California Dreams Do Come True

Driving through the Mohave Desert with the sun in our faces is a great feeling, not because we’re rolling 80MPH and totally blind, but because finally after spending more than 48 hours in a car in the past 5 days, we are finally in California! Only 10 more hours to go till we land ourselves on Candace’s couch for some cocktails and a fine animated feature. As we roll though the cactus filled dessert, I’m thinking Ice Age.

After we said our final goodbyes to the Grand Canyon this morning we successfully navigated our way through Arizona up into Nevada. The highway advisory radio signals were flashing, so we spun our AM dial to 1610-just like in Maine, and we heard about construction on I-93 up to the Hoover Dam. The automated message said expect delays of up to an hour due to spring break traffic. After a short debate about taking an alternate route we decided to stick with 93, the decision payed off. “Smooth sailing” as one of my former radio colleagues used to say.

The Hoover Dam was rather impressive, but the mountains around it dwarf the man made construct. Lake Mead is quite a sight as well. After taking a few snap shots we rolled on up to Vegas. Took a spin down the strip decided that was enough and hoped back on the highway. I decided that I want to do Vegas when I have the means to do it properly. Although the thought of throwing the rest of my worldly possessions on the table for 1 round of craps did cross my mind.

As we were finishing up our drive in Arizona, we had an interesting discussion about how the Village People must have been modeled after the Southwest. We certainly saw lots of cowboys, policemen, Indians, and construction workers between New Mexico and California. If they only wore a little more leather and sang songs together, maybe the ones enforcing the law would not be such hard asses. We’ll see if I buy Arizona Jeans or Ice Tea ever again.

Tomorrow the plan is to leave semi early and roll up the California Coast to what’s left of Big Sur after last year’s fires. It’ll be Chris’s first time seeing the Pacific Ocean,, and he’s promising a dive into the water “no matter how cold it is”. The plan from there to head up to Oakland and over the Bay Bridge to get a great view of my new home! We dine in San Fran tomorrow.