Welcome to Las Vegas

Within moments of leaving Kingman, Arizona, this morning, we were in Nevada, which welcomed us with another time zone change!  We left I-40 for SR 93 and Las Vegas.  The flat terrain began to change and we entered a beautiful display of intersecting mountains that spilled right down to the road (see photo).  The road through them was winding and slow, and single-lane.  Before long, we were heading to Hoover Dam.  I had no idea we would be passing this engineering monument.  Nor did I realize there would be a security check of all vehicles.  I guess the security guards are used to cars piled high with suitcases, clothing and various detritus from long road trips because there was no issue and we continued on our way.  We did take the time to stop at one of several scenic viewing overlooks
(photos below).

Leaving Hoover Dam, it was a short drive to Las Vegas.  Our borrowed GPS took us on a more direct route than Google had, and we found our hotel in no time.  Unfortunately, with the time change, we were quite early and no room was open yet.  So we opted for a shuttle ride to Mandalay Bay to find the PBR area.

It was a long, long walk from the shuttle's dropoff to get into the hotel, find a concierge with information about the PBR shuttle I want to use to get to the events tomorrow through Sunday, and find the actual area. As our luck would have it, the PBR outdoor event site was quite near to the shuttle's dropoff, but not evident at the time!

We were able to walk through it and get my first bullrider autograph -- L.J. Jenkins.

When we finally were able to check into our room (after lunch at a nearby outdoor mall and a drive down the entire Las Vegas Blvd.), we about collapsed from all the walking in the hot sun (it was 84 degrees today).  The sun is a lot brighter in the dry desert air.  Oh, it also sets about 4:30 p.m. as LV sits on the eastern edge of the Pacific Time Zone.

My first impression of the strip?  The buildings are unbelievably crowded together, not what most of the advertising depicts.  We'll take a stab at getting to some of the more spectacular hotels in the next few days.

This is it for now....