The Old Vegas

We had a 24 hr pass for the 'Duce', so we could ride the bus system all day. In the evening we jumped on the Duce and headed to Fremont Street, which is the original flashy Vegas Strip decades ago. Fremont Street is at the end of the run for the bus. We make our way down the new Strip until we run out of hotels and lights. Now we keep traveling, essentially in the dark, since the city did not spend much on street lighting in the older sections. This is where it dawns on you that this might of been a big mistake. There is no glitz down this road anymore, and the bus just keeps on trucking. Now you haven't seen any place where you would feel comfortable getting off the bus, but it just keeps on rambling down the road. Then finally the bus driver says the next stop is the 'Fremont Experience' and it's time for everyone to get out. Also the driver mumbles about the bus doesn't come back this way and you have to walk two blocks in some direction looking for a cowboy and then turn left to catch the bus back to your hotel. This just didn't sound or look very good. This must be the 'stays in Vegas' part. You are separated from everything you own, you leave, but all your stuff stays in Vegas.

The bus pulls to a stop ready to feed the hapless tourists to the darkened streets of old. But wait, to the left the whole street is lit up and full of people drinking beer. Now this just seems out of place, but it looked good to me. For a three or four block stretch the road is shut down to vehicles and is restored to the glitzy glory of the past with one big exception. The sky over the street in this 3 or 4 block stretch is covered with a roof with the underside comprising of a large computer controlled light show. Of course, most of the time there is advertising lighting up the ceiling, but on the half hour they put on a light show on the 4 block 'ceiling'. The long version of American Pie played while we were down there and it was impressive. It was like a huge long scoreboard with rockets and characters flying lengthwise down the whole stretch of road.

The old neon signs are still lit up on many of the buildings and casinos. There are a few signs I recognized from old movies and tv shows. I was impressed, I really didn't know what I was going down there for, and I almost thought of skipping it, but I'm glad I didn't. It did seem out of place, it kinda felt like a trip to the Twilight Zone, where you don't think your dreaming, yet things don't seem to make sense. Either that, or it's the largest alien human trap in the world (sorry, ever since that New Mexico camping site I'm overly paranoid). Of course the three drunk boisterous men on the bus back to the hotel snapped us back to reality. This town is something you have to see to believe, this just ain't right.