I wake up much later than Jeff and Tom. They had attempted to wake me up before (at around 8pm, I feel), but I was having none of it. Anyhow, I wake at 10 and start to move out (after a few chugs of the Jager, of course). I wander around for a bit, realize that although we found the cheap food, I had still not eaten near enough of it to make up for the past week or so. So I watch a round of the Bellagio water works, get a hold of Tom and tell him I will meet them at the food place. No mention of the dogs or the name of the bar, I just said "Tom, I am hungry, wanna get some food?" and he responded "Yeah, we'll meet you there." That's it, we all knew where to meet. Well, I get there first and as they attempt to walk in, one of the greatest things I had ever seen happen: the bar's bouncer told them they had to "finish [their] drinks on the street" before they could come in! Only in Vegas would someone tell you to finish your beer "outside" before getting more in that establishment. Well, we conversed and had our Miller Lights and cheap dogs with the new attractive bartender on shift, bought our roadies and headed out.
Jeff had a mission to make it to the Mirage, so we started what would end up being a trek of epic proportions, leading through numerous casinos, penny slots, beers, rum and cokes, throngs of hot Asian girls, exhaustion, passing out on handrails and finally, sweet, sweet sleep. Who knows what time it was then, but it was definitely today...
So we wake up at 11am, somehow, and have to be out of the room by Noon (well, either 11:30 or Noon, the point is that the Vegas hotels understand if you can't move before 11. Hell, they may not even be up fully by that time!) This was the day that I needed to get an oil change, and we were to drive all the way to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Well, a Noon start did not help, and slow service at the Jiffy Lube delayed our leaving Vegas till 2:30pm. Heavy construction traffic at the Hoover Dam delayed us even further, till we finally reached a Wendy's in Arizona at around 5pm.
Back up: Tom had barely moved, much less spoken this whole time. He was having a helluva time getting over his hangover in the sunny, blast-furnace temperature conditions of the back seat. Not being able to move around or put any fluids down cause of the constant motion of the car, we could visibly see his unease turn to pain then into agony right there in his private little Hell that was the ride into Arizona.
Anyhow, now that Tom's unforgiving pain had receded into an incessant dull throb, we somehow, unknowingly, entered the Twilight Zone. I am not kidding here. As we entered the line in Wendy's, the three of us shattered beings just stood still and spoke not a word for about 10 minutes. During that time I don't think I had but 5 thoughts go through my head, and none of them were complete, that's for sure. I was in a dazed state, utterly depleted and basically in survival mode: no unnecessary motions, actions, words, or thoughts that did not pertain directly to survival. I have no doubt that my companions were in the same state of mind for, after 10 minutes of standing in the exact same spot in the line, we all seemed to come out of the haze and notice our surroundings. (Later, no one could recall exactly how long it SEEMED like we were in line. Although the timeline works out to 10 minutes to that point, I could have sworn it was either 10 seconds or 2 hours, if those two accounts didn't contradict each other) At this point, I look at the time (again, having no idea how long we have been there), and realize no one has moved. We start to observe the actions of the employees: there seemed to be 3 cleaning the dining area, but at such a rate that the dust could accumulate faster than they could clean it; there were two managers standing behind the counters, also doing nothing; one employee was stocking cups into a front bin that already had around 100 in it; one woman was working the register (if you could call it working); one woman was on the drive-thru; and two men were on the line. Count it: 9 employees in the store, and no one had been served in about 10 minutes. This is no exaggeration, for the line of 10 or so people that were behind us when we had entered was now down to 1 besides ourselves. We would have left earlier, but as I said, we were in no state for rational thought. Around 10 more minutes pass before we get our food (along with a host of other unbelievable employee actions, too many to list even in this huge post), and we leave around 45 minutes after arriving, swearing off Arizona fast food forever.
So now I drive North up to the South Rim main entrance, and the weather and daylight start to turn for the worst. By the time we reach the Visitor Center, get some food and a bathroom break, the sun had begun to set. So we blitz as many outlooks as we can, taking pics and enjoying the mild weather. We don't make it to Lookout Tower before it is pitch black outside. After another small break, we decide that we might as well move on to Monument Valley that night, hoping that they will be open so we can throw out our tents and crash. As we leave the Canyon, it is so dark outside that at one point we stop and turn off all the lights in the car, and can't see our hands in front of our faces. However, the moon is full and the clouds eventually part to reveal a ghastly landscape of pillars mesas and buttes and mountains that loom in the indeterminable distance. I leave Arizona wondering if their motto "God Enriches" is from a better time, before fast food and campers. I am sure this is the case, and try to warm up to the idea of Utah.
Monument Valley is closed, and we park next to another late arriver (or early, depending on how you look at it), and we attempt to sleep in the car. It didn't happen, but that's tomorrow's story.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment