OK, so the tiny part of Arizona passed through was memorable only for the incomprehensible actions of the highway police. Having made the obvious detour on US91 to avoid the substantial delay on I15, north of Vegas, we were greeted by the police beyond the hold up, refusing to allow anyone who had detoured to rejoin the interstate. Why? Because they can! The interstate was by this time flowing perfectly well but still nobody who had the temerity to avoid the delay was allowed to rejoin the freeway. Brilliant, great use of public funds guys! I didn't dare take a picture though.
Rant over! It did provide us with the benefit of a route which was, though considerably longer, much more beautiful, via yet more fabulous red rock formations, through a town called Swivelstick (or something like that). Eventually we arrived into Saint George, a little later than planned but no worse for that.
We're in south west Utah now, so having briefly passed through Arizona, started in California and spent most of our day in Nevada, we have managed 4 states in one day. Not going to be easy to break that utterly pointless record. And talking of things in fours (tenuous link coming up...) we remain amused by the American attachment to their currency, especially quarters (there's the link!). Apart from the continuation of the use of dollar bills, which buy precisely nothing and probably cost the treasury vast amounts to proceed - on paper! - there is the rather quaint use of quarters to operate any machine that requires cash. Not even a slot for notes, and only rarely a credit card slot. Contactless? Forget it. So to do our laundry on arrival into Saint George - yep, we had to buy 5 dollars worth of quarters and feed them into the machines. Cheap enough, but weirdly old school. America, the most advanced and sometimes the most backward place on the planet. I love it!
Our early morning climb out of Timbisha brought yet more spectacular views over the valley from Zabriskie Point. Hard to leave this place, but with temperatures climbing it becomes harder and harder to do anything active. It is easy to see why winter is the peak tourist season here. But I leave it with fondness, probably never to return so with some sadness too. I've now been here three times and each time have discovered something new - about the place and, if it doesn't sound too "new agey", about myself too. It is a great place to be mindful, reflect and just be. I'll miss it.
But all things come to an end (another bit of mindfulness), and from the Californian floor of the valley we climbed back up the Nevadan side, and straight into Alien territory.
I believe Area 51, named after a US military base, is well known for alien sightings, but this being Nevada, it is also home to brothels on the highway where if the mood takes you, you can have breakfast followed by ... (hmm, perhaps I won't go there).
We saw Las Vegas from a distance but decided to give it a miss, as we have been there before - its a bit of a "marmite" place, you either love it or hate it. In fact I think I both love it and hate it. It is mad. But I hope to be back there for a motorbike trip later in the year so we eschewed its charms on this trip and bypassed it to the north.
In the end a fairly longish driving day but we are two days in Saint George, so laundry time again (stocked up on quarters) and today we will attempt to walk everywhere. Never easy in this country in urban settlements. But so far so good - we found an excellent local Italian restaurant last night and it does appear to us that healthy unprocessed food is getting easier and easier to get. Lunch and dinner included excellent salads. And even the portion sizes seem to have progressed to near normal rather than gargantuan. But we also know that the USA remains a country riven by division and by travelling mostly so far on the west coast, national parks, and university towns we may be seeing only one side of it. From here we continue east, wobbling between southern Utah and northern Arizona, then liberal Colorado, before heading north probably via Wyoming and the Dakotas, to Saskatchewan in Canada. We won't really reach the mid-west, only just east of the Rockies but we will see if any of that feels any different.
It must be having some effect; as I write this in a local coffee shop the server asked me if I am here for the Ironman championships!! Ha, bloody ha!
I'll leave you with a few more pics from Timbisha / Death Valley. The valley floor in the distance from Zabriskie Point.
The lowest golf course in the USA (and probably the world) at Furnace Creek. Is this a good idea?
More views of wonderful landscape at Zabriskie Point.
A couple more from yesterday's walk in Golden Canyon and Red Cathedral.
Captain Intrepid (aka Eejet) again
Emerging from under a rock
The odd stranger in your picture does give it scale.
And finally if you look carefully, you can see the "SEA LEVEL" sign from Badwater Basin.
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