RoadTrip America

Routes, Planning, & Inspiration for Your North American Road Trip

The Phoenix One Journals      Stories from the dawn of RoadTrip America

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Daily Log 11.29.96 - Milepost 75,986
Willcox, Arizona
Our official entry into the West took place when we crossed the continental divide in New Mexico. The landscape is flat and dry, but it was snowing. We made a nostalgic pilgrimage to the Chiricahua Mountains in southeastern Arizona, where Mark had served as a fire lookout in 1976. When we arrived, Louis Pope, who was the helitack foreman back then, told us that the lookout on Silver Peak had burned down in 1993. We found Thanksgiving dinner at a truck stop here in Willcox, and today we're Las Vegas bound.

Daily Log 11.30.96 - Milepost 76,535
Las Vegas, Nevada
We crossed Arizona diagonally yesterday and arrived in Las Vegas after dark, which means in broad neon "daylight!" As we pulled into the Union 76 truck stop on Blue Diamond Boulevard, we were greeted by a trucker named Doug. He was carrying a large box of cherry danishes he'd gotten from another trucker who needed to get rid of them. He gave us several, and came back later with bagels from the same source. Today we cruised the Strip before anyone else was up and enjoyed a $1.25 breakfast special at the Silver Nugget in North Las Vegas.

Daily Log 12.1.96 - Milepost 76,535
Las Vegas, Nevada
We cruised the Las Vegas Strip, marveling especially at the newest wonder of architectural wizardry, a mega-hotel & casino called New York, New York. It's got everything from the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building to a Coney Island roller coaster and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Daily Log 12.2.96 - Milepost 76,535
Las Vegas, Nevada
We spent a quiet day in Las Vegas yesterday, and earned enough money from a one-armed bandit to do our laundry. Today we're headed toward northern California. Our destination is Arcata, but it will probably take us two days to get there.

Daily Log 12.3.96 - Milepost 77,188
Maxwell, California

We took a nap at a truck stop just north of Bakerfield last night, and hit the road again at 2 a.m. We hit some of that infamous tule fog around Fresno, and now we're nearing Redding, where we'll turn off to head for the coast.

Daily Log 12.4.96 - Milepost 77,433
Arcata, California
Highway 299 runs from Redding to Arcata through the Trinity Alps. It was a beautiful drive through the clouds, and we emerged on the coast in mid afternoon. Today we'll be visiting Eureka.

Daily Log 12.5.96 - Milepost 77,470
Trinidad, California
We've paused on the edge of the Pacific to enjoy Trinidad in a rainstorm. Today we'll be admiring the redwoods from indoors as we catch up on correspondence.

--Mark, Megan & Marvin
12/96

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