This day I spent my time having a corridor of memories as I drove to Palmdale for a vacation. I remember the first time we drove the I-15 [corridor]... it was Sept 1982, Labor Day weekend. We'd just moved to Palmdale from the Bay Area and decided at the last minute to drive to Provo to visit with the Utah Kids, AKA Gordon's children. We took off in Gordon's old-dog-Mazda [303] that I fondly referred to as a tuna-can on wheels! It didn't have A/C! It was hotter than Hades crossing the desert (duh!). We stopped at Halloran Springs to get a much needed drink and potty stop. We continued on and hit Vegas about 1 am and it was still in the 100s! Yikes.
I remember the time the kids and I drove to Aunt Ann's for Sam's missionary homecoming... in August. This time we were in my little VW Cabriolet convertible! We stopped at a rest area in the Virgin River Gorge and the cicadas were deafening! It was also on this trip that somebody-who-shall-remain-nameless rolled up Petey's (Stuey's favorite little stuffed animal) tail in the window with his body on the outside of the car going 80 mph! Who would be mean enough to do that to a sweet little boy?
REST AREA EXIT IN VIRGIN RIVER GORGE
On the way home from this visit I thought there must be something wrong with my A/C until we got to Baker, CA, home of the World's Tallest Thermometer! and saw that it was 122°!!!
It was also in the Virgin River Gorge that I got one of my 3 traffic tickets for speeding. We were driving home from Provo late one night in a rented van full of kids and I got pulled over for not doing the 55 mph speed limit... remember those days?
Then there was a different trip in the old-dog-Mazda when Gordon got stopped in Nevada. When he saw the gumball lights he just took the car out of gear and coasted to a stop instead of braking. When the Nevada officer came up to his window he said, "Whoa! Where's the brakes on this thing?!" We all laughed and then he gave Gordon a ticket... not for speeding, but for wasting a natural resource! Again with the 55 mph speed limit!
And no trip on the I-15 would be complete without mention of this crazy road stuck out in the California Desert...
I could keep going and going with almost 30-years worth of stories of wearing out the I-15 corridor but I will spare you. But I did have a fun time being reminded of all these memories today.
3 comments:
I have memories too the the I-25 corridor. The first is when I was about 10 yrls old. We drove to SLC to visit my grandma. That summer my mom shoved 6 of us into a little Toyota for the whole drive with no air conditioning. The second time was when I was 17 yrs old. My friend was getting married in Las Vegas and I was given permission to drive up there in my dad's little cracker jack box car with another friend. I was doing 85 mph and was caught by the airplane police and got my first speeding ticket. My mom was not so happy as we had to actually see the judge because I was a minor and "driving recklessly". I felt like I have driven that highway so many times (and continue too) Francisco's mom still lives in Palmdale. Mary
Ok, I laughed so hard thinking about Petey flapping in the wind! I literally laughed out loud! But I don't remember...who did that? Was it you?
I know that road!!! That was our "Z" while playing road games on our way to Hesperia!
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