The Desert Again

Well, things change.  As usual, I went down to the lobby with my morning coffee, waiting for Andrea to get up. 

But this morning I heard on the TV about a fire in the hills north of Los Angeles.  They had closed the freeways in the area.  We had intended to go that way before turning north to Fresno and the California gold country.  I called the motel we intended to stay in.  They assured us the road closures were ten miles south of them — at least so far.  Andrea and I decided to go home a different route — swing wide and avoid California altogether.  It was a scramble to cancel motels after the cancellation date and make some new reservations, but we did it.

And so we started out retracing our steps.  Andrea mentioned she didn’t know what an ocotillo looked like, so we stopped when we got to an area that has them.  I think they’re pretty, but I like them especially in the spring, when small red flowers cover the arms.

Then it was through Lake Havasu City again.  I know I wrote yesterday that I didn’t know why anyone would want to live there.  But it’s a good thing different places appeal to different people, otherwise things would get way too crowded.

Rather than return through Kingman and past Hoover Dam, we turned west and north through Searchlight, Nevada.  There used to be a Coast Guard LORAN station there, which always seemed an odd place for a CG station.  The LORAN system has been long shut down, replaced by GPS, so the Coasties are gone now.

We had a choice of a short day to Las Vegas or a long day to St George, Utah.  We opted for the short day.  And because it was a short day, we went through the center of town to charge at a fancy charger right amidst the strip.  What a zoo the area is.  

Here’s a view from the car’s dashcam:

We were glad to head northeast to our motel, near Nellis Air Force Base.  Tonight we do laundry.