Week 6.. pre show

Week 6 – The end of the road.

There is so much to recount now. It seems like much longer than a
week.. It is over now and I'm attempting to rest, recover, and
digest what we just did.

Last Thursday I woke in Bryce canyon and headed to the airport to
meet up with the owner of the plane and heli-tour company operating
out of Bryce. We realized a helicopter ride would be too expensive,
but I traded a drawing of his helicopter (plus my last $100) for a
ride in a 6-seat Cessna down to South Rim of the Grand Canyon. It
was an amazing ride- over Escalante, the grand staircase, Vermillion
Cliffs, and Lake Powell. A bit queasy, we all unloaded in south rim,
grateful for an unforgettable ride.

At the small diner in Tusayan I traded a sketch of the manager Mona
Lisa (her real name) for lunch. It was great. I was broke, but
happy. We slid over to the rim to check out the canyon amid the
masses of tourists. Never ceases to amaze. When the rest of the
crew arrived from Bryce, we set out to hitch to Vegas.

A great guy named Levi picked me up and drove me to Williams, a large-
ish city on the 40. He was awesome, I did a cool drawing for him and
he got me a hotel room and gave me some food money. I felt rich.

Now the challenge to hitching out of Williams. After 2 hours at a
certain exit I realized I had to be back 1 mile to where the Grand
Canyon Exit meets the 40. A couple cool German guys I'd met at the
hotel gave me a lift back, and I proceeded to attempt to get a ride
again.

Not much luck.

The highway patrol was pretty cool, considering it is technically
illegal to hitch in Arizona. They took my info in case something
happens to me. Cool guys.

Car after car, no rides. None. Lots of RVs, tourists.. nothing.

Finally an adventurous couple named Dustin and Bianca picked me up.
They were the type that were on their way to go miniature golfing and
ended up at Grand Canyon and were heading to Vegas. Off we went!

We arrived in Vegas to 108 degrees at sunset. We barged into the
Golden Gate Casino (the oldest in Vegas) in downtown, intending to
talk to night manager Aaron and the owner Mark. We rap for a while
and eventually come to an agreement--a sketch of the casino for $200
in chips some of which I'd gamble there. Deal.

Cacophony of noise, drunken gamblers, go-go dancers, inquisitive
staff, camera crew... Not easy conditions in which to draw. It did
turn out well, though.

But in that time a nice drunk New Yorker gave me $200 for a quick
sketch of his girl. This gave me the fall back money to walk up to
the craps table and proceed to loose my 200 in about 15 minutes.
Pathetic. Aaron gave me and extra 25, the go-go dancers rolled up to
cheer me on in front of the camera, and I could do no wrong. Till
they left.. then the table got cold and I pulled out! Back to the
Artisan Hotel with a good memory of perhaps the last descent casino
in Vegas.

Next night—showgirls! We went backstage of the Follies Bergere at
the Tropicana and I chatted with Cari and Britney.. 6'1" and 5'10".
Some of the last of the old school showgirls, their costumes were
astounding. They posed for me and re-applied their makeup and re-did
their hair for me. I then went out to the stage and sketched some of
the girls stretching and warming up. It was a blast, a treat to see
into their world.. very familial actually. Then we got to kick back
and watch the show…

The next day was tough getting out of Vegas… 2 hours at one gas
station, then another long cab ride to Stateline. At stateline
Kasara stopped to pick me up.. having partied all night, I drove us
all the way back to Venice. We went straight to the beach and I ran
down and jumped in! It was the best. Reborn in the pacific!

Seb and I walked back to the house and Doug and Aiyana welcomed me home.

Now—2 days to prep a show… that is the last Blog. Coming next…