Across the Desert

In the previous post, we traversed from Tucson through the heat of Phoenix and up to the mountain town of Flagstaff. There we found a bunch of vagabonds, artists, teachers, and fellow travelers. As I am a former resident of this unique and eclectic town, it’s always a good time to return to a place where old friends and embellished stories are abound.

This post is about our journey from the mountains back into another desert. Did you know that the United States was covered by so much desert? There are actually 4 different deserts covering the US: Great Basin, Sonoran, Mojave and Chihuahuan. This time of the year, the deserts reach highs in temperature of 112 degrees Fahrenheit! (44 degrees Celsius.)

When we fabricated our overland vehicle, we had in mind that we would run trips down south during the spring/fall and “The Last Frontier” during the summer to avoid this sweltering heat. That means we are traveling through these deserts without A/C! Well, sweating a little never hurt anyone and we’ve got the coolers stocked with ice to keep cold drinks and food.

Sitting behind of the wheel of a vehicle always gives me the greatest sense of freedom. As long as you’ve got money for fuel, you can travel thousand of miles and kilometers across this amazing country.

Traveling these distances also gives your mind time to wander. This time through, my mind wanders to the movie Casino. Some of you may remember the scene when Joe Pesci is beaten with baseball bats and dumped into a hole dug out in the middle of the desert. We are driving through huge open areas of desert with Joshua trees spread out evenly to allow themselves to get enough moisture without having to compete with its siblings. I assume that the many dead bodies left by the mafia back in the day have nourished these sporadic areas of ground to allow for the trees to grow.

I never said I didn’t have a weird mind. Haha! On to “Sin City!”