Currently driving through the desert south of Kingman, Arizona. We surprised ourselves with how well we slept and how easily we woke up in the morning. We passed on the $6.50 all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet (though there were at least 50 people in line who were waiting to partake) and got on the road. Traffic sucked in Las Vegas, with our loaded down car making it tough to see blind spots and fight the wind as crazy drivers passed us left and right. The bridge over the Hoover Dam is coming along compared with the last time we saw it (about a year ago). There are REALLY long cables supporting a cross-canyon crane thing. It will be quite the bridge when it is done. One thing we can't quite understand though is the relative lack of security around the dam compared with a few years ago. I definitely remember Humvees and armed National Guardsmen inspecting vehicles before crossing the dam. Maybe they are in Iraq? Maybe they only come out when the terror-meter reaches a ceratin level? I dunno. We have plans for dinner with family for the next few nights already and we've been having to discuss what needs to be done when we get home. We are almost back. Its been really phenomenal being able to see the landscape change as we've gotten closer and closer to being home. Its much less abrasive than being in Homer, Alaska, one day and Tempe, Arizona, the next. But that was one of the primary goals of this trip, rather than flying to Alaska. We wanted to get a feel for the land and the distances and the history and the cultures and all of those things that one misses when hurtling though the air at 600mph and 30,000 feet in an aluminum cylinder.