06/14/11

YAY!  UP!  And now to go to the desert!  Mojave Desert that is!  Yep!

Don’t get sidetracked though…with Bedrock.  Yes, as in Flinstones.  I guess it’s located in Williams, AZ about ½ hour from the Grand Canyon.  Who knew??  Five bucks to get in.  Done.

Oh.  Wow.  Creepy.  It’s this huge field with lifesize replicas of the Bedrock town including the homes of Barney and Fred.  Equipped with furniture inside the homes.  And you know that stuff you can buy at the craft store?  Yea, you know the stuff.  It comes in a spray can and on the outside it says “make it stone”!  I think maybe these folks bought out all of it!  EVERYTHING is coated in it.  Chairs, tables…who ARE you people??!!  It’s basically deserted here.  Luckily a family walked into the gift shop after me with their children.  Maybe they’ll come into this part with me?  Huh.

Envision Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Blair Witch, but with lots of sun and desert and heat…that’s what it felt like walking through this “town”.  Well, at least there were a lot of photo opportunities for me!  And goats!!!  They had 2 goats!  I so needed to steal them, but I couldn’t figure out how to get them out until the boy got so upset that he almost broke himself out for me!  I would like a goat please.  When I get back?  As a present for me?  Yes?  You will get me a rescued goat?  A gray one with big horns would be fantastic.  Thanks!  Ok, so after the dude who was watering the plants (??—um…it’s a desert dude) asked me if I wanted my picture taken with any of the stuff, I decided I should go.  Hmmmmm. 

I drive and drive and gets tired.  My destination point is Needles, CA (Rt. 66).  ANNNNDDDD!  Arrived!  It was a short uneventful day (except for the scary Flinstone village), but it’s hot.  I get a room at the Budget Inn—as a side note, if you see a sign for the Budget Inn, don’t stay there.  I have been to three so far and they have become progressively worse.  Motel 6 is the same price, but clean, so just stay in a corporate hotel or a mom & pop one off of Rt. 66.  Pass by Budget Inn.

6:00 pm:

It’s 106 degrees.  It’s 6 o’clock at night!  WHA??!!  I go to get beer at the gas station where I’m pretty sure the scary dude from Silence of the Lambs walked in to fill his travel container up with gas.  Yea.  That’s frightening when your back is turned and you here someone say “I just need to fill this up” in the voice of “she put’s it in the basket…”  UGH!  I just about turned and punched him in order to get away, boy, that would have been embarrassing, huh?  Stupid movies, making me all paranoid.  I don’t even have my night vision goggles on me!  GAH!  Ready to get back to the hotel.  And…as a side note:  If you see any sort of liquid on the road in the desert, please drive crazy slow.  Yea.  I hit a puddle.  WHA??!!  Where did this puddle come from??!!  And then proceeded to PEEL OUT of the gas station REALLY LOUDLY!!!!!!!  Not on purpose!  I drive like an old lady!  Sheesh!  It’s just all the oils and stuff collect on the road and once it gets wet, well, it’s like pure ice and then you hit dry pavement and your tires are wet and it makes this AMAZING sound like you are rehearsing for a part on Knight Rider!  Yep.  Whoops!