the normal fashion, ready to ride another day. I was excited to find out how much further I could make it on the Interstate before being stopped.
I had enough time riding to make it to a rest area. I waited there for almost half an hour in the shade. I can imagine I must have looked like a straggler who was about to ask for spare change. I blame it on the heat. It was a lot hotter out than I expected it to be.
I raced out onto the interstate again, hoping for a long ride. I was not so lucky. There was a police officer on this day who was also looking for fulfillment. She was kind to me, as all of the others before, and did not give me a ticket for riding on the freeway. She did however, give me horrible directions as to how I could finish my ride without continuing on the freeway.
Soon after we parted, I stopped into a gas station in Cedar City to find a better way. There didn't seem to be one. So, I took her advice and rode on the frontage road that parallels the freeway. I had a change of heart midway through the town and decided to jump back on the freeway for ten minutes to cut two hours off of my travel for the day. As bad as that was, it turned out to be the best thing I could have done.
I almost rode past a McDonalds on my way back to the freeway, but I slowed and stopped when I saw four bikes that seemed to be the same breed as mine leaning up against the building. When one of the guys standing next to them looked at me, I said, "sorry I'm late?" He laughed as we began a long conversation about our trips. As it turned out, he and two of his friends were riding from Maryland to Las Vegas. They had met up with two other guys who were riding from Wisconsin to Southern California and a German who was just riding all over the place. I asked if I could ride with them into Vegas, when they told me of the same trouble they had faced with riding on the freeway. It turned out that they had rented a U-haul in order to finish their trip into Vegas.
Reluctantly, I decided to ask if it was alright for me to join my new friends in their voyage. I received a little uneasiness, as we barely knew eachother at all, but they decided it was okay for me to split the cost with them and ride along. Before the two hour ride was afoot though, we all went out to a mexican restaurant where I was one of two, out of seven, to not have a margarita.
After the meal, we all got in the truck. I sat in the back with two of the other guys, since there was little room in the front. I was content just the same; I was going to make it into Vegas. After about an hour of introspective riding in the back of the U-haul, we stopped to switch who rode up front. I felt lucky enough to be riding at all, so I offered to stay in the back. I was soon to regret that decision. It got incredibly hot in the back, to the point where we all but sleepily passed out from exhaustion.
When we came to what seemed to be the final stop, I peeked out through the cracks in the back door to see an "In-N-Out" sign. The guys from the front came and let us out as we breathed in all the "fresh" air. It was nice to be in Vegas. I parted ways with my fast friends and found a hotel blocks away from the strip to stay in. I thought about gambling a little, but remembered I was already doing that with the trip. I laid in bed knowing that I am close.
Daily Lesson: We are rarely the only one with a certain problem. Find someone with the same problem and work through it together.
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