Of Clippy and other adventures

Sooo... What did you do today, during the solar eclipse? Me? OH BOY, I observed it while riding on a horse through the Red Rock Canyon, surrounded by wild burros, fluffy bunnies and a skunk. I am now officially the happiest person on earth. This day was just insane, packed with great and even greater experiences!

Although... Today didn't start quite as expected. Not only did the only rainy day in the entire month happen to be today (and by saying "rainy" I mean heavy thunderstorms), I also received two e-mails the day before:
1) My credit card doesn't work properly. Ok, several phone calls later and with the help of a very understanding lady at my local bank, we got the problem resolved. Great!
2) Jason, the organizer of the horseback riding trip aka the shuttle driver, told me to wait at the Hard Rock Hotel valet area at 7.15 am, or at least I thought so. I asked the valet guys at the hotel entrance if I was at the right spot, they read the e-mail and thought so as well.

At 7.20 I decided to give the agency a call and lo and behold, the driver had waited at the Alexis, I wasn't there, and so he drove off without me. The not-so-friendly guy on the phone told me there's nothing he can do and that I won't get my money back as it wasn't their fault I wasn't at the Alexis. Yeah right. So I asked if it's ok to call a cab and meet the rest of the group at the ranch. He warned me that basically all cab drivers were scammers, but if that's what I want to do, I was free to go by myself. Hell yeah, that's exactly what I did. Another 80$ down the drain, but I was so close to crying that I didn't care. And thank god I didn't! Not only did I have a good laugh with the taxi driver, but also in the end I was at the ranch early, which lead to having such a great time with the restaurant owners Chris and Alan (who unfortunately isn't on one of my pictures, I'll add a Google Image of him just to remember him). I can't believe how genuinely friendly people are here.

Half an hour later the group arrived, Jason apologized a hundred times, and after having signed several different weavers and having declined a riding helmet (style vs. safety, amirite?) my companion for this morning was led to me: Clippy! Clippy is the funniest, gentlest and also most hoggish horse I've ever seen. He's the best. Up and down the trail I felt so secure on his back and our two wranglers Lydia and Steve did everything to make us enjoy the ride as much as we can.
Both have never witnessed a solar eclipse before, so

they were excited as anyone can ever get, shouting countdowns and being so very happy that the heavy clouds parted just in time to see the maximum eclipse at 10.27 am. And what a magnificent sight it was! I'm so glad I could share this special moment with so many great people.

30 min later we returned to the ranch where a traditional Western breakfast was waiting for us - scrambled eggs, roasted bacon, Western potatoes and of course: pancakes. Since I hadn't eaten a thing since 11 am the day before, this was like a royal feast for me. Yummie!

During the one-hour ride I also had a really good time with Jennifer, one of the nicest persons ever (I think I'll have to say that about a lot of people here!). While eating our breakfast we talked and talked so much, it was such a pleasure to have her around! Jason invited us to

visit the Western village and petting zoo at the ranch, which we gladly accepted. Not only did we have a lot of fun gazing at and petting the different goats, burros and ponies, we also got to talk to the zookeepers. All the animals (the horses as well) are rescued and you can tell by the way the wranglers and zookeepers care for them. The Bonnie Springs ranch is such a special place and Bonnie Springs herself was an exceptionally great lady, I can't express how thankful I am for having spent half a day there.

One would think that's enough adventures for one day. Not here, nope. Finally, it was time to go fetch the Harleys! Well... My bike isn't exactly painted in my favorite color, but in the end shiny gold befits a king, right? We rode (others would say "showed off our bikes") all the way along the Strip to get used to them. I have to be honest, this Road King is completely different from the one I rode last year. It's a completely new model, the clutch is extremely hard to pull and

overall it doesn't feel as smooth as its predecessor. It'll take a few more miles (already using freedom units!) to get used to it, I guess.

Again, that's still not all for today! In the evening I decided to walk to the New York New York hotel on the strip, because there's this huge rollercoaster I wanted to go on. I managed to get a front row seat and was screaming my lungs out practically all along the way. Amazing!

After that I went to the Bellagio to see their famous fountain and wasn't disappointed. It really is a spectacular sight! Tired, half starved and with every muscle in my body aching from horseback riding I went on today's last journey: off to a ride with the Linq High Roller, the world's tallest observation wheel! The view was simply stunning and well worth the money.

How can so many great memories be made in just one day? It all feels kinda surreal at the moment. But maybe that feeling comes from not having eaten since breakfast. ;-) The next few days, at least until we reach San Francisco, should be a little more laid-back and I'm thankful for that. The past two days were quite overwhelming, to be honest, and I don't want the entire trip to feel as rushed as yesterday and today have been...