The temperature fluxuated from 59 to 122. I hit 122 just south of Tecopa in Death Valley. There was no one on the road. Just me and the heat. My air conditioning was set at 82 and that felt like an ice blast. I hit the 59 on Oak Creek Canyon on my way out of Sedona. Top was down and I put on my driving gloves and heated seat. I snapped a final shot of the red rocks. The waning moon was watching over my twisted mountain driving.
I took a circuitous route. Flagstaff (to which I internally chuckled, since Bjork was singing "Raise your flag, higher, higher") as I navigated the pavement and concrete byways north to west. Route 66 took me through Peachtree and Valentine, former an Indian town and the latter a gorgeous rocky area with a boarded up school. I dreamt of buying the town and turning the school into a club. The rocks reminded me of my gorgeous Joshua Tree Mojave land. Then off to Kingman, where I gassed up, bought some cool water and stopped at a little rockhound stores. Picked up some purple stones and headed to Nevada.
I have had Amargosa on my to visit list for a while and here I was a mere hundred miles or so from it. I also wanted to check out Pahrump (lots of motorcycle race events are held here) and possibly Tecopa (standing water in Death Valley!). However after 5+ hours and 300 or so miles I had to bail on Amargosa. I took the turn off to Tecopa and was rewarded with a blank slate of pavement and the raw heat on blistering rocks. For a moment fear rose in my throat. It's been over 115 for the past 4 hours, I've been driving my car to the bone with not a complaint (except for that rock chipping my windshield south of Prescott, AZ). Last time I was in Death Valley the truck died and my colleague in adventure and I hitch/hiked to the nearest phone to call in for help. I did not want to repeat that adventure.
When the temperature hit 120, I rolled down my windows. In 10 seconds the heat circled through the car. Scrolling through the radio gave a Billy Corgan Smashing Pumpkins rock block! Empty roads, whiny white boy rock and heat gave my eyes their favorite delight - prehistoric landscapes. Land not touched by man. My eyes flicked from dune to mudflat to rock pile to mountain of rock. Creosote bushes gave the only color until Tecopa palms flooded the grey with green!
For a moment I considered I stopping at the hot springs (and taking a refreshing splash?!) but I headed south to the Mad Greek's swarma and carrot/orange juice. Then it was a few short hours until I hit the cool double digit Los Angeles area. I rolled into Hollywood just as the sunset painted colors across the sky.
It was a fabulous Independence Day Drive.
Comments