Scenes from the Road

LV to GC: On September 12, we left Las Vegas and started making our way toward the Grand Canyon, where we'd spend the next couple of days. It's about a five hour drive.

Honestly, most of the drive is desolate stretches of desert, but we did make a few stops along the way.

For instance, we took a few minutes to make it a point to stop at an overlook of Lake Mead.

Turns out we were at the Robert L. Mendenhall Scenic Overlook. Mendenhall was a standout in the paving business. In 1974, Mendenhall’s Las Vegas Paving Corp. made history by renovating a one-mile stretch of interstate highway with recycled asphalt. Mendenhall devised the process by experimenting with hot pavement recycling. It was a game changer in the industry, and Mendenhall was a celebrity in the paving world. He passed away just this June, at the age of 90. At the time he held more than 50 U.S. patents, and was an inductee into the Nevada Inventors Hall of Fame.

 Another highlight of the trip - a stop at Gus' "Really Good" Jerky store.

We'd seen a couple of billboards along the way. It struck us that Gus was advertising just "really good" jerky. Not great, not the best, but just 'really good.' We had to try it for ourselves. 

And so we stopped. In our opinion, it was just fair jerky. 

We drove on and found ourselves in Ash Fork, Arizona, at one point. CJ can tell you a bit more about that stop.

In the midst of our visit to the Southwestern US, while on our way to the Grand Canyon, my family and I passed through the city of Ash Fork, with an approximate population of 457 people. According many of the city's residents, it is the "Flagstone Capital of the World," due to the five large stoneyards (and, by extension, stones) present in the city. The only real address we stopped at in Ash Fork was the local "Family Dollar," probably Ash Fork's most significant grocery store. We bought a pack of straws, and that was about it. Before heading out of Ash Fork, we had to get a picture by one of the umpteen Route 66 signs.

I'm guessing Ash Fork, like a lot of other little towns, had their fortunes fade when Route 66 no longer brought a steady stream through their city.

We were on Route 66 for small stretches multiple times on our trip. Annabelle has a bit to share about the historic highway.

Route 66, officially “Historic Route 66,” is a highway stretching from Santa Monica, California, to Chicago, Illinois. It passes through many towns and cities, one of which being Flagstaff (where we stayed during our vacation to the Grand Canyon). It was established November 11, 1926, and signs were put up the following year. The route is well known for being the main highway across America for a large time, though it has since been overshadowed by others.

Nowadays, Route 66 is usually used by those looking to take a relaxing, slow-paced road trip instead of having a specific destination in mind. Since the route doesn’t even show up on most modern maps, if you want to drive it you’ll have to look for one specifically made for doing so. I haven’t seen the whole route myself, but I’d be very willing to drive it and see what’s in store!

Another thing we saw along the way were multiple political signs, including ones where someone was running for Justice of the Peace. 

We don't have that in Seattle, so I Googled just what that job is. Per the ,"In Arizona there are 87 Justice of the Peace precincts. JP courts are considered the “People's Court.” Per the Arizona Justice of the Peace Association, "JP's see everyone arrested and charged with a felony within 24 hours - 7 days a week. They read the charges and set release conditions."