Want to swim

Henderson, NV

I lived in Henderson, NV outside of Las Vegas from January to June. Eating, working out, and playing on a computer I set up inside my car. Food was good and I had a place to park where I could get electricity and WiFi. I had all the essentials.

Road Trip

Lately the daily temperature range went from about 90 F to 110 F and it became hot at night to function. I started a trip north to Green Bay, Wisconsin where it's cooler in the summer. Why there of all places is because it's right on the shore of Lake Michigan and I want to swim in the lake.

Below is a map of my progress to date. I'm in Grand Junction, Colorado today.

Mesquite, NV

Shortly after crossing into Nevada from the north is a little town in the desert with huge green lawns, clean white sidewalks, bright blue swimming pools. It feels like a slice of Pleasantville, like stumbling upon a mirage oasis. Neat and pristine to the point of unreal.

A preview of Las Vegas, in a way. I mean, how could there be so much water in the desert to support golf courses and high end resort hotels? How would grassy lawns naturally occur in this arid environment? It's artificial. It's inefficient. All these nice things don't belong here. It's purely the product of money.

Utah, land of rocks and Mormons

The locals in a small town of Richfield, Utah looked like they were all related to one another. Dudes working at McDonald's, a guy working at a hospital, random men on the street... their faces looked like brothers. A policeman caught up on conversation with a dental assistant for twenty minutes the way that cousins might.

I saw Mormon pamphlets on the counter of a Mom and Pop operated Pizza Hut. Utah has a large Mormon population and they tend to have large families, so maybe they were related.

Grand Junction, Colorado

The Chinese buffet in town is pretty good. There's a Golden Corral too. And both are conveniently a short walk from a Walmart and a Lowe's. City also offers a college, parks, and nice libraries. Meets all my criteria for a good place to van-dwell.

• Colorado Mesa University.
  
  Unfortunately no public WiFi on campus, and no Ethernet access in the library either. :sadface:

• Mesa County Central Library

Interesting things are in the library.

A teen room (basically just a place for kids to play video games)




A booth where you can answer calls (mobile phone not included)





"Best Advice" board, with user submitted motivational messages

 

Below are some I liked. A lot of the messages are about eating good food or smiling.

'dont stop eating dilishous Food' [sic]
and
'BE NICE TO YOUR MOM'

'I <3'

'SMILE YOUR ON CAMERA : )'

'Smile for yourself'

'if you throw up you can drink more!'

'8 )'