Disturbingly Chilling

We were leaving Utah, destination Orange County, California, with two places in mind to stop for the night. The closest would be Littlefield, Arizona, the farther being Primm, Nevada. It was a beautiful canyon drive along I-15, but I’d be getting a slow-paced head start while Al catches up after stopping at Costco for groceries and refueling.

I had heard some RV snowbirds winter near Littlefield. and thought it may be worth investigating. I found a place to pull off for Al to catch up, taking in the surroundings while waiting. Conversely to the Utah scenery, there was lush verdant greenery where the Virgin River snakes through, high mountains in every direction, a broad valley, and ample space to be as close or far from your neighbor. Being a mere thirty miles from a sizable city like St. George yet still out in the middle of nowhere, I can see the appeal and very well may consider it for next winter as we’ve already got plans for this one.

As it was still early in the day, we decided to drive the addional two hours through Las Vegas to Primm. The traffic through Sin City was mildly congested, but the few slow downs didn’t cause excessive delay.

Passing Whiskey Pete’s Casino, we arrived near our second choice, BLM land behind the Pilot station, but could not find a way to get there without going through a “Private Property” sign. With a likely 20-ish miles of driving an alternate route to get there, we debated our options. We could stay among the dozens of semis noisily idling through the night, but that’s their turf and it would be rude to take a space away from a trucker that deserves it. Well, let’s check out Buffalo Bill’s Casino across the interstate! I followed the signs for RV & Truck Parking, finding far fewer semis and a couple motorhomes, then found a distant spot of our own. Al went inside to ask permission to stay, and if having slides out and jacks down was acceptable ettiquette, to which they approved.

It was steamy hot outside and our batteries weren’t near full, so we caved and ran the generator to cook supper while cooling off with the air conditioning, benefitting from a little recharge as well. It was a nice respite as the drive the following day had the potential for stress, heading through metro Los Angeles. The casino has an amusement park, replete with a roller coaster. While it didn’t appear to be running this day (the parking lot was nearly empty), it provided a nice backdrop for the sunset. I thought a few times through the evening of patronizing the casino for allowing us a space for the night, but for whatever reason, didn’t go in to pull so much as one slot machine arm. No, I guess this geezer wasn’t feeling very lucky.

One of the resources we use while traveling is Roadside America. So many quirky things can be found there, which is ideal for stops to stretch and seeing something amusing or funny while breaking up the drive. Lo and behold, it said the Bonnie & Clyde car was at Whiskey Pete’s. On our way out of Primm, we stopped there to ask, only to find it was actually at Buffalo Bill’s, where we had stayed the night. Back over the interstate highway we went! It took some looking around. Heck, I think I walked right by it when I came in, but there it was: the Bonnie & Clyde car. It’s behind walls of plexiglass, but open to the ceiling. Al stretched to get pics from above, trying to avoid reflections. I walked around it, saw the mannequins dressed in their resemblence, then so many bullet-holes and my own reflection, suddenly gave me this very troubled feeling, which quickly transitioned into wondering what the hell I was doing. I found myself questioning why I wanted to celebrate seeing something where people lost their lives.

Okay, I get that some people are attracted to the story, the romance, the nostalgia, and even the rebellious nature. All I could think was people died in that car, and to me, worse than that, they were ultimately murdered in a very gruesome way. Any one of those bullet-holes could have been the one that ended someone’s life, and that deeply disturbed me. I don’t like violence of any kind. Even if they were bad people, doing bad things, were that many bullets necessary? Just looking at the pictures we took makes me feel so many emotions, that I was hesitant to even make this post. Ultimately, this blog is a place to talk about my experiences and emotions: how I cope with pain, places we see, things that bring us joy... might as well add in dispair, sadness, even anger. This didn’t make me angry, but it disturbed me then, and still does now, to think what if it was me in that car, or if the actual criminals weren’t in it at the time of the occurrence? I get the same feeling at battlefields and other places of terrorism or violence. Out of respect, I’m okay that the car exists in this display, and encourage those who are drawn to it the experience of seeing it first hand. It’s just not for me, and at that, I didn’t have to be there. I’m not right, nor am I wrong, as I’m an individual entitled to my own opinions, as each other person shall be entitled to theirs, and not forced to abide by anyone else’s. I’ll step off my tiny soap box now.

We didn’t explore much of the Casino, but they have a multi-story hotel that looks pretty fancy from the outside. I was a little befuddled why their parking lot was so empty and the aforemention idled roller coaster. Younger-me would have liked to ride it, but the ol’ fuddy-duddy-me not so much. I don’t know if it was the off-season or what, but it would have been an experience in its heyday. We were grateful to Buffalo Bill’s for the use of 500 square feet of their parking lot for the night. Unfortunately for us, they did not have a breakfast buffet, or we would have been chomping all over that!

Yesterday, Jeff gave us a hand with setting up and wiring the portable solar. It took longer than expected, but that was likely a blessing as we’d discovered a few issues that needed working through. In the end, it’s bringing in more power than the rooftop panels as we can reposition them to eke out more wattage for more hours of the day. Since we were still low on power last night, we ran the generator while making dinner (broccoli pasta in garlic butter & olive oil). It’s been a windy one today. We thought about washing vehicles, deciding against it as the gusts of dust would have made it for naught. I think a lazier day was what we needed anyway.

Share your comments on Facebook or email us at roadfronts@gmail.com