Seeing as I have no idea where we are headed, it shouldn’t surprise me when we end up at the home of some local hippies, but it does.
The two hippies take us not to their house, but to the teahouse where they work. Apparently, they live in yerts (which are basically giant, Mongolian tents) in the backyard. Sure enough, we show up to do a show to five people. One just moved to America from Russia, less than a week ago. One walks out in the middle. After we finish, we get a tour of their yerts. As much as I love playing weird shows in unlikely places, there’s a little too much “You think you’re funny? This is funny…” attitude from the hippies for me. I’m eager to move on and drive all night.
We wake up at a Wal Mart lot, somewhere in Arizona. As I walk inside for my morning routine, part of me can’t help but think of the irony; up until now, I’ve always disregarded the chain off as some giant, faceless, evil corporation. But here I am, using them on a regular basis – even if mostly as a slightly more well off homeless person.
Our plan is to go to Vegas, after we take care of some RV maintenance. However, as we wait we start to realize how tired we are, from our shows and constantly trying to film bits all the time. We also realize we were only an hour away from the Grand Canyon, and decide we’re taking some time for ourselves.
Driving towards the Grand Canyon, I notice trailers parked a few miles off the main highways, and can’t help but wonder about that lifestyle, and how it’s so different from mine. When we get there, I’m blown away. After being so shocked by Taos, I’d assumed that nothing else could faze me, but I was very wrong.
When we finally start heading to Vegas later that afternoon, we take historic Route 66, and stop for dinner at a small roadside diner called The Roadkill Café. As we pull up, we’re greeted by a middle-aged woman. She smiles, waves and invites us to eat with her. I order an enormous dinner and then wander around, looking at the décor, talking to the waitresses, and playing pool. Looking around the tacky décor, looking back on the day, and the past week and a half, with everything we’ve seen, done, and getting to know everyone better, it feels like I’m on the greatest family vacation ever.
As we make our way out back to the RV, Chris quickly rushes us all aboard, with clear concern in his voice. As we hurry on, someone asks what the fuss is about, to which he explains “I Googled the e-mail address that lady gave me on my phone, and everything that came up were escort reviews,” to the horror of everyone else and my own personal amusement. It seemed like an appropriate way to make our way to Vegas.
Next up: The crew finds out if they’re too much for Vegas to handle.
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