And we're off again, ...... into the Wild Yonder.

We packed a few things, strapped the bicycles onto the back of the car and off we sent.
  Albuquerque here we come.
A quick request via "Couch Surfing" and we've been accepted as guests to a lovely lady by the name of Jan. Turns out she's a Parliamentarian of all things. What is that ??.  well, .... She writes and co ordinates stuff at parliament for goodness sake..... Maybe we need her in SA.??..

Jan is an elderly lady, retired but very spiritedly and absolutely "with it". Frankly our politicians wouldn't stand a chance!!!! . Our room was offset to one side of the home, having its own Bath on suite. We couldn't ask for more. Absolutely perfect in every way.

Sadly I cannot find any pic's of our host so it will have to wait awhile ...
(Possibly not a bad thing as we don't want her cronies using this against her . lol)

During our travels we cycled along the Rio Grand and found it to be pretty disappointing to say the least . We were expecting a huge raging river but nothing like that at all where we were, Just a little stream relatively speaking, if it was 20 meters across it was a lot.

Loads of photo's missing here sadly ........  that's me crying away in the background.....

Anyway off to Santa Fe we go enjoying it immensely. Lovely old churches , etc, etc...... After a few
hours wondering around our next stop was "Tinkertown".

An old ram-shackled bunch of corrugated building slapped together but having a wondrous array of cool artefacts from the old circus and festival days.

On our arrival the snow had began to fall, just light snowfall which did nothing to deter our enjoyment that's for sure. We met the "Keeper", a lady whose husband was responsible for the collection and creation of the museum. Sadly he had died some years ago and now it was only her trying to maintain and keep it up. Sadly she is losing the battle.

There were folks who were helping her but over time she noticed many things rare and collectable, going missing so that was given up as a bad idea.

THE NEED TO CONSOLIDATE AND PREPARE FOR OUR HOMEWARD BOUND TRIP

Well, all good things come to an end and now we needed to find our way back to SA. The bad part of this equation was that the closest airport that "Virgin Int" flew out of was Las Vegas.  As luck would have it though, prior to leaving SA I had arranged another House-Sitting job there, the dates of which were pretty flexible. Fortunately the owners were happy with our revised arrival date, after which they would be heading on their local holiday and into Yellow Stone Park for two weeks.

who would have guessed we would be securing our bikes on the roof of a Pruis

The time had come for serious packing as 1st we needed to get to Las Vegas, only than would our baggage allowance of 75 kg per person kick in.  This was a huge dilemma as by this time B had become extremely fond of her luxury (old) bicycle and was loathed to give it it up.

Yes, that's right, she wanted it to come home with us so she took it up on herself to investigate and find the cheapest airline that would also allow free "Sporting Goods" to accompany us. ( which she did via Internet). Wishful thinking, when we had arrived at the airport we were informed that this was not the case and that and extra charge of $ 100 p/bicycle was due.

Between cursing and cussing, along with various telephone calls to the powers that be, we were now convinced that these wonderful bicycles would be remaining behind. Fortunately we were alone at the book-in counter with this one guy one on duty who we got chatting to,and who, after a bit of persuasion began looking up which sporting goods were allowed free. Finally he agreed ( wink, wink) that our bicycles were " Ski Shoes" and proceeded to book them in accordingly.

Someone is ALWAYS looking after us !!!  take a guess who?......

LAS VEGAS !!!!!!  (whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas!! .)

Meet Bernard and Jennifer, our wonderful Hosts. Bernard, an American citizen who was the editor for Cape Times many, many years ago. As he had an understanding of SA it was very fortunate and much easier to discuss our home challenges with someone who can relate.

On arrival, Bernard gave us the tour of Vegas, told us where to go, what to do and what to look out for before heading home to meet Jennifer. Our room was once again to one side of the house, having our own bathroom etc. Couch Surfing is great!!!

Before heading off on their planned holiday we all drove to Red Rock Canyon and on the way back stopped off for a delicious lunch at Bonny Springs.

Psst we even had a communal swimming pool to cool off.  Plus a gym which we used very now and again between jaunts.

The next surprise was that before leaving on their holiday, Bernard insisted that we use his Nissan 4x4. to investigate the area and surrounds. ( lol, no that wasn't his Ferrari). Beside Vegas, there is actually also another wonderful world out there. In fact there were even normal people living it it!!, (not all of them but some at least) . Add to that a couple of  Movie Stars that live out there and it's wonderful countryside and suburbia. The area is extremely quiet once out of the city.

Hoover Dam, Henderson, Lake Mead, Pahrump, and Vegas surrounds.
Once again I can't seem to locate many pic's......  

LAS VEGAS you say , yes we were there. 

Freemont Street, the Main Strip, the dancing girls, the under-dressed, the bizarre,  spandex, downright stupid, and of course the music which occurs all over the place but mainly in Freemont Street.  We listened to great musicians whenever we had the opportunity.