Redlands to Hot Wings

The trip is on. We headed East on I-10 past the entrance to the Orocopia Wilderness

( http://www.blm.gov/ca/pa/wilderness/wa/areas/orocopia_mountains.html  )

where I have some firewood stashed (just behind the red truck in the picture). At  Desert Center (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Center,_California ) the old Greyhound stop has been razed and the Eagle Mountain Mine never got its LA-LA trash.

We turned North on SR 177. At the junction of 177 and 62 I left a steaming gift for the buzzards behind a pile of highway rocks; marking the territory.

Speaking of which, Needles (http://www.cityofneedles.com/ ) was a quick stop on US 95. In Mojave, it’s called “ʼAha Kuloh  “, which in Portuguese translates into, “Aha, the anus” Ferdinand drily noted that the city’s name is too obvious; then again, the old Indian name might impede tourism.

Ferdinand was impressed by Hoover dam.

 I impressed on him the importance of recognizing that Crowe (http://www.1st100.com/part1/crowe.html ) and Ayers (https://engineering.purdue.edu/EAA/Honors/Notable/notable-discipline ) are important men. Ayers is so forgotten that his own alma mater (Purdue) mismatched his credentials with some ‘Inventive Heart Healer”. Nonetheless, both were Atlases. These are the people that move the world, as Ron Paul, correctly observes. (http://www.dailypaul.com/162335/atlas-shrugged ).  

We saw the powerhouse

 and I enjoyed the art-deco statues.

The new bridge adds to the grandeur of the place.

 The ludicrous homeland ‘security’ (http://www.thehighroad.org/archive/index.php/t-482990.html ) does not.

We bunked down in St. George, Utah (http://www.sgcity.org/ ); seems like a nice town. There is a "Chuck-O-Rama" restaurant; something to check out, no doubt
(http://www.chuck-a-rama.com/locations/locations.htm ) Maybe another time.. I had never been through the Virgin River gorge, though; pretty amazing.

 The approach to the North Rim (http://www.nps.gov/grca/planyourvisit/directions_n_rim.htm ) is long, but scenic.

The Coconino County sheriff is pretty vigilant too; my first ticket for over 7 years!

Other than the lodge on the South Rim, the other side is surely a better thing. You hardly ever get to see the river, but the views into the canyon are overwhelming. Naturally, my camera ran out of film just as we were getting ready to pose on top of Angel’s Window.

, but here is a Panoramio link with the snaps.

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/54541954  (follow the ‘More Photos’ slide show)

 We camped just outside the park and at almost 9000 feet elevation. It was nice and crispy at night.

Route 89 South to Phoenix had so many construction delays that we got to the motel so late in the afternoon and burned from the drive, we decided to wait it out another day, and see the Diamondbacks the following evening.

The Motel6 is conveniently located next to the Sky Harbor main runway, a railroad main line and an adult bookstore; then again, there is a pool

and it’s a short walk to the metro line that will take us to CHASE field. I had a haircut in a shop recently run into by a car. That morning the outside wall was wide open. The barber told me how his dad tied him up for a week in the garage because he wanted to quit school. Margarete would be happy. While I was still pondering the pedagogical benefits of this parental lesson, the guy proceeded to trim my eyebrows. Now water runs into my eyes.

We found a real road trip place: Long Wong’s Famous Wings on Thomas Street.

The temperature reached 110 and after those damn hot wings I felt like the guy in the Tabasco commercial (http://www.tabasco.com/arts_pavilion/tv_ads/tabasco_mosquito_ad.cfm ).

 

We got to the Diamondback field during batting practice and Ferdinand went down to the right outfield wall to try and snag one. Can you spot him?

 He’s just above the F

It’s a nice stadium. They had the roof closed when the game started and the whole place was air conditioned ! While I was getting some refreshment and wondering about the caloric energy cost of this, they opened it up. The sun was just going down. It was still pretty hot, but it had more of the feel of a baseball game. Now, if they’d only replace that horrible carpet.

The stadium boasts a pool and jaccuzi!

 A little less cheesy than the faux waterfall in Anaheim, but who goes to a baseball game to soak in a tub? Isn’t getting soaked in beer good enough?

There was a whole row of kids in the upper deck, moving one seat to the left in unison at every pitch. Pretty neat routine. They almost made it to the good seats by the end of the game.

The D-Backs lost to the Giants, 5:3

I still have hot wing sauce on my fingers.