Still in our early rising mode, heading out of Vegas in the six o'clock hour, before the crush of noise and heat. The road north is surprisingly big and smooth, even well after the city has given way to desert. And the desert is suprisingly beautiful, dusty expanses of scrub framed by flanks of mountain. Like a spare work of art, it's about light, movement, presence. There's a lot of mystery in the desert, mysterious buildings, abandoned contraptions, unexplained shadows. Whoever it was at Rand McNally who didn't mark this route as scenic should be ashamed. At Amargosa Valley we find only one business open, but that one offers the best breakfast we have had--authentically light biscuits, authoritatively crisp bacon. Outside, the mailbox cautions, 'Prevent Identity Theft, Do Not Put Mail in This Box After the
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