The Road Trip Choronicles: Day Three

On day three of the road trip, we woke up to the beautiful desert scene of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. The sun was shining brightly, and it was hot, but not the sort of hot that overwhelms you. There was always a breeze and no humidity. It's one of the most pleasant days I've ever encountered. One thing about New Mexico is that most bathrooms are substandard, even at the motel we were at, which was pretty nice. The water pressure was severely lacking. Grant it, the shower at the hotel in Oklahoma was unbeatable in terms of pressure and awesomeness, so to actually compare the two would be a lost cause. We got ready for the day, packed, and headed downstairs for the free breakfast. They had cups of waffle batter and a waffle iron machine, so we all made waffles. When we rolled into the parking lot the night before, we saw 100 motorcycles, and that morning some of the guys were joining us for breakfast. One of them, bald and goatee, rag on his head, and a pretty attractive fellow, was asking us where we were from, where we were headed, and so on. He and his friends were from Louisiana and they were taking the scenic route to Sturges, South Dakota for the huge annual bike ride they have every August. I jumped in on that conversation because some friends of mine were also planning on going to Sturges, so I felt like I half-way knew what in the world he was talking about. At some point during this, he opened the waffle maker before my waffle was done, so when I got to it, I had 3/4 of a waffle. It was the funniest thing. But maybe you had to be there to appreciate that moment. That man was so embarrassed! He asked if we wanted to ride with them, and I was ready to hop on his bike and go, but Cousin wouldn't let me. Oh well.



After breakfast, we continued our westward journey on I-40. We were the most excited this particular morning than we had been at any other time during the trip because we were Vegas bound!!! The plan was that we would blow through the rest of New Mexico and Arizona, and be in Vegas in time for a late dinner with Nurse's soon-to-be mother-in-law (she lives in Vegas, and we'll call her Red because she is a red-headed wonder). We stopped outside of Albuquerque at an official Route 66 souvenir shop. There are many points along the way where I-40 and Route 66 merge with or cross each other. Just another one of those "this is the coolest moments of my life" things that I actually traveled for a short time on "the" Route 66. Get you kicks... on Route... sixty---six. We blew right on through New Mexico, enjoying the beautiful desert scenery. There is more green in New Mexico than I would have ever imagined. However, I'm sure the brownest parts were south of where we were. Then we were in Arizona. Somehow I thought it would be a little more civilized than New Mexico. I was wrong. If anything, it was more barren and brown. But still beautiful. Tall, rocky mountains, wide open fields with small brown, prickly bushes, the occasional "clay" house built into the side of a hill. Awesome. I felt like we were on the set of a John Wayne movie.



Then we started seeing signs pointing towards the Petrified Forrest, which I learned about in the second grade. We didn't get to stop and visit, but we did see "the world's largest piece of petrified wood." Cool. Then we started seeing signs about the the Continental Divide. If I was wonder-struck before, you can bet I was about to jump out of my skin when I saw those signs. I called my mother. I just had to have someone at home hear my excitement when I saw it. And it is just like the pictures in my geography books, only better. You can actually see "the" divide. So awesome. Next came the Painted Desert. They say that its true beauty is seen at sunset. I'm guessing they are right. It was pretty - beautiful actually - full of purples and blues and pinks, but I can only imagine what it must look like illuminated by the purple glow of a desert sunset.



The excitement of the beauty of Arizona was short lived. We saw a sign that said Flagstaff was 60 miles away. Good, just less than an hours. Then a minute or two later... the car quit. Just like it did in Arkansas. Only unlike in Arkansas, there was nothing around. Repeat: NOTHING. We sat there on the side of the road and let the car cool then made it another couple of miles before the same thing happened. Then we saw an overpass and a pawn shop/used car lot so we took that exit. Cousin and I had to push the car into the parking lot. A Navajo Indian man, only a few years older than me, sat on the front porch and watched this whole display with much amusement. We went in to use the restroom and beg the owner to let us wait in the air conditioned building while the car settled down. The nice man informed us that we were in Winslow, Arizona and that Flagstaff was the closest place to find an auto parts store. Winslow, Arizona... why does that sound familiar? Hmmm... We left there after 30 minutes or so and went across the street to the gas station. We filled up on new bottles of water and headed back out. It was when we pulled into the gas station that we saw the sign "Welcome to Winslow, Arizona" that I finally remembered why that sounded so familiar. The Eagles' song, Take It Easy!!! I was standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona, and such a fine sight to see... How ironic really that we were basically stranded on the corner in Winslow, Arizona...

The car kept playing those same tricks with us and it took us three hours to drive 50 miles. Finally we were found ourselves at AutoZone in Flagstaff. Apparently the oxygen censors had found their death, causing the engine to think it was overheating, thus shutting itself off. Not a problem; they had the two we needed in stock. The problem was they couldn't replace them for us. We drove to an 24 hour shop, but they had a sign posted that they were no longer staying past 6, and by this point in the game it was 7. It was while we were at AutoZone that Cousin and I had a side-bar conversation. The urgency of this moment was monumental. It was now 7pm on Wednesday and we were three and a half hours away from Vegas, where we should have been at that exact moment. We were supposed to leave Vegas the following day for San Diego, which was going to be the most rigorous, most desolate, and hottest part of the entire trip and we had a bum car. Our flight home was leaving from San Diego at 6:30a.m. on Friday morning. Nothing about this trip had gone according to plan, so it would have been quite foolish for us to plan on being in San Diego by 6:30 Friday morning. What were we going to do? Stay in Flagstaff and get a flight from there? No freakin' way!!! We were three hours from Vegas and we weren't heading home without seeing the bright lights of that city! But should we just stay in Flagstaff for the night and try again tomorrow? The little boy at AutoZone told us that since the sun was down and the temp was down, we could probably make it to Vegas without the car shutting off again. We decided to take him at his work, and off we went.

And boy, does it ever cool off in the desert after the sun goes down. When I consulted with Ex before leaving, I specifically asked him if we would need a jacket for the desert nights. I've always heard that the desert is searingly hot during the day and freezing at night, so that was a valid question. His answer was that at this time of year nothing about the desert was cool including the night. True, it was cooler than the day, but would by no means require a jacket. He was sadly mistaken. Both nights of driving through the desert were quite cool, but this second night was just nearly freezing. Of course we were dressed in sleeveless shirts and shorts, but it was cold. Since we listened to the "advise" from Ex, we didn't have jackets. Luckily, Nurse had a couple of blankets in the depths of her trunk that we dug out.

Then came the moment that we had waited on for three days. The sign pointing out the exit for Highway 93. Finally... after all this time and drama, we were merging off of Interstate 40. Thank God!!! Also, Highway 93 meant that Vegas was just around the corner. Kingman, Arizona... a McDonalds, a few gas stations and a little air strip. The pathway to the best city in the country. The next major landmark that we came to, and stopped at, and marvelled at, and could have stayed there for the rest of my life was the Hoover Dam. Words cannot accurately describe the beauty of that place. I have no idea what it was like to see it during the day, but it was marvelous at night. The orange glow of the lights outlined it perfectly against the night sky. It was breathtaking. Then there was of course the moment where Nurse and I were in the front seat of the car in Nevada, and Cousin was in the back seat in Arizona. Classic.

When that was behind us, we could see the glow of the city over the mountain tops. About thirty minutes of mountain highway, then we turned a curve, and all of a sudden there it was... the fabulous, miraculous, luxurious... LAS VEGAS!!! Vegas, baby! From our vantage point, we were completely above the city and could see every street light within the Las Vegas zip code. One second there was total darkness, and the next was like... music sounding and the heavens opening... LAAAAAAA!!!!!!! We were going to stay with Red, and she lives just a few blocks behind The Strip.

The quickest easiest way to get to her apartment meant bypassing The Strip, but there was no way in Hell we weren't driving up that strip! Of course, we refused to get out of the vehicle because we were so nasty and worn out, and just looked like I don't know what. Now, something else to keep in mind here... Once we crossed into Nevada the part where Ex told us that desert nights were not scorching, but not cool became true. The blankets were discarded and we were hot. The Strip was ten degrees hotter itself. Onward we go. Crazy traffic. Stopping four or five times at every red light. Then we get to the last one and are about to turn off to go to Red's. We were the first car at the light. The light turned green and car horns were honking and we weren't moving. More specifically, that damn car had quit again. It was the heat. There were several moments of real fear there. The crazy way people there drive, we were almost hit several times. Finally the car started back long enough for us to coast off onto a side street. Then it died again. We still weren't in the best place to be stalled out so after a few minutes we tried again. We made it a few more feet before stalling out in front of Donald Trump's Hotel and Casino. A classy place, and we looked like... yuck. There was a piece of emergency lane for us to pull into. However, a near-death experience forced us out of the car and onto the curb while we waited on the car to cool off. Two people were racing, and one almost slammed into our car. They both missed us and each other just in the nick of time. Awful things there. Finally the car started and we made it three more block's to Red's house with no further incidents. Basically, we walked in, said "hello" and went to bed. Nurse stayed up longer to visit with Red, but Cousin and I were dead to the world the second our heads hit the pillows. What a day...