Dawn treated me with a gorgeous surprise. I couldn't help but think of that scene from Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, when they stop the bus, awed by the vast expanse of land that lay before (and behind) them. I too, found my jaw dropping at first light, and the fates conspired at that moment to deliver a rest area, so I stopped the car and took this 180-degree panorama.
So much sky... The other half looked the same, but was obstructed by the rest area. What a sunrise!
The drive through New Mexico was uneventful. There were tiny little towns littered throughout the freeway, each one with a major truck stop and fast food restaurant, usually in the same building. Not sure what one would do if one lived in those tiny towns, but there seemed to be some kind of refinery-type stuff going on. Not much to see. The one sign of life was Albuquerque, which seemed a lot like Salt Lake City from the highway. I suppose it would be a nice town to live in if you absolutely had to live in New Mexico, but other than that, it lacked appeal. I drove through as fast as I could. All the chain restaurants from back East were noticeably absent.
Arizona was different still. There weren't many towns in the entire 400 mile stretch of highway with Flagstaff being the notable exception, nestled in the mountains. I forgot how stunningly beautiful Arizona was what with her petrified forests, canyons of mineral-stained rocks, meteor impact sites, Indian reservations and national forests. Not much else though (on this highway). After Flagstaff, if you found yourself anywhere in the last 1/4 of your gas tank and you passed an exit without refueling, you'd run out of gas. For real, like, 84 miles of nothing, no exit, nada. And then, it's some bizarre tourist trap selling just about every imaginable piece of chatchke. One store, I swear, had on it's approach a rapid succession of 24 billboards (each) on both sides of the road (48 in all)! Kinda felt like a video game driving through it all. They sold everything from snakes, rocks, blankets, chess sets, to DQ's menu. Eventually, you hit national forests, and you know it by two things. First, there's no money-grubbing advertising of any kind anywhere. Second, the land changes from tundra-like prairie to jaw-dropping rock formations of all kinds. Again, make sure you have plenty of gas cause there's nothing in those stretches... not one sign of life!
Getting to Nevada was mostly painless, but slow. NV is building a fitting addition to the Hoover Dam. Since it is one of the great engineering feats of America, they are building over the dam the largest suspension bridge I've ever - ever - seen. The bypass is for the AZ-NV traffic (so they don't have to go through the Dam traffic - LOL!) In case you don't know, Hoover Dam is surrounded by very tall mountains and dizzying deep valleys. The suspension bridge makes the Dam (and the mountains) look tiny, but all that's lost in perspective 'cause the bridge is about a mile away from the dam. But don't take my word for it, check it out for yourself!
The bridge will be a welcome addition when finished. Going over it added a good hour to my travel time. All that was left was getting down into the valley, and maybe 20 minutes later I got my first glimpse of my new home.
Watch out Vegas, Clio's arrived! The final stats:
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