Starting your day on the road at 6:00 A.M. is considered late when your trip is more than five hours long. At least for me who came from a place where people wakes up at 3 A.M. to catch the first trip of the public transport just to get to the next province. I thought then my friends would not make it to the set time of picking me up. However drowsy I was, I made sure that I was ready before they get to my place. This meant me being up all night preparing my luggage and trying not to sleep and realize in the morning I was left behind. They arrived on time. I was glad as this avoided me the anxiety setting in before the day started.Since it was a five hour drive from California to Las Vegas, for the first part of it I dozed off. There was nothing much to see from my place until you get out of the California State except the valley, communities and shopping centers depicted in various ways and the sand as we drove through the Mojave Desert. Or there could have been like the occasional Joshua tree along the road. Until a friend told us that on our next stop over for food and restroom had the World's Largest Thermometer.I didn't know that such a thing existed. Realizing how Guiness and Ripley's had a following, this thing could actually be real. As suggested by the word alone, I was anticipating a gray mercury or the red equivalent (i don't know what substance it is) encased in a gigantic crystal clear gauged cylinder. After a time, it shed light on me that this thermometer was actually a commemoration of the highest temperature in the US recorded in the Death Valley . The thermometer, standing 134 feet, was located in Baker, California, dubbed as the "Gateway to the Death Valley". It's height was symbolic of the highest temperature recorded in 1913.Even before we got to the fastfood joint where we could ease up, my eyes were already probing to spot the gargantuan replica of a clinical thermometer. When we already had gotten back to the car, still not a thing very recognizable. Then a couple of feet up, we drove along this post which was less striking than the flashing billboards back in the city. If nobody mentioned that it was the World's Largest Thermometer, I would not have a clue. The clinical thermometer in my mind was construed by a steel post with LED lamps flashing the temperature.
My frustration was not contained until a friend justified that the clinical thermometer in my mind was not feasible. Imagine the hazards of contamination in case it was broken. It was indeed broken once in it's life due to the harsh desert winds.
As a consolation, being in this place meant that Las Vegas, our final destination, was only less than two hours away. In less than minutes, we were back to the the horrid scene of the dessert and the seemingly endless road ahead. Good thing it was only mid morning. Anything frightful was far off our minds.
By the way, we did get to Las Vegas, enjoyed it and got back in one piece.
Posted at 10:12 pm by
AnjPerez
