_           We got a fairy early start from the Cibola National Forest, somewhere between McGaffney and Fort Wingate.  A few miles down I-40, we ventured into Grants to explore a bit more of the Historic Route 66.  After I-40 by-passed the small town, Grants was not kept up quite like Williams, so we made our way down Main Street until it crossed the interstate again and took us to the interagency Visitors’ Center.  The helpful Park Service and Forest Service rangers directed us to the local coffee shop as well as to take a more scenic route to Roswell than the one we had originally charted.  Before setting off for the land of the alien encounters, we enjoyed coffee and muffins at Cocoa Beans Café and left our mark on the map there as the first customers from both Talkeetna and Tallahassee.

_      Getting into southern New Mexico, highway 380 brought us to the edge of the White Sands Missile Range, the location of the Trinity Site, the site of the first atomic detonation by the United States.  We hoped that we could check out some of our nation’s nuclear history, but the security guard at the gate politely notified us that it was a secured military installation and we certainly were not welcome beyond the gate.  Passing White Sands, we stopped for a quick lunch at a “roadside table” before hitting the road again.  Unfortunately, this time the road hit back, and we suffered a flat tire.  Not just any flat tire, but approximately a half inch gash that left air gushing out the tread.  Before we lost too much, we jumped back in and milked the Pilot into the parking lot of the Capitan Municipal High School to switch it out.  Our goal was to be back on the road before school got out for the day, but we weren’t that quick, and we became our own sort of tourist attraction for the juniors and seniors who were driving home.

_      We rolled into Roswell significantly later than planned, arriving at the International UFO Museum and Research Center with only twenty minutes left until closing.  While we didn’t have time to read all of the newspaper clippings, letters, and other information in the exhibit, we still learned a lot about the “Roswell Incident” and close encounters of the first, second, and third kinds.  Perhaps the best part of our visit there was when a fog machine came on, filling the center room with a cloud while the flying saucer started spinning and the aliens started communicating(?).

_      After the museum closed, there was not a lot to do in Roswell, according to both the museum attendant who suggested going to the local cinema and to the gift shop clerk/novelist/alien enthusiast who suggested checking out the town library.  So, we got out of there faster than the little green guys back in 1947 (or faster than the military cover-up, if you choose to believe that chain of events).  Back on Highway 380 East, we crossed the border into Texas and started scoping out a place to throw up our tent for the night.  Our search led us to the Glenn Howell Park in Brownfield, where we were able to make a delicious pasta dinner, watch the stars, and sleep by the peaceful lake.

_      We had stopped in Tuba City for gas, and the gas station attendant had told Chase that highway 264 was a straight shot out into the desert wilderness and camping would be easy along the road.  Unfortunately, much to the contrary, the road was notably twisty and curvy around rock formations; this prevented us from making good time and made it harder to eat the ice cream we had bought in Tuba City.  Furthermore, the road was very highly populated, with towns every few miles and nowhere to pull off and camp.  Because of that we drove later than we normally do, passing into New Mexico after dark to camp in the Cibola National Forest. 

_       “Later” is kind of relative though, because we didn’t exactly have a clear idea of what time it was.  Arizona is in Pacific time, though the state does not follow Daylight Savings Time, though the Navajo Nation Reservation does follow Daylight Savings Time, though some towns in the reservation don’t, and then New Mexico is in Mountain Time and is different altogether!  Rather than trying to keep it straight, we just set up camp and slept when we were tired.

_      After seeing the view from the tower last night, we wanted to return one more time during the day so that we could see more than just the lights from the Strip.  The red mountains surrounding the city and limiting the growth of its sprawl were beautiful juxtaposed against the blue sky, and they are very different from the white mountains Chase is used to seeing in Alaska.

_      Once we finally left our hotel, Charla created a fun challenge for us to attempt.  Near the hotel was Bonanza Gifts, the tackiest-looking gift shop on the Strip.  We were each going to spend 15 minutes shopping, with a $5 maximum, to buy the other the tackiest item we could find, and we’d have to wear the other’s “gift” at some point during the road trip.  Much to our dismay, though the shop was incredibly tacky, it was also shockingly expensive, and we realized that a $5 maximum would not provide for more than a glittery keychain flask.  Sadly enough, we decided to scrap the challenge and must rely on our own already tacky wardrobe for the rest of the trip.

_      Unfortunately, while parked in a lot on the strip, we were approached by our parking lot attendant who notified us that someone had stolen the tire and wheel off of Chase’s bicycle, which was mounted on a bike rack on the Pilot.  The parking lot attendant had attempted to stop the man and had called the police, who arrived shortly thereafter.  Even more unfortunate, we had seen a man riding a bicycle carrying an extra bicycle wheel a few minutes earlier, but didn’t think much of it.  Las Vegas Metro Police have a shockingly quick response time, dispatching two police cars and two police motorcycles to the parking lot, but a brief search failed to turn up the suspect or the wheel.  Oddly enough, one of the responding officers notified us that they had recently raised the minimum for petty larceny to $650, which means that in effect it is not a crime to steal tires off of bicycles; if they ever caught the suspect, they’d give him a ticket on par with a ticket for jaywalking.  Even so, we filed a police report and the police took pictures, noting the brand and size of the wheel and tire.  We can only hope that the wheel happens to find its way into police custody in the next few days, or Chase will be buying a new one in Florida.  (In reality, we think that if the motorcycle cops didn’t spot the guy in the first few minutes, the odds of it ever turning up are remarkably slim.)

_      Finally making our way out of town, we stopped at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, something we probably would have done a couple days before if it were not on the opposite end of the Strip from where we were staying.  We said a quick hello and goodbye to the city of sin (and to an Elvis impersonator taking tourist photos there) and got out.  Before we were too far away, we spotted a Jack in the Box, which was offering free chicken nuggets for the people of Las Vegas.  We counted ourselves among that crowd for a hot second and took the chicken nuggets to go.

_      As we made our way to Hoover Dam, a small brewery in Boulder City caught our eyes, so we stopped at the Boulder Dam Brewing Company to try their sample flight, conveniently arranged in the shape of the dam.

_      Leaving Boulder City, we soon arrived at the Hoover Dam, and the trusty Pilot once again had the pleasure of driving over a massive dam.  We stopped for photos on the far side of the dam, as we crossed the Arizona state line, and then we parked the Pilot to walk back into Nevada over the dam.

_     From Hoover Dam, we traveled Highway 93 to I-40 and into the quaint town of Williams, whose main street is the famous Route 66 (we got our kicks!).  We had planned to go all the way to the Grand Canyon that night, but Williams captured us, and we decided to stay.

_ .  And, as is the state custom in Nevada, there was a scuzzy little gambling hall called the Say When Casino located just feet over the border.  The Say When is open 24 hours, and it has 25 cent slots, so to celebrate getting to Nevada we stopped.  Even at 6:30 in the morning there was a crowd inside.  We walked to the closest slot machines to the door and dropped in our quarters; with Chase’s quarter he won back 50 cents, and is probably the only person in the state of Nevada who is currently 100% ahead in gambling winnings.

_      From Winnemucca we jumped on the I-80 for a short hop to Battle Mountain and then took Highway 305 south to Austin.  Highway 305 felt like an extremely lonely road, and it didn’t seem that there was any reason for someone to drive it unless they lived or worked out there; and despite a couple ranches and mines, we can only assume very few people lived or worked out there.  Ironically, Highway 305 dead-ended into Highway 50, which is billed as the Loneliest Highway in America (despite having more tourist traffic).  Highway 50, though, is an amazing road.  We immediately entered the town of Austin, which is a quaint little mountain town.  Steeped in gold rush (and oddly enough, Pony Express) history, the town was situated at 6,600 feet elevation and when we pulled in the air temperature was exactly 100 degrees.  We did the only obvious thing, and stopped at the Toiyabe Café for ice cream.

_      On our way out of Austin the road started climbing, and climbing, and climbing, until we finally reached Austin Summit at 7,484 feet, which has been our highest elevation of the trip.  From there it was all downhill.  (Las Vegas is all the way down at 2,181 feet elevation.)  Highway 50 to Highway 376 to Tonopoh to Highway 95 to Las Vegas!  On the way we passed some sketchy-looking military outposts in the desert, including the alleged Area 51; we also passed Angel’s Ladies, a legal brothel in the desert, though we didn’t want to investigate the quality of the ladies who would choose to work in the rural desert when Las Vegas was less than hour away.  Managing to avoid military security, aliens, and prostitutes, we soon found ourselves driving down Las Vegas Boulevard, more popularly known as The Strip.

_      Pulling into the Stratosphere, we commented that neither one of us could remember the last time we had been in a parking structure so large.  The hotel has more than 2,800 rooms, making it approximately ten times the size of the Hotel Alyeska, where Chase works in the winter.  Exiting from the parking garage, guests must drag all of their luggage with them from one end of the casino to the other to check-in for the room before dragging all their belongings back across the casino to get to the elevator.  There are three elevator banks, depending on which part of the hotel your room is in.  We finally found our elevator bank, and sped up to the sixteenth floor for our mountain-view room.  We barely left the room, instead relaxing and reveling in the fact that for the first time since July we had walls, electricity, air conditioning, a shower, and a bed.

_      Like many other mornings on this trip, we started out today with breakfast sandwiches; this time from the Great Harvest Bread Company in downtown Bend.  (Tomato and spinach were only a dollar extra, but well worth it.)  After breakfast we made our way to the Deschutes Brewery, hoping to enjoy the visitor center and a tour.  Surprisingly, we arrived 45 minutes before they opened.  That gave us time to talk to the bartenders, who gave us a Bend Ale Trail map and sent us on our way.  We had no idea that Bend had nine breweries!

_      After a quick gas fill-up, we were on our way out of town heading east on Highway 20.  We once again entered the crazy high desert terrain from yesterday.  We agreed that we never imagined this kind of topography would exist in Oregon, as it instead conjures ideas of the Southwest.  Another gas top off in Burns (because you never know where the next station will be in the desert) and we were heading south on Highway 78.  Our friend Chris, from Talkeetna, had told us to be on the lookout for hot springs in this area, and we quickly came to Crystal Crane Hot Springs.  We were looking for something natural, not commercial, but we soon changed our mind on hot springs entirely; when the air temperature is this hot, 101 degree water just doesn’t feel pleasant.

_      Pulling away from Crystal Crane the sky acquired a pink hue and the sun began to turn red.  Apparently there is a forest fire burning in Fields, and the smoke from the fire is creating a haze throughout the eastern reaches of the state.  As the haze caused dusk to come earlier than normal, we pulled off the road and found a great spot to camp on top of a butte overlooking the Steens Mountains.  Once again from the top of our butte we were able to enjoy some amazing stargazing and watch the Perseid meteor show.

     In other news, we finally found the most elusive license plate for our license plate game:  Hawaii!  It was on a car just sitting there in downtown Bend.  (Click here to see how the game is progressing.)  Coincidentally, before we even said anything about it, the gas station attendant in Burns also mentioned that he had seen a Hawaii license plate pull through today for the first time in a long while.  Maybe there are some Hawaiians out there doing the same drive we are, at least from Portland to Las Vegas.  If you see the silver Honda Pilot with the Alaska tag and the bike on the back, honk your horn!

Note:  While touring the Bend Ale Trail, we shared small size samples over the course of several hours and with two meals.  Please enjoy the Ale Trail responsibly and don't drink and drive!