Storm brewing

After a brief rest in the room, I headed over to the Rio to meet up with some poker friends who were down here for new years. When I was crossing the pedestrian overpass I saw the strangest sight I've ever seen on the strip...no traffic. And I don't mean very little congestion either. I'm talking zero cars. Starting at 5 pm, the police shut down the entire strip for as far as I could see. It was just like the movie "I am Legend" ...except for the fact that there were still people around and all the strip was still lit up completely...but other than that...exactly like the movie.

I also noticed that there must have been a New Years moratorium on the card flicking peddlers on the strip. There were guys selling shirts and glow sticks but no leaflets.

By the time that I was passing through they were already staging the strip for the fireworks show. The police were moving miles of metal barricades to expand the walking area to take over the outer two lanes of the roadway while the inner lanes were being reserved for emergency vehicles. They also had ambulances parked in each partition of the strip to whisk off anyone who got a little too exhuberant. I did not encounter one car on the way to the Rio and that includes taking Flamingo road over the highway. Anyone who tells you that shutting down the strip would paralyze the city is mistaken. Taking a cab would be doable though slower and more expensive going around the long way.

And as if that weren't enough, they also shut down access to the casinos. In an about face maneuver the casinos actually prepping to turn people away. I tried to cut through the Bellagio to take the sky bridge over the street but they had shut that down. On my way out they had signs posted on the makeshift fencing that hotel guests should be prepared to show their room key to get back in. The rumor is that they even shut the doors and don't allow any ingress or egress during the period right before to right after midnight to avoid any New Years shenanigans. And presumably as a precaution to revelers being ground up in the machinery, all escalators were shut down as well.

The stroke of midnight was still a few hours off by the time I was passing through but all of the preparations were clearly indicating something major coming up. Perhaps it is the logistics of shutting down the strip which explains the absence of a July 4th fireworks show.