Into the Wilds

We actually did want to check out Pahrump, home of the Art Bell Show... something which Don and I listen to on a fairly regular basis. It's also where one of my favourite silly films, Mars Attacks! was, in part, set ;-) But the route I chose was not the most direct, and I'm glad of that.

I was still pretty amped from the show last night, and it gave me a nice floaty hook to hold onto for the next week or so, too ;-)

Red Rock

There were no buildings, no nothings... just the browns and dull greens of the desert and the sun beating down from the deep blue sky. Here and there large cacti grew, and clumps of prickly leaves a little reminiscent of palm trees. It's a landscape of blank browns and baked ochres, punctuated by the green... it's magnificent, and beautiful...

Rather than detouring into the Red Rock canyon state park, a 13-mile loop off our road, we carried on with our chosen road, just driving. The deeply coloured red rock was to our right, and we got an eyefull of it as we drove. I felt a sense of rightness and peace descend: I was amongst nature, and it was about time. I have missed this kind of thing - being out in the countryside. My life is way too urban, but at least I can still appreciate something that is beautiful like that.

For some of our way, we twisted through a canyon ourselves, but mostly it was open. The rocks rise about 3000' up at their highest, and the colour, from red sandstone pushed up by tectonic musical chairs, really was marked.

Pahrump

It's sometimes easy to forget that this land is high... and they call it the "high desert" for a reason. Pahrump's elevation is 2695 feet...

We passed into Nye County, "The Kingdom of Nye" is a long-standing joke with Art Bell. Here, in this kingdom, prostitution is legal. Pahrump seems to start forever and sprawl along the main road we were travelling; there are endless trailer sales showrooms and signs and then you see the go-go girls displayed and directions to "where". I'm not sure what I think about all of this...

We couldn't really figure out where Pahrump was. By the time we had parked for a break in the car park of Walgreens, we were roasted and tired from the heat and long drive. There didn't seem to be much evidence of housing, other than the occasional little place stuck a ways back in the desert. There was much evidence of housing sales; much of shops, and gambling, and all the rest. But I don't know where the Pahrumpians live. We think they might have lived somewhere down the turn-off you take to Death Valley, but that wasn't our itinerary for today. Though the lady in Walgreens seems friendly, I was too tired and baked to ask.

We chose to not explore Pahrump today; the journey in had been wonderful, but long, and we didn't have much oomph left. We found a sign pointing towards I-95, and took it. We still had to drive a long way on a long road, straight and hypnotic, to the intersection. There, we pulled off the road for a while, and walked around a bit. There was a sign for Indian Springs, a name I recognised from Stephen King's The Stand (a favourite book). When we passed through it, we were there and through in a moment... it is not a big place, and most of what is there is an air force base.

That road is very lonely, but fast and clear. We passed signs admonishing us to not pick up hitch-hikers; later, we saw why. A jail, surrounded by barbed and razor wire, stood off in the desert - it would take a tough escapee to even make it to the road. On, and on, and on... and then, finally, we started to see buildings, and more buildings, and then Las Vegas in the distance. We had come back.

Fremont Street

We wanted to see the show, which came on promptly at ten pm. Lights and figures danced in neon across the arched ceiling, all choreographed to Las Vegas songs. It was very, very cool. And it seemed a perfect ending to a perfect escape.

Home

We will be back.