Mugged and scalped at Red Feather Lodge

Leaving Las Vegas, we couldn't help but notice that the frequency of skidmarks climbing the concrete dividers had increased to quite literally every 50 feet or so. Must be some heavy drinking going on someplace, I reckon. The speed limit slowly climbed to 75, except 3mph around Hoover Dam, which is getting a new bridge by-pass. If possible, the Arizona desert is even less hospitable than Nevada, although trailers litter the most god-forsaken places, housing people living who-knows-how. Still, it's beautiful in a vast, barren way, with a surprising variety of rock formations. My favorite!

By pure luck, we pulled into a tiny town for gas and found ourselves on old Route 66, so we followed it for 17 miles, til it was subsumed by the freeway. Nostalgia buffs have resurrected some old Burma Shave serial signage along the way. Here's one from a 55mph stretch:

Angels that guard you
When you drive
Usually retire
At 65
Burma Shave

or approaching a hill crest:

When you pass
Where you can't see
Your next stop:
Eternity
Burma Shave

Our room here at the Grand Canyon of the wallet is less than 1/2 the size yet 6 times the price of the suite in Vegas, but we were lucky to get in at all, as there wasn't another vacancy for 50 miles. And it's only April 13th; what on EARTH happens in the summer?? We might have done better had we not been waylaid in the desert by an ex-sargeant libertarian Mormon whacko who spent an hour describing his gun collection, waving a large pistol for emphasis. He was right in the process of showing us the 'no bars' on his Moto as warning of the absence of phone coverage, when our Moto rang with a text from Carmen, inside our car! What a relief! Thanks Carm! And good old TomTom actually recognized the tiny dirt track we were on, and guided us to safety; no more off-road rock photos for Brian!