Started with bad luck
At first we were planning a trip to Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes), but eventually we went to the United States. "We" refers to myself and Irek Szpot, who decided to share the challenges of the expedition. He also took care about all the financial preparations, while my only task was to prepare the equipment and the itinerary.
As I have already mentioned, we wanted to go to Celebes, but the cost of the ticket (ca. USD 1400 per person) matched with inconvenient travel (with several transfers) caused us to change our plans. Moreover, the number of our days off work was yet another limitation. In fact, we had no other choice but two weeks in July.
After long debates, we decided to fly to Cuba. However, the weather in July does not make this island the best destination for cycling expeditions. In the end, we chose the US. With so little time at hand, we could only see a tiny part of this vast country, and finally we made the Grand Canyon our destination.
The plan was simple: after landing in Las Vegas and mounting panniers on the bikes, we would head towards the Grand Canyon to find some motel, leave our "ballast" there, and go on a series of serious cycling trips. That was the plan… As you may have guessed, things did not go so well, which wasn't so surprising taking into account our hasty planning. The hastiness consisted in several things being arranged only a short time before departure - take the visas or bicycles as an example. There were a few nights without sleep, devoted to equipment preparation… On top of that, we were still haunted by bad luck. First, at the Warsaw airport it turned out that our plane would not set off for Frankfurt. What then? Failure? Do we go back home? No – thanks to Irek we found another flight, a few hours later. We arrived in Frankfurt just in time for the transfer. Unfortunately, in Las Vegas we were told that our luggage (the bicycles and the panniers) was stuck in Europe. Tough luck – what else could we say? We wanted to spend that night in the city of gambling anyway. While leaving the air-conditioned airport terminal, we were welcomed by a gust of hot air. Whoops… Cycling in that temperature would surely not be fun. But what else could we expect in the middle of the desert where only one thing is constantly growing, namely Las Vegas?!
We stayed overnight at Excalibur Hotel, styled to resemble a knights' castle. After all, everything in that place was styled to look like something else. The city at night made a lasting impression on us. Glittering lights, thousands of neon signs, and crowds of people can certainly be overwhelming. However, after spending at least two days in Vegas, you will come to notice all the kitsch and the omnipresent greed for money.
Coming back to our bad luck – although our luggage was delivered next day, one bicycle was still missing!
Thus we were forced to wait nervously one more night – would they finally find our bike? In the meantime, we had more than enough time to think about our itinerary. We decided not to travel with the panniers, first of all because the expedition was fairly short, and secondly – because of the significant distance still separating us from the Great Canyon. We would have to go back soon after getting there.
In the morning, the second bike finally arrived, so we packed our belongings in a rented car and set off. We got as far as the Hoover Dam – one of the world's largest structures of this kind (232 m high).
As I have already mentioned, we wanted to go to Celebes, but the cost of the ticket (ca. USD 1400 per person) matched with inconvenient travel (with several transfers) caused us to change our plans. Moreover, the number of our days off work was yet another limitation. In fact, we had no other choice but two weeks in July.
After long debates, we decided to fly to Cuba. However, the weather in July does not make this island the best destination for cycling expeditions. In the end, we chose the US. With so little time at hand, we could only see a tiny part of this vast country, and finally we made the Grand Canyon our destination.
The plan was simple: after landing in Las Vegas and mounting panniers on the bikes, we would head towards the Grand Canyon to find some motel, leave our "ballast" there, and go on a series of serious cycling trips. That was the plan… As you may have guessed, things did not go so well, which wasn't so surprising taking into account our hasty planning. The hastiness consisted in several things being arranged only a short time before departure - take the visas or bicycles as an example. There were a few nights without sleep, devoted to equipment preparation… On top of that, we were still haunted by bad luck. First, at the Warsaw airport it turned out that our plane would not set off for Frankfurt. What then? Failure? Do we go back home? No – thanks to Irek we found another flight, a few hours later. We arrived in Frankfurt just in time for the transfer. Unfortunately, in Las Vegas we were told that our luggage (the bicycles and the panniers) was stuck in Europe. Tough luck – what else could we say? We wanted to spend that night in the city of gambling anyway. While leaving the air-conditioned airport terminal, we were welcomed by a gust of hot air. Whoops… Cycling in that temperature would surely not be fun. But what else could we expect in the middle of the desert where only one thing is constantly growing, namely Las Vegas?!
We stayed overnight at Excalibur Hotel, styled to resemble a knights' castle. After all, everything in that place was styled to look like something else. The city at night made a lasting impression on us. Glittering lights, thousands of neon signs, and crowds of people can certainly be overwhelming. However, after spending at least two days in Vegas, you will come to notice all the kitsch and the omnipresent greed for money.
Coming back to our bad luck – although our luggage was delivered next day, one bicycle was still missing!
Thus we were forced to wait nervously one more night – would they finally find our bike? In the meantime, we had more than enough time to think about our itinerary. We decided not to travel with the panniers, first of all because the expedition was fairly short, and secondly – because of the significant distance still separating us from the Great Canyon. We would have to go back soon after getting there.
In the morning, the second bike finally arrived, so we packed our belongings in a rented car and set off. We got as far as the Hoover Dam – one of the world's largest structures of this kind (232 m high).
