Day 15

Rest day in civilization

We woke up about 11:30 a.m. today (Fitz almost missed Dynasty). Fitz watched his shows and then we went out to the pool where I updated the journal and Andy and Fitz sat in the heated pool. It was hot out, the temperature was supposed to go up to 107 today. Went to Two Pesos again for lunch with Rod, their other roommate (I didn’t spill my drink this time).

Fitz wanted to play more “May I” on their porch even though it was hot out (at least I was hot). They were going to party tonight so Andy and I decided to leave because we really weren’t up for that. Fitz tried to convince us otherwise, but we had made up our minds.

An unfortunate occurrence

We left around 9 p.m. as they were beginning to party at their place. We left the way we came in but pulled into this auto parts store to investigate why the car’s fan wasn’t working. None of the fuses had blown so it remains a mystery. We left there after about 45 minutes of fiddling around.

We were traveling up Scottsdale Road when the van in front of us drove right into the oncoming traffic. This is a three lane road each way and, luckily, the van was about 40 feet in front of us because it drove head-on into a car and flipped into the air, landing upside down behind the car where three other cars rammed into it. After the cars hit, Andy said, “That person can’t be alive…” and he was right. This is the first time in my life I’d ever actually seen someone die.

Andy went over to the accident scene to see if anything could be done, joining a large crowd who were just peering into the van, realizing there was nothing they could do. I asked this lady in a crowd outside this Mexican restaurant if the police had been called. The cops were there in minutes and closed the street.

We were in a group of witnesses and gave our testimony to the cops. They asked us to wait for the investigators to show so we could tell the story to them as well. There was a small group of us comparing our view of the accident and what we saw. One of the other witnesses told us that she came very close to hitting us since she had to veer out into our lanes to avoid the van, which was in mid-air when she passed it.

While we were waiting for the investigators to show up, one of those fierce ants that one finds in the southwest bit Andy on the toe, he was wearing sandals. It was eerie sitting there thinking about the fact that it could have been me in that car, or that we could have easily been hit by one of the cars trying to avoid the accident. The point being: it could all be over in seconds and thinking about the number of people who lose their lives and loved-ones this way every day (112 people per day) really made me nervous when I faced the fact that I would have to get in the car again tonight.

Since we had to go a long way tonight, the cops made sure Andy and I, or “the guys from Pennsylvania” as they called us, were first to be interviewed so we could be on our way as soon as possible.

It was a hot night and there was a storm approaching so they wanted to finish clearing the accident and wrapping up the entire affair. Because there was a fatality, we were told that there may be a chance that we would have to come back for a trial if the case went to court. The investigators were very nice, we talked about the trip and everything, but it was odd in a way. This was a very solemn start to the journey before us, but we pressed on. We thought about going back to Fitz’s but we both decided not to.

Finally, back on the road

It was about 11:30 p.m. before we got away from the scene and we wanted to keep the conversation going in order to keep our minds off the accident. We traveled out of the city the same way we entered it, driving very slow and as far away from oncoming traffic as the road would allow. Took Bell Road through northern Phoenix and Sun City until we hit US 60, turning northwest.

At Wickenburg we turned on US 93 in the same direction. This was a 100 mile stretch of nothingness. There is only one town on this stretch, Wikieup, which wasn’t much of anything, not that it mattered, it was pretty dark on this stretch of road. This was principally a truckin’ road. It looked as though we were in a desert; however, there were a few mountain regions here and there, it certainly was not flat. There were also a lot of Joshua Trees around.

We eventually picked up I-40 west for a few miles and got off at Kingman, Arizona, to take US 93 to Las Vegas. I was wishing it was light out so I could see our surroundings, they looked interesting. It was a 71-mile straight shot up to the Hoover Dam. Hoover Dam creates Lake Mead and we passed through the Lake Mead Recreational Area, although we did not see much. I didn’t even know we would be passing over the dam.

The road approaching and following the dam was very curvy and slow going behind all the trucks. The architecture of the dam looked very interesting and I wished we could have seen it in the light of day. Two towers on each side of the dam had large clocks on them, one displaying Arizona time and the other Nevada time.

By now it was about 5 a.m. and we wanted to see the lights of Vegas before it started getting light out. We got a brief taste of what was coming in Boulder City and Henderson, Nevada. Both towns had gambling and stopped at nothing to advertise this fact.

There is a ridge of mountains outside Las Vegas and once on top of this ridge, we could see the city below. I wasn’t sure it was the city but Andy, looking at the map, confirmed this. Plus, in addition to all the never-ending lights, there were literally two strips of lights that traced the path of “The Strip.” This was a remarkable sight from our high vantage point above the city—two bright strips of light traversing through the city, not straight, but tracing out the famous strip, home of the most luxurious Las Vegas resorts, old and new. We really had to hurry if we wanted to see the strip all lit up, dawn was growing.

We made our way into the city, which was very much alive at six in the morning on a Saturday. Spotted many people walking the streets possibly going home after a long night of gambling. We did make it in time to see the lights of the strip but it was no longer dark out.

We stopped for a break and went into the California Casino and played a few quarter slots. Inside, there was much activity. Primarily, old, cigarette-smokin’, blue-haired women strategically playing three or four slots, also, a of couple card tables where cheering and screaming could occasionally be heard. We made little with the quarter machines and Andy switched to nickel machines. He made quite a bit on these, enough that he did not want to carry it around and continued to play in the hopes that he could get rid of some of the change.

I finally convinced him to leave with what he had (a handful of change) and we were on our way out when I lost him. I looked back and he was staring into another kind of nickel slot machine. He played for a bit and the machine paid off generously. After a few tries, jackpot. Three 7s, which pays out 300 nickels. We got one of the cups sitting around for change, filled it with our $15 in nickels, and left. This would be our emergency, last-resort funds. We didn’t even bother to cash it in for bills.