We made it to Zion…but not quite without incident…

The morning started off easy enough…packed up the car, put the cover on the boat, made our beds, took out the trash…but when I turned on the car, the tire light was on.

Now, it should be said that the day before we left that pesky tire light came on and I went around the car with my digital tire pressure reader and found the back tire to be a bit low. So, I went to the gas station, paid $2.5o (can you believe 5 mins of air costs money now???), and then did serious calculating to figure out what tire pressure numbers actually mean before realizing my truck has an app that tells me the levels of each individual tire…but whateve, now “knowing is half the battle”.

Except when Jen went into Starbucks for coffee and breakfast this morning, I went to fill up the gas tank and checked the app to find the same tire was low again.

Dammit.

Jen texted and asked if there was a nail…and I didn’t check and answered No way because I didn’t want that kind of negativity in my life right now.

I filled up the tire again…for $2.50 again and figured we could make it the 400 miles to Zion and if the tire light comes back on I’ll just fill it up again.

But then I remembered that’s really dumb and stubborn and careless like two seconds later.

So, while Jen was still inside the super-crowded-only-Starbucks-on-the-mountain, I went to check the tire and saw the stupid nail.

Then I googled what happens when there’s a nail in a tire…do I remove it? Does it have to be fixed right now?

And I learned that a nail in your tire might last 100 miles before the tire blows…and I do have to remove it and it does need to be fixed right now…it shoulda been fixed before we left. And then I had a vision of us standing on the side of a road in the middle of the desert in 115 degree weather waiting for AAA because I don’t love the idea of an inconvenient trip in the wrong direction down into San Bernadino to fix a tire…and I was like, This tire must be fixed before anything else period.

Jen called around and found Carlos’ Repair Shop open on a Saturday morning with zero wait. It’d take 20 mins and cost $20…which is like the same amount as a half hour of the expensive gas station air I’d need to keep the tire afloat anyway.

So, our man Freddy saved the day, the kiddo did some skateboarding while we waited and the adventure could officially begin.

Our next stop was in Yermo, CA where there’s a three story tall ice cream sundae beckoning anyone with tastebuds off the 15 freeway. The sundae is actually a water tower, but we stopped into Eddie World to replenish our road snacks and get some ice cream. This place is so freakin packed with every road snack you can think of…we got some sweets and some sours and some saltys and some freeze-drieds….and, of course, lemon whip ice cream because it was hot.

I ordered my ice cream on a cone and the chick behind the counter was like “Take a bowl, just in case…it’s hot out there.”

And as we were walking back to the car, we noticed all of the single scoop-sized stains in the parking lot from dropped cones…evidence of fallen dreams and disappointments. Not us, not today, Satan.

After that, we headed to a roadside attraction I’ve wanted to visit ever since I was 14 on my very first roadtrip to Vegas with my friend Tee in the back of her parents pickup truck…Zzyzx. It was created by this evangelical guy in the 1950s as a wellness resort and he named it Zzyzx because he wanted it to be “the last name in healthcare” or something like that. I guess there’s hot springs around, or used to be…and now it’s occupied by science people as a place to study all the radness that exists underneath the desolation of the Mojave desert.

The road was lonely, the lake was dry, the palm trees were short and chubby, and it was waaaaayyyy too hot at 117 for us to get out and walk the quarter mile to the actual resort from the parking lot. So, we read the signs, used the facilities, the kiddo wanted to pee on a nearby rock, curious to watch it sizzle and dry immediately.

I’m glad we went to see Zzxyx, I’d be interested to go back when conditions are more human friendly, I definitely was reminded of how dangerous desert heat can be, and we were all grateful to get back in the air conditioned car and head on.

About 10 miles up the road from Zzyzx is the town of Baker, CA, known by most driving this road for the big ass thermometer you can see from the freeway. The thermometer said it was 111 outside, our car said 116, and that was validated when we arrived at Alien Jerky, our next destination, which also happened to have a thermometer that said 116…thermometers are kind of a big deal around these parts.

Alien Jerky has been around for a long time, but I didn’t know they had a legit store in Baker until I started researching for this trip.

They really went all out…and it appears they’re building a UFO experience behind the store, which we’ll have to come check out when it’s done. There were like 20 different flavors of jerky, plus all kinds of fun snacks and alien gifts. We ended up with two bags of jerky, Lemon Pepper and Original Area 51, which the kiddo said was the best he’s ever had…

Jen and I tried little pieces of each, yet both bags were empty, like, no crumbs left from the backseat before we reached the Nevada border.

We’ll stop on the way home for some more…all is fair in love and road snacks. :-)

We stopped in Primm for facilities and to fill up the tank, and the kiddo was amazed that there were people sitting at slot machines inside the very first gas station in Nevada.

Then we headed over to the Seven Magic Mountains just outside Vegas for our Instagram moment. It’s an art installation you can see from the freeway, seven pillars of huge stacked painted rocks. It’s pretty amazing and free.

A few years back, I took myself here on a solo trip to Vegas and I always wanted to come back and share it with someone…I was so happy today to return and share it with two someones I love.

And then it was the last leg to Zion, through the rest of Nevada, a little slice of Arizona, and into Utah. We stopped at a truck stop in Mesquite, NV and the kiddo marveled at the fact that there were real showers in there.

We drove through “the crack” of Arizona, a scenic pass where we got to see just how powerful the Virgin River is, that it could make a canyon so big.

And then we made it to Zion! The place we’re staying is literally steps away from the entrance to the park…our room has direct access to the river.

After we unpacked the car, I realized Jen had disappeared…and then found her sitting with her feet in the river. She wants to have coffee there in the morning…and sit there as often as possible while we’re here.

The fish kinda nibble at your feet while you sit, there’s bugs and bats, but there’s a ton of stars, and it feels so sacred here. We all agreed, the rocks here feel like guardians watching over us.

Old versions of me likely would have focused on how today could have gone better…the tire, the heat, Jen is feeling crummy and pretty sure she’s getting sick, the kiddo mentioned feeling a little homesick at dinner…and yet, every piece of it still felt like it had a bigger purpose…more opportunities to learn about ourselves and each other.

We were ambitious to do some hiking while we’re here, but we’re gonna play it by ear and see how everyone’s feeling in the morning. It’s supposed to be in the 100s tomorrow, and with Jen feeling under the weather, we’re thinking it might be cool to grab some e-bikes and hopefully see more of the park that way…and then, of course, make sure to spend plenty of time cooling off in this beautiful river.