The Criminal Syndicate In D.C.

I’d come to a conclusion similar to this, but they phrase it better:

https://creativedestructionmedia.com/opinion/2021/06/10/once-you-realize-the-us-government-is-an-organized-crime-syndicate-everything-makes-sense/

Obama corrupted everything good within the U.S. government, finishing what the Clinton’s started. Joe Biden (essentially Obama’s third term) is the coup de grace.

Axios released an article today detailing that half the unemployment aid issued over the past year was sent out of the country to foreign criminal organizations.

The free for all which was the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) shockingly sent millions to Chinese state-owned corporations overseas. This is in the public record.

You see, once you realize the current rendition of the U.S. government is an organized crime syndicate of massive proportion, in control of the national security apparatus, everything that is happening immediately makes sense.

CDMedia wrote weeks ago that our sources informed us the alleged ‘ransomeware’ attack on the Colonial Pipeline was not a foreign operation, but likely executed by domestic entities for monetary, or political gain.

Some have entertained the thought of internal strife between U.S. government agencies, essential criminal gangs, reaping the benefits of organized money laundering on a massive scale.

Now we learn the FBI reportedly seized the millions of Bitcoin paid by Colonial pipeline for the alleged ransom.

Was the hack solved so quickly because there’s a power struggle between the FBI and the CIA going on? In that story, did the CIA hack the pipeline and the FBI decide to punish them?

In Russia this is common. Different security agencies of the Russian secret services are in regular competition for illicit gains. The FSB regularly takes over businesses to reap ill-gotten profit. Corruption is what the Russian system is built upon.

This is what Obama and his minions have brought here.

Think about it, if parts of the U.S. government are in bed with the Chinese Communist Party, looking to rape the American people of trillions of dollars, agriculture, energy, and so on, then the entire Russia! Russia! Russia! hoax makes perfect sense.

Blame it all on the rival criminal gang!

And, the Deplorables pay for it all!

Isn’t that special?

We’re well into the realm of Global Kleptocracy. At that point, the best solution is to simply END the Federal Government as embodied today, as much as possible, via the elimination of whole agencies. Cut it back to the very few and very minor duties specifically laid out in the Constitution. Make Congressional seats painful to occupy for the “rich and powerful”. Things like absolute full disclosure of ALL assets and money flows, mandatory Blind Trust for all investment assets that can invest only in US Treasuries for the duration of “service”, a pay rate of $100,000 / year (and NO added “perks” beyond BASIC Kaiser or Blue Cross medical coverage). Abolish “laws for donations”. No-one in government can work for an industry they regulated or proposed laws for, for a decade after office. Etc.

Essentially, we need to get rid of the attractions for the D.C. Crime Syndicate.

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About E.M.Smith

A technical managerial sort interested in things from Stonehenge to computer science. My present "hot buttons' are the mythology of Climate Change and ancient metrology; but things change...
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25 Responses to The Criminal Syndicate In D.C.

  1. p.g.sharrow says:

    Unfortunately those conditions will only insure that criminal organizations will be able to field candidates.

  2. H.R. says:

    Great suggestions, E.M.!

    Guess who has to vote all those things into Law?

    I am now getting more relieved that I bought a house on wheels. I will be looking at unimproved land in the boonies or maybe a parcel with an outbuilding and electric service. I can add a septic tank, propane or fuel oil, and a well.

    It will have to be in a very, very Red State.

    Any ideas on States that will stand up to the Feds over the long haul? Florida, for now, but will it last?

  3. E.M.Smith says:

    @P.G.:

    I’d take the job under those conditions. Note that “laws for donations” may be a bit unclear about campaign contributions. I’m talking about folks agreeing to put in place a particular law in order to get donations. (While I’d love to abolish donations from corporations, the Supremes already ruled that out). Just that any action where there’s a law past and a donation made in close proximity becomes illegal.

    You can still have all the “little guy” donations you want. I think that ought to tilt the table toward more populist candidates.

    Note that it also does not prevent a Trump from running and using his own money. At his age, a LOT of his assets ought to have already been “Gifted” to his kids anyway to avoid probate and such. So the “Rich Old Retired Guy” with a few $Millions to $Billions gets to put that in Treasuries for a few years while in office. IMHO, nice encouragement to prevent high inflation… I also did not say “All Assets” only “all investment assets”. No need to sell the family farm (or mansions…). You just can’t load up on Pfizer stock just before approving a few $Billion in vaccine buys…

    @H.R.:

    I’m likely to be “On Wheels” inside a few months. Will have cash in hand to buy in about 2 months, I think. Then it’s “on the road again”… (There’s likely to be many months after that of “Bi-Coastal” life as we deal with all the left-overs…) We’re looking mostly at Florida, secondarily at Tennessee & Texas. All are warm enough, and 1/2 of Texas is wet enough. All have no State Income Tax. I expect they will hold out longest.

    Basically being “Drought Birds”… kinda like Snow Birds, but running away from Western Droughts instead… and returning when it’s nice.

    Also ran? Idaho, Montana, Wyoming. Right politics. No dominating urban center. But too damn cold for the spouse (and likely for me too…). West Virginia (bit too cold in winter, has income tax, gets the coal / no coal sea saw politically). The Carolinas get a “Maybe”. Don’t really know quite enough. The fact that S. Carolina ended up pwned by the Dimocrats is a big negative… Ditto Georgia. Dominated by Atlanta & currently pwned. Then there’s Vermont… Surprisingly conservative for where it is located. But I think it is too small to push the points that need pushing.

    After that, I start running out of ideas. Alaska would be great… for about 6 months out of the year… but getting your guns TO Alaska (or back FROM Alaska) is a PITA beyond belief. Basically, for any handguns, you get to pay an FFL & Shipping fee of $50+ or so PER GUN to have them shipped FFL to FFL (AND there’s exactly one way to fill out the paperwork and that isn’t widely known). In theory you can get a Canada transit pass, but nobody has ever actually seen one for handguns (and for long guns you are likely going to have a legal proctocope for more than one shotgun or hunting rifle…)

    Our musings (not yet to “plan” stage) range around:

    1) Buy Coach suited to 2 retired folks (add ‘elevator’), and 2 small dogs.
    2) Move most of our “Stuff” into storage. Pods (or similar). Dispose junk.
    3) Tow one car. Others go to storage somewhere. (Likely on both coasts)
    4) Wander around a few States, deciding what we like, or not.
    4b) If things “get icky”, run back home for a think ;-)
    5) If we like someplace, rent something (get a lot of our “stuff” out of storage).
    6) IFF we really like it, buy something and take the rest of our “stuff” out of storage.
    6b) Plan B if we don’t like it, go to #4

    Somewhere in there we sell the California house. Either early and be done, or maybe after we “flip our own house”, or possibly just have it be an ‘easy return’ rental until we know what we want. All very unclear. (Mortgage is zero in about 7 months…)

    Also, as I’m now employed, There will be a “fly-in car” dispositioned here for a good long while. Don’t know if I’ll be needed often enough to keep a small place (or little one person camper) here, or just do hotels. Also don’t know if we will just have a house on each coast for a while. I’m hoping that inside a few months I can have the site so stable I’m just doing a 1 / week “check in” and a once a month or two “fly in” for enhancement projects. But “we’ll see”. This might end up a gating factor for a while as I’m committed to keeping them running well.

    Of course, all this is just speculative at the moment. Still waiting for the first shoe to drop, and likely a few months of sorting junk still in my future ;-)

  4. philjourdan says:

    Democrats are not that smart. But they are not totally stupid either (the elites, the base is). They finally got around to realizing that as long as they have the money, they can do anything. Until America realizes that and votes to get the money out of DC (forget politics), we have failed the founders.

    That is the criminal syndicate. The democrats realized it, it just took them 200 years to figure it out.

  5. H.R. says:

    E.M.: “You just can’t load up on Pfizer stock just before approving a few $Billion in vaccine buys…”

    What about FauXi? I doubt if it stopped any of the Senators or Congresscritters. They have arrangements similar to Cho Bi Dan and Hunter. It’s just their bag men don’t leave their laptops at repair shops or get loose lips while smoking crack.

  6. Terry Jackson says:

    @EM
    Re The Plan. Consider step 1 as just using the car and suitcases to run the initial survey. RV Park is about $50, and the car gets 2X or more better mileage. I am seeing RV parks need reservations 2 and 3 months ahead right now, a big change from past years. So, find home base in FL, move car there, explore options. Examine and research RV, purchase later We are now top of market.

    RE Storage and Moving. A partial load (10,000 LBS). PNW to AZ wad about $7500. In retrospect, we could have bought replacement for that. Carry on.

  7. E.M.Smith says:

    @Terry Jackson:

    Oddly, my interest in a Subaru Forester “build out” was for just that kind of scenario. It is still very likely to be “in the mix” just because I can only be away from Florida “so long”.

    But having been frequently accused of being Prolix and giving TMI… I left out that I’m likely to take a car to Florida and pre-position it there, then fly back, somewhere in the next few weeks. I’ve arranged a place to put it, it already has Florida plate, and I get to see my Florida Friend again ;-) So there’s that. (I’ve actually mentioned this here before).

    Then Spouse & / or I can “fly in” to Orlando and have car waiting. Look around for destination. Either just get a “Vacation Cottage” (“immobile mobile home”) in an RV park as we did when I was on contract to Disney or find an RV for sale that we like. Or even an apartment or home for rent.

    It is not yet settled if we do it that way, or if we buy an RV and load up everyone (dogs too) and do a leisurely cross country meander as a “family”.

    So yes, your suggestion is a very good one. And in the “mix”.

    The RV park we were in before (for 1.5+ years) was nice, and likely we would go there again. In a “vacation cottage” or in our own RV. Basically, we did a lot of the “initial survey” when I was on contract there. Now it’s more of working out details. Really Orlando, again? Or go to Tampa Bay? Disney or closer to Space Port Action? Florida Friend is moved to a new home, but his sister has space to depot a car. So car / fly or RV “cruise America”. All up in the air…

    One big unresolved question is just “Can I fly back from Florida?”. I’m not vaccinated and will not be. Once me and a car are in Florida, can I get back via transit providers? I don’t know.

    I love the energy of being in the middle of potentials… Eventually it will settle into the logistics of one reality…

    As per shipping vs buying new:

    Yeah, that’s a bear. A LOT of the percentage of stuff will be irreplaceable. Photos. Books out of print. Computers no longer made but meaningful to me. Old tools NOT from China. Cars of vintage no longer buyable. But many of those books I’ve not read in 20 years… And old computers are of interest to whom, exactly?

    But a LOT of stuff is just pointless crap and will be dumpster food or recycle or “donations”. That, frankly, is the biggest PITA. I’ve got to pick up every single item at least once, look at it, and in a few seconds sort: POD for future retrieval, Dumpster as it is crap, Donation Pile as someone will love it and I don’t anymore, Recycle as its worth is materials.

    I’m so glad the house is small and our actual furniture of interest is small. Couple of desks, a dresser or two, one “sideboard”, a table.

    The biggest complication is that the Spouse can not do a few hundred miles in the car in a day. I won’t go into the medical issues, but it’s either I drive 800 miles and pick her up at the airport for the night; or we get an RV and do small increments across the country together. Parking as needed where available. A LOT of non-RV parks. So rest areas, side of road. BLM land. Walmarts. etc. etc. Thus the idea of a larger self contained RV. I’m REALLY good at finding the “Stealth camping” options along the way ( I’ve done DOZENS of cross country runs…) so it is a workable option.

    OTOH, it is likely that it will just be “me and a car” then she flies in. I’ve got a place for us to land. Then we work out the RV thing for wandering around the various areas. For that, the biggest issue is that we have a “3 corner problem”. Dogs. Spouse. Me. One of us needs to be with the dogs while the other is not. An RV and slow travel fixes that. OTOH, Spouse can fly in to a waiting car and “vacation cottage” and I can drive the dogs cross country in another car. (I find a coach, and put car at airport. Fly home. Spouse flies to parked car and drives to coach. I put dogs in other car and drive out.)

    Basically, there’s a LOT of options and a LOT of choices and there is no way to find the right one now. It will unfold as an emergent phenomenon as various things drop into place, or block.

  8. The True Nolan says:

    @E.M. : “We’re looking mostly at Florida, secondarily at Tennessee & Texas. All are warm enough, and 1/2 of Texas is wet enough. All have no State Income Tax.”

    You may want to consider Northern Arkansas in the Ozark mountains (or perhaps the southern Missouri Ozarks). Yes, Arkansas has a state income tax, but there are a lot of exclusions and exceptions. The culture is conservative and traditional, lots of churches, and people are serious about their religion. (Personally, my beliefs are MUCH more abstract and symbolic — but if you want an area that is socially TOUGH and not BRITTLE, religion is important.) Local people tend to be relatively self sufficient; they fix their own tractors and grow their own gardens. Average income is much lower than in big cities, but prices, property taxes, utilities, insurance are all lower. Lots of cattle ranching and logging. Good fishing. A fair bit of undeveloped national forests and quite a few large reservoirs

    I would recommend that the next time you go trans-continental you swing through the Ozarks north of Little Rock. South of Little Rock is too developed. If you wish, my wife and I have a guest room and would gladly put you up for a few days.

  9. jim2 says:

    TTN – Texas does have a property tax of 1.69%. Then depending on where you live there can be city taxes, school district taxes, county taxes – all on property. So you yearly tax bill on property easily can be in the thousands.

    OTOH, Tennessee has no property tax nor income tax. It uses a sales tax instead.

    https://taxfoundation.org/state/texas

  10. jim2 says:

    Sorry, Tennessee does have a 0.73% property tax.

  11. jim2 says:

    And Texas has a hefty sales tax also. You can use the tax foundation site to compare states. I prefer the sales tax over property taxes – especially if one is retiring.

  12. H.R. says:

    @TTN – One of my older brothers went to Hardly College in Scarcely Arkansas (Harding College in Searcy, Arkansas.)

    Good school. Church founded and based – Chapel required. But many of their grads were accepted to med schools, dentistry schools, and law schools all around the country.

    It’s nice country around Searcy.

  13. The True Nolan says:

    @H.R. “It’s nice country around Searcy.”

    Yes, Searcy is on the edge of the mountains; there are some nice hills and streams. Also, Searcy sits next to a major highway — which is good or bad depending on your mindset. As you go north from there the terrain becomes more rugged and the roads become smaller and curvier. I am about an hour and a half north of there.

  14. E.M.Smith says:

    @TTN:

    Thanks for the offer!

    I’ve done I-40 across Arkansas a few times, and it is a very pretty place. Stopped at the Welcome Station and picked up the brochures on fishing ;-)

    Basically anything East of New Mexico (that has too many Federal Jobs to be resistant to Federal Mandates and also filled up with loons in the north ) and south of OMG Snow, is a potential. We have family connections to Oklahoma & Texas, then friends in Tennessee, N. Carolina & Florida. So any place near any of them is “close enough” (and in between might be a feature…)

    Only real limits are that the Spouse doesn’t “do” snow (maybe an inch if it leaves the next day…) and doesn’t like mountains. (Anything over about 2000 feet elevation change in a day is an issue). Basically she likes things flat and warm. So we’re going to check out the Tennessee valley and see if that’s flat and warm enough… mostly as she has a friend who lives there and it is closer to the Son than is Florida. Then we have friends in Florida and it is way flat and way warm…

    I’m voting for an RV for at least 6 months so we can “check out the weather” in some winter places before committing to them… I’m good at looking at a historical weather chart and knowing how I’ll feel about it. Spouse is more of an “immersive experience” person… who has only ever lived in California near the coast or Florida… I think I got her to visit snow once. For about 1 day. 30+ years ago…

    @Jim2:

    One of the things I’ll miss is our Prop. 13 limited property taxes. Basically mine were pretty much locked in at about 1985 levels… IIRC 1% / year max bump. However, once the place sells, someone else will get circa $10 k / year taxes. Oh Well… Basically it is an “exit only” deal. No coming back.

    Florida has an interesting Homestead law. Basically file homestead and nobody can touch your home, not even for property taxes. They get collected when you sell or it gets inherited. They will try to collect them every year, but you can just ignore it (as long as you don’t mind the dunning). Can be useful in the case of “medical bankruptcy” or similar Aw Shits.

    I’m expecting that any property tax there will not be too bad compared to anything we might buy here… Plus we have a 9.5% to 11% sales tax (variation from local sales tax bumps to State base). Then that $1 / gallon higher gas price here… and all the other incredibly higher prices here… So I’m pretty sure anywhere we land will be a net gain. For example, we had a “Fish Meal” and a “#1 Whopper meal” at Burger King. $20. That’s two basic meals off their menu, no uplifts. About the minimum you can get low end Fast Food prices.

    @H.R.:

    Spouse was mighty impressed with the Bible Belt. We (as a family) drove through it about 25? years ago. She really liked the “Church on every corner” aspect of the smaller towns. ;-)

    Son did a church trip to a sister church in, IIRC, Mississippi. It had been badly damaged in a major storm (hurricane leftovers). Spent a couple of weeks. Local church here drove a truck or two of supplies to the community and a crew to rebuild the church. (I donated my biggest and best Parallel Bible to the Minister. Something like 8 parallel translations including Greek & Hebrew with KJV, American New Revised Standard, and a couple of modern ‘Free Translations’; since a lot of his kit was “gone with the wind”.)

  15. YMMV says:

    “Alaska would be great… for about 6 months out of the year… but getting your guns TO Alaska (or back FROM Alaska) is a PITA beyond belief.”

    Part 1, Alaska, exactly. With winter vacations in the south.
    Part 2, possible loophole. Due to a law meant to favor American boats, most (all) cruise ships were forced to stop in Canada. Which was not allowed during Covid. So they changed the law so cruise ships can go direct from US mainland to Alaska. I’m not sure if this means there is any way to have guns in your luggage. Then there is the Alaska State Ferry, from Bellingham to Alaska. Finally, I know there are cargo ships going that route.

    Border crossing, it’s a high risk PITA. Lots of web sites go into details. Don’t forget even one single bullet! They make it sound possible, but the conclusion is “The easiest way to transport firearms is to have them crated and shipped to your destination via a commercial carrier.”
    http://www.adfg.alaska.gov/index.cfm?adfg=wildlifenews.view_article&articles_id=695

    On the other hand, there’s a whole world of camping opportunities on the way to Alaska.

  16. YMMV says:

    That cruise ship law:

    The Passenger Vessel Service Act, passed in 1886, slaps foreign-flagged ship owners with a fine of US$762 per passenger if they schedule a “closed loop” cruise that only visits U.S. ports. If, for example, the Royal Caribbean-owned Symphony of the Seas loads up its full complement of 6,680 passengers and then goes on a day cruise from Seattle to Portland, its owners can expect a $5 million fine on arrival.

    (This is from a Canadian story: “Canada’s $4.2 billion cruise industry risks being permanently decimated by proposed U.S. law”)

  17. E.M.Smith says:

    @YMMV:

    I am hoping that at some not too distant point in my life I can do a One Time Only driving / camping run from the furthest north I can get in Alaska to the end of the Florida Keys… Arrive at “way north” on warmest day of the year. Dip toes in Arctic Ocean. Turn around and drive South East until out of road… I’d figure no less than 3 weeks, no more than 6 months…

    I’d not bother with having any guns on board, just to avoid the bother. The guns thing, for me, is only about moving full time to Alaska. “Getting them there” one time only. But the spouse would never survive Alaska (or I would not survive the suggestion ;-)

    But otherwise it will likely be the last place to have loony left issues, especially any distance out in the woods… Too much you must think about just to stay alive. Those with defective cognition will be known as “Bear Food”…

    Hmmm…. Ya Know… IF Alaska & Texas left the union and formed their own nation, they would have a LOT of oil revenue between them… and a huge land area. Heck, toss in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama & Florida, you could take all the Gulf Oil with you too… Might be interesting to watch the Bos-Wash Corridor folks trying to figure out how to stop a new Secession Movement with no oil for their cars, trucks, boats, planes, etc. etc…. We already had a proof of concept with the Colonial Pipeline…

  18. p.g.sharrow says:

    Unfortunately there is no place to escape liberals that I know of. They follow money like wolves follow blood. If there is economic success they swarm in and ruin the place like locusts and then move on leaving the locals to clean up the damages. I lived in a small town in Alaska for 2 years. The biggest problem was the social demands and graft that they brought into town. The most honorable place I have lived was in Surprise Valley. It was an old time Ranch/Farming Area cut off from the rest of California , Too poor and too cold for Liberals to take root…pg

  19. H.R. says:

    p.g.: “Too poor and too cold for Liberals to take root…

    Aha! Now I know where to go.

  20. E.M.Smith says:

    @P.G.:

    So not Perfection Valley? No graboids? ;-)

  21. p.g.sharrow says:

    No, no graboids. A Shangri-La on the back side of the Warner Mountains on the West side of the Great Basin. Oregon to the North and Nevada to the East. About 60 x 12 miles in size @ 4500ft elevation. It was once a much welcome rest stop on the trek to the Oregon Territory for the wagon trains.
    Imagine after 800 miles of sage brush desert crossing you top a hill and below you, lakes and snow caped forested tall mountains, vast natural meadows at their feet. Quite a surprise to the Army surveyors blazing a trail into the new Oregon Territory only 80 miles to the northwest. The Californian border north from Lake Tahoe was drawn to include Surprise Valley an important place in the 1800s. Now a place that the rest of the country has forgotten as it is the end of the road ( Cal.Hiway 299 East) for any commerce and travel. Too cold in the winter for most folks and too little money for Liberals to scam a living…pg

  22. p.g.sharrow says:

    Oh yes I should add too far from population centers to be of any use to commuters.

  23. The True Nolan says:

    @E.M.: “Thanks for the offer!”

    The offer stands. Swing by and we will put you up.

    Oh! And H.R — you too! Not sure where your walk about will take you, but you are welcome as well if you happen to be by this way.

  24. H.R. says:

    Actually, we have been trying to head out West, but my wife’s mother is mentally declining and it has tied us up for a couple of years trying to get her settled into assisted living.

    That should happen this Summer, so we are looking to go Westward HO! next year.

    Not sure of the path or itinerary; we haven’t decided what to see first. But we are favoring towards the South first when we go West. That’s in your direction.

    We’ll save the Northern parts (Badlands, Snake River, Mt. Rushmore, etc.) for another year.
    .
    .
    .
    .
    Hmmmm… if enough of us have RV’s, we just might be able to pull off a Chiefio’s Blog National Meeting and Dodgy Proceedings somewhere around the middle of the country.

    It’ll be a bit of drive for the Aussies and Brits, though.

  25. E.M.Smith says:

    @H.R.:

    I’m set up for “Car Camping” at present. I expect that somewhere in the next few weeks to month or so I’ll be pre-positioning a car in Florida (then flying home). At this point in the season, all roads are open. I expect to do a “3 cornered drive” that takes me out I-80 to Chicago, then down to Florida. Any place that lets you camp, sleeping in a car or tent (weather dependent…) is fine with me…

    Per “Seeing the USA”:

    I’ve driven over almost all of the lower 48 a few times. A LOT of it is just damn boring. OTOH, each path across has something of interest in it. Were I doing it again for the first time?…

    I’d not do the upper I-90 path first. Yeah, Washington and Oregon are pretty places, especially the coastal mountains. Idaho is interesting mountains too (in summer and fall…). Montana has an interesting experience in the Big Sky Country (it really does have a very different look and feel to the sky…). But frankly, you drive for days seeing mostly flat and empty land with little of interest. Mt. Rushmore takes a LONG time to get close enough to see it (and then you still have a good hike – or did in the ’70s maybe they let you drive up now…). It, IMHO, would be better to fly in and take a bus or other local transit. Driving 2 days for 20 minutes is kinda not so interesting.

    Then you have ever more farm country for several days into Chicago…

    Compare the South I-10 route: Gulfport Mississippi – Gulf Fishing! Then Mississippi River – can you say catfish (that are tasty, unlike those in Florida) the size of a Saint Bernard? New Orleans – French Quarter. Food, drink, night life. (Might have a spousal issue…) Cajun Hot Hot HOT! Spicy delish dishes. TEXAS! for 1/3 of the country. Everything from Great BBQ to Gulf Fishing to open beaches where you can drive onto the beach with your rig and just camp. West Texas is dry and scrubby, but the topology is interesting and you have more BLM land to park on than you can catalog. Gas, all across Texas, is cheaper than any other route. Mesquite BBQ? Oh Yeah. San Antonio and The Alamo. Tex-Mex “Light Me UP HOT” food. New Mexico is a short blip, but you do get to see some of what the place is like and gas is cheap. Then you get to Arizona. Hang low (DO NOT GO THROUGH PHOENIX speed camera trap like crazy…) but stay on I-10 to near Casa Grande, then take the I-8 bypass. There’s a LOT of BLM land out that route too. IF you can, land at Quartzite. A few thousand acres of free camping / boondocking land. By taking the bypass (turn north where the signs say toward Quartzite) you also get to see fairly pristine Sonora Desert. IF you manage to catch it in spring, the number of flowers is spectacular. If not, the cactus are spectacular anyway.

    Drive north toward I-40. This takes you past some very nice lakes, through very nice mountains. There’s fishing in those lakes, too. IF (for some crazy reason…) you want to see California, you have 2 choices:

    Instead of going to I-40, take I-10 into the L.A. Basin (say you wanted to go to Disneyland or visit the Bob Hope exhibit at the Spanish Mission – which I recommend)… but really, L.A.? Traffic is horrendous. I’ve “White Nuckled It” at rush hour in a compact car, forget a big rig. And I’ve had folks complain that I make them scared… basically, I’m “not bashful”. Hell, I got in “punching distance” of the driver of a pickup what was about to cut in front of my kid when we were both on motorcycles and ” ‘splained to him” not to do that… at about 55 MPH… Just sayin’…

    Gas will go up by at least $1 / gallon as soon as you cross the border, so top up before entering…

    Personally, I’d run north in Arizona, cross into Nevada on I-40, then run up Nevada on 395.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_395_in_Nevada

    Or alternatively, just take 95 north out of Quarzite, through Laughlin Nevada and Las Vegas.

    https://www.google.com/maps/place/Laughlin,+NV+89029/@35.1187532,-115.8327436,8z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x80ce447c75bf5f79:0xa553e5ccc49f2e5c!8m2!3d35.1677771!4d-114.5730208

    Gas is a LOT cheaper, the terrain is much more interesting, and the back side of the Sierra Nevada is way less crowded and substantially unexplored by the masses. Not to mention that fishing your way from Parker to Lake Mead will have you turning back flips…

    In Las Vegas, turn right on I-15 to the side of the Grand Canyon most folks don’t normally visit. Along the way, do through Utah and Zion National Park. Then go all the way to the far end of the Grand Canyon. To Marble Canyon:

    https://www.tripadvisor.com/Tourism-g31275-Marble_Canyon_Arizona-Vacations.html

    At the hotel there, run by Navajo, have dinner. The “Hotness” is somehow different and special…

    You can either retrace, or just continue on to the other side of the canyon and the usual camping / visitor areas on the South Rim near Williams, and return back to either I-40 and alpine like Flagstaff or I-15 via rural highways. Note that this is largely Navajo Reservation land and IF you see a gas station, buy gas… the next one is a LONG ways away… OTOH, you will have an experience of a land you have never seen before and will never see again…

    I’d run up to Reno and Pyramid Lake and fish along the way.

    Now, if, and only if, you just MUST see San Francisco, take I-80 on a curving winding mountain ride (best done in daylight. Really. Night is just frightening even in a sports car… not well lit at all and with surprise curves. I’ve driven this hundreds of times (skiing) and it didn’t get any better…

    Stop in Tahoe City for breakfast… I forget the name of the place but middle of downtown makes great omelettes… at some hole in the wall. Oh, and Lake Tahoe is a thing to behold…

    Then go home some other route. Likely I-40 through the Ozarks.

    Note: It is possible and maybe even preferable to hit the south canyon side of the Grand Canyon coming out, then hit the north side going back. But really, by the time you are at Marble Canyon, you are middle of F-ing nowhere. We did a circle around it, and that was well worth it and worked well.

    Also Note: It is “possible” to cross Death Valley instead of going north all the way to Reno. We did this in a Honda Civic. We had 4 Pirelli Tires. They all got minor tread separation “bumps” on them as we crossed in summer… (so bought new tires about 800 miles later in Oregon once the penny dropped about the rough ride…) Just sayin’… 130 F is kinda hard on tires heavily loaded at speed… What you get from Death Valley is an OMG! experience and a stop at the “display” in the center. An interesting extreme experience, but best not done in August….

    If you want more, let me know. I’m happy to open a thread on “Vacationing The USA”…

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