Reasons 4946 - 5099

From Primm we descended down a long stretch of highway to Las Vegas. We rode our bikes from one end of Las Vegas Boulevard to the other, past all the huge, extravagant hotels and casinos on ‘The Strip.’ Years ago, I spent a summer on staff with the Christian missionary organization, Youth With A Mission in Las Vegas. The base director, Richard still remembers me and offered for us to stay at the YWAM base. We’re very thankful to Rich and YWAM Las Vegas for hosting us so generously.

Inside The Venetian hotel.

While in Vegas, Collin’s parents, Dale and Kathy paid us a visit. It was pretty exciting for both of us to get to spend some quality time with people from home. The four of us walked all around The Strip, exploring the hotels. We’ve witnessed the Bellagio fountain shows several times, the Freemont Experience, the Mirage’s volcano, the Flamingo’s flamingos amongst other flashy sights.

We're so badass. Yeah, we bike on the Strip.

The four of us paid a visit to Madame Tussauds Was Museum. We laughed a lot.

Pinching J-Lo's asset.

Kathy hanging onto Daniel Kraig.

Collin taking over for Larry King.

Snoop Dog wasn't all that impressed when I sat on his throne.

Dale is pretty much the new King of Rock and Roll.

Both Collin and I were pretty keen on going to Criss Angel’s show. Criss Angel is an illusionist who currently has a show combined with Cirque du Soleil. Dale and Kathy graciously offered to go to a time-share presentation that offered cheap tickets for the show for those that went through the whole presentation. By the end, Dale and Kathy were able to get some nearly free tickets for another show as well.

Marc Savard and me.

The four of us went to Planet Hollywood to see Marc Savard, the comedic hypnotist. The show was pretty hilarious and dramatic, but more so for me since I actually volunteered to be a part of the show. There were maybe thirty people who originally walked onstage to volunteer, but that number was cut down to around ten of us who experienced a more deep hypnosis. Through the hypnosis, Marc convinced one man that his name was ‘E-I-E-I-O’, just like in the nursery rhyme, Old MacDonald’s Farm. He even had one woman convinced that every time Marc touched her she would have the sensation that someone had pinched her butt. He also used one song that would play periodically. Every time the song played two men would stand up, find each other, fall in love and start dancing. As soon as the music stopped they would come out of their trance, holding each other and not know how they had gotten there. It was all pretty funny.

At one point, to test how deeply we were hypnotized, Marc told us that the temperature was increasing, hotter and hotter until it was well over a hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Everyone on stage started waving their hands in front of their faces. The woman next to me nearly started peeling her clothes off. But, then Marc told us that the temperature was now getting colder and colder until he told us it was minus forty degrees. By that point I was shivering so hard I nearly fell off my chair. It was so bizarre. Now, for those of you at home, braving the Canadian Winter, jealous of our exploits in the Nevada desert you can ease up a little bit. None of you can say that you experienced minus forty with only a t-shirt and shorts.

Dale and Kathy rented a car and the four of us visited Red Rock Canyon. We took in a geology talk from a volunteer. As well, we went off exploring a bit around the thirteen-mile, scenic drive.

Me, wearing Jeff Probst's hat. Legit.

The Criss Angel show was pretty fantastic. When we arrived we realized that our tickets placed us a the back of the theatre. Shortly before the performance started a friendly usher came and lead us to some open seats in the fifth row. It was super awesome to be able to see everything right up close. There were lots of disappearing-and-then-reappearing-someplace-else types of illusions which never get old as far as I’m concerned. And, the show was hilarious in many instances. I would highly recommend the show.

We had such a quality time with the Geldermans. I’m really thankful they came to visit. It was good to be able to speak face to face about how we’re doing and have a bunch of laughs.

The adventure will continue into the wilderness along parts of the old Route 66, the Grand Canyon and most likely Phoenix for Christmas. If you happen to know anyone in the Phoenix area that might like two friendly, Canadian cyclists to join them for the holiday please let us know!