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Saturday morning was when I actually left. Mofo and I used Mappoint to generate a plan for my trip. Interstate freeways make road trips almost ridiculously easy; I changed freeways only four times outside of LA to get here. According to our plan my first leg, Saturday, would take me up the 15 past Las Vegas and the south eastern tip of Nevada, and after a very brief stint in Arizona, to Utah. I would push past Utah to Grand Junction, Colorado, where I'd rest before crossing the Rocky Mountains. Stage two was planned as early mountain driving through Colorado before a sprint across Nebraska to see how close to South Dakota I would get before I was too tired to continue. Mofo recommended stopping in Omaha, which would leave a meager 150 miles for my last leg to South Dakota.
I was given various audio books and bought David Sedaris' Holiday on Ice for the trip. I saved them all for Nebraska, which I anticipated as the most brutal stage of the journey. Unfortunately, the CD player in the van would play for only 1.5 hours at a time before the CD inside would get too hot for it to continue. This would have been more agonizing but for my cell phone and the luxury of unlimited weekend calling. I'd patch in to Mofo regularly and he'd help me estimate where I was and how much more driving I needed to do. Lots of people called and it was good to catch up.
Many people I know in South Dakota think that California is all urban terrain. North of Barstow, on the 15, California is desert in every direction you look. My stretch toward Las Vegas - in fact, I'd probably say the whole journey up to Utah would have been both figuratively and literally hellish in the summer heat. As it turned out the weather was perfect and the cactus were in bloom on either side of the freeway.
I've never been to Las Vegas as an adult. As you approach the strip from at least 20 miles out you begin to see massive tract home developments. I know that the entertainment industry there is beginning to boom again after some heavy doldrums in 2001, but Las Vegas is also a place to get a cheap house, be near the semblance of a city, and not have to move too far from California (read: weather) to do it. The strip itself was mildly interesting. Maybe one day I'll go see all the replica architecture.
Outside of Las Vegas, Nevada is beautiful in winter. Huge mountains of rocks mingled with clouds on the horizon. I saw people at play in the desert: a cluster of trucks and SUVs which, upon closer inspection, seemed to be owned by a group of people riding dirt bikes on some man made dunes. Further up from Las Vegas, I saw some other resort towns which seemed more manageable. The approach was always a bit surprising: one minute you're in what seems like a desert with massive rocks towering over you, the next an oasis emerges: well kept lawns, lakes of water, and clusters of resort buildings. If I were to plan a trip I'd skip Las Vegas and stay in one of these places further north which seemed more quiet and restful. Woah, is that my age showing?
I'll post about Utah, Colorado, and Nebraska soon. This holiday will have me offline (send email anyway!) for a while though -
2:55:26 PM 
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