We spent honeymoon day one with family. We left the Bay Area for day two a little before noon and got to Sedona, AZ at 1am. The ride to Sedona was pretty torturous but I had a pretty good time (I did 90% of the driving so I stayed occupied). Christina on the other hand saw lots and lots and lots of desert. I had no idea how big the Mojave Desert is! The desert goes on and on and on. And nothing, and I mean nothing lives in the desert, not even palm trees at the rest stop.
After three or four hours of driving through the desert (and virtually no traffic or any sort of visual stimulation), my foot got heavier and heavier. After the sun went down it got even heavier and I couldn’t wait to get to Sedona. My trusty radar detector did work but it only works when radar is turned on so when the highway patrol turned it on as I was going down a hill it was too late (huh…bad boys, bad boys whatcha want, whatcha gonna do). 91 in a 70, yeah I was going at a “pretty good clip” but the cop was extremely kind and knocked it down to 80 so I could just do traffic school and not have it affect my insurance and pay a small fine. I think the “just married stickers” all over the car might have helped. So if you are going through the desert, or I guess anywhere, stay within 5 miles of the speed limit. Good reminder. The rest of the ride to Sedona took even longer…going the speed limit. It did seem silly to go 70 with virtually NO CARS on a wide open road but lesson learned and Needles Highway Patrol was extremely fair. I shook the officer’s hand as I really appreciated his kindness.
Christina drove after dinner and I got about an hour and a half of sleep in. I drove the remaining 100 miles after stopping for some Red Bull and the remaining drive ended up to be the most exciting drive I think I’ve ever had. 20 miles outside of Sedona you have to go through this windy national forest road and there are a ton of signs to watch out for wildlife. I definitely took note and wanted to make sure my new bride and myself got to Sedona safe. The first group of animals we saw on the road were three large elk. Those things are massive! Then we saw two deer, then a skunk, then three racoons. The twists and turns down the mountain (7000 foot elevation) definitely kept me awake! Most of the turns are hair pin and 15 miles an hour to give you an idea. Upon getting just south of the resort we are staying at we saw a havalina running down the street. This place is crazy! Lots more news to come but we are having a great time.