In 1971, Raoul Duke and Oscar Zeta Acosta speed across the Nevada desert. Duke, under the influence of mescaline, complains of a swarm of giant bats, before going through the pair's inventory of psychoactive drugs. Shortly afterward, the duo stops to pick up a young hitchhiker and explain what they are doing. Duke has been assigned by an unnamed magazine to travel to Las Vegas and cover the Mint 400 motorcycle race. However, they have also decided to take advantage of the trip by purchasing a large number of drugs and renting a red Chevrolet Impala convertible. The young man soon becomes terrified of the antics of the duo and flees on foot. Trying to reach Vegas before the hitchhiker can go to the police, Gonzo gives Duke part of a sheet of Sunshine Acid, then informs him that there is little chance of making it before the drug kicks in. By the time they reach the strip, Duke is in the full throes of his trip and barely makes it through the check-in, all the while hallucinating that the hotel clerk is a moray eel and that his fellow bar patrons are lizards in the depths of an orgy.