The Mob, Vegas, and Tea

I am headed out to Vegas this weekend for a wedding. Though I chose to fly this time (for the sake of time), I am thinking of the long desert stretch that connects L.A. and Vegas, and how I wrote a travel piece about that drive once.

All swirled together, you could call the drive something mystic. A reminder that the desert is uncharted and untamed. A foreshadowing that you are about to enter the world's largest adult playground. A detox from L.A.'s Hollywood, and a preparation for something even more gaudy.

Listed all together, I see it in postcards:
The 1950s diner, the Joshua Trees, the abandoned waterpark, sweltering heat and a dry cold blistering the roadkill, all the billboards, the World's Largest Thermometer, the Alien Jerky stand, and the big rollercoasters near stateline, right after you are welcomed to Nevada.

There's nothing like that drive, a Led Zeppelin cd, and caffeine.