After visiting Joshua tree National Park yesterday we are off to the sketchiest part of our trip. We will be spending the next three days, including New Years, in Las Vegas. I would like to visit some areas but I also want to try to remain safe. Previously we managed to avoid crowds and visit national parks. Las Vegas will be different. I will let you know how it goes.
Here are a couple images from Joshua Tree.
Firefly is a stereo typical example of what is wrong with girls of her generation. She is cute, but not exceptional. She spends her time online looking for validation, stemming from insecurity. She has an OnlyFans account. She expects guys to send her money to see seminude and nude images of her. Some actually do, but not enough to make a living from. Is it worth having yourself naked all over the internet?
She lives with me and is traveling around the country with me. She has one boy at home who thinks he is her new boyfriend and that our relationship is platonic. Its not. Far from it. Ours is a mutually beneficial arrangement. She has another boy she thinks is the one she is going to marry. He says things like, I am waiting for you. They are both simps. I have not even mentioned the handful of other guys she talks with. She will never be able to commit to one man.
I warn her she needs to settle down and commit, while she is in her prime, before her looks are gone. Continuing to chase the easy money will leave her with no education and no career. She is setting herself up for failure. At least a failure to be happy.
I know she has had it hard but a lot of the choices are her own. I talk around these things with her, but I don't push too hard. She doesn't want to hear the truth.
My only mistake was not getting a national parks pass from the beginning. We have been to several and have several more to go. Spending Christmas in Tucson was a good idea. The weather was great. Highs were around 70 degrees. We spend a few days at the pool and went to Sabino Canyon for a hike.
It was time to move on yesterday. Firefly gets lazy and I like to see new things. We are in Palm Springs, California. It rained last night. Their idea of a winter storm. We are going to Joshua Tree tomorrow. I would like to head for a few more places in the area. The plan is to drive up through the Mojave with my Jeep Gladiator Mojave on the way to Las Vegas next.
We left at 9:00 am. The storm that battered the east did not affect us. The day was overcast but without precipitation. We filled the truck bed with bags. Better to have too much than not enough.
Firefly sleep the first 4 hours. She said she has not been sleeping very well. We stopped once to get drive through and refuel in Ohio, then again later to go to the bathroom in Kentucky.
Firefly perked up as the day progressed. The last two hours of the drive she was taking pictures and videos while singing along with me to alternative rock tunes.
We spent two nights in Nashville, taking in music row and the Parthenon. The next day we headed for Memphis and Graceland. So far I think Graceland was one of are favorite stops. There is plenty to see. We arrived around 2:00 pm and ended up being the last car in the parking lot. Firefly likes to explore everything. She takes pictures and reads all the exhibits where ever we go.
It is hard to believe we have already been on the road for 8 days. We spent 2 days in Hot Springs, Arkansas before driving through Texas and staying over at Carlsbad New Mexico. We saw the caverns which was another great adventure and headed out to White Sands. White Sands is pretty but not the place to be on a cold and windy day. It was like being back in the snow but with more grit.
We are in Tucson now. We are staying in a fancy resort and resting. I will upload some pictures later today or tomorrow. We still have more places to see.
Tomorrow we are leaving. I am packing the "lit flare" (Firefly) and heading out into the fireworks shop, as Rothwilder put it. Our first stops are Nashville, Memphis, Hot Springs and Galveston. From there this get a little murky. Carlsbad is on the list and we are staying outside of Tucson for Christmas. We will be in Las Vegas for New Years and visiting Zion National park along the return leg, with several other possible stops along the way.
It is two days before our departure. Firefly says she is excited but she still needs to get her prescription for Suboxone today. Yesterday they would not give it to her. She had a faint trace of cocaine show up on her drug test. She says it was a false positive but I doubt it.
I am not going to get my hopes up until we are actually on the road. I have been disappointed too many times in the past. If we go, I plan on making it an epic journey to the best of my abilities. If we don't, I plan on painting the moldings along the top of the half wall that borders the loft and stairwell. Inside I have resigned myself to either outcome.
I have sent Tinkerbell a copy of my book for her to read and give me feedback. I am pretty happy with it. It looks like a novel. It has a cover page, copyright, dedication, and table of content. I have been reading a book on Amazon that describes how to format it for self publication. Dave I might pic your brain on this also as you have successfully published four novels that way.
My hope is to have a picture of me beside the Jeep Gladiator with the mountains of the Southwest behind me. If nothing else, this goal, completing my first draft, is complete. I am taking my computer on the trip. To do research on the journey. I will try to keep you posted along the way.
