Los Angeles to Dubai

the long way to Durban

We stayed overnight at the LAX TraveLodge to avoid the hassle of an early morning 4-6 hour drive and car return in favor of a leisurely dinner, a good night's sleep and a no-stress shuttle ride to LAX's international departures terminal. It's a budget hotel and it suits our needs.  LAX is the second busiest airport in the USA, our shuttle driver informed us. Chicago O'Hare is #1 and Atlanta is #3. LAX always seems to be “under construction” and traffic is crazy like most airports.

The Theme Building is an iconic landmark of the airport. I remember having dinner at The Encounter Restaurant a couple of decades ago. It's got that spaceship look to it which makes it very noticeable and it revolved. Unfortunately, it closed in 2013. According to Wiki,  the building opened in 1961 and is an example of the Mid-Century modern-influenced design school known as "Googie" or "Populuxe." More info you couldn't live without.

We had checked in on-line and after showing our passports and checking our baggage, we were through Security in a matter of minutes. We wandered around the airport for awhile, taking advantage of the exercise while we could. The flight was on-time and we got a great view of Marina del Rey on departure.

We're pretty good travelers. We don't particularly enjoy long flights, but we tolerate them well. We can appreciate the inherent adventure in them. The 16-hour flight from LAX to Dubai can get pretty tiresome. You can only watch so many movies. My limit is about three. David tops out at five or so. He doesn't usually sleep. I doze. We read a bit; play a few games on our iPads. We were served several meals and snacks en route and the wine flowed freely enough. We're both usually “stove-up”, sore and lame, after being captive in our seats for so long, but we recover quickly. After 16 hours of captivity, walking through the airport and stretching is a pleasure.

When I traveled through Dubai on my way home from Boston last December, I took advantage of Emirate Airline's Dubai Connect option. We had a similar 14-hour layover in Dubai on our way from LAX and we took advantage of this option once again which allowed us a free hotel night including meals and shuttle transportation to and from the airport in Dubai. This time I had my captain with me to enjoy the amenities of the Copthorne Hotel which made it an even better respite. Heading to the hotel for a hot shower, dinner and a good night's sleep was like manna from heaven.

Last time through, my flight arrived late and Dubai was foggy. There wasn't much to see. This time, we actually had a couple of hours to spare and we briefly considered a possible night tour of the city. We talked ourselves out of it when we thought about sitting for another two hours in a van for the tour. We contented ourselves with looking at the hotel lobby shops … gold, camels and sand art.

Had we not been so keen on getting back to Nine of Cups, we might have opted for a couple days to explore Dubai, but that'll have to wait for another time. The best we got were views of the city from our 8th floor dirty hotel window the morning we departed.

The Wonders of Interstate 15

Lest you think that Zyzzx Road was the only highlight of lovely Interstate 15, we opted to do a little more research. Sure enough, a little googling had us checking out several exciting sights along the way. We didn't have lots of time, so we had to be selective in our choices. A stop in Jean, Nevada, for instance, didn't sound very appealing. We passed on a visit to the gravestones of America's favorite cowboy couple, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans in Apple Valley. We opted to forgo a stop at the Victorville Landfill. We didn't want to overdo the excitement factor in one day.

Though we could see the massive array of mirrors, aka “heliostats”, of the  Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System spread out in the desert expanse beside us, we just whizzed on by. It's the world's largest solar electric plant, but there's nary a sign indicating what it is. They have strict security and don't welcome guests, but they do extend an invitation to take a virtual on-line tour. We ogled the facility as we passed and settled for nicking a photo off the internet to share with you. It's pretty impressive. Differing from typical solar power stations that use hundreds of solar panels, the Ivanpah Station utilizes hundreds of mirrors that focus the sun's rays on tall water columns, superheating the water within. The steam that is produced turns steam turbines, producing electricity.

Primm, Nevada which rises out of the desert just inside the Nevada line is always a good place to stop for a restroom break. There are casinos and time shares and restaurants and outlet stores. There's Buffalo Bill's with an old mining town theme (most appropriate for this area) on one side of the road and Whiskey Pete's on the other. A quick pee break and we were on our way.

We passed by little towns on the map like Searchlight, Borax and Roach, but saw few signs of life … an old abandoned gas station here … a dilapidated one-room house there. The roadside here is dotted with Joshua trees. We'd read there are more here than in Joshua Tree National Park. We stopped long enough for a few pictures of this gnarled yucca-variety tree.

We saw signs for Alien Fresh Jerky in Baker, California way back in Vegas. It wasn't on the original “tour”, but hey, how can you pass up Alien Jerky … especially if it's fresh? This was a fun stop. The shop was all about Area 51 and little green men come to earth … with hot sauces, all flavors of jerky and alien memorabilia for sale as an added bonus. It was a hoot. They were doing quite a brisk business. We were just looky-loos.

Baker held other surprises. The world's tallest thermometer. We'd seen it before, but a thermometer this tall is worth a second glance.

We passed by the Mad Greek diner with all its fine classic statuary. Very classy, but we were holding out for Peggy Sue's 50's Diner in Yermo.

We'd seen strategically placed Peggy Sue signs all along the highway and we always chided ourselves for not stopping. This was the day to eat at Peggy Sue's.  We bypassed the Yermo Agricultural Inspection Station checkpoint, by taking the Yermo frontage. We didn't have any fruit with us, so we weren't being scoff-laws. Then we arrived at Peggy Sue's! What a disappointment. It was ultra-crowded. We seated ourselves in an add-on covered patio area and waited 15 minutes. A waitress in pink 1950's garb mumbled she'd be back soon as she whizzed by, but never reappeared. We enjoyed the Elvis and Marilyn and James Dean posters on the wall. We were in “Happy Days” land. I fetched a couple of menus. It was typical diner fare … hamburgers, meatloaf, hot turkey sandwiches … but not typical diner prices. $9.50 for a hamburger? $11.50 for a salad? We decided we weren't all that hungry and left. No one noticed. We did check out their “diner-saur” garden in the back though.

We were looking for the Route 66 museum in Barstow, but never found it. We had a quick lunch at Burger King instead. Just as many calories for half the price of Peggy Sue's and much less crowded.

We hit traffic just before Barstow and it continued heavy stop and go for the next two hours … folks returning to LA from a long Vegas weekend. We crawled along at 10 mph, losing our adventurous spirit with each slow mile as the brown LA haze engulfed us. Now all we were anticipating was the drop off of the rental car and installing ourselves for the night in our budget LAX airport hotel.

In the end, the drive wasn't much longer in spite of our stops, but it was definitely more interesting than the usual, boring ride. Interstate 15 with all its wonders is behind us now … some sights reserved for future trips. Nine of Cups is waiting for us half way around the world, all ready for new adventures. And we're ready to head back to her.

A Trip to Zzyzx - The Last Place on Earth

Every time we travel from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, we pass by the Zzyzx Road sign. We always comment about it … it's a landmark along the route … but we've never taken the time to figure out what's out there on Zzyzx Road. So we took Exit 239 off  I-15 and followed the 4.5 mile part-paved, part-gravel road to the former location of the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa. This time, we wanted to take a few extra minutes to explore.

I googled “zzyzx” (ZYE-zix) to give us an idea of what to expect. The Urban Dictionary defines it as “The last place on Earth. It was originally founded by a crazy old man who named it ZZYZX since it would be the last word in the dictionary, and hence 'the last place on Earth'. Currently it's an abandoned town somewhere between Las Vegas and LA.”  That's not entirely correct, but pretty close.

In the high Mojave Desert, Soda Dry Lake was a pre-historic quarry site (and probably not dry then).  It was  used as a small army outpost in the mid-1800s providing refuge and water along the Mojave Road for wagon trains, then subsequently abandoned.  In 1944,  Curtis Howe Springer, a master of quackery and deceit, as well as a popular, syndicated radio evangelist, submitted a federal mining claim for 12,000 acres of land and proceeded to develop it into the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.

The area was originally named Camp Soda and Soda Springs, but Springer cleverly renamed it “Zzyzx, the last word in health”. He was debunked by the AMA in 1969 for claiming to be a physician and osteopath and the Feds finally caught up with him in the early 1970s and evicted him from the land. He served a short jail sentence and spent the rest of his life in Las Vegas, doing who-knows-what. There's even a YouTube video on Springer's “last word”.

The old resort was converted into the Desert Studies Center in 1976 within the boundaries of the Mojave National Preserve. The little spring-fed, artificial Lake Tuendae, originally part of the spa, is now a refuge habitat for the endangered Mohave tui chub (a small fish), the Pacific tree frog and migratory waterfowl.

We headed south towards the old resort and were taken by the beauty of this desolate area. It was overcast, grey and cool, yet as we followed the serpentine road, hugging the shoreline of this ancient dry lake, it wasn't hard to imagine the wooly mammoths and saber-toothed cats roaming around. The land around the dry lake is said to resemble the savannahs of modern day Africa. The lake itself, white with alkaline deposits, looked snow-covered.

A gate across the road announced our arrival at Zzyzx aka the Desert Studies Center. We parked the car in a large gravel lot. There was no one else around; no other cars were parked in the lot. There were picnic tables, restrooms and an informational kiosk with weather-beaten signs. We got out, stretched and decided to explore the facilities a bit. We could see remnants of the old spa, decrepit foundations and concrete buildings in the near distance.

The area around tiny Lake Tuendae was actually quite beautiful. There was a self-guided path around the lake with more weatherworn, but still readable, signs. The trail was short, but tranquil and beautiful. Coots swam leisurely in the mirror-calm water and chattered amongst themselves. Jays eyed us curiously from overgrown palm trees.

There was an old abandoned life boat lying on its side under the palm trees. It was totally out of place next to the dry lake and the tiny, shallow Lake Tuendae which could not have accommodated it. We had to wonder about its placement there and its history, but we could find no information. It remains a mystery.

An hour or so later, we retraced our route and continued on Interstate 15 to Los Angeles.  That's not the end of our exploring I-15 … not by a long shot ...there's more excitement to be had.  So hold on to your boots and  join us in another day or two for more exciting stops along the highway.

An additional bit of trivia about Zzyzx? The 2006 thriller movie, Zyzzyx Road,  is the lowest grossing movie in American history. It only ever played in one theater in Dallas and grossed a total of $30.