It was around 8pm this past Friday that Dan dare to question my sense of adventure and spontaneity. He knew that it would only end one way and he was right. We hit the road to Vegas two hours later. We knew that it could only be a short trip, less than twenty-four hours. He had to fly to Texas and I had to work. We knew that we would be mainlining caffeine to keep the sleep deprivation at bay. All of this didn't matter as we simply had to be at the Boulder City Hacienda Hotel at 7am sharp to add our Smart car to a group that was going to attempt to break the Guinness Book of World Record for most Smarts on the Hoover Dam. We knew that if we skipped out, that we would have spent all day Saturday regretting the decision.
We have two Smarts, but with the lack of sleep/long drive/expense, we thought it wiser to leave one at home. Dan's Smart, who we call Bus, short for Brabus, had the honor of making the trek with us. It was a really good thing that we took one car, as neither of us could have done the entire drive. We both had to nap a bit on the road.
We made it to the Hacienda Hotel around five am and saw plenty of people already milling around and cleaning their cars. I am not at all a morning person, so it's always amazing to experience the sunrise
Sunrise at the Hacienda.
That's a lot of Smarts!
We went in the hotel to have breakfast at the cafe and this greeted us in the entrance. The car had already been pulled out to join the rest before we finished. A note- breakfast was good and so, so cheap that we were amazed. My main course (eggs, potatoes, toast and bacon) was under four dollars. You don't see that in Los Angeles or on the strip!
We were sad to have missed the cocktail mixer and other festivities.
We had to sign a waiver and we were given a sticker to place on our window to indicate that our car was cleared to go on the dam bridge.
Nifty Jam on The Dam 2 sticker.
I have to fess up to the fact that we felt a little out-of-place. We missed out on the caravan from Los Angeles and the Friday night cocktail reception at the hotel. We didn't have a Jam on the Dam tee-shirt. Mostly though, our car was completely ordinary. This is saying a lot, when you are used to driving around town and getting stares and people asking questions. We are used to having the most unusual car in town. At the Jam on the Dam, our poor Brabus was completely ordinary. We saw so much creativity and cool modifications, that it has us swirling with ideas for our cars. Here are a few favorites.
Daisy even had a quack for a honk.
The Daisy Duck car had a tail in back and the horn was a quack!
Highly customized both inside and out.
The interior. Swanky.
The guy who owned the flag car was super nice and he let us poke around and see his cool custom interior. He was also helping run the event and great at answering questions and directing us. We met a lot of really nice people at the event, in addition to seeing a lot of familiar faces from our SoCal Smarties group!
My favorite car, such a pretty green.
The green car was my favorite of the bunch. Sure. it's more simple that a lot of the fun modifications, but it just looks so good. The picture does not do the green color justice. So pretty!
Ten years ago, I did the same thing to my Honda.
Anyone who knows me, would know how giddy I got when seeing the Hello Kitty car. I used to have a green Honda Civic, that was even more decorated with HK than this Smart.
Below are a few more shots of fun Smarts.
There were a whole bunch of the soccer ball cars.
lots of smarts all ready to head to the dam.
This is one smiley car.
Ed Hardy car.
The eyelash mod really works with the smarts, lots have them.
Ninja Car!
And one of me, nearly delirious from lack of sleep, with Bus.
One of our Smarts, we named him Bus.
Prior to taking off, Jimmy, the event organizer, gave last-minute instructions.
The organizer of the event giving final instructions at the staging area.
This event was very well-organized and they had police closing roads and making sure that it all ran smoothly.
Here we are all ready to go, the main instruction to closely follow the car in front of you.
Let's go!!![
A helicopter was also ready to go and take our picture on the dam. I can't wait to see how it turned out!
The helicopter with the photographer.
The drive to the dam took about fifteen minutes, including a security stop. It was great to see all of the tourist waving and taking pictures. When we pulled on to the dam, we created two rows and sat in our cars for about twenty minutes while the helicopter was circling.
On the dam.
After the pictures were taken, we moved off the dam and parked at a lookout point for some socializing with other owners.
After the dam, we went to a second meeting area for mingling and pictures.
I saw the best license plate and that's saying a lot, as there are many fantastic custom plates for Smarts.
Best plate
And my favorite car sticker, which has a lot of truth to it!
We zoom past fast cars all of the time. Never underestimate the power of a Smart!
Unfortunately, we couldn't stick around for the lunch. We hit the road for home right away. The intention was to drive all of the way back to Los Angeles, but by the time we started getting close to Primm Valley, we realized that we were in no shape to drive and required a short nap to refuel. Safety first!
We found out that the cheapest rooms were at Whiskey Petes (49.00) and decided that it was worth the price for a bed to nap. I had low, low, low expectations for Whiskey Petes. I mean, look at the place, it's a mash-up of The Frontier and Excalibur!
Frontier +Excalibur = Whiskey Pete's
My expectations were demolished. The rooms were simple, but clean. The staff was super nice and even though we didn't use it, the pool was a huge surprise. I took a picture, because couldn't get over how nice it looks. It even has a waterfall and waterslide.
Snazzy looking pool with a slide.
They have the only Ihop in existence that had zero wait for a table. And as an additional bonus, they have the Bonnie and Clyde Death Car!!!
Death Car!
Bullet Holes in the death car!
So, I probably wouldn't have reason to stay at Whiskey Pete's again. I can't imagine staying in Primm, when Vegas is less that an hour a way. However, it wasn't bad at all and I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again, if the occasion came up.
It was a long, exhausting trip, but worth every bit of it. If any of them are reading this, a huge THANK YOU to the Sin City Smarts and all of the other really great smart owners who came together to make this happen. It's a great community of people and we had a wonderful time. Oh and I believe that the final car count was 120!