Disclaimer: This blog entry wasn’t written until 15 years after the trip. It should be noted that it was a huge mistake to have not written it way back when. Sometimes, after writing so much about other days, it happens that at the time directly after the trip (or even during), I convince myself that the details are not that important. Years later, these details are that important, and pulling them out of foggy memories is difficult. The photos help and often leave clues, and then Caroline’s memories are usually far clearer than mine. With that said, here goes.

We gave my mother-in-law Jutta a full week after she arrived for her fourth visit to the United States from Frankfurt, Germany, to recover from jetlag. Personally, I don’t buy the jetlag thing. Excitement should be enough to carry anyone through to enjoying themselves as soon as they set foot on foreign soil about to enter vacation, but maybe that’s just me. I think my mother-in-law simply enjoys her sleep and does too much of that in retirement. In any case, the three of us are once again in the car for a long haul that will take us through the desert, over to the coast, and into the Pacific Northwest before turning around and touching the edge of the Great Plains and Jutta’s second visit to Yellowstone National Park.

Is there a more direct route to where we are going? Are there flights? Of course, this is the answer to both of those questions, but how do you gain these kinds of intimate views of a desert in bloom from a freeway or up in the air at 35,000 feet?

Caroline and I know this road well, as it connects Phoenix, Wickenburg, Nothing, Wikieup, and Kingman. Jutta will come to know it well, too.

Somewhere near Kingman or Chloride, who cares, though, as the sunset makes up for the lack of data.

The last major sight of the evening is the Hoover Dam. We were on our way to Pahrump, Nevada, and had no time for Las Vegas so we navigated around it and kept on driving. Stayed the night at Saddle West in Pahrump for only $70. With 16 nights on the road, we need to know where our money goes, so being cheap is part of the story.