I write this post to you from Kingman, AZ, which, according to locals, is the meth capital of the world. I look forward to leaving this town as quickly as possible. 
Just kidding. But overall, it seems safe.
I arrived here on Wednesday night after spending a few days in Flagstaff, AZ (again - so far one of my favorite places on this trip) with Rocko, who is Blythe’s good friend and former hiking partner. The last time I posted, I was sitting in a pizzeria in Scottsdale, AZ. After picking up that pizza I was waiting for, I headed back to my friend Sarah’s place, stayed one more night, woke up to an apartment with no water (which was interesting), and headed North to “Flag”.
I arrived in Flagstaff on Monday afternoon after driving through a few monsoons, which was quite an interesting experience (everything seems “interesting” to me on this trip - but that’s because it’s all new to me!). I spent Monday night and Tuesday night in Flagstaff, doing lots of hiking, which included things like an underground lava cave (really cool, needed a head lamp) - except somehow, Rocko got turned around (she makes a great tour guide - not) and we ended up back at the entrance instead of reaching the end. It was very funny, because she was absolutely convinced the light at the end of the tunnel was a recent rock fall. After our excitement died down, we realized it was just the beginning of the tube 
After that hike, I immediately went to another hike South of Flag (the lava tube was off of “the 180″, North of Flagstaff). This hike was also quite exciting - a fairly flat round trip which included pretty trees that smell like Vanilla (I’m obsessed with them now), and lots of good mountain scenery. This hike was much more green, as Flagstaff is around 8000 feet elevation, so grass grows much more easily because it isn’t as hot.
I continued to smell those vanilla-smelling trees for quite a long time before leaving.
Dinner on Monday night was at the local brewery. I ended up burning the top of my mouth, unfortunately, and even today (Friday), it still hasn’t recovered. Those stupid boiling garlic cloves were just way too tempting! Luckily, I convinced Rocko to let me watch the Southwest Chief #3 come through around 10:00 PM (for once, it was almost on time). Saw it pull into the Flagstaff station right across the street, then jetted down to the field where I had camped earlier in my trip and saw it zoom past! That was fun - until the truck got stuck. But we got it out. Sort of. Talk about flying mud once back on the road!
Somewhere along the way from the brewery to the train station, I decided to stop in a random sushi place and get some tako sashimi - I believe it’s that late night snack that kept me on the toilet Tuesday morning for hours (sorry for clogging your toilet Rocko!, and sorry for the details readers!). So the hike on Tuesday to Red Mountain (another hike further up the 180 North of Flag) was foiled - but we did enjoy a nice breakfast at Mike & Ronda’s, a famous breakfast place in Flagstaff, and a few trips to the post office and target. All day Tuesday was spent drinking some beer (after I was feeling better - I’m becoming obsessed with Fat Tire!), drinking water, watching the monsoon outside (it’s a good thing we hadn’t gone to hike Red Mountain Tuesday, as I’ll mention in a few minutes, the natural waterfalls that appear during rain makes it look really pretty, so perhaps it would have been nice to have gone on Tuesday!), and playing cards: skip-bo (a really cool new card game I learned), and phase 10 (which I’ve been obsessed about ever since Rocko and Blythe introduced it to me months ago). I joined in with Rocko’s family to play these games (I felt very welcome both nights!) and went to bed fairly early Tuesday night after a long day of bathroom-visits and beer/card games while enjoying the rain. Seriously, I love Flagstaff.
Wednesday was fun! Laundry in the morning, but then the hike to Red Mountain. I would have to say this was my favorite hike of the trio-day hiking adventure. Lots and lots of gorgeous rocks, interesting climbs, nice ledges and wedges, and a bunch of volcano cinder stuff (red mountain is an old volcano that had half of its head chopped off so you can actually hike inside it). Lunch in downtown Flagstaff was awesome - I had a peanut chicken burrito and a few beers! All attempts to convince Rocko to temporarily join me on my drive failed, though she may join in Colorado!
Wednesday afternoon after the hike was spent driving to Kingman, AZ via Route 66. I found a really cool country bar and wanted to check it out, but unfortunately it was closed Who would’ve thought - country line dancing in the middle of no where on Route 66. A guy who was there who I spoke to (who actually invited me to his house for dinner, which was nice of him!) ended up telling me they tend to close early, but are open fairly late on Friday’s and Saturday’s, so I MAY backtrack and check it out - it’s about 20 miles north east of here. But we shall see.
On Wednesday night, I arrived in Kingman, which is apparently the meth capital of the world (hence the title of the post). It’s just something that locals have constantly said to me since I got here, otherwise I wouldn’t care, but it’s an interesting way to introduce the town that you live in. I went to IHOP to get some work done, and as I loaded up my laptop with Ubuntu Linux on it, the waitress came over and said “Oh… DOS!” (hence the second title of this post). I was still somewhat impressed: most people would want to know why I was hacking the US Government if they see an O.S. that isn’t Windows.
I once again saw the Amtrak #3 as it passed through, this time about 2 hours later, since its a Westbound train. Seeing the Southwest Chief come through each night has become a tradition that I believe will continue until I’m in L.A. No idea when that’ll be. I can’t even decide if I’m heading to San Diego or not!
I’ve been working on some personal projects in Kingman since Wednesday night, though I plan on leaving tomorrow and heading into California. I’ll miss Arizona, a lot. I’ve had an amazing time here.
That’s about it for now. I’ll be creating a picture post shortly once everything calms down that will contain all of my pictures from the trip.
I can’t believe I actually completed a single post all in one sitting. Now, I have to go back in time and write about the end of June and beginning of July, which I haven’t even completed yet!
Hope all is well, everyone.