Yep, you read it correctly. There is actually a road called Zzyzx. It's out in the Mojave desert a few miles west of the desert town of Baker, California.
Since we have a daughter and son-in-law in San Diego, Bruce and I frequently drive the I-70 to I-15 route through Colorado, Utah, Arizona, Nevada and finally California.
Most of the drive is spectacularly beautiful.
But when you get to the Las Vegas leg of the journey, you've left beauty behind.
A few miles past Baker as you begin to wind into some barren hills leading up to Barstow you go by the Zzyzx sign.
For years we've speculated as to how the strange word got to be a road sign.
And yes, I've looked in the white pages under "Z." No such name.
Here are some of our theories:
The scenery is so boring that they had to come up with a road sign that would wake you up.
They named the road after the sound that cars and tires make when they speed through the hills in the 120 degree summer heat.
Maybe it's the sound of snoring passengers --hopefully not the driver -- on this stretch of the road.
Someone bet someone else they couldn't come up with five-letter name using only the last three letters of the alphabet. (This one's the most likely explanation, I think.)
Whatever the reason for the name, Zzyzx, it tells me that we're on the last leg of our journey to So Cal.
So I like the name.
Not that we've arrived at our destination. But it means that we've safely avoided winter avalanches around Loveland Pass and Vail Pass. We've passed through snow whiteouts around Cedar City, Utah. We didn't get in an accident coming down the Virgin River Canyon and we missed rush-hour traffic through Las Vegas.
Unlike Zzyzx, the name of Jesus is no mystery; it mean's "Savior."
It's also a name I can trust. But the journey with Jesus is a much greater journey than the little one between Denver and San Diego.
Trusting in His name means I'm going to be safe for the entire journey.
Very nice.
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