Vidal Junction, CA

Whipple Wilderness, CA

I quickly became thankful that I had filled my tank back in Parker for $1.85 a gallon.

Needles is a nice old Route 66 town, and I followed historic 66 out of town a ways to Needles Highway, which takes you along the really remarkable Colorado River valley. The Colorado is the epitome of the “exotic” stream – a gorgeous voluminous rushing river crossing through incredibly arid god-forsaken territory. What an oasis it must have been for any creature that passed this way (before the age of ice chests, reverse-osmosis bottled water, and satellite radio, all of which I had with me).

My trip from Phoenix to Chicago, which, as the crow flies, is about 1700 miles east-northeast of my front door, naturally began by me driving due west from Phoenix, towards Los Angeles (I would eventually drive over 3000 miles on the trip). I was once again on my quest to find places where three states come together. Tri-pointing. Seeing the sights. Dorking out. First on the list this day would be the bottom tip of Nevada, where Arizona and California meet.

The journey took me out I-10 to the Salome highway, a straight but bouncy paved county road. My Forester left the ground a couple of times on those thank-you-ma’ams coming out of washes. It’s quite a healthy drive to Parker - I got there by about 3:30 after leaving the Valley of the Sun right about noon. I crossed the Colorado into California and came upon some very rough country – finally turning north on US 95 at Vidal Jct. I was now, after a couple hundred miles, going the right general direction toward Chicago.

This is desolate territory out here, with ragged but colorful mountains and broad alluvial fan valleys, with nothing in them but cars, trucks, and SUVs going from Parker to Needles and back. I'm glad the tri-point wasn't in the middle of one of these wildernesses - it was 111 degrees and I was in no mood to poke around these rocks for a monument.

Needles, CA