Start: Santa Fe, New Mexico
End: Las Vegas, Nevada
States: New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada
Time Zone: Pacific
I wish I had a great day to describe but in reality it was
eleven hours of driving. We decided to get out of Santa Fe early rather than more sight seeing, just a taste is all you have time for when you only spend one night in a place, besides its worth it getting in at a reasonable hour in the afternoon. Driving was smooth, if there was a lot of ear popping and short breath from the change in altitude. Is the Southwest beautiful? See the title of the blog post for my opinion, clearly stolen from Bruce Springsteen. There is a sort of stark beauty, but it more that you're in awe of how different it is, like seeing pictures of the surface of the moon. Actually the desert and the moon look a lot alike in some places.
We drove t
hrough a couple of small rain showers and saw some impressive lighting, the sky was so eerie I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. The storm in Arizona made the clouds in Kansas look commonplace in comparison. I should have expected it though, out here you're off the map, right on the edge of the world. We stopped very briefly on the Arizona side of the Hoover Dam to take pictures in 112 degree heat, quite the contrast considering it was barely 60 this morning when we left Santa Fe. Ironically we had to come all the way to New Mexico to find the coolest weather on the whole trip, a pleasant if somewhat bizarre surprise. When we were at the lookout we also met a very interesting man, he was on his phone and suddenly shouted "tell me about Rhode Island!". Well, I wasn't sure what to say about that. He came over and it turns out his name is Tom Collins (I thought he was messing with us, but it really is) he is a country commissioner for CLark County in Nevada and his secretary comes from Rhode Island. Its amazing how no matter where you go there seems to be some connection to the little tiny Ocean State, good things really do come in small packages. This was also our first celebrity sighting (sort of), since Connecticut when we drove past the car of the state senator from district 18, Andrew Maynard. Anyway he said if we got arrested he could work something out.
Thus on to Nevada. Now we have been extraordinarily lucky in terms of driving, the brief traffic we hit on the two lane roads in Kansas barely held up up twenty minutes. You knew our luck would run out eventually. We were cruising along into Vegas on 95, and I called my aunt who we were staying with to say we would be there within the half an hour. Not five minutes later we were at a complete stop, because apparently a truck carrying sulfuric acid had spilled on the freeway. My aunt called back because it was the top story on the news, she gave up backroads directions but even with them it took us like and hour and a half to get to the nearest exit and off the highway. Our accommodation we well worth the trek, because my ant and uncle live in a rather posh gated community in North Las Vegas. The rest of the night was given over to a family dinner and seeing my cousin's new baby. We are nearing the end so the days are longer and the sights are fewer so instead I offer you some recommended reading for our cross country trip.
Rand McNally The 2010 Road Atlas (Deluxe Midsize)
The Lost Continent : Bill Bryson
A Walk In The Woods: Bill Bryson
Way Off The Road: Bill Geist
In Cold Blood: Truman Capote
Wicked Intentions: Elizabeth Hoyt
To Seduce A Sinner: Elizabeth Hoyt
The last two I have included in case you would enjoy reading along with Alyssa as she reads out loud to me in the car, be prepared they are not very sexy, though you will laugh heartily. The atlas has a good section on cities that give great general details. Bill Bryson you should just read anyway, but his two American books are great especially The Lost Continent which is his road trop story. A Walk In The Woods has the story of Centralia, where we wanted to stop our first day but getting stuck in traffic prevented. It was my first Bryson book, and you never forget your first, so I will go ahead and push that one as well. The Bill Geist book is hilarious, I've always enjoyed him on the Sunday Morning show. His travel tips are also definitely worth reading it for. In Cold Blood obviously we hi-lighted yesterday, and if you've never read it it's still quite a tale. Obviously there are lots more, not all directly pertinent to our trip. Its a great country in print and in reality.
PS: We also have another incredible road atlas, a very large one, I would tell you the details but it no longer has a cover. I'm pretty sure its a AAA atlas from about 10 years ago, it is much more detailed than our other though, I wouldn't leave home with out it.
