Skip to main content

2018 Mojave Desert Road Trip Part 8; Leaving Las Vegas (The High Roller, Seven Magic Mountains, and wreckage of Mervyn's)

By
Upon returning to Las Vegas from the Hoover Dam it was time to close out the first major road trip of 2018.  Saturday night I walked over to the High Roller which is the largest Ferris Wheel in the world at 550 feet.  The High Roller was opened in March of 2014 and is located essentially directly east of The Flamingo.  Rides on the High Roller are about 30 minutes in length from start to finish.  What I found interesting was that the Ferris Wheel never stops moving and you literally jump-on/jump-off.  There is a giant catch net under the Ferris Wheel pods, unfortunately I didn't get ask if anyone actually fell in.








Sunday afternoon heading out of Las Vegas south on I-15 I turned off onto Las Vegas Boulevard in Sloan.  Seven miles south of Sloan is the Seven Magic Mountains which is an art display out in the waste above the Jean Dry Lake.  Apparently the colored rocks are 25 feet and were assembled in May of 2016.  According to the website the "mountains" will only be on display for two years (so, does that mean someone comes and knocks them over?).










After returning to I-15 I took it south to California State Route 58.  A solid tip of advice is to never drive home from Las Vegas on a Sunday afternoon since you'll be competing with all the drivers from Los Angeles and San Diego going home.  Suffice to say I was a little too tired to really capture the Hinkley Bypass on CA 58 but it is a pretty solid alignment that really helps mitigate backups at US 395 in Kramer Junction.  The Kramer Junction Bypass seems to be in the initial stages with some earth moved to widen out CA 58.

West of US 395 I encountered an oddity I've observed on CA 58 since 2012, a derelict Mervyn's trailer.





Mervyn's was a somewhat large California based clothing retailer that was once owned by Target Corporation and went bankrupt in late 2008.  According to local lore I've heard in Victorville the Mervyn's trailer on CA 58 showed up on the side of the highway after the bankruptcy was declared back in 2008.  Given there isn't really a fence line CA 58 between Kramer Junction and Boron there might be an ounce of truth in the story, but then again who really knows? 

On the way back to Fresno I was able to get a decent CA 202 shield finally for my photo collection.  All my previous attempts to obtain a CA 202 have been blurred up or I just haven't around with enough light to capture a moving picture.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2018 Mojave Road Trip Part 2; The deadly desert highway (California State Route 127 and Nevada State Route 373)

By
After leaving Barstow via Old Highway 58 my next destination was in Death Valley.  To access Death Valley from rural San Bernardino County required a trek on north on Interstate 15 to California State Route 127 which becomes Nevada State Route 373 at the state line. Along I-15 I encountered the road sign oddity that is Zzyzx Road about eight miles south of Baker.   Zzyzx Road is a four mile road that used to go to the Zzyzx Mineral Springs and Health Spa.   The spa was founded in the 1940s and the owner made up the name "Zzyzx" to claim it was the last word in the English Language.  The spa has been shut down since the 1970s and is now part of a Desert Studies Center for California State University. The southern terminus of CA 127 in Baker is located at I-15 exit 246.  CA 127 is a 91 mile north/south highway which runs to the Nevada State Line in Inyo County.  CA 127 is called Death Valley Road from I-15 northward.  South of CA 127 ...
4 comments
Read more

Finding the Pre-Emption Road of New York State

By
  The Pre-Emption Road (or rather a series of roads named Pre-Emption Road) follows a survey line called the Pre-Emption Line, drawn in the early days of the United States. The story begins with Massachusetts and New York having competing land claims to modern day Western New York State that have their roots in colonial charters granted by the British. After the Revolutionary War ended, this land became the frontier of the nation and its settlement became a priority for the new American government. During this era, there were a lot of competing land claims that needed to be settled. It was no different with the land claims between New York State and Massachusetts. On November 30, 1786, Massachusetts and New York sent representatives to Hartford, Connecticut to resolve their competing land claims. In less than three weeks, the representatives had reached a compromise. Massachusetts would receive pre-emption rights, meaning the right to sell the land after the Indian title ...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's In a Name?: When the Roads Really Do Tell a Story

By
  Our tagline on the Gribblenation blog is "because every road tells a story". Some roads tell different stories than others. Along our travels, we may see historic markers that tell us a little story about the roads we travel or the places we pass by. Some historic markers are more general, as to telling us who lived where or what old trail traversed between two towns. During my travels across New York State and other states or provinces, I pass by many historic markers, some with interesting or amusing references to roads. I wanted to highlight a few of the markers I've seen along my travels around the Empire State and help tell their stories. Those stories may be as specific as explaining the tales of a tree that was used to help measure a distance of eight miles from Bath to Avoca in Steuben County, as referenced on the Eight Mile Tree historical marker above. They may also help point the way along historical roads first used centuries ago, or may help tell a local l...
Post a Comment
Read more