Don't get me wrong: the Arizona desert was breathtaking. No doubt about that.
But I will forever remember the Mojave National Preserve.
Because, as it happens, I drove all the way through it.
There happens to be much more Mojave desert than you might think: the Mojave covers a large part of California, as well as Arizona, plus chunks of Nevada and Utah. Mountain ranges, for example Death Valley, are part of it.
As the map reader I had noticed there weren't many roads in(to) the Mojave desert (the desert as shown on the map): most of it was Army territory anyway. But I had found grey lined roads through the Mojave Nat. Preserve, sort of the National Park part of the desert.
Much more exciting than the Highway that runs along it.
We saw a sign: this road is not maintained by the county of X (sorry, forgot the name).
Within 50 metres the road had turned to a gravel (dirt) road and dutifully (he knows when to hand over the steering wheel) Pieter moved over to my seat and I had the absolute time of my life.
At times the road wasn't that bad, and perhaps not even a gravel road, but later on it was a honey coloured, wide sandy stretch, with every sort of cactus I had seen in the Arizona desert and even new ones, like the Joshua Tree (that's the real 'tree' on the pics. The aged ones are massive).
We stopped every 100 m. or so and made pictures. It was a very beautiful road, I can recommend it, and in the good season you can easily drive it with a normal sedan.
I drove for almost two hours. The weather was gorgeous, blue skies, it was tropical warm, we didn't see a soul.
We did see four freight trains though, in 10 mins. time (may I remind you: middle of the desert).
So there we also paused, watched, took pictures and filmed.
All in all we spent the whole afternoon in the Mojave preserve.
Back on the 'normal' road Pieter took back the wheel and took the entrance to the Interstate that would bring us to las Vegas, 50 miles further down the road.
We ran headlong into a traffic jam.
We knew within two miles of very slow traffic that this would probably last till las Vegas.
Easter weekend, gambling time?
But I will forever remember the Mojave National Preserve.
Because, as it happens, I drove all the way through it.
There happens to be much more Mojave desert than you might think: the Mojave covers a large part of California, as well as Arizona, plus chunks of Nevada and Utah. Mountain ranges, for example Death Valley, are part of it.
As the map reader I had noticed there weren't many roads in(to) the Mojave desert (the desert as shown on the map): most of it was Army territory anyway. But I had found grey lined roads through the Mojave Nat. Preserve, sort of the National Park part of the desert.
Much more exciting than the Highway that runs along it.
We saw a sign: this road is not maintained by the county of X (sorry, forgot the name).
Within 50 metres the road had turned to a gravel (dirt) road and dutifully (he knows when to hand over the steering wheel) Pieter moved over to my seat and I had the absolute time of my life.
At times the road wasn't that bad, and perhaps not even a gravel road, but later on it was a honey coloured, wide sandy stretch, with every sort of cactus I had seen in the Arizona desert and even new ones, like the Joshua Tree (that's the real 'tree' on the pics. The aged ones are massive).
We stopped every 100 m. or so and made pictures. It was a very beautiful road, I can recommend it, and in the good season you can easily drive it with a normal sedan.
I drove for almost two hours. The weather was gorgeous, blue skies, it was tropical warm, we didn't see a soul.
We did see four freight trains though, in 10 mins. time (may I remind you: middle of the desert).
So there we also paused, watched, took pictures and filmed.
All in all we spent the whole afternoon in the Mojave preserve.
Back on the 'normal' road Pieter took back the wheel and took the entrance to the Interstate that would bring us to las Vegas, 50 miles further down the road.
We ran headlong into a traffic jam.
We knew within two miles of very slow traffic that this would probably last till las Vegas.
Easter weekend, gambling time?
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