ROAD TO NOWHERE

Vegas is busy all of the time- day, night, summer, winter- it doesn't seem to make a difference to tourists. On national holidays though, busy turns to chaos when all of the locals decide they want to get out and do some sight seeing too. Ryan's definitely not one for crowds, so on Martin Luther King day we decided to skip town completely and ventured a little further afield than usual. With The Strip disappearing in the rear view mirror we kept driving South- destination: Mojave National Preserve.

According to the instructions in our guide book we were looking at a two hour drive, which it probably would be if you were on a motorway. As it was, the whole drive is on narrow back roads and winding, deserted highways, so getting up to a decent speed wasn't really an option. When we drove through Searchlight we almost stopped for lunch, but it was a little early for that so we kept on driving thinking we  were bound to come across something else a little further en route. We didn't. There is nothing out there. Not anywhere. Plains of Joshua trees sprawl out in every direction, but services and civilization there certainly is not.

As the two hour drive turned into a three hour drive we were grateful for the Protein Bars we'd brought along on the journey, and were spurred on by the thought of arriving at the Visitors Centre with its clean toilets and cold water fountains; it was all too exciting. Finally, we turned off onto the road leading to the Park entrance, excited to stretch our legs and ready for some hiking. We couldn't wait to walk through the lava beds and tunnels, climb down the rings of Banshee Canyon, and navigate the Joshua Tree Forests. It promised to be an awesome afternoon that would make the long drive well worth our time. We were so relieved when the sign welcomed us, signaling that we'd finally made it. 

But then our eyes travelled a little further up the road and we couldn't believe what we saw.

What?! Park closed?! We were completely floored. We weren't sure whether to be annoyed or laugh, but it didn't take long before we were doing the latter. Planting ourselves on the side of the road we ate a lunch of protein bars and beef jerky (lucky Charlotte had a much more appealing selection of food packed)  and sipped on the powerade that was supposed to fuel us after a long afternoon on the trails. Charlotte practiced her walking, since at that point she hadn't quite mastered it yet and we took in the vastness of the desert that surrounded us while we poked fun a ourselves for spending one of Ryan's precious days off driving to nowhere. 

We'd left town in order to avoid the crowds, so objective achieved. We certainly managed to do that. If solitude was what we were looking for, I think out there by ourselves in the middle of the Mojave desert was probably the definitive place to find it. And there was plenty of it to be had on the three hour drive back home for that matter.