Hitched out of Vegas, Trip Hopping in Phoenix

My last morning in Vegas, I rested leisurely in my room overlooking the pirate ships there at Treasure Island until my friend Jennifer called, I checked out and she gave me a ride all the way to the Hoover Dam. With a good head start, I stood far above the dam watching tourists below me, around me, and driving by me taking my picture out the window.

It was a bit of a wait, a cop stopped at one point early on, "Hitchhiking here is illegal", I asked if there was a better spot for me to be, "I've told you it's illegal, but when I drive away you do what you gotta do". Police are funny. I kept my thumb out until a pickup truck stopped and hopped in. 

The guy took me 30 minutes down the road, he was a welder working on the Wynn, a premier hotel/casino on the strip. He was also an ex-racing champion who held a track record in Vegas since 1992. He also found one of the only rhodium mines in this country, it was a big secret where it was, he's waiting for the price to go back up before he starts digging some up, but top scientists are apparently going ape-shit about his find. He wore many other hats that came up in our conversation, he finally dropped me off in a spot he said he's seen hitchhikers before where he guaranteed my good luck.

Just 10 minutes of thumbing yielded me another pickup truck, Jose was heading all the way to Phoenix. He even had me put my seat back to catch some sleep when he saw I was nodding off a bit. As we got closer we stopped and he gave me money to by a 40, I chose Steel Reserve and drank that into Phoenix where he dropped me off. From there I called Larry, his brother was in the area and picked me up.

Now I've been in Phoenix a few days, it's been about catching up on some Trip Hopping things, that's the rideshare site Larry and I are putting together. One night we checked out some roller derby girls, and we went to a couchsurfing picnic get together one afternoon, but when we're at his place we're usually in front of the computers knocking stuff out or discussing different ideas and issues with the site.

My next weeks future is shaping out, Jackson Hole in time for turkey day, and a hitch down to Vegas where I'm hooked up at Mandalay Bay for the sunday and monday nights the weekend after. Kimmie is flying in from Vancouver, and we'll hitch to LA that tuesday.