DAY 2: Thursday, 3 August

Auf wiedersehen, Cali-FOR-nia!

The next day we zoom east over the mountains to Arizona, willing my little Honda up the slopes beside lumbering big-rigs, hoping that it won't overheat in the record temperatures and explode along some desolate stretch of highway. Luck is with us--we don't explode.

Hellooo, crippling heat!

To our delight, halfway through the state we are peppered by sporadic rainstorms and surrounded by rainbows. We consider stopping to look for the pot of gold, but decide to move on. Who the hell wants to chase a grumpy leprachaun in 115 degree heat, anyway?

Double rainbow

We stop in some city I can't remember the name of to eat dinner. We pass up Denny's and other mediocre chain restaurants in favor of some local flavor, thinking it might be tastier, or at least somewhat safer, gastrointestinally speaking. This turns out to be a terrible mistake. Rather, ordering items from the menu that the waitstaff doesn't recognize (such as their heavily advertised "Wild for Strawberries" chicken wrap or a simple side of vinaigrette) turns out to be a terrible mistake. An ancient pair of oil and vinegar bottles are brought to the table by a bewildered waitress. The chicken wrap contains no strawberries. We eat without complaining, giggly with hunger. We stop to immortalize the evening in a few pictures before screeching back out onto the highway.

Village Iiiiiiiiiinn!!

We continue on to Gallup where we spend the night in the same Red Roof Inn that we stayed in on our way out to California almost two years ago. Our memory has failed us--this place sucks too. The late night and early morning trucker traffic is almost unbearably loud and the toilet paper is painfully stiff. The single complimentary baggie of shampoo is nearly impossible to open once wet. I use my teeth to tear it open and get most of the shampoo in my mouth. It is nearly as delicious as it smells--like Lysol lemonade. I curse the Red Roof Inn. I curse it.