Heat

Saturday, 31st August

The day was spent down at Huntington Beach and I made the mistake of putting Ray's tanning oil on, big mistake as that stuff encourages burning and that I did.

Late night we were filling up at a gas station, the midnight adventure of driving out to the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. I believe we were in Stacey's car, a big slumbering waterbed of a car, I was in the back seat, nursing my overtan and we set off in some direction.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon as the sun was coming up and it was definitely a Kodak moment, so we marvelled as the sun crept over the horizon and lit this magnificent hole in the ground. This was a highlight, yet, for some reason, once the box was ticked it was a case of what's next and are we there yet?

As the day warmed up and the heat arrived, there was a constant struggle with an inefficient air conditioning system and this part lobster, part human in the back seat who wanted to roll the window down.

Boulder Dam and Lake Mead, the place looked exactly like it did in the Superman film yet better lit, high definition and amazing blues, the dam is an engineering marvel and I've been back there many times since then.

Then onto the City of Sin, Las Vegas for the first time, a place that has changed a lot over the last twenty four years, however, one thing that hasn't changed is the heat and on that September day all those years ago, with the aid of Hawaiian Tropic, that heat was the last thing I wanted.