Nothing Quite Like a Two Lane

Get ready for some pictures not from an airplane! Ok ok, it's only two pictures but these pictures were captured in a moment of spontaneity and uninhibited happiness. I was able to take a quick trip to Phoenix this last weekend and I decided to take a road less traveled to get there. In between Valle Arizona and Flagstaff sits US-180, a winding, twisting two-lane highway in central Arizona that climbs up to over 8,000 feet while careening through field and forest. There is a certain skin prickling calm that comes over me when I'm on a road that is truly fun to drive. It's a feeling I haven't felt in some time, but with the radio turned up loud, no cell service and a PB&J sandwich in the shotgun seat, I found myself in a state of driving euphoria. As the forests whipped by I jokingly thought to myself that I was on the lookout for that damn Sasquatch, lurking just out of sight. I saw a herd of elk, lazily grazing next to the road as the sun set low on the horizon. A sunset filled with blues and purples, a sunset that only the American Southwest could create. (The picture doesn't do it any justice) With the music turned up loud, singing so loud I risked losing my voice, I relished every turn, bump and new view the road had to offer me. Once the sun had finally set and I had turned the music back to a reasonable volume, I was aglow with the joy of driving, a joy I didn't know I had missed until I was reminded by the lonely US-180.

The Lonesome Road.

It was better in person.