Leaving Arizona

In the interest of time (and due to general lack of interest on both our parts), we made the decision to pass up Las Vegas as well as Los Angeles in favor of heading directly west to Bakersfield California as an overnight stop on the way to Sequoia National Park and points north. We didn't want to bypass Nevada completely, so we drove to Bullhead City AZ and crossed the Colorado River into Laughlin -- a mini Las Vegas. We gave ourselves a half hour and $7 to gamble away; I turned my $2 investment into $8 worth of quarters using the slot machines (enough to cover several laundry loads!); John turned $5 into $5.10 on some other video game. We spend 54 cents in postcards, leaving us with a net gain of $5.56!

The temperature in Laughlin as well as the subsequent trip through the Mojave registered at about 104 degrees. Ironically, as we got closer to Bakersfield, we could see some snow-capped peaks to our South, possibly Big Bear Ski area.




One last note as we left I-40 for the last time (having travelled most of it since Knoxville over a week earlier): the highway parallels some major railroad freight lines; we saw numerous trains with 70, 80, or even 90 cars carrying shipping containers eastward, probably originating from China and carrying tons of items to Walmarts and Christmas Tree Shops across the U.S.