_      Heading east on Highway 380 out of Brownfield, we drove through several other small towns before connecting on Highway 82 to I-20.  I-20 led us to a nice rest area at Stink Creek, where we made breakfast on our trusty Coleman camp stove.  Our egg sandwiches were far from stinky, and we were ready to head to Dallas.

_      After breakfast, we had the pleasure of meeting Officer Hubbard of the Texas Highway Patrol.  Unfortunately, we met Officer Hubbard on the shoulder of I-20 shortly after we had been driving 80 miles per hour in a 75 mile-per-hour-zone.  After answering a few cursory questions and letting Officer Hubbard take Chase’s Alaska drivers’ license back to his patrol car, Chase received a typewritten warning about his speed (but not a speeding ticket, with no points on his license and nothing added to his record).  Interestingly enough, the warning goes so far as to imply that the Texas Department of Public Safety feels that Chase is a good citizen, which left us both feeling happy.

_      The next exit of the interstate made us feel even happier, as we happened upon our first Chick-Fil-A of the trip.  Chick-Fil-A is a fast food chicken restaurant in the South (they didn’t invent chicken, just the chicken sandwich) which does not have any locations in Alaska; Chase hadn’t eaten at a Chick-Fil-A since last year when he left the Lower 48.  Ever since the trip started, we had a deal that we’d stop to eat at the first one we saw.  Despite just recently eating breakfast, it was time to make good on the deal.  After a small meal of chicken strips and Chick-Fil-A’s famous waffle fries, we were back on the road towards Dallas.

_      As we neared Dallas, we came to the realization that the city road planners don’t really understand how to use the four cardinal directions.  First of all, we were heading to an apartment building that was located on East Northwest Highway.  Even more perplexing, to get to East Northwest, we had to drive on I-35 East North.  Somehow we found our way and arrived at Chris and Mary’s apartment.  Chris welcomed us with some Shiner, a local Texan beer, and we immediately began reminiscing about our college experience.  The four of us all attended Vassar College (Chris and Chase were roommates for a while), so we definitely had a lot to talk about.  Unfortunately, Mary has been waylaid by a knee injury and is spending a lot of time in bed.  We also met Chris and Mary’s roommate Katie, and we all ended up getting along swimmingly.

     We interrupted our trip down Memory Lane to run to the store and grab food for a barbecue.  But, our idea of a barbecue suddenly veered slightly off course and turned into a seafood feast since shrimp was a good price and tilapia filets were “buy one two-pound package, get three free.”  Charla boiled a pound and a half of shrimp for us all, while Chris grilled up four pounds of tilapia for a delicious dinner with friends.

_      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.