The temperature in the Mojave (Mohave) desert reaches in excess of 110 degrees farenheit in the heat of the average summer day. It was a hot trip thru here, and as you can see, its an uncompromising wilderness of epic proportions. In the few areas where water can be found or accessed, towns and cities like Las Vegas, Flagstaff and Kingman have sprung up, literally out of desert wasteland. From the air it must look strange, especially at night, random pockets of habitation surrounded by vast expanses of rock and sand. Aside from those valiant places where people live with relentless heat, alongside scorpions and rattlesnakes, its literally hundreds miles of desolate wasteland. Its boredom personified, that trip, and after several hours it starts to test concentration. On my way thru I had to skirt around a 40-ton 18-wheeler that had somehow overturned and skidded on its side along the road. I didn't see it happen, but I got there just afterwards, just as the police were setting up the road block, and before the traffic started to bank up. It didn't look too bad, as accidents go, and no other vehicles were involved that I could see. An hour down the road, though, I saw one on the other side of the freeway, same situation, only it was a lot more of a mess. The rig had managed to get itself turned thru 180 degress and was on its side, a mangled wreck, facing back the way it came, and there were other cars stopped around it. The police were there too, waving people on our side of the freeway along, and an ambulance was there, and the traffic going east was banked up for twenty miles behind it all. Nasty. I've prayed, every day, along this trip, that I wouldn't have to even SEE anything like that, much less be involved in it. When those big rigs go out of control, it can happen in the blink of an eye, and they don't tend to take many prisoners. On a more optimistic note once I got to the other side of the desert, reaching the mountains that separate it from the rest of the civilized world, it happily got noticeably cooler!
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Rattlesnake Boogie
The temperature in the Mojave (Mohave) desert reaches in excess of 110 degrees farenheit in the heat of the average summer day. It was a hot trip thru here, and as you can see, its an uncompromising wilderness of epic proportions. In the few areas where water can be found or accessed, towns and cities like Las Vegas, Flagstaff and Kingman have sprung up, literally out of desert wasteland. From the air it must look strange, especially at night, random pockets of habitation surrounded by vast expanses of rock and sand. Aside from those valiant places where people live with relentless heat, alongside scorpions and rattlesnakes, its literally hundreds miles of desolate wasteland. Its boredom personified, that trip, and after several hours it starts to test concentration. On my way thru I had to skirt around a 40-ton 18-wheeler that had somehow overturned and skidded on its side along the road. I didn't see it happen, but I got there just afterwards, just as the police were setting up the road block, and before the traffic started to bank up. It didn't look too bad, as accidents go, and no other vehicles were involved that I could see. An hour down the road, though, I saw one on the other side of the freeway, same situation, only it was a lot more of a mess. The rig had managed to get itself turned thru 180 degress and was on its side, a mangled wreck, facing back the way it came, and there were other cars stopped around it. The police were there too, waving people on our side of the freeway along, and an ambulance was there, and the traffic going east was banked up for twenty miles behind it all. Nasty. I've prayed, every day, along this trip, that I wouldn't have to even SEE anything like that, much less be involved in it. When those big rigs go out of control, it can happen in the blink of an eye, and they don't tend to take many prisoners. On a more optimistic note once I got to the other side of the desert, reaching the mountains that separate it from the rest of the civilized world, it happily got noticeably cooler!
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Hi there. WOW, that's great that you didn't get caught in all the backed up traffic. I've heard about those kinds of wrecks out there, I guess the drivers get "White Line Fever" or something. Be careful going through the mountains, they can be treacherous too. We'll keep on praying for you, and a safe journey to the West Coast. Happy Trails. jim & Carol.
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