Laughlin, Nevada

After a birthday celebration dinner in Laughlin, Nevada with retired Police Chief Joe Johnson and his wife Margaret who were traveling in the Southwest, we headed west on blue highways into Nevada and the Mohave Desert. Fog and drizzling rain followed us to Searchlight where femme fatale Clara Bow once lived. Days before we had explored Christmas Canyon with Native American petro glyphs, Eldorado canyon and gold mine where rattle snakes are kept frozen in the cafe freezer, had a picnic lunch on the Colorado River and watched trout being restored to Lake Mohave at Cottonwood Cove. Today we turned west towards Nipton, Cal.,an oasis where I was told we could get a good hamburger. Storm advisories were up for the area and it just so happened that Nipton ,celebrating it's 105 birthday today, had a 5 room historic hotel. This would be our 6 or 7th stay in a historic hotel. The town, population 4 plus, was originally a Union Pacific transport stop for mining interests. The Union Pacific still passes by every hour stopping once for a crew change.

On the 10th I awoke to sun shining on new white mountains all around. Coffee and homemade blueberry muffins on the porch topped off with a view and quiet was true soul food. Three brothers on an annual trek to explore ghost towns and old mines stopped for coffee and conversation. They were captivated by the hotel memorial garden for a local man that featured the steering wheel of his car with the slogan "let's see where the road goes - That is us" they said. In a way that represents me too with no set destination just the wanderlust, curiosity as to what is over the next hill like "the bear that went over the mountain to see what he could see" , and the thrill of discovering something new. Let's see where the road goes...