Letter from the Road #9

“If you don’t know the guy on the other side of the world, love him anyway because he’s just like you. He has the same dreams, the same hopes and fears. It’s one world, pal. We’re all neighbors.” – Frank Sinatra

Think Big…..again

Las Vegas or casinos never intrigued me. My mother would have been in seventh heaven had she ever visited Sin City. One armed bandits, card games and shows. Get with it she would say to her cautious son when I took her to Atlantic City. A little sin was okay according to my Presbyterian, Sunday school teacher/mother. One of the many contradictions that made my mother intriguing. Mom was a realtor in Ocean City, NJ a mere 10 miles south of Atlantic City. She had a number of Atlantic City casino executives as clients. I found it hypocritical and contradictory that the casino bosses would choose a dry, family oriented resort community for their home. They probably would have found me both judgmental and hypocritical if they knew me. Touché!

I headed to Las Vegas after stopping in Palm Springs to visit my friend Wayne. Wayne is a retired veterinarian who very much was an inspiration to me deciding to travel without a definitive schedule. More than 45 years ago, Wayne took a sabbatical to travel the world. He did it in a much less comfortable manner than me. Blogging was a yet to be developed communication vehicle (and annoyance to friends on whether they had seen the latest posting.) I reviewed my travel ideas with him and as always Wayne provided sage advise.

Many of you have been to Las Vegas and have, like Wayne, used it as a jumping off point to visit Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. I did the same and in tribute to my mother, played black jack. I risked $100 and found my self up $200 in a relatively short period of time. But as the Wynn name suggests, Wynn wins simply because we cannot control our desire for more. I left the table without any of my winnings or the initial $100 wager. In other words, flat broke. My mother would have been appalled by my lack of self discipline. Something of which she had an over abundance.

The real lesson of Las Vegas is Hoover Dam. A big infrastructure project 35 miles from Las Vegas that was planned and built in less than seven years nearly 90 years ago. To this day, it is the largest dam in the world. It embodies a spirit that all is possible. It had it all: Revolutionary design, bipartisan and multi layered governmental agreement, modernist design (art deco), expeditious planning and construction, enduring, and recurring economic value. As you may know the water stored in Lake Mead supports California agriculture and the power generated by the 14 turbines supports 600,000 homes. Just as Los Alamos delivered permanent economic value to eastern Tennessee, the Hoover Dam did the same for Nevada, Arizona and California.

Only two presidential candidates have embraced “big” as transformational and a unifier for our country by giving our people a sense of pride and focus. Marianne Williamson and Elizabeth Warren. I’m not endorsing either. Interestingly, both are not people who grew up in politics. They came to it later in life. Do they have a better understanding of what our country needs than their fellow primary contestants? I think so. It’s too bad that they are missing a larger than life quotient that would lift them above the fray. I wonder and hope that there will be a surprise entrant who will capture our imagination, leading America to a higher place.

National Treasures

Our National Parks speak to the spiritual core of America. Traveling from Palm Springs to Las Vegas, my appetite for seeing the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion grew steadily.. The route I choose by chance (appropriate having just left Las Vegas) was a masterful collection of rock formations and mountains. I will forever be amazed and humbled by the thought that some higher being had to have provided the masterstrokes. If ever I was in doubt of this, it slipped away as I drove, rising in altitude and witnessing yet another incredible landscape.

The route I chanced upon took me west on Interstate 10. I mistakingly thought I was headed to Las Vegas when in fact I was in route to Phoenix. Realizing my mistake none too soon over an Oreo Blizzard in Blythe, I made the snap decision to head north on CA95 to Interstate 40. I was off course by 100 miles, I thought. Upon reaching Interstate 40. I headed west again only to realize I-40 would take me to Flagstaff. In fact at Blythe, I was perhaps 200 miles off course. I actually needed to be on I-15. Not one of my better navigations. But, in life, when in a pickle, find the silver lining. Indeed I did. The drive was awe inspiring.

Hugging the lower Colorado River, I became mesmerized by the rugged landscapes and distant mountain ranges. I particularly loved the long stretch called the McCoullough Mountains. They are a mix of volcanic and metamorphic rock slopping down and creating an impregnable wall between California and Arizona. Don’t tell President Trump, as he might weaponize it before the next election leaving California out of the next electoral college count.

Having successfully reached Boulder City late in the afternoon and now only 30 miles outside of Las Vegas, I was due for a reward. Yes, my second Oreo Blizzard of the day.

The Grand Canyon is 270 miles long with limited access points. Rather than traveling the length by automobile, I choose to charter a helicopter. In the space of 3 hours I saw a lot. Landing in several locations beginning at Lake Mead. The pilot made several other landings including on the Colorado River bank and several ledges deep inside the canyon. I highly recommend this transportation mode for seeing the Grand Canyon. You gain a greater appreciation of the way the ancient river cut its way through the gorge. I could not imagine seeing anything that would rival it. But I did a few days later.

Zion and Bryce are two exquisite National Parks just east of St. George, UT. St. George is a delightful town just off Interstate 15 and 100 miles from Las Vegas. St, George is a neat, prosperous city. Primarily Mormon, yet I was in for a surprise. Next to my hotel sat what I was to discover, a wonderful Indian restaurant. I wondered how the hell did it get here? More fascinating, half the customers were locals and the other half, Indians. So, I asked the Indian host, why? St. George has a large Indian diaspore in southern Utah that had its origins with Indians running and owning roadside motels. They have become part of the fabric of southern Utah contributing to cultural diversity and economic prosperity of the area.

Zion and Bryce are at about the same longitude and only 50 miles apart. Both are popular destinations. On the days I visited, the parks were filled to the brim with camper vans and automobiles. I thought after the Grand Canyon, nothing else would match up. But Zion and Bryce are different. Because you hike or drive through the channels and gorges, the experience is much more intimate. I have passed through Utah, stopping at the airport in Salt Lake City for refueling or a connection. This time I traveled the length of the state. As I was “enchanted” by New Mexico, in Utah I found a place I could live.

I opened this letter with a quote of Frank Sinatra’s. He certainly was the “chairman of the board” for Las Vegas and since Las Vegas was a central part of this letter, he seemed the right person to kick off the letter. Unlike my tour of Montecello where I witnessed no diversity among the visitors, this leg was substantially better. From my tour of Hoover Dam to my rides through the parks, I witnessed amazing crowd diversity. Here the crowds were coming to see big things not tethered to a political history or philosophy. Rather, having opted for a better life and subscribed to America’s open and generous values, they were in search of something else. They were looking for that uniquely American characteristic - thinking BIG and executing BIG,

Next

Nathan, Wyoming and a detour