Southern California and Las Vegas
(07-03-2004)

1903 was a pivotal year in American history. Horatio Nelson Jackson, along with his mechanic and dog, completed the first cross-counrtry automobile drive in the U.S It took him 63 days. Besides being an extraordinary accomplishment for its day, it got people thinking that perhaps, someday, they might be able to do the same. One hundred years later, Jackson's magic is more alive than ever. Not bad.

However, a more prophetic moment occurred 4 years earlier, in 1899, when one Henry Bliss stepped off a streetcar in Manhattan and was! flattened by an electric-powered taxicab, becoming the first automobile fatality in the country. Not good.


So, in honor of Mr. Jakson, I begin my own cross-country drive. But in honor of Mr Bliss, I begin with a dead guy:


The Ronald Reagan Library (and tomb) sits atop a hill in Simi Valley, ( the same area that acquitted the L.A. policemen who flattened Rodney King). To get there, you take the Olsen Rd exit off highway 23, the Militrary Intelligence Services Highway. (No kidding, folks. You can't make this stuff up.)


The buildingis a rather large two-story Mexican structure (think California mission, without the campanille), complete with courtyard and fountain. Serene and peaceful indeed, except for the construction going on. On the side of the hill, a large hangar is being built to house the Air Force One that Reagan utilized during his presidency. Oh, and the helicopter too. ... Why? Because there ain't much else to see up there, and touri sts need to see things.

The Honorary Founders include the Republic of China, the State of Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Bob Hope.

The actual tomb is simple and Ronnie has a great view. If you look at his view closely, right in the middle you'll notice a golf course, soon to be surrounded with housing developments. Only in America. Rest in semi-peace, Ronnie.

Los Angeles, well, it's L.A. and we've heard it all. Except everyday, on Santa Monica Beach, veterans set up Arlington West, a cross for every American killed in the Iraqi "thing". I say "thing" because I'm not sure what to call it. It's not a war, because we're fighting the very people to whom we will hand power. And it's not a conflict because if we left, there would be no conflict. So I'll just call it an amorphous nightmare and leave it at that. (Sometimes I wish Dubya would take his wife's advice and read a book). OK, enough.

Las Vegas is a depraved and sinful Gamorrah, true, but with better hotels and one specific purpose: to make sure the money you bring to Vegas stays in Vegas. It's the fastest growing city in the U.S. and attracts the ugliest tourists in America (yours truly probably included). What amazes me most are the thousands of parents with children in tow, or pushing baby strollers through the casinos at all hours of the night. These kids are gambling junkie trainees, subconsciously soaking in the sight and sounds of eventual personal monetary poverty. To the pit boss, it's called job security. It should be rightfully noted that when Jackson made his cross-country drive in 1903, he did so on a bet.


On to Colorado, and those purple mountains majesty. Album of the week, on the car CD: Sergei Nakarjakov, 26 year old brilliant trumpeter. His "Carnival of Venice" is truly unbelieveable.