At daylight’s break embark to travel,

Down roads of asphalt, concrete and gravel.

Destination unknown, no map in hand,

Fun is not knowing where we will land.

Crossing desert dry, barren and bleak,

Distant the cool tree covered mountain peaks.

Joshua tree forest must first be traversed,

Bizarre and twisted as something not of this earth.

What wonders this world continues to show,

With every mile we travel many more to go.

Sadly this beauty for youth won’t be mentioned,

Instead iPods, iPads and Facebook capture their attention.

Nowhere, Arizona a one building town,

Stopping to look, not a soul to be found.

Dilapidated and boarded the structure in disrepair,

By harsh wind or rot  it will soon vanish in thin air.

The landscape it changes as if landing on the moon,

Mountains of boulders stacked across the desert are strewn.

As if blown from volcanoes long ago extinct,

Coloring the imagination or at least a pause to think.

Not long, maybe not more than a mile,

In the rearview mirror the unexplainable rock pile.

More desert, it never seems to end,

To Bull Head or Mead, to go straight or take the bend.

Go straight wins by the toss of a coin,

To Hoover and Mead a sight we purloin.

Desolate landscape finally breaks,

Over a hill in mountains our breath it does take.

Up and up we had unknowingly gone,

Thousands of feet of climb we have done.

Deep down below the majestic Colorado River,

It twinkles and glistens in the sun gives us shivers.

As high as we are so small it appears,

Looking over the edge it’s magnificence brings tears.

The mighty Hoover Dam lion tamer to Lake Mead,

It’s concrete and steel whip contains the rivers on which it feeds.

Drought and overuse have taken its toll,

Leaving scarred and starving this wonderful man-made bowl.

Still the ingenuity of this feet is something to behold.

It’s sight is jaw-dropping and never gets old.

Great distances unnecessary, unplanned and unscripted,

A simple excursion my spirits uplifted.