Life Is A Road Trip

The Amazing Adventures of a Zoobroker and a Sentiographer

idaho

Day 5: Elko

idaho, nevadazoobrokerComment

When you get out on the road with no specific destination, sometimes you have to make some hard decisions.  As we approached Bozeman two nights ago, it became clear that although Salt Lake City has great potential for "griefing" religious zealots (and/or corrupting young Mormans, Orgazmo style), it puts us in a tough spot.  We don't really like to backtrack on our path -- seems like a waste of time -- and we don't like to get stuck in the middle of nowhere either.  Sleeping in a car with Spammer's snoring would be like trying to apply lipstick on a roller coaster. So we took an easy day, ending in Pocatello, to stage for our run ... and after hearing only positive things about Elko, we pointed the Hyundai and hit the gas, thinking that we'd have a quick driving day with some fun in Nevada.

Now, as technologically dorky as Spammer and I are, we didn't pore over Google Earth prior to setting out ... we sort of pick roads at random ... and what we found along the way was no less than the most amazing road we've ever seen.  I've road tripped more than 30000 miles in my life, and what we saw today was pristine, awe-inspiring and just a little bit scary.   Check out the pictures, and if you have the chance, get to Jarbidge, NV.

Oh, so there will probably be some drinking and checking-out of the brothels ... possibly gambling. Stay tuned.

The Most Amazing Road on Earth

idaho, nevada, on the road, photography, SpamZalotMatt Hill1 Comment

When Zoo and I headed out on our 1st road trip from LA to Denver, we made on little side trip in Arizona. We cut north of the mountains to get to Sedona and ended up in Jerome - high up on the rim of the mountains surrounding the area. It started with a cattle gate and ended during dusk. It was a moving experience and I exclaimed THAT was the best road I had ever been on. Scratch that. (It was and still is amazing...) Today, we took a side road that cut through Humboldt National Forest. It starts in southern Idaho and ends 40'ish miles north of Elko, NV. It changed my life, and we guess that no more than 10,000 people have ever seen what we saw today.

Gobs of photos after the jump.  First we drove past the Salmon River Reservoir: 

and on into the Bruneau Desert flats

And then into a jaw-dropping canyon. And I mean CANYON. 

Zoo took a moment to throw a stone...

And then, since I was driving this leg, into the base of the canyon. We drove along at 20 mph, wondering how far it really was to Jarbidge, because we were nearing a half tank of gas... Nothing like a little uncertainty to make you enjoy things more ;)

So we stopped and shot up into the canyon walls a few times. Zoo said, "Fuck Arches! [National Park) And fuck the tourists! This is awesome." I soooo agree.

After stopping for lunch and gas (what a relief) in Jarbidge (see post) Zoo took the wheel and we drove higher and higher...

When I dreamed of road tripping this time of year, I saw in my mind's eye the aspen and birches turning yellow... and I got it. Stunning.

And the landscape changed for the third time. Now the mountains were carpeted with scattered trees.

And then the landscape changed yet again, now getting into desert-like conditions with jutting rocks on mountainsides here and there...

And then Hunboldt ended.

The desert became even more desert-like. The mountains squashed down into hills.

We were on private land, and cattle ranches surrounded us... but not much cattle.

 

And then 5 1/2 hours later, we hit pavement again. Did I mention that it was 95% dirt roads? Yeah, that's a road trip! 

Dirty Hyundai. Love ya!

See the whole trip as time-lapse

What the hell is a "Bikini Bar"?

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We went to Club 91 in Pocatello after dinner, thinking this might be a good place to have my first lap dance in a long time ... Well, this place was a pretty harsh dive, boring to boot.  At least we got these chips as souvenirs.

My advice?  Unless you like your bikini-wearing women looking like they were recently preggers, move on.