10:30 Mountain. sounding.famously.worm
The day started at Railroad Pass Hotel with a few drops of rain and a wind which periodically threatened to rip the suede off a desert boot. My Spotify’s first song was the James Reyne/James Blundell cover of The Dingoes “Way Out West”
Driving was, lets say uneven. I have thunked out the driver assist mode on the Rogue. Can be a bit bossy IMHO. It even plays a pleasant chord when it thinks you are driving inside it’s parameters. But with the cross-wind buffeting the car one way, plus my 50 year old RHS driving instincts tending the other way, plus trying to avoid the worst of a pockmarked road surface made for a four-way tug o’ war. Probably added 5mpg to the trip.
I think if somebody at Nissan does scrutinise the performance statistics I will be severely marked down in my assessment.
Speaking of fuel, 87Oct is USD 3.9999/US gal at Flagstaff which is USD 4.09 in real gallons, or USD 1.056/litre or AUD 1.53/litre. About We are paying a bit under $2. Thought the differential would be more though “big city” prices might be significantly cheaper.
The country does get markedly greener. The bare and imposing volcanic outcrops around Boulder City do soften and gather vegetation up as the I-40 E takes you to Tusayan. The hills get bigger but there’s a covering of vegetation. For the most part the journey was without signs of human life, or animal life for that matter. In all the over miles travelled since LA I haven’t seen a single head of cattle, sheep, goats, horses or deer from the roadway. Did see a squirrel at Boulder.
There are some eerie similarities in the growth manner of the plant habits once you pass Kingman to the vista across the Hay plains of western NSW … except that there isn’t a backdrop of hills around Hay. By the time you get to Tusayan there are pine forests.
I had a comms issue in LA and my only option to fix was a round trip from Tusayan to Flagstaff. And even after a new modum it’s still not fixed. Hopefully a phone tech can de-gremlin it tomorrow.
All up a bit over 400 miles for the day, which is solid going.
There’s plenty of scope for mental agility and arithmetic. Kate my GPS is configured in metric. Now I could merkinise her but then I wouldn’t be sure I could understood her instructions. Give the girl due credit though. If I’d been unassisted in Flagstaff I’d have tied myself into a Gordian knot.
We stay here tomorrow and see the Grand Canyon by helicopter and Hummer.