First night in Chicago and a stay at the rather funky ACME hotel that has chalk boards on the door
Sorry I just had to do it! And we got 3 knocks during the night
Funky bathroom
A really comfy bed
And a silly Amazon Echo that listens to everything you say.
All told very funky, a good find Mrs Fogg. Today we womble round the Windy City
posted by the biker daddy.
12 hours later we have arrived into Chicago in the middle of a thunderstorm and heavy rains, oh and rush hour.
It took a while to get through traffic on our airport shuttle coach but we made it.
So what to do when you are absolutely shattered, it’s torrential rain and you’ve arrived in the dark? Eat of course, and where better than the rather convenient Weber Grill restaurant- yes that Weber lot famous for big barbecue machines. It just had to be sampled.
And so to bed…in our rather cool hotel.
The Fogg and Treasure trip starts here, Alec specially made Tshirts
posted by the biker daddy.
Hells Bells
Hopefully she will be a little less bored with this.
posted by the biker daddy.
And so the journey begins, Route66 here we come
Geeky doing geeky things and Kev looking bored
posted by the biker daddy.
Well blow me looks like you’ve had a bit of sunshine in the UK and whilst it hasn’t been the blistering 111F of Vegas, it is always nice to see.
A lovely warm welcome back by Stu & Jen and a chance to crash after 28 hours awake.
So the R66 may be over for now, but we’ll see where our next journey takes us to.
Hot off the press. Latest foot pictures shows reduced swelling but bruising now coming out (black toes anyone), and of course the important Flight Sock.
Such a sexy image eh?
The current wheelchair is large enough for two. Only in the US!
After a surprisingly smooth exit from the Wyn (fantastic hotel, we’re coming back), an even smoother breeze through Airport security because of the wheelchair (although I was questioned because I was sweating after coming from 104 F to aircon carrying 3 bags and 2 helmets, so yeh normally I WOULDN’T BE SWEATING!!!!) and Mrs Fogg was swabbed everywhere (do we look like crims or what).
So here is our R66 tally:
– Motorcycle number one 0 miles
– 2 free caps and t-shirts
– Motorcycle number two 793 miles
– Hire Car one 188 miles
– Hire Car two 1458 miles
– 13 hotels
– 6 mile hike in the canyon
– £110 in mobile calls
– 7 foot X-rays
– 2 crutches
– 5 wheelchairs
– 2 Bubba Gumps
– 8 states
– 3 Time Zones
– 111 F in Vegas
– 1 severe hailstorm in Oklahoma
– 1 narrowly missed tornado (phew)
– 1 complete soaking
– 2 Springfields
– 1 crap Vegas show
– 1 very elegant flight sock
– 1 haircut
– 1 eyebrow wax
And we have lost count of the burger bars, veggies here we come.
Las Vegas is one of those places you either love or loathe. The first time we came in 2005, we hated it, but it does grow on you. There are people from all walks of life and the poverty here is very evident unless you are a tourist or the so called “elite”. I can only imagine anything is possible here for the right price.
Most come here to gamble, a lot of Americans appear to come here since it has all of Europe you could need (fake Paris, fake Venice, fake castle, etc). The casinos make it tricky to find your way out, entice you to the table and provide free food and booze until you are all spent up. Having a womble round some tables are minimum $50 bets (really £35 for the role of a dice or turn of the roulette wheel) and you can only imagine a salary being blown in an hour or less.
Card flickers line the streets handing out cards with “girlfriend” for the evening (all legal immigrants of course). People dressed as Mickey Mouse, Spider-Man (although I ain’t never seen a pot bellied one before), transformers, etc, all to entice you back into the casinos to spend what you have left and guys offering parties at strip clubs. 24/7 beggars line the sidewalks offering bottled water for $1 and one guy was even offering you the opportunity to “kick him in the nuts for 10 bucks”.
This place has it all, opulence, glitz, glamour, sleaze, poverty and depravity. Love it or Loathe it, you have to see it to believe it and draw your own conclusions. We just love to come and watch everyone else.
And finally, it has been so easy to concoct different scenarios for Mrs Fogg’s injury, since our cousins are a little gullible, “how’d you hurt your foot honey”, responses included:
– This is what happens if you don’t pay your hotel bill
– Foot got caught in the hotel lift and snapped it
– trapeze artist who slipped
And all were swallowed, hook, line, sinker and copy of angling times.
Chorlton on the move