Rogue I on the Route 66. Or: We're going on an adventure

Where did I leave you? Right, on my flight to Vegas. We arrived 40 minutes ahead of sxhedule and got to our car rental early. Funny thing though; at Hertz, you don't get to talk to the nice real life people at the counter, no, you have to get to a service point and phone their customer service via a very skype-esk connection. Then you get a car you didn't want in the first place, but end up loving as soon as you get in. I love "my" Nissan Rogue. I loved it right away, I gave the dark grey car the name "Rogue I" and felt pretty clever. 

Getting into town without a navigational system (because honestly, 150 quid in the time of google maps?!?) was a little harder than I thought, but easier than it felt. We found our just off-strip hotel all right and checked in, to meet up later and go see Vegas at night. Which was...scary to be quite honest. I've rarely seen so many people in one place and I didn't care for it either. Also, homeless people everywhere, heat as hell, and total sensual overload. Music is being blared at you from all sides, people run into you, smell badly, and lights and screens and ada everywhere. We ended up seeing a short part of the strip and watching the Bellagio fountain show, then went back to the hotel. It had been a long day after all, starting at the other half of the continent and such. Vegas felt like a theme park gone wrong.

The next morning I actually got up at 5:15 am to get to Crossfit Max Effort, where I realised that my cold wasn't quite as over as I'd have liked it to be, we did a lot of volume and I had to shift down a gear to baby my cardiovascular system. But I got a few good pointers on the kettlebell swing and my push presses. As well as my jerk technique so it was totally worth it. Afterwards, I meant to leave right away so we could get breakfast quickly, but got held up by a nice conversation with one of the regulars, who told me how he came to Vegas from a small town in Missouri and what kind of cultural shock it had been. Then we got to talking about politics, especially the upcoming elections in America. It was quite interesting to get an Americans view on the matter, because there's a bunch of things you really just don't get from a European perspective. Then home, quick shower, breakfast, and off to see a little Vegas. We went through most of the popular hotels, gambled away in some of the casinos, rode the rollercoaster at the New York, New York, bought some MGM Grand merch, and stared in wonder at the replica of a mediterranean city in the Forum shops. It was a frigging 40 degrees celsius out and we were happy to spend time indoors.

Around four in the afternoon we made off to Williams, Arizona, where our motel would be and we arrived there after admiring the Hoover Dam and Lake Meat, the old Route 66 and life on the American highways. In Williams, all that was left to do was go to sleep and be happy we didn't have to see Vegas again. 

And then the Grand Canyon. We spent most of our day there, just staring at this wonder of nature from different vantage points.

This is The Abyss:

Things that only happen to you when visiting the Grand Canyon:

- sitting next to a child called 'Jedi'

- the bus driver announcing "Please be sure to take all of your belongings with you when you get off the bus. This is...The Abyss" in a horror movie voice. 

I'd love to say a lot about the Grand Canyon, because I gathered some experiences to last me for a lifetime, but the thing is: you can't put this feeling into words. You can't capture those vistas in a photograph. You can try, but you will always fail. There's just no words for it. Let's just say, looking at the Grand Canyon makes you understand why people here believed in Mother Earth, why they believed in higher spirits, in something that has created landscapes like this.

You feel incredibly small and meaningless and at the same time like part of something that's bigger than you. As I said, words are insufficient, but at least I tried.

The next morning, we were supposed to leave for LA via the old Route 66, but...we only got as far as Seligman, AZ until our motor started sputtering and complaining that there wasn't enough oil pressure. So, off to the Shell at Seligman, I-40, ramp 123, to buy some oil. Which is when we discovered that the guy who had done the basic maintenance for our car had obviously forgotten to screw the oil tank cap back on, as it was neatly stowed away next to the cooling system. But not where it belonged. The whole motor block had been drenched in oil for three days and basically we were lucky nothing more had happened. Except that our Route 66 trip became a real adventure. We called Hertz and they sent a tow truck to come and get us back into the next big city. Which happened to be... Vegas, never-come-back city. Now at 42 degrees and about a two hour detour. I had to name the car "Rogue I", implying that there'd be a "Rogue II". Rogue II is jet black and even bigger than Rogue I, same model, but more perks. Love it. Though the detour still sucked.

BUT: we met so many nice people in Seligman. If you ever go to the Grand Canyon, stop at the Shelll station there. People there restored my faith in humanity. They let us use their phones, hang around the gas station, tried to calm us down, tried to help us where they could, wanted to try and clean out our motor block themselves. We met a Mexican that had been parked there by his girlfriend and her mother, and who was waiting for them to come fetch him, shaving his head, talking about the weather. Our tow truck driver was the kindest guy, he even saw to it that we really got a new car, when there was some slight communication error. And then, suddenly, we were on our way to LA, driving through the Mojave desert, down the mountains and toward the City of Angels. Dusk in these mountains was beautiful. Longwinding roads and hilltops gleaming in all the colours of sundown, the view down into the bowl LA is located in. I loved every minute of the drive. And then there we were. At the end of the Route 66, Santa Monica Boulevard. We found a hotel right away and turned in pretty soon after that, because boy, were we tired. But we made it. The second part of our trip was done. Now we are at the West Coast. California.