Do You Have Prince Albert in the Can?

Started in: Barstow, CA
Ended in: By Oatman, AZ
Pandora’s Status: Purring like a kitten.

Gage and I are in my tent, in the Arizona desert, off of a gravel road, off of route 66. It is beautifully quiet and dark. All I can see looking out from the mesh of my tent is the moon and one lone light off in the distance. I wish I could explain how quiet it truly is. This is the most quiet I have ever experienced in such an open space. I am completely in awe. I don't think it would be right to play my harmonica here -- it would feel like a sacrilegious way to recognize such quiet.

We pulled into Oatman well after dark, and I asked a bartender where I could stay for the night.

Her one customer asked "Do you have a tent?"

I said "Yes."

The more than slightly inebriated customer said "Just go put it up anywhere on the side of the road. A good place would be about a mile North of town on Silver Creek road."

So I said "Thanks alot! That's what I'll do." And so I did.

Route 66 has turned out to be a wonderful ride. Often times I am the only person for miles as I make my way along the road. It seems fantastic and unreal that such spectacular route across the US is so little traveled.

Today I had lunch at the Bagdad cafe. The Bagdad cafe was featured in the film of the same name: Bagdad Cafe.

I ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. When the waitress/owner went to pick up my sandwich from the cook, she was surprised to see only a half of a grilled cheese sandwich. She said to the cook, "He's going to need a full grilled cheese." The waitress brought the half sandwich to me and said "That's weird, why did she only make a half a sandwich." The waitress went into deep thought for a few moments, and then went to talk with the cook.

She came back to me and said the same thing happened seven years ago when Prince Albert and Stephanie were at the cafe. The same cook (who only works a few months out of each year) was working then. Prince Albert ordered a grilled cheese sandwich, and when the waitress went to pick it up, it was only a half. She took it to the Prince and apologized, via the interpretation of Stephanie. The waitress said she had always wondered why the cook had only made a half. She had forgotten to ask that day because so many people were in the cafe accompanying the Prince and she had been very busy.

The waitress told me that when someone orders a grilled cheese, she writes "Gr Cheese" on the order slip. Today, and seven years ago, the cook misunderstood the "Gr" for a "Jr" or junior grilled cheese.

Random note: Today I intersected a bike race. The race is called the 508. It is 508 miles long and is a non-stop bike race.

Random surprise: Today I paid $4.79/gallon of premium gas at a gas station in the desert.

Random observation: Both city folk and country people are afraid of getting shot...America isn't that bad, why is everyone so afraid?