MileMarker

Two-lane roads. Coffee by the cup. A few notes from the American West, taken whenever I finally stop driving.

Find a slow road
A straight two-lane highway crossing red desert toward sunlit mesas beneath a dusky sky
Route 163. One hour before sunset.Utah / Arizona

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Rhubarb pie and black coffee on a worn diner counter in warm window light
Wyoming

Pie, and nothing else, in Wyoming

A forty-mile detour for a slice of rhubarb pie. The coffee was $2. The second cup made leaving considerably harder.

40 miles · 1 counter stool · $6 pie

A gravel road through pine forest beneath snow-covered mountain peaks
The Rockies

Where the pavement ends

Eleven miles of gravel, a cold lake, and mountains still wearing last winter. The odometer did very little. I approved.

11 gravel miles · 2 stops · coffee from a flask

An empty two-lane desert road leading toward red mesas in the last light
Utah / Arizona

Route 163 at golden hour

A straight line between red rocks. Forty-five miles, two long stops, and a fuel receipt that proved more useful than my plan.

45 miles · 2 stops · $2.50 coffee

Read the field notes
A weathered blank motel sign beside low rooms and an empty parking lot at dusk
Nevada

A night in the high desert

A tired motel, an enthusiastic ice machine, and dinner across the road. I booked one night and stayed for the quiet.

180 miles · $58 room · coffee included, technically