Desert Drive

I left M44 at 0500 this morning and grabbed some coffee down the road at St George, UT. Steph’s previous employers (i.e. the husband and wife, with kids) relocated down here after their business in Driggs went under. As I drove by I threw a shout out at them. Really good people but how they could re-locate to this huge place from their home in the Valley, blows my mind!

Next up was Mesquite which glares into existence as soon as you cross into Nevada. I don’t gamble so the gaudy casinos and the signs promising huge jackpot payouts, didn’t phase me. Goodbye…

Rolling into Vegas early Saturday morning was as I expected, mostly quiet and mostly commuters. The city does look pretty cool as the sun comes up! I followed my GPS’s instructions to guide me out of the freeway system but everything was familiar since I did this same trip last summer.

I decided to change it up a bit so I headed south on I-95 towards Needles, CA as opposed to going through Kingman, AZ. It’s actually a more direct route but it scares some people off because it’s a long desert stretch and help is not close if you breakdown. I drive a sweet little 25 year old Mazda truck named Jill, and I don’t worry about those things :-)

My GPS recognized that I was on I-95 but it was also nice enough to let me know this was also SB Historic Route 66. I used to hitch across the country on Route 66 in the sixties, so I’ve been here before, but that’s another story…

I stopped along the way to take these desert photos of cactus and an old mine:



When I got to Needles, CA I immediately became disgusted with the place. I had planned on eating breakfast there but the smog was so thick I couldn’t find any restaurants and all I could see were gas prices approaching $5.00. Out of there…

Once I crossed into Arizona things became better. The smog began to lift and the sun was beating down hotly on my Driggs second layer sweatshirt, with the holes in the sleeves.

I arrived in Lake Havasu City with the window down and my sweatshirt off. There was a bike race going on so I couldn’t take the road to my motel that the GPS was insisting I take, so I turned her off :-) Having studied the maps, I knew alternatives! I called the guy who was holding my little room for me and he met me as I drove up. I truly believe I got the last Spring Break room in Lake Havasu and it was due to my new friend Robert’s diligence of holding on to this one for me.

The place is small and dinky, but serves the purpose of providing me a base without having to live out of the truck. The rate for five nights was $170 and in today’s world, that’s damn cheap. So here I am!

SlideShow (Desert Drive)

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4 comments

  1. The way you tell a story, makes it feel like we are there with you. Thanks for the details. Piper and I miss you already. :-) Love the pictures, I don’t see a snowflake in sight.

  2. Those are not cacti, they are Joshua Trees! BTW, we are not quite out of SF, although we are close. Maybe by next week. We had to put Don Diego down and I’m waiting for his ashes. When we get out of here I’ll be picking up a little girl cat that almost looks like Don (a Tuxedo Cat.) Her owner is very ill so we are adopting her.

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