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Hello Utah, AZ, and Nevada

It was starting to get warm in this part and time of year in southwest Utah. We all pulled off our jackets and sweatshits, and Kenny rolled down the windows and was all fired up. He had stopped smoking pot, he was out of stock. We shot between the Dixie National Forest, and it was almost pure downhill driving. Several times, Kenny shutoff the key and we drafted behind some big trailers. The Rockies were behind our fumes. we were coming down to the flatlands. You could almost imagine Indians on horseback behind these dark mountains and hills.

"Now this is my kind of weather" said Kenny.

We bullshitted, we philosophized and experienced pure joy traveling these long hours with my best friend and with this new friend. We hit speeds of 70-75 in this little old Bug. Again, we had no spare, He never asked us to buy gas. "It's on me fellas" and were dependent on whatever money he had in his flannel top pockets to keep gassing this sweet German chariot.

One highlight of this Route 15 is we just nicked the top most corner of Arizona. We let out another group scream when we saw that "Welcome to Arizona" sign. We were like little boys on a class trip. NJ. PA, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Arizona and.....the best was coming last: California and the Pacific Ocean!!

We hit Nevada late in the afternoon. At this rate, we were going to hit night fall somewhere past Las Vegas. We pulled into downtown Vegas, on the strip around 8am, and we found a BBQ rib joint just west of the city. Great BBQ sauces, cold beers and a cheap tasty meal, our only one for the day. It was a clean but dumpy local place, not a chain. We bid Adieu to Vegas, and decided to push it into California and crash somewhere in the evening.

In the east Mojave, we pulled into a newly constructed rest stop with a large parking lot, and we threw our sleeping bags on a nice lawn and slept under the stars. My first night in California was in this East Mojave National Scenic Area. I could have died and went to heaven. This time tomorrow I could dip my toes in the Pacific Ocean.