Day 2: June 14, 2011

8:34 am PST

90 degrees

Somewhere near Lake Havasu

We just left our Cattail Cove campsite on Lake Havasu. Last night, as we were approaching camp, I suddenly remembered that only about 40 minutes away, there is this Japanese Internment Camp Memorial. We thought it would be nice to go take a look and we turned around. The memorial is a really nice sculpture in the middle of nowhere on an Indian reservation. Very sad—made us appreciate the era that we grew up in.

When we left, it was getting dark pretty quickly, but we decided to go to a Safeway and get some chicken (raw) and corn (raw) to grill up on the barbee. I did a little bit of shoddy research about campsites and we ended up at the only foreseeable campground on Lake Havasu that provided grills—but was also only accessible by boat. Dorf.

So it’s nearing 9 pm and Teddy remembers that there were little triangle signs back out on the road—international symbols for camping or whatever. Getting kind of hungry now. We set up in Cattail Cove and Teddy lights up the coals. I’ll just cut to the chase with this one—we waited until about 11 pm for the damn food to cook and yeah, it was completely raw. Teddy tried to use the corn husks as a grill pan and was determined to eat his food. So I watched as he bit into the delicious pink salmonella fest.

“You don’t wanna eat my raw chicken? Fine! Screw you!”—Teddy

Actually the corn turned out pretty good. Teddy ate a banana, and then we tapped into Teddy’s larder of homemade dried meats and fruits. That was dinner. Sorry, mommy.

Teddy

June 15th 9:30 AM Mountain Time

Comfortable A/C Degrees

Sitting in Starbucks with Erica. Editing the blog posts and inserting the pictures is more time consuming than we thought. It is still manageable, and I think it is a great way to document the trip, but it requires a bit of extra planning.

The days are too short. I assume everyone says this at some time. Our "easy going" pace of a couple hundred miles a day is not breakneck, but it could be breakarm, or breakfinger. We arrived at the first camp after dark, and last night we made it with just an hour before sunset. There is just too much to do and see.

We could have skipped the valley of fire and made it to camp with plenty of time, but then we would have missed out on my favorite part of the trip so far. I think the quick pace keeps us on our toes, savoring only the best of what's around and making time for only the coolest things. Though it feels a tad hurried, that fast rate instils in us a great sense of adventure.

It also helps that Frodo and Sam just crossed the Brandywine.

10:55 am

AZ somewhere

Mile 40,534

Listening, as usual, to The Lord of the Rings on tape. Quite an epic journey in itself.

2:07 pm

102 degrees

Past Hoover Dam

This morning, we got a tip to go to the Black Bear Bar and Grill for breakfast. I wasn’t going to go 12 full hours or more without a real meal, so we had this massive plate of pancakes, eggs, bacon and sausage. Our waitress was named Linda and was the perfect “diner waitress”. She brought over coffee in these adorable mugs with the restaurant’s symbol on them. I immediately asked if they were for sale and she goes:

“Oh, I don’t know if we’ve got any left. I think we do, but if it just happens to end up in your purse by the end of the meal, I wouldn’t say a thing.”

We laughed, but I intended to purchase one anyway-- $9.99. Then, she mentioned it like two or three more times, just straight up telling us to take the mug! So we ended up tipping her $9.99 on our $15.00 meal, with a little smiley face next to the tip.

Oh, yeah, the Hoover Dam. I’ve seen it before, and yes, Teddy and I agree that it is an amazing feat of architectural awesomeness. And that it’s incredibly important. But, it was 104 degrees and I was pretty much near heat stroke walking halfway across the dam. I remembered the Hoover Dam as something much like that scene in The Fugitive. I wanted rushing water and crazy noise. But it was basically just a big concrete bowl. Really, nothing you can’t see on the interwebs. Teddy disagrees.

4:49 pm

106 degrees

Moapa Valley, NV

We’re on our way to Zion National Park! We made the mistake of getting to our campsite at pitch dark last night—we had to use the headlights in order to see to cook our raw, raw food. So we’re heading out to Zion as fast as we can. We just took about an hour and a half detour to the Valley of Fire National Park. I can’t even describe how beautiful this place is—and I’ve never even heard of it! You travel along this windy, hilly valley road between some big grey/brown mountain ranges. (I drove ::vroom::vroom:: ). Then, all of a sudden, you pass over this hill and the entire mountain range is bright orange/pink! We had to stop, get out and take a few pics—I’ve posted some below. I swear they modeled Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (Disneyland) after it…oh gosh, unless there’s a real Big Thunder Mountain…whatever.

Also, I talked to a tiny, tiny ground chipmunk rodent creature, who stopped and was curious about my extremely high-pitched baby voice reserved for precious things. I’m proud of that voice—it’s in my blood (shout out Mom, Dad, Aunt Fredde). Also, Teddy had to slam on his breaks to let a family of Quails scurry along the highway in front of us. There was a mommy, a daddy, and four tiny little goobers. It was hilarious.

(Just passed “VIP American Barbecue and Chinese Cuisine”. De-lish. Also, I met a woman named Billie Rue. Awesome.)