RV Adventures #3, April 6th - April 11th: Leaving Las Vegas ... for Salt Lake City

Posted April 11th 2007

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Words and photos by Gavin Butler

Well we finally made it to Jake's house in SLC for a clean up. After leaving the NABX event the bus needed a huge clean from the desert dust. It took over 2 hrs on the way out of Vegas to wash the outside, dump the tanks and clean the film of dust coating the RV's interior. We were all happy to clear our lungs from the lakebed as well. So now we are at Jake's cleaning ourselves up, washing our clothes and looking for wind after a steady drive up through the mountains. Hopefully we will get some good sessions out on the Great Salt Lake and the surrounding areas in the next day or two.

The event itself was great despite light and extremely variable winds.

On any given day the winds would clock a full circle at least twice. Saturday we had decent wind though extremely gusty to begin with but it did fill in to steady 13m weather by late afternoon.

These conditions made it difficult for the organizers to run any type of competition … but not without trying. There were some bad accidents on some of the days so I hope the riders are all okay after hitting the rough lakebed. (ed. note 1: This rider did not hit the lakebed. This is Jim. He was ok then, and he is still ok now.)

(ed. note 2: Alex, however, did hit the lakebed. And although Alex is ok now, he was not ok then. And this picture is just too rad not to be posted again, as it proves my point in a way words fail to express: landkiting takes major balls.)

With Alex out hurt, Jim took over the riding duties for a few days throwing down smooth grabs and boosty jumps for the camera.

Smooth grabs:

Boosty jumps:

We did try to ride the car park on Saturday night for a street session but the winds were incredibly gusty with dust storms and devils making it too hard to keep the kite in the sky.

It was great to meet all the land kite crew, make new friends and enjoy their enthusiasm for kiting … from the buggiers to the land boarders to the land sailors.

Everyone loved to ride regardless of gear and kite styles.The event brought an eclectic group of riders from all over America and internationally to talk shop and have fun.

Big thanks to Dean and all the NABX crew for welcoming us to their event and showing us so much hospitality. Next year we will all be back to ride and share in the fun once again. With some steady wind to go with it!!

Now it's time to sign off, catch up on some emails, do some minor repairs to the bus and get some more footage before heading to San Francisco to meet with our dealers and continue the journey across America.

-Gavin Butler

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For previous news on the 2007 RV Tour, right click on the following links, and open in new window:

RV Adventures #2: Postcards from Primm, with a touch of roadrash

RV Adventures #1: Alex Brown back on the RV: Texas to Vegas, & ready to hit NABX

For the complete RV Adventures, visit the RV page at www.bestkiteboarding.com/RV-Tour-Page.