The Enemy: Coast to Coast

November 7, 2008

0300 Hours

PA

    Agent Provocatuer wakes me.  We are up, dressed, and out the door within fifteen minutes. The journey has begun.

0500 Hours

Newark International Airport

    You can get up the Jersey Turnpike pretty fast when you stand on the gas pedal.  While Newark is much cheaper to fly out of than Philly is, the parking situation is kind of wonky.  We spend a little time trying to figure out where exactly we are supposed to go for "Economy Parking."

    A lot of people complain about airport security, taking off their shoes, etc.  I personally don't mind.  Airport staff is no joke, though.  The woman directing the line is barking at everyone to get their ID out, get into the first available spot, stop dilly-dallying.  She gets us all corralled properly, and we are soon through security and into the terminal.

0730 - 1330 Hours (East Coast Time)

1030 Hours West Coast Time

Vegas  

    This is my fifth time in "The Meadows."  My father moved to Henderson three years ago.  This is my first time coming out since then.  It has been nearly a year since we've seen each other. 

    Of course, that doesn't stop him from working that day. 

    No big emotional airport greetings for my family.  I called him when I landed.  He told me good.  I asked him how far away his work was.  He told me he couldn't really get visitors.  I told him I'd see him tomorrow.  

    It was AP's first time west.  She spent long periods of time staring out the window at the jigsaw-shaped farmlands.  The long stretches of desert and canyon, changling colors like formations of different clays.  There were no roads, no houses.  I told her that I thought it was impossible.  We were just up too high to see them. 

    Flying into the city, I am always excited to see the pyramid of the Luxor.  I've never been to that casino, but after the endless stretches of mountains from the air, seeing a black shining pyramid in the desert signifies that I have finally arrived.  

    It was forty degrees in Newark, cold, windy and rainy.  It is seventy degrees in Vegas.  The sky is pure blue, stretching across what appears to be this entire part of the world.  Pennsyvlania's landscape is made of hills and trees, constantly curving.  Nevada is practically flat, with only a few palm trees planted along the road way.  The city is surrounded by mountains, guarding it like the walls of a fortress.  

    Since the very first time I laid eyes on her, I have loved this city.  It both hurts me and heals me to be back in it. 

1200 Hours

Las Vegas Boulevard

    It is hard to decide what to show AP first.  I want to show her everything.  The gondola's of the Venetian.  The dancing fountains of the Bellagio.  The moving statues of Ceasar's.  We enter the throng of people along The Strip, sipping two-feet tall frozen drinks as they walk or the photographers setting up their tripods.  We pass clusters of people wearing colorful tee-shirts emblazoned with advertisements for Girls At Your Door In Minutes. 

    We come to the Bellagio's placid pool.  A crowd has gathered.  The speakers suddenly hum and crackle to life with the opening chords of "Luck Be A Lady" by The Chairman of the Board.  Frank starts singing, and the high-powered jets of water begin shooting into the sky in time with each note of the song. 

2230 Hours (West Coast Time)

0130 Hours (My Time)

South Point Casino

    AP collapsed in bed, exhausted from the hours we spent walking.  The last time I was out, it was earlier in the year and I got extremely sunburned.  You don't realize you are sunburned until you are standing near the pirate ships of the Treasure Island show and they start firing cannons, sending giant flames out over the crowd.  The heat from the cannons on your skin is enough to make you wince.  Now, in the cool November night, the heat is welcome. 

    I am so tired I can barely see straight.  I write a quick note on the Enemy Blog, and collapse as well.

November 8, 2008

1230 Hours

Henderson, NV

    Many people have already arrived at my dad's house.  It is very impressive.  We spend time sitting by his pool, talking, visiting with the relatives as they arrive from other parts of the country.  My family from Alaska arrive, some who I've not seen in fifteen years.  There are children I've never seen before.  Wives and girlfriends I've never met.

    AP tells me that now she understands why everyone says I look just like my father. 

    He is loud, boisterous, vulgar, charming.  He tells crude jokes at my expense, then claps me on the back and laughs loudly.  We argue about politics, we argue about the different ways we each remember certain events. 

    He tells AP a story about when I was a child and our dog woke him up by biting his wrist, dragging him into the hallway, where he found me laying on the ground turning blue, choking.  His voice cracks and his eyes turn red. 

    He is my father and I wish he didn't live so far away.

November 9, 2008

1100 Hours

Hoover Dam

    Although this is my fifth time in Las Vegas, I've never really ventured much outside the city.  This is also the first time I've ever had a rental car to use.  AP's father is a master welder, she grew up with an appreciation for the precise arts of metal work.  When she told me she wanted to see the Hoover Dam, I suddenly realized that we could spend the whole day travelling, seeing things I'd always wanted to, but had never thought I would.

    We set out for the Dam, which is only thirty minutes outside of the city, planning to drive from there into Arizona and see the West Rim of the Grand Canyon.  The canyon is only two and half hours away from the Dam, off of the same stretch of highway.   

    What could possibly go wrong?

    The Hoover Dam is a staggering feat of engineering.  It bespeaks of mankinds ability to use our wit and gumption to harness the forces of nature and use them to our benefit.  While you can take tours during the day and explore the inner-workings of the dam (for additional fees), I would suggest that you try and see it at night.  One thing about Nevada is that they love to light things up in the dark.  Las Vegas is the only city you can see from outer space, and there is good reason for it.  When God said "Let there be light!", this part of Nevada took him seriously.

    And so our journey began.  We left the Dam with three-quarters of a tank of gas, no water, and a general idea of where we were going.  The West Rim of the Grand Canyon does not have a street address to plug into your GPS.  And if it did, the thick cloud cover was preventing me from getting any phone signal to work it on. 

    No bother, I thought.  When we stopped for gas, we could always ask directions and make sure we were going the right way.

    That is, if there was anywhere to stop. 

    Approximately two hours later, driving at seventy miles an hour, we have passed exactly no gas stations.  There are no stores.  There are no people.  We haven't seen a traffic light.  There has only been miles and miles of endless Arizona desert.  Our gas is getting low.  I am starting to wonder what people do in an emergency out here.

    Apparently, I live in a much more populated area than I thought.  The multiple towns making up the infrastructure of the counties surrounding Philadelphia aren't small at all.  They are glorious, never ending sprawling networks of places you can get gas, water, food, directions, a newspaper, or even a landmark to tell someone where to come get you.

    US 93, connecting Nevada to Arizona has none of that.  There is simply, nothing. Not even wildlife.  I saw two birds, and two dead coyote carcasses on the side of the roads.  It suddenly dawned on me just how daunting a task it was for the pioneers who braved to settle the West.  I have no idea how they survived. 

    Gas was beginning to get low.  I joked to AP that I'd heard something about being able to get water from a cactus tree.  For a city-oriented person like me, it was hard to conceive that it was about to be a real possibility that someone could break down in the middle of nowhere, with no one to call for help. 

1630 Hours (Nevada Time)

1730 Hours (Arizona Time)

Grand Canyon West Rim

We finally found gas. 

The Meadview Arizona Business District is located about 15 miles from the Diamond Bar Road entrance to the Hualapai Indian Reservation, who control the West Rim.  There are signs for gas, food and lodging on the highway sign.  

They aren't exactly lying, I suppose. 

The Business District itself consisted of a church, multiple trailers, and one local store, with two analog gas pumps in front of it.  The attendant who came out of the store to see that I was operating the pump correctly had a gun on his hip.  His hair was cut unevenly.  A cowboy, complete with hat, bandana, and sunglasses, cruised past us on a four-wheeler.  The attendent smiled.  I paid the gas and got me and AP the hell out of there.   

Diamond Bar Road is also somewhat misleading, in that you would expect them to actually have a road.  What they have is dirt.  Twenty miles of bumpy, ridged dirt that shakes and vibrates the car as you carefully navigate winding turns around enormous mountains.  There are multiple parts of this area designated as open range.  Twice, AP and I drove past several bulls sitting on the side of the road, staring at us in mild-annoyance.  I became decidedly grateful we didn't have a red car. 

Upon finally arriving at the West Ridge entrance (paying a $20 parking fee, and then $30 per person for the cheapest package), we learned that Arizona is an hour ahead of Nevada this time of year.  Darkness was already setting in on the horizon. 

There are two points to view the Grand Canyon from.  A tour bus picks up passengers at the gift shop and drives them first to Eagle Point, named for a rock formation that looks like the back of an eagle spreading its wings.  Eagle Point has the skywalk, a large glass bridge that you can walk out over the canyon on (for an additional $25 per person.).  

We skipped the skywalk and went ahead to Guano Point.  

The bus driver told us that the last bus left at 1800, and we had to be on it.  As I stepped off the bus onto the canyon, the sky was quickly growing dark.  But not from nightfall.  Thick, black storm clouds were forming over the far end of the canyon.  There are no rails along the ridge of the drop.  One false step and you will quickly learn whether or not a person passes out while falling to their death.  

AP and I quickly tried to take some pictures, but it was impossible to tell if they would come out.  Suddenly, lightning flashed behind us.  For a moment, we stood there, looking out over the canyon as darkness descended, and the sky lit up like furious thunderbolts thrown by the gods.  

I climbed onto the highest rock at the highest peak of Guano Point.  Winds swirled around me, whispering in my ears about the majesty of the canyon; the ancestors of the Hualipai who secured this land for their descendants; the settlers who first saw it as they passed through the desert.  What I have seen is as the men before me saw it.  What I have seen is what those that follow will as well.  The Enemy will come and go, but this place is forever.  

November 10, 2008

0230 Hours

South Point Casino

It is late.  I have decided to spend my last night in Las Vegas playing blackjack.  I've been typically lucky in small doses for the little that I have played.  Normally, it is because I play with great discipline.  When I am winning, I quit.  I am very committed to not losing more than a certain amount, especially when it is profit. 

Tonight, I am one with The Force. 

Eight times I have pointed to the shoe of cards and told the dealer what card to give me.  Eight times, I have been successful.  As the evening progresses I begin calling what the dealer's hole card is.  My chips begin to grow.  As the stacks of red $5 chips become unwieldy, I cash them in for green $25 ones.  As my pockets get swollen, I begin cashing them in for black $100 ones.  Each time I think I am done, I am able to double-down and beat the dealer, giving me more red chips to stack, play with, and turn into larger ones.  

Finally, I have $400 in my pocket, and decide that the last few green chips are gone, I am finished.  I stick to this, ending my last night in vegas winning back most of the money that I spent during my trip.  That, my friends, is how you do it in this city. 

1230 Hours

Henderson, NV

It is time to say goodbye.  My father and uncles decide to have a last minute round of teasing me about Obama.  I become a little irritated by a few of the comments, then even more irritated by my father's insistence that I "Calm down" and "Chill out."  There is nothing worse than trying to calm down while someone is insisting you calm down.  

Finally, an idea occurs to me that brings me great joy.  I feel quite calm indeed. 

I excused myself for a second to use the bathroom, which happens to be next to the computer workstation.  My father's limited computer abilities are well-known to me by his regular phone calls to me asking me how to defrag his computer, remove his temporary files, or update software.  It is like trying to explain to a blind person how to disarm a bomb.  

I return to the table, smiling, and tell everyone goodbye.  "Why are you so happy?" my dad asks.  

"I left you something to remember me by," I tell him. 

He looks puzzled, but hugs me affectionately and tells me to tell the kids he loves them, and he hopes to see them over the summer.  

As we leave, he sees the bright shining smile of President-Elect Barack Obama desktop wallpaper sitting proudly on his computer screen.  His loud curses rang in my ears as he hollered at me to change it, while AP and I left in a hurry.  

Winning, in Vegas, is everything.  

    

Comments

[AP]

Great recap! I've been trying to figure out which of the adventures that we had on this trip was my favorite. I enjoyed everything. But strangely enough, I think I still would have to say that it was driving through the unknown in Arizona! To see the earth so "untouched" by man, just the way it was created. Or, so I'd like to believe. All in all, I have to say that this trip is in my top 3 of all time vacations (that’s including Disney as a kid! Some tough competition there!). Thank you for sharing this experience with me!

[Jess]

Okay, now I was able to read it. I was able to read the whole thing after I posted my first comment. After you post it the page returns you to the story with the comment below it. In that screen the words were typed out fully and I was able to read the whole thing. What a mess, god love technology!

[Jess]

B, the first half of what you wrote showed up fine for me. But once you started indenting the words ran off the side of the page so I can't read the complete sentence.

sigh.

But from what I can gather, it seems you had a nice time. GOOD!