When I exited the Provo hotel on Saturday I finally noticed across the street was a McDonalds with a world class view. After some coffee and such I headed south. I didn't really make it that far, with just making check out time and moving like I was underwater, but it was progress.
I stopped in St. George and went to the In-and-Out Burger, which was stacked with folks. In-and-Out really does have the best burger at that price point. In watching people it was clear that many of the folks had the same kind of small town characteristics I was used to growing up in Prescott, clothing, speech, pace and such. I know how some folks feels about Mormons, but they do know how to run a town with all the appearances of wholesomeness. This would be contrasted with my experience the next day.
I checked into a hotel in St George with my now trusty electric blanket and enough OJ and rum to continue my medical treatment. I guess I travel now in the winter with an electric blanket. The next morning I grabbed some breakfast at an Einsteins Bagel. It was an interesting subset of the St. George population, that being folks not at church on a Sunday morning, having breakfast out at one of the few places open on said Sunday morning. Still pretty wholesome looking, although the percentage of folks with tattoos and piercings shot up a bit.
Fortified with some excellent coffee (with honey!) I was back on the road, hours earlier than the day before. The station I gassed up at in StG had a pretty good view as well.
As I was driving into the northern outskirts of Las Vegas maybe they were having some sort of airshow. I saw a couple of jets, one with a classic delta wing and a canard. The other one I only saw nose on, but both hauling ass at a pretty low altitude.
I felt okay still so I kept going. In fact, I was so much better that I finally noticed that I didn't have my seat cushion. I must have removed it while I was provisioning for the hotel stay, getting in and out to the car a lot, and had not noticed its absence until now. But now I definitely missed it. I must be getting better!
There was some sort of wreck south of Vegas approaching the I40. There was a several mile long backup. Once I got to the northern edge of Kingman I took a long cut over the hills the back way into town.
I needed some more OJ to continue my treatment and the entire town seemed to be anchored by the Walmart. Kingman had a noticeably different feel from the day before in StG. I went in, and as I was searching the aisles I saw some poor soul, maybe late 20s or early 30s. He had a full set of very unfortunate neck and facial tattoos, being herded along by I'm assuming his mother. These were two of the saddest people I had seen in a long time, just trying to get through their day.
The next day I stopped in Prescott to have an early supper with my mother, and reminisce about Elisabeth, four days later than I had planned.
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