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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
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Published On: Apr 26, 2006 10:02 PM
The past couple of days...
Let's see. I last filled you guys in from
Holbrook Arizona. I'm now just outside Arizona, in Needles, California. Back
in the Mojave. Feels good.
I'll be heading to Yermo tomorrow -- that's about 140 miles from here, and it's right outside Barstow, where I lived for eight months a couple of years ago.
So, I left Holbrook, and drove west until I came to the Meteor Crater. I stopped there, and I can't for the life of me figure out why; I had forgotten just how boring and uninteresting it is -- after all; it's a big hole in the ground with a museum and gift shop. I did buy my brother a t-shirt, because as I recall, he really enjoyed that place when we were there when I was 10. I took a few pictures, and if I find time I'll post them, but there's little point.
Continued on down I-40, until I couldn't take any more of it. I turned off and headed toward Sedona.
I know, I know. It's the New-Age capital of the world. It is, though, a beautiful drive. You go down through Owl Creek Canyon, a tapestry of red rock and evergreen trees. When you reach Sedona you can always turn around.
Or go shopping for jewelry and stuff. There are, of course, several psychics in town. Many of the businesses actually have psychics on staff, who give free readings. I didn't get one, because I figured that anyone who's going to give me a psychic reading should at least be psychic enough to know that I want one. Since no one walked up to me and said "You want a psychic reading," then I didn't get one.
It was getting kind of late-afternoonish, so I looked for a hotel. Yeah, right. Memorial Day weekend in Sedona Arizona and I thought I'd find a room. It didn't happen. So I drove back up and out of the canyon, and headed back up to I-40 (all the campgrounds were full too). Couldn't really find a hotel room anywhere else, until I stopped in... *bam bam bahhhm* Williams, Arizona, also known as "The Most Expensive Place on Earth."
Why, you may ask? First, I paid 200 dollars for a hotel room. I wouldn't have, if it weren't the last hotel room left in the state. I got a discount, so it ended up setting me back about 170, but still! Next morning I checked out and headed to the nearest gas station for.. well, gas. As always, I got the cheapest. The cheapest was $2.49 per gallon. Honest.
About 30 miles down the road, I once again turned off of I-40. This time I got my kicks... yes, on Route 66. The old road looped off of I-40 for a while and headed through my destination -- Peach Springs, Arizona, in the Huavapai Nation. Y'see, The Huavapai host river rafting trips on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and they are, by comparison to everyone else, cheap. Everyone else charges at least 600 dollars for a one-day trip, if they even offer a one-day trip -- most trips are multiple days and multiple thousands of dollars. Really. If I had that much money to spare I'd fly back to Japan and raft the Tone River off of Mount Fuji again. *sigh*
Anyway, the Huavapai "River Runners" program is 265 bucks. It's an all-day one day thing. So I stopped by and signed up, and arranged for a room there at their lodge the night before. I'll be doing it on the 17th of this month, so expect to hear about it after that.
Be forewarned: the rest of my day has a lot to do with rednecks. Lest anyone take offense, I have nothing personal against the Great American Redneck. They're good people. Individually. Put them in large groups and they're just like any other human beings -- annoying. So understand where my later ventilations are coming from. I also realize that by many people's definition, I too am a redneck.
I headed back to I-40 and was driving along toward Needles when I saw a tour bus. It looked like a lot of the other buses I'd seen that day, apart from the fact that it was lying on its side off the road and was surrounded by ambulances, police trucks, and fire trucks. It was at that point that I decided to take a break, and the very next exit just happened to be for Lake Havasu, Arizona.
For anyone who isn't aware of the geographic peculiarities of Lake Havasu, a bit of explanation. A few years back the city of London England chose to sell London Bridge -- it wasn't wide enough, it was sinking into the Thames River, etc. They sold it to a small lakeside city in Western Arizona, and it was shipped out brick by brick and re-assembled. So, London Bridge is no longer in London, but is actually in Arizona. You can drive across it, if you wish, or just park and hang out around it...
If you go, I think you'll agree with me that it's a good thing we don't own England. I've been to London, y'see, and it's a fascinating place. Seeing that fascinating place reconstructed as a tourist trap and hangout for rednecks... well, as my buddy Erich would say, "not so much."
I didn't stay long. However, in that short period of time I gathered that the Lake Havasu police have been cracking down on... something. Perhaps just being an annoyance. I heard a group of people discussing whether they were going to bother posting bail for someone, and then, in a separate incident, someone asked me if I knew where the police station was. Between that, and the option of purchasing a Royal Guard fuzzy hat in pink, and it was a nightmarish, horrifying experience, and I'm not sorry at all that I didn't take any pictures for you guys. Just too Twilight Zone.
I escaped... or so I thought. Here I sit in the Travel Lodge of Needles, California. There's a redneck convention taking place at the pool outside. Nice people, I hope. Y'see, earlier, I discovered that I'm not yet over my jumpiness about explosions. I have no idea what it was; sounded like gunfire, but the screams weren't quite right for that, so I'm guessing it was fireworks.
So that's the past couple of days. I'll get this posted sometime, hopefully. There's not Earthlink access in Needles, and I don't want to do the long distance thing. Take care, everybody!
Postscript: Yep, they're fireworks. Those big shell thing that you set on the ground and light. With the round tubes and square bases. Pretty things. Also probably illegal because of the wildfire threat.
I'll be heading to Yermo tomorrow -- that's about 140 miles from here, and it's right outside Barstow, where I lived for eight months a couple of years ago.
So, I left Holbrook, and drove west until I came to the Meteor Crater. I stopped there, and I can't for the life of me figure out why; I had forgotten just how boring and uninteresting it is -- after all; it's a big hole in the ground with a museum and gift shop. I did buy my brother a t-shirt, because as I recall, he really enjoyed that place when we were there when I was 10. I took a few pictures, and if I find time I'll post them, but there's little point.
Continued on down I-40, until I couldn't take any more of it. I turned off and headed toward Sedona.
I know, I know. It's the New-Age capital of the world. It is, though, a beautiful drive. You go down through Owl Creek Canyon, a tapestry of red rock and evergreen trees. When you reach Sedona you can always turn around.
Or go shopping for jewelry and stuff. There are, of course, several psychics in town. Many of the businesses actually have psychics on staff, who give free readings. I didn't get one, because I figured that anyone who's going to give me a psychic reading should at least be psychic enough to know that I want one. Since no one walked up to me and said "You want a psychic reading," then I didn't get one.
It was getting kind of late-afternoonish, so I looked for a hotel. Yeah, right. Memorial Day weekend in Sedona Arizona and I thought I'd find a room. It didn't happen. So I drove back up and out of the canyon, and headed back up to I-40 (all the campgrounds were full too). Couldn't really find a hotel room anywhere else, until I stopped in... *bam bam bahhhm* Williams, Arizona, also known as "The Most Expensive Place on Earth."
Why, you may ask? First, I paid 200 dollars for a hotel room. I wouldn't have, if it weren't the last hotel room left in the state. I got a discount, so it ended up setting me back about 170, but still! Next morning I checked out and headed to the nearest gas station for.. well, gas. As always, I got the cheapest. The cheapest was $2.49 per gallon. Honest.
About 30 miles down the road, I once again turned off of I-40. This time I got my kicks... yes, on Route 66. The old road looped off of I-40 for a while and headed through my destination -- Peach Springs, Arizona, in the Huavapai Nation. Y'see, The Huavapai host river rafting trips on the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and they are, by comparison to everyone else, cheap. Everyone else charges at least 600 dollars for a one-day trip, if they even offer a one-day trip -- most trips are multiple days and multiple thousands of dollars. Really. If I had that much money to spare I'd fly back to Japan and raft the Tone River off of Mount Fuji again. *sigh*
Anyway, the Huavapai "River Runners" program is 265 bucks. It's an all-day one day thing. So I stopped by and signed up, and arranged for a room there at their lodge the night before. I'll be doing it on the 17th of this month, so expect to hear about it after that.
Be forewarned: the rest of my day has a lot to do with rednecks. Lest anyone take offense, I have nothing personal against the Great American Redneck. They're good people. Individually. Put them in large groups and they're just like any other human beings -- annoying. So understand where my later ventilations are coming from. I also realize that by many people's definition, I too am a redneck.
I headed back to I-40 and was driving along toward Needles when I saw a tour bus. It looked like a lot of the other buses I'd seen that day, apart from the fact that it was lying on its side off the road and was surrounded by ambulances, police trucks, and fire trucks. It was at that point that I decided to take a break, and the very next exit just happened to be for Lake Havasu, Arizona.
For anyone who isn't aware of the geographic peculiarities of Lake Havasu, a bit of explanation. A few years back the city of London England chose to sell London Bridge -- it wasn't wide enough, it was sinking into the Thames River, etc. They sold it to a small lakeside city in Western Arizona, and it was shipped out brick by brick and re-assembled. So, London Bridge is no longer in London, but is actually in Arizona. You can drive across it, if you wish, or just park and hang out around it...
If you go, I think you'll agree with me that it's a good thing we don't own England. I've been to London, y'see, and it's a fascinating place. Seeing that fascinating place reconstructed as a tourist trap and hangout for rednecks... well, as my buddy Erich would say, "not so much."
I didn't stay long. However, in that short period of time I gathered that the Lake Havasu police have been cracking down on... something. Perhaps just being an annoyance. I heard a group of people discussing whether they were going to bother posting bail for someone, and then, in a separate incident, someone asked me if I knew where the police station was. Between that, and the option of purchasing a Royal Guard fuzzy hat in pink, and it was a nightmarish, horrifying experience, and I'm not sorry at all that I didn't take any pictures for you guys. Just too Twilight Zone.
I escaped... or so I thought. Here I sit in the Travel Lodge of Needles, California. There's a redneck convention taking place at the pool outside. Nice people, I hope. Y'see, earlier, I discovered that I'm not yet over my jumpiness about explosions. I have no idea what it was; sounded like gunfire, but the screams weren't quite right for that, so I'm guessing it was fireworks.
So that's the past couple of days. I'll get this posted sometime, hopefully. There's not Earthlink access in Needles, and I don't want to do the long distance thing. Take care, everybody!
Postscript: Yep, they're fireworks. Those big shell thing that you set on the ground and light. With the round tubes and square bases. Pretty things. Also probably illegal because of the wildfire threat.
Posted: Mon - May 31, 2004 at 01:57 PM