In this city there are more hotels than all the hotels in both New York and Chicago. It is just like a modern city in illusion, given birth in the desert. Did we ever have this kind of a metropolis in the desert in our history? Riding to the east for a while from Las Vegas, I was involved in a traffic jam in the mountains. Traffic accident? But, the cars in the other lane are moving smoothly. It's Hoover Dam that causes this!

Campground in the Sierra Nevada

Las Vegas

Then I remembered this is that famous dam constructed by the policy to play catch-up against the Great Depression in 1929. To tell the truth, this dam supports the desert city of Las Vegas. Thanks to this support, the large-scale hotels in Las Vegas have big pools and fountains which abuse more water than in Osaka. Is Las Vegas a symbol representing the delirium or cultural immaturity of this country? A tremendous number of betting machines addict people like drug abusers. I cannot stop feeling somewhat hideous.Getting tired of the busy, noisy city life, I left for some out-countries - Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.

Hoover Dam in the east of Las Vegas

Grand Canyon

Also in the east of Las Vegas there extends bald, almost desertified mountains. At the entrance of Boulder City, 50 km south-east of Las Vegas, I pulled the motorcycle to the shoulder of the road to check directions. Doing so, I promptly killed the engine. I tried to kick out the side stand. I had to lean the bike more to the right side, because in this keep-right country the right side is lower than the center of the road. I leaned the bike a little more, then it began to fall. I fought against it desperately with a tiptoe of my right foot, but the bike weights 280 kg, including the luggage. Impossible! This is already the second fall down in only ten days after starting the journey! I am really afraid of stopping the bike. I can't help cursing my parents who gave me extremely short legs. Because of this disaster, the paint of the engine guard, which was newly installed, was torn out.Of course I camped both in Grand Canyon and Monument Valley.

When the sun finishes the labor of a day and burns out the last remaining fire, the earth eventually falls in deep sleep in the pitch dark. In return the stars begin to make a joyful feast. There is nothing artificial in the campground. No electricity, no telephone, no television. What exists is only darkness and quietness. Nothing appears visible except the sky which is bright and noisy. Therefore, the eyes are naturally drawn upward. I can recognize only the Seven Stars in the canopy of the sky. The other constellations are not certain, because of countless stars shining in the sky. Even tiny stars, which are not clear in the planetarium software of my PC, give a bright gleam and form a new constellation with each other. So I find my own pattern in them and decide to make my own constellation, giving up following the constellations named by astronomers or someone else. Meanwhile, I come to think I mustn't remain an outsider, but instead I should join this party of the stars. In doing so, I will have to drink and smoke tonight, too. In short I am a bad boy and impure man. I badly need these things when talking to the stars, because I am shy. Otherwise, those toxic substances are required so that they can stimulate and activate my brain cells that have already retrograded.

Monument Valley. The three rock mountains were shining in the setting sun in fantastic beauty.

Monument Valley