Highway 93

 As a kid I remember seeing bumper stickers that read ' pray for me , I drive 93 ' and now I get it. MPeasy and I decided that common sense tells you that the shortest way between two points is a straight line so we took our snowbird migration directly south from Hamilton and Stayed on Highway 93 to it's terminus in Wickenberg Arizona. Boy howdy , it has to be some of the most remote parts of this USA. Here's a pic of Idaho's tallest mountain, just south of Challis...you get the idea...

Highway 93 in southern Idaho is damn dangerous. The potato economy is huge and semi trucks seem to out number cars. It took me 2 close calls to finally realize that you can't have semi's close behind you as when a car or pick up pulls out to pass he has to pass you as well and walla...no room and and an adrenalin rush occurs. So the solution is simple, drive faster and keep well ahead of the semi's....speaking of adrenalin..We arrived at the Snake River Canyon in Twin Falls and it's sooo beautiful we stop for pictures and a potty break.

As is my nature I park at the very back of the parking lot at the visitor center and immediately meet this guy here. He's telling me that he's fifty years old and is an 82nd airborne alumnus with 900 jumps and he's just self taught himself  something new....and he's strapping on the smallest parachute you've ever seen....did I mention he had more than just a few tatoo's. His name is Nomad and what a cool convergence to be in the right place at the right time to meet this wonderful guy full of the adventure spirit.

Nomad tell us it's going to happen fast when he gets to the middle of the bridge. It was pretty obvious to me that the powers to be in Twin Falls probably discourage people doing Carl Wallenda's routinely from their photo op bridge....So with only us aware of it Nomad briskly walked to the middle of the bridge, climbed over the rail and immediately let out a war hoop holler and jumped. Now stupid me used my camera when I really should have shot a video but the second pic here is kinda cool if you look close. I had too much zoom to find him and he fell ( or flew ) so fast that all I got was the shadow but look close and maybe zoom in and you'll see his feet and lower body right in the very upper far left.

It's not everyday you see somebody jump off a bridge so Nomad you go first ballot into the Mile 14 Hall of Fame. Ya know as we drove on I got to thinking about my new buddy the risk taker, with what he's seen in life he's chosen to use it for adventure rather than be wounded by  memories...Carry on Nomad, you're a true inspiring American Hero, glad I got to meet you. This is on the tailgate of his Toyota,

Pre covid we would have spent the night at a Hotel / Casino in Jackpot Nevada  but our plan to stay safe was to avoid crowds and by driving onto Wells for the night certainly filled that bill...Without calling Wells a %#@&Hole I'll just say that it must have been quite the place 60 years ago. The town is full of closed , empty, broken dream stories like this one.

I had a reservation at the Sharon Hotel which I really didn't need as every surviving motel in town had no business. For many reasons we just couldn't do the Sharon so when told they had to keep the money we said fine and went to a Motel 8 where we watched The Curse of Oak Island and ate the best tacos from a food truck that we've had in a long time.

We had it planned so each days drive would only be 6 or so hours. Once we left Idaho the traffic stopped and through the high desert of Nevada there were stretches with no traffic at all...kinda lonely but gorgeous. We planned a hike in Alamo that we knew about from one of our Las Vegas side trips when we went to Rachel Nevada to see Area 51 and look for UFO's. It was warm, gorgeous around the lake and wildlife preserve...now we know where all those ducks and geese go that we we've seen leaving Alaska for the last 45 years.

That's  a pretty good shot of a Golden Eagle eh ?...here's the desert, if you haven't driven this way you must . It's huge country that kinda makes you aware of your place in the world.

It was hard not to  stop in Vegas but we drove right through it ( at rush hour no less ) and on to Boulder City where we hit a home run with the Sands Motel...It's funky and spotless clean. It's friendly and the town is small but vibrant, right on the last leg of Highway 93. How  could you not love a place that has a beer fridge like this ???

The drive into Green Valley was duck soup ( easy ). 93 is 4 lane through Kingman and onto Wickenberg where we end out 93 experience and get on our first Interstate Highway. We skirt around Tuscon and here we are, Green Valley which is way prettier than I imagined and has an interesting population that's going to be fun to write about....I'll tell you this much about next weeks Mile 14...it's kinda fun to be the young people. And it didn't take MP long to poach her first citrus fruit, and we're learning to watch out for what they call the ' Jumping Cactus' ....tell ya all about it later.