Day 17: Leaving Las Vegas

After many phone calls to Hertz McCarran Airport last night, I decided this morning to go straight there and plead my case that the Dodge Journey was just a gas guzzler. After packing up and checking out of the north Las Vegas hotel I stayed in last night, I hit the Interstates toward the airport, passing the city on my left. I noticed however on the trip that the Journey’s cruise control wasn’t working and also the volume buttons locked up – this was my excuse to dump this piece of junk car. Along the way I had to top off the gas tank at a cost of $20 – absorbing any savings I’d made on the switch by getting a full tank of cheap gas. At the rental counter I met a kind soul who offered me another Dodge or a Chevy Malibu – the car marked ‘or similar’ on the Hertz website. I knew the car to be still inferior to the Fusion I now regretted handing back, but I bit my tongue and took the keys. This is a step down but I was just glad to have gotten rid of the Journey.

On the road outside the rental car center, I hatched some plans. My destination was Flagstaff, Arizona. I’d hoped to factor in a trip to Zion National Park and Bryce Canyon National Park in southern Utah with a swing by Page, Arizona to visit the slot canyons I’d so long wanted to photograph. But as I approached Henderson, the city outside Las Vegas, I’d figured that that particular journey wasn’t going to work. So I pulled over at a quiet business park and looked at the map on the iPhone to see what best to do. Should I go to Flagstaff and then Page the following morning and on to Texas? Should I stay in Page tonight? Decisions, decisions. As is so more frequently becoming a deciding matter for me however, price dictated the next move. Page’s hotels were coming in at over €100 for the night, Flagstaff’s hotels (which are generally not that great) were floating around the same. I knew that getting to Phoenix or Tucson would be more helpful to my onward Texan journey, but it meant sacrificing so much. After a few more minutes deliberating, I finally found a decent hotel in Tucson that made the decision final – I was going to bypass Page and deviate wildly from the original map for this stage of the journey.

Finally on the road with a plan in hand, I stopped by the Hoover Dam complex (photo above) that I’d visited before the new bridge was completed. Nowadays the parking lots are charged for and I made a U-turn and drove back over the dam, noticing how low the level of Lake Mead is today compared with 3 years ago when I first visited and crossed the dam. I’m not sure how the Department of the Interior can rectify this situation, but if I noticed it with the naked eye, it must be becoming a major issue for the states of Nevada, Arizona and California and all the stakeholders who depend on the dam for electricity and irrigation. Further down the road I’d settled into the journey somewhat but was starting to have some problems with my GPS. At first I put it down to the heat possibly damaging the unit (it seems beyond me why these things are made of poor plastic given they have to be exposed to direct sunlight in order to operate!). I took out the iPhone and Googled a spot to have some breakfast at the next city on the trail, Kingman, AZ. Kingman is one of the cities still thriving thanks to the Interstate system that wrote off most of Route 66. Google’s reviews came back with a recommendation to visit “Grandpa’s Kitchen” and so I got the details into the GPS and added it as a via point. Nearer to Kingman however, things got worse. My Verizon coverage on the MiFi device faded away, the AT&T signal on the iPhone deteriorated to a state of ‘Searching…’ and the GPS found it impossible to locate satellites despite there being a clear sky above. The Hertz NeverLost device (present in this Chevy Malibu – unfortunately as I hate this device) also had GPS satellite issues. So it was me, the car, the road and old-school sign following. Luckily as I approached Kingman I found some signal on my Verizon MiFi and found out roughly how to get to Grandpa’s Kitchen.

Grandpa’s Kitchen was a revelation. It’s about 8 miles off the interstate in the absolute back arse of Kingman. If it weren’t for the 35mph speed limit, you’d miss the place. And it looked closed. I was hungry though so I stopped, parked up and walked around the corner of the building to push in the door emblazoned with “yes we’re open” and “no credit cards” signs. Taking a seat inside this place – which is basically just a huge room with a small low counter opposite the door and a scattering of tables and chairs, and a few scragglers in on a Sunday morning. I was given a menu and asked for coffee as I perused the bill of fare. I chose a mixed dish of bacon, an egg, hash brown and pancakes. I took a sip of the coffee then and let out a gasp of appreciation – this was probably the best cup of coffee I’ve had since landing in Chicago on August 31st. If the breakfast was anywhere near as good, I’d be in for a treat. I wasn’t let down – the breakfast here really is as phenomenal as the reviews would let you believe. The reason I think is simple; good ingredients, cooked well and using real butter. Butter is a strange thing here, normally it’s white (and usually served in spheres) and doesn’t really taste of butter – it’s more like margarine. This stuff was bright yellow and salted. Best breakfast I’d had all month, and probably the best meal I’d had up to then. All the eggs Benedict combined didn’t come close. I literally *devoured* the whole meal in under 4 minutes, drank the coffee and left a $3 tip. Back on the streets of Kingman, filled with nourishingly satisfying food, I used the sign posts to find my way to Phoenix.

On the highways the scene seldom changes. It’s a constant cat and mouse game sometimes between the traffic that wants to go faster than the posted limit (I’m usually in this category) and the traffic that insists that it should go 20mph slower than the limit. Also, the U-Haul and Penske trucks (rental moving vehicles that seemingly ANYONE can rent and drive around like a nutcase) are usually the biggest nuisance, along with those big-rig drivers who dutifully follow the speed limits and generally make a nuisance of themselves (I realise they’re safe in doing so, but sometimes their actions defy common sense!). Technology was still failing all around me, but as I got closer to Phoenix, I remembered from TV that it was a good place to get some BBQ and I’d felt the need to give myself a little treat in the midst of this saving spree. After looking at the reviews of the places in Scottsdale visited by Man V Food, I looked at the Zagat and Yelp reviews to find ‘Bobby Qs’ place was the best recommended spot. Now all I needed was the patience to navigate the old-fashioned way. After dodging multiple work crews repairing roads on a Sunday evening (imagine that, people working on a Sunday – wouldn’t get that in Ireland!) I continued up the sleepy street and followed the car in front into the Bobby Qs parking lot. This quaint building smelled good, and you could see the smokers out the back behind a fence. I followed the stream of people headed toward the door, pushed my way inside and was seated promptly. After being told of a special that gave a sampling of everything on the menu, I went for it once I knew I could take the leftovers with me (doggy bags and boxes are just the best ever!). Within minutes I was staring into a platter of the most amazing food I’d had since landing in Chicago on August 31st (yeah I know, twice in one day!). Reaching for the ribs first, the bone slid out of the meat to the touch – clean. A-mazing. To say this was phenomenal is an insult to Grandpa’s earlier, but it was unbelievably delicious. I took the left overs (believe me, it was tough to stop eating this stuff!) with me and got back on the road to Tucson.

I arrived in the city of Tucson later than anticipated and checked into the hotel only to be blown away again by the best hotel room I’ve stayed in since landing in Chicago on August 31st! Spotless, big, full, clean, fresh, new – just brilliant – and a free guest laundry room! Truly an amazing day. If I could take Grandpa’s in Kingman, Bobby Qs in Phoenix and this hotel in Tucson with me everywhere I go, I’d be enjoying this trip a heckuva lot more than I already am right now!