October 3, 1999

New Orleans, Louisiana

After listening to Sinatra tunes in Palm Springs I headed into Death Valley on my way to Vegas. Las Vegas was pretty awesome in a strange way. The extent that the casinos go to to build facades for their slot machines and black jack tables is incredible. The bad news about Lost Wages is that I left there with only $10 in my bank account. The good news is that I had only $10 when I got there which is probably a good thing.

Leaving Las Vegas I made my across the Hoover Dam to the Grand Canyon. On the way to Grand Canyon I stumbled across the Planes of Fame museum. After camping at the Grand Canyon I meandered through Arizona down to Tucson. In Tucson I had the pleasure of meeting up with yet another DC refugee and had an excellent time.

Being haunted by the ghost of the late, great Marty Robins I headed towards El Paso. Failing to fall in love with any Mexican girls in El Paso or even finding Rosa's Cantina I packed up the pony and headed up to the bad lands of New Mexico.

Riding through New Mexico I stopped in Roswell for lunch and failed to be abducted by aliens so I made my way to the Rockies.I spent a couple days riding up the mountain roads through Nex Mexico and Colorado which are incredible.

Leaving the mountains I started making my way to New Orleans and racked up the 20,000th mile of the trip. On my way to New Orleans I crossed the plains of Oklahoma. One thing that I was never told is that the wind that comes sweeping down the plains blows at about 35 mph so I spent an entire day fighting crosswinds and trying not to be blown off or across the road.

Going to Key West.