Flagstaff, Ariz. — I love to drive. Driving is especially fun because my car is fast. What makes my fast car even more fun to drive is when I have the chance to drive it across the Mojave Desert. Such was the case for the first time today when I was able to set a new personal speed record: 130 miles per hour. It barely felt like we were driving faster than sixty. I was tempted to push it even faster (and could have, given that I had enough road and accelerator left to do so), but considering I had previously taken my WRX to 120, I figured that a ten-mile-per-hour record improvement would suffice for now. There’s still a whole lot of country left before our adventure is over.
We drove 508 miles today from Bakersfield to Flagstaff in about seven hours (including stops), a full hour less than estimated by our road atlas. Of course, driving anywhere between 80 and 130 miles per hour all the way through the desert will have that effect.
Today was the first long leg of our trip, but it really didn’t seem that way. Jen and I both really enjoyed our Christmas celebration across the desert and into the highland of Flagstaff, which is truly a beautiful place.
I’ve been to Flagstaff once before and recall having really enjoyed it here. It reminds me a lot of Tahoe: High elevation, tall pine trees, and that clean, fresh mountain air. I immediately felt good and relaxed upon arriving at our destination.
We celebrated Christmas tonight with dinner at a Chinese buffet restaurant, ala A Christmas Story, the greatest holiday movie ever. We also found ourselves outside the Galaxy Diner (closed today, unfortunately), which hosts a Hot Rod show every Friday night (see photo). The picture is primarily for James. Anyone who knows him or was with us in Vegas will no doubt know why.
Tomorrow we will head to somewhere in Texas for Day Four of the trip.
Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!
(If you’re reading this and keeping up on our cross-country adventure, please drop us a line, as we have so far been able to check email nightly. We would love to hear from you.)
