King(man) of the Road. Days 91-92

The shorter day yesterday yielded a fairly respectable 30 miles, but I wanted more. After being emboldened by a nice, quiet, overnighter and reviewing advice I'd received on the first leg of the trip from Chris Finnill, I decided to introduce what I'll call my 4-2-1 strategy. The numbers apply to the miles run in a single effort, with a much slower effort for half a mile, coming up with a total of 8 miles. Obviously there's some flexibility in this, but do this 5 times in a day and we have 40 miles. This also allows me to run at a pace I feel is decent enough, without prolonged, unabated trauma to the muscles/joints. It seemed to work as I got to the 500 mile marker of this leg without even realising it and past the always annoying “run past where you stayed last night and had to drive 10 miles back from” marker. I got to run past some cool old deserted buildings and we had lunch at a place called “Santa Claus”, a settlement named after what must have been a permanent Santa's grotto, that had now fallen into heavy disrepair and was up for sale. This made me sad, as the sort of people who would run something like this, would, I imagine, be full of fun and enthusiasm and probably put everything they had financially and spiritually and to see it not succeed must have been a heartbreaker. I guess that's the risk in opening something so far from a big population centre and relying on through trade, a nod to the lack of apparent permanence in places I've felt, like Dolan Springs, which seems more permanent than many places I've been!

Our day's end lay in Kingman, a town famous for being on the junction of Route 66 and one of the few places where it is still intact and not replaced by an interstate. We had a bit of a bad time at the truck stop where we stayed as first of all, the generator which was supposed to have been in tip top condition now, had conked out again. Soul destroying. Secondly, we were woken up by a very rude truck driver (the only rude one I've met so far!) who demanded (not a hint of asking) we moved and let him park where we were (even though we had permission to park there and there were tons of spaces left). He had the archetypal small man syndrome and was a real bully. As the unwritten rule of parking in a truck stop is to not upset truckies (fair enough) I admitted defeat, but not before winding him up to the point of almost seeing steam come from his ears and we moved to a different stop, as he looked the type to not let things go quietly. Jenny wouldn't start. If she hadn't done this a few times in the last week, I'd have thought she was telling me to stand my ground, but this was another problem that needed sorting. The emergency starter saved us embarrassment. Another incident that evening ensured we didn't get to bed until after 1am. Tomorrow was going to hurt. Looking for positives, we had found a specialist RV garage in town that could fit us in and look at the generator. We hoped this was going to be more fruitful than last time.

Start: 2.6 miles after Rosie's Den Cafe on Highway 93. Finish: TA Kingman Truck Stop. 41.0 miles. Day 91 Tune of the Day: The Beatles – Don't Let Me Down. This was my overriding feeling when we booked Jenny in for her second medical in the space of a week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtzkaL2t_Y

What do we like after a late night? An early morning phone call. However, I couldn't complain, as it was Aaron, a reporter from the Kingman Daily Miner, whom we'd spoken to yesterday. He wasn't to know about our night-time dramas so we didn't hold it against him. He drove me into town to do some photos near the regenerated Powerhouse and rail locomotives that are part of the recent drive to make the most of Kingman's heritage. Aaron was a great guy and the interview was more of a long chat, which wasn't a concern, time-wise as we were only able to drop Jenny off after lunch. There is always a fine balancing act between what Nads and I want when things go wrong, with me always having one eye on the mile count and Nads not wanting to be left with all the work to do. Last night was so stressful, it was left in no doubt that if I wasn't going to filed under “asshole” I would have to the decent thing and take a drastically chopped distance for the day. Which, when I stepped out of my bubble was the obvious thing to do. I trundled from the truck stop to the garage, taking the opportunity to do my own Route 66 roadtrip. It was hardly Billy Connolly on a trike, but fun nonetheless. It did make me think I'd like to try and do the whole thing one day. Having been at the start, in Santa Monica and hopefully getting to the end, in Chicago, in June, I'll have to fill in some blanks.

Now going to a mechanic is, to me, like what I imagine going to the vets is like for most people. You sort of know a bit, but haven't really got the first idea, or the tools how to do most things. Now with a good service, there is usually a cost and of course this is the scary bit, especially when you've had some bad experiences. You sort of hope for the best, go on some reviews (disregarding any ones that sound a bit too similar!) and hope for the best, again. The guys at Russel's RV were super friendly, obviously wanted to help and when we asked about a job that we were told was dealer only previously simply said “Yeah, we'll take a look”. This was all too easy and I felt like there was going to be a catch. The only catch was discussing the run with John, one of the guys there, as he'd seen me running from Vegas a couple of days earlier with his wife! As you can tell, this wasn't really a catch and I was more than happy to. Big country, small world. After a couple of hours, our broken window mechanism was fixed, a new battery and the generator was sorted. I'm pretty sure the bill we got was them keeping things as low as they could too. Thanks guys.

This mini-success meant I could try and smash out the 16 miles or so to the truck stop on the other side of town, though time meant it was going to have to be in one hit. A couple of miles on tarmac segued into gravel, then sand, undulating 30ft or so at a time and it was like this for a good bit of the run. A real leg sapper. The total distance may not have been much, but circumstances meant this was a really hard run, so when I got to the truck stop and saw they had a Dunkin' Donuts, there would be no mercy. I bumped into a group of travellers that had been admiring my neon Pegasus Unlimited shoes (same as Sir Mo's!) and shared a few jokes with them, including my terrible Ringo Starr impression that I like to do when someone says they recognise my accent. It's funny how a day can be rescued by just a couple of things going right.

Start: TA Kingman Truck Stop. Finish: Petro Truck Stop, Kingman. 22.22 miles. Day 92 Tune of the Day: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – Jack the Ripper. This is a brilliant, typical Cave tune that came on as I was cursing the sand hills. “I got a woman...she rules my house with an iron fist. Yeah, yeah yeah!”. Now I'm not saying Nads does that...but I know who's boss! Mostly because she talks sense. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GnQ9Mkvn-9c

Total: 2,768.32 miles (538.68 miles this leg). 

Leaving Las Vegas... Days 89-90

 I always had a feeling we weren't really meant to be parked overnight where we were, but we got away with it. Or it was fine. It was pitch black when I left the RV and headed back to Excalibur and I'd got a half mile before I realised I'd left my watch in the RV. Boooo. It did allow me to get some gloves at it was freeezing. The scantily clad ladies loitering near the truck park must have a constitution of iron. I took the opportunity of slightly less chaos than usual to run the length of the Strip, to the Mirage and back, to do some filming and caught the sunrise perfectly. Night and day on the Strip. I paired up with a couple of visiting runners from Minnesota after my gimbal ran out of battery and chatted with them about the run before we parted ways, with me going past Luxor and the Mandalay Bay to the famous Vegas sign, before hanging a left past the airport where Liv had left us from.

Further along I let a fellow runner at the lights know that he could cross in the opposite direction and proceeded to stuff my face with an Apple Crunch Nakd Bar. I still had a gobful when I noticed I had company. It was the runner. His name was Bryce and he is a 2nd year dental student at university in Vegas. I remarked it would have been a dangerous place for me to have been a student, but he was a level headed guy and was obviously able to resist the pull of the bright lights! We ran together for a good few miles and had a great chat. He was pretty quick, so that was the one positive when he left – I could slow down a bit! He became the first runner to voluntarily join me on a run – he mentioned we should recruit. Who knows – maybe that will happen soon! My next athlete encounter was slightly different. I was overtaken by a flying cyclist on the River Mountain Trail as I headed towards my lunch stop. I soon caught up with him though as he was rotating his back wheel with some concern. I found his name was Danny and he'd taken some air off a bump and come down on slippy railroad tracks. His wheel was pretty bent, but that was nothing compared to his shorts which had been shredded, along with his right thigh and shall we say, the poor lad would have a job preserving his modesty on the way home! I'm far too much of a scaredy cat to be a hardcore cyclist – road rash just looks unbelievably painful and that's only the low end of the cyclist injury spectrum. Two legs thanks. I'll stick.

Through Henderson, through Boulder City and onto the road that led to the famous Hoover Dam. A little difference of opinion/misunderstanding between Nads and I at the final stop led to confusion over the meeting point, made worse by where I thought we were going to meet being out-of-bounds for an RV meant that I had to cross the dam and therefore the State Line prematurely. While I logged the distance, I paid no attention to the scenery and took no photos, as to me, it didn't count. I'd repeat it tomorrow. Properly. I'd upset Nads as it was a horrible drive in and now she had to do it again. It was one of those things where it was no-one's fault, but doesn't feel that way. All I could do was apologise and get out of her hair, retreating to the Hoover Dam Lodge when we got back to take in the Carl Frampton fight (He unfortunately lost) whilst having an Abita Wrought Iron IPA (I won.).

Start: Excalibur, Las Vegas. Finish: Hoover Dam Car Park. 36.3 miles. Day 89 Tune of the Day: Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas. Amazing place. Would have loved to have seen it around the time of the King himself, Casino is one of my favourite films and I'm fascinated by “old” Vegas.

Returning to the scene of the crime…meant a solid mile walk to the visitor centre of the dam, but this at least allowed us to get all the photos. The dam is amazingly impressive, though I had mixed feelings as it's had a huge environmental impact and is one of the reasons why the Colorado doesn't reach the sea any more and fish populations, including rare species have dwindled. However, it was built in the mid 1930's when no-one (most people, anyway) really gave a monkey's about the environment, so you can't hold that against it and it does provide a lot of clean electricity. Certainly knocking it down isn't going to help and there are a number of ongoing efforts to minimise/reverse the impact it has, so I'll keep an open mind and marvel at the amazing feat of engineering. Apparently if they poured all the concrete in one go, rather than block by block, it still be setting today! I got to cross the State Line in a more ceremonious fashion and also added an hour onto my watch. This and the mile long traipse back up the hill meant a really late start. I scrambled down a rough rock face onto the road that would get me onto the highway and promptly slipped, landing awkwardly on my wrist. That hurt.

The remainder of the lovely sunny day was spent on a nice wide shoulder, chasing Jenny down the road and on one occasion, watching her fly right by after missing the turn off. See you in fifteen minutes...I hope. Fortunately the error was realised and hope turned into thirst quenching arrival. I passed under one of the dedicated highway wildlife crossings I'd read about at the dam site, where Bighorn sheep cross following the natural ridge line where they feel safe, helping to prevent population isolation and the problems that brings. I thought I glimpsed a healthy chunk of the Colorado River at a scenic lookout and while arguably I did, it was actually a thin sliver of Lake Mohave, another artificial lake created by further damming downstream. Hmmm.

The roads were pretty busy as this is the main route for people heading to the Grand Canyon from Vegas and you occasionally get businesses catering for that, including the “Last Stop” - a true sensory overload, offering Monster Truck rides, burgers, aliens, lotteries and a slightly tired looking inflatablewaveyhandsman that resembled a despairing goalkeeper reaching in vain for a James Milner penalty, in no particular order. Such is my life currently, I couldn't explore and I didn't have time for cake at the “World Famous” Rosie's Den Cafe. Life is HARD. At least we were in an RV park this evening – we headed to Dolan Springs, a fairly large settlement, by these parts' standard and met a few nice people in the park and local grocery store.

Oh yeah – by the way – I'd full-on sprained my wrist. Couldn't even open a door with it.

Start: Hoover Dam Car Park. Finish: 2.6 miles after Rosie's Den Cafe on Highway 93. 30.0 miles. Day 90 Tune of the Day: The Maccabees – River Song. My thoughts all day focussed on the Colorado river and the lyrics of the chorus seemed pretty apt for my situation: “You’re not getting any younger. Soldier on for another year. Tell yourself you’re getting wiser. The truth is we’ve all done the same”.

Total: 2705.17 miles

What Happens in Vegas... Days 86-88

 We'd gotten a bit ahead of ourselves and were in Vegas a full day ahead of the scheduled RV service, so all that was left in the morning was for me to get a bus to last night's stopping point and a leisurely jog into town. On the way I had two very cool encounters. One was with a chap called Kevin who was just making his way on foot across the country at his own pace and I think I caught him sneaking out from an overnight stop. He told me the key to success was good footwear and swore by his Doc Marten's. “They're British. They're the best.” I liked that. I'll still with my Nikes for the time being – they haven't done me badly! The second was even more intriguing. I saw a sign for a local print shop called Tough Prints on the wall and went over to have a look as I was wanting to add to my t-shirts to include something on the front that might make people driving past me realise that I wasn't just a local out for a jog. I saw that TP did printing for MMA and martial arts, so they were likely tough enough! As I was looking, the owner, Chase came out to see if I could help. I explained my situation and he gave me one of the biggest positive reactions yet, telling his team and almost jumping straight on the print process. I told him I was in town for a few days and he said he'd be happy to do the printing at cost price and he'd also make a few phone calls…

Back at the hotel, it was time for a bit of semi-unplanned R+R, which left me conflicted as we wouldn't be making progress. Once I'd accepted that fact though...there's no point in being miserable eh? Especially not in Vegas. First of all was a trip to KLAS-TV the CBS station in Vegas, where Kacey Montoya had helped to arrange an interview and we were lucky to be Bryan Friesen's first full interview! I still feel like I don't really know what I'm doing in front of a camera, but I'm getting a bit better...I hope. It had a slot later on with Denise Valdez (Emmy winner!!) and you can watch it here: http://www.lasvegasnow.com/news/cross-country-runner-re-enacting-a-popular-hollywood-scene/645648813 After that, we had a good wander down the strip, sampling Vegas' wares, taking in the fountain show at the Bellagio, the Grand Canals of Venice, the streets of New York and a few bars (the ones with good beer). I put a whole dollar (count it!) in a slot machine and won 24 cents. I quit there. The next day was going to be a big one though and we're just not used to late nights at the moment, so an early retreat was always on the cards…

Start: Jct of Highway 160 and Rainbow Drive. Finish: Excalibur Hotel. Total 8.5 miles. Day 86 Tune of the Day: ACDC – Sin City. Chosen not because of the high amount of debauchery we were about to get up to, but because of Vegas' nickname and the brewery of the same name that I was going to find. It's also a hidden gem of an ACDC song.

Last night's premature end was because we had to take Jenny to the RV Doctors at the other end of a 90 minute bus ride back to our hotel at 9am. We dropped her off and crossed our fingers things would be ok, though we feared something would crop up. First thing after we took the tram to the Mandalay Bay, so we didn't have as far to walk to the famous Las Vegas sign. We saw it. It was like it looked like on the telly. I liked it. Good review, huh? There was an Elvis and also an “official” photographer stood ten foot in front of the “No photographers are licenced to operate in this area” sign… I headed over to Tough Prints where Chase and his team enhanced my kit to the effect of having a large “RUN ROBLA RUN” put on the front, to possibly help confused, or interested drivers who see me coming. I had some potentially very interesting news from a business partner of Chase that I'll let you know more of if it comes to fruition and with that, a lift back to the hotel where I was to have an interview with Blake Apgar, a splendidly beardy reporter from the Las Vegas Review Journal (http://www.reviewjournal.com/local/las-vegas/man-recreates-forrest-gump-run-charities) which was impressive in the fact that Blake seemed to memorise the whole interview, not writing a thing down! These were both exciting in themselves, but I had my eye on something later on. Cirque du Soleil have created a show based on the story of the Beatles and the way they affected people's lives, mostly by singing about love (pretty much all of their first six album songs had love as the subject), which just happens to be the name of the show! The show is truly incredible. The skill of the performers and the intricacy of the stage set-up is like nothing I've ever seen and of course, the soundtrack is amazing, with a reworked, remixed mash-up of the Beatle's best (and some lesser-known) tracks providing the background. It only features in the Mirage casino due to the purpose built stage and if you're in Vegas, you should pick it above any other show, in my opinion. If you're a Beatles nut, or from Liverpool, you should fly to Vegas especially to see it. I'm not even joking. We headed into the night babbling about how good it was and continued our rave review all the way to Sin City Brewery where we calmed down, before another early night.

Start: My bed in Excalibur. Finish: My bed in Excalibur. Miles: Some run, some walked, none counted. Day 87 Tune of the Day: The Beatles – All You Need Is Love. There's nothing you can do that can't be done, y'know?

We'd heard nothing from the RV people, despite requesting an update so we were pretty peeved about that and it got worse when we heard our generator needed a new carburettor and it was going to cost, with a service, over $700. We pretty much killed time all day as we were waiting onword when to pick Jenny up, so I won't bore with that, but bright spots were popping into Bubba Gump Las Vegas, where we had a lovely free feed and some photos with the team, followed by a free shake at Sticks n' Shakes, which were very tasty and hopefully very calorific! We eventually picked Jenny up and parked up for the night and rejoiced in the much nicer noise the generator was making than pre-service. Please don't let anything else go wrong.

Start: My bed in Excalibur. Finish: My bed in Jenny. In a truckstop. Miles: Some run, some walked, none counted. Day 88 Tune of the Day: Radiohead – Let Down and Hanging Around. I just want to get on with things now.

Total: 2,638.87 miles