Hunter S. Thompson would be proud. Fear and loathing in the wilds of the American Southwest turned into his newest namesake: Hunter, our new canine spy team member, who has already helped us scout out some of the desert’s oddities.

The red-nosed bull terrier mix had survived at least six food-less days in the desert – with a gaping wound in his right leg – before being rescued and added to our gonzo brigade of car spies.

Aside from last week’s tragic entry, we may seem heartless when it comes to the pursuit of test vehicles, but we just melted when we saw this dog, starved to the bone, cowering along desert road and waiting by mile-marker 74 for his former owner to come back for him. After days of leaving food and water for him, he finally relented and willingly adopted us. After lots of food, water, loads of skilled (read: expensive) veterinary care, and tons of love, we now have a new tool to sniff out prototypes and keep guard over our photo gear (and my well-being).

But I know it’s gonna be hard to explain to Infiniti about all the canine hair in the EX35 loaner.

You never know what you’ll see
Besides furries from the a previous installment, we’re still spotting strange things while pursuing top secret test cars. We were in the middle of nowhere – at least 50 miles of of virgin desert on each side – and then suddenly it was as if Cristo and Jeanne-Claude were working on a new, elaborate environmental “statement.”

When we gazed out the window of our Infiniti, we were shocked when we spied brightly-colored plumes of orange and red marking the far away horizon. Curious, we turned down a dirt trail – barely wide enough for the EX – and followed it until we arrived at a fabric tent-like “sculpture” with several wheels and solar panels. We wondered if we had just discovered a relaunch of some sort of Jules Verne invention.

But as we got up-close, we got to take in Duane McDiarmid’s work of sculpture and function. The Ohio University professor had pieced together a metal skeleton draped in flowing cloth panels that included four solar panels, lights and, of all things, a freezer that was powered by the solar panels.

And while his assistant played violin music, McDiarmid treated us to ice cream, hand-scooped out of the freezer. The sculpture was originally designed and built in Athens, Ohio, and had apparently blown in from Wyoming. I mean, how else would a thing like this have gotten to the middle of the desert where there aren’t even roads? Regardless of rationality, we believe this is a prototype airship, but you can decide for yourself after checking out their blog.

What can be stranger, you ask? How about a grown man running in the desert wearing a tutu and pink running shoes? Once again, I decided to ask no questions and let my photos speak for themselves.

Lucky ladies
Well, our EX was sadly about to go back to Infiniti with about 3,500 extra miles and loads of dirt – not to mention enough dog hair to knit a sweater, but it was a slow spy day and we thought we’d take the EX to the classiest brothels that we could find in the state of Nevada for a big farewell.

The girls at the brothel said the Infiniti sure looked like it had all the right stuff.  After putting it through 3,500 miles of driving, we heartily agreed that it combined power with great handling and super good looks.  We had only stopped by the brothels to get a couple of souvenirs …. hats and t-shirts from the gift shop. .But the Infiniti also left happy … with loads of compliments.

Hopefully we’ll catch some test cars next week…

Words and photos by Brenda Priddy.

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