Day 1, Camping at the Grand Canyon

 After a long day, visiting The Vegas Strip, The Valley of Fire and Hoover Dam we finally made it to the  Grand Canyon's West Rim. Since there were not hotels around, we set up our tent next to a desolate gravel road.  It always takes time to set up the tent and get all our camping gear out, but it's definitely worth it. :) The picture above you can see Jorge cooking some great food. He even cooked some lobster (talk about a gourmet chef).

 It got a bit cold. Check out Fernando with his balaclava; it was so cold he wore it all night long (it was below freezing). The cold really got to Fernando (we need to get thicker sleeping bags), but the rest of us slept just fine. We kept telling Fernando he looked like " El Subcomandante Marcos" the leader of the Zapatistas a rebel movement in Mexico. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subcomandante_Marcos

This is what our campsite looked like in the morning. It was a sunny, fresh, crisp morning. I knew we were going to have a great day!

One thing that worried me about our camping site was that there were lots of thorns which could puncture one of our tires.

End of Day 1, Stage 4

We ended the day with a visit to Hoover Dam.  We got there around 5:30pm and it was starting to get dark. The picture above shows the northern part of the dam (Lake Mead) and it also shows my black Shoei helmet (Shoei's are the best helmets, I highly recommend them). The picture shows that the water level is low; look at the "bathtub ring" (a high-water mark) created by the drought. I took this picture from the Arizona side of the dam.    

Only Fernando and I went to see the bottom of the dam. Jorge and Aradio were too tired to walk from the parking lot to the dam (riding a motorcycle all day can get tiring).
I've always wanted to visit this iconic American site. I was really stoked when we got there.

In this picture you can see "The Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge" and its unique arch (I'm on the left and Fernando is on the right). Both the view of the dam and the bridge were stunning. The size of both of these projects is impressive (from an engineering stand point it was great). As soon as it got dark we left and headed to the western part of the Grand Canyon. It took us another two hours to get to the West Rimm.

Day 1, Valley of Fire

The Valley of Fire, just northeast of Las Vegas, was amazing. It was the first destination after leaving Las Vegas. We got some great pictures of all the different rock formations. The colors are so unique and so different that it makes you feel like your on the planet Mars. The American Southwest has left its mark on me. The vastness and the greatness of the southwest is unlike anything in the USA.  If you're ever in Las Vegas, make sure to visit this incredible state park (it's only about 1 hour away).

March 6, 2015, Day 1

We left the Texas Station Hotel in North Vegas around 10am. We headed directly to The Strip. I thought it would be a great idea to ride the motorcycles down the strip. It was a memorable experience (would have been even better at night). Then, we got this classic picture of the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign (we asked a stranger to take the picture for us).

Start of Stage 4, March 5, 2015

In the picture above (from left to right: Aradio, Fernando, Jorge, and Daniel), we are at George Bush International Airport, getting ready to board the plane. The flight left very early, at 7am, but that didn't bother me one bit, I'm always ready for another adventure.

We arrived at the U-Haul Storage facility around 10:30am, local time, in Las Vegas. Here's one of the first pics of the trip of my Honda XR 650L. The bike started right up, no battery or carburetor problems (at the end of every trip I drain the carburetors and disconnect the batteries on all the bikes, to avoid any problems).
 
This is one of the first pictures of Aradio's brand new KLR 650 2015 model. He put all sorts farkels and goodies on the bike (Givi Trekker Cases, crashbar, hand guards, Heated grips, and more). The bike looked beautiful. I told Aradio to take a good look at the bike and take pictures, because he was never going to see it this clean again. Aradio is a new member of the tour (that's why he needed a bike). He's a real estate agent in The Woodlands. He's been riding bikes for many years and we are glad to have him on the trip.   

Elephant Seals, North of Morro Bay

Just north of Morro Bay, on the Pacific Coast Highway, we ran into these little friends. Male elephant seals can grow up to 15ft in length and weight as much as 5,000 pounds (as much as an SUV).

Stage 4 Complete! What an Amazing Trip!!!

Here are some pics from the Valley of Fire; we visited this amazing state park just north of Las Vegas during our Stage 4 America Tour trip. The colors and rock formations are very unique, makes you feel like your on the planet Mars.