The Mojave Desert becomes a temporary hunting ground for Dick and Perry Smith as they make their way back toward the United States. In its midday emptiness, the pair wait beside Route 66 for a solitary traveler they can rob and kill; when the encounter they hope for does not materialize, they shoulder their meager luggage and continue on foot. The desert setting joins the practical circumstances of their journey to the persistence of their murderous plan.

Setting and Conditions

At midday, Dick stands beside the black-surfaced highway, watching the empty road and hoping his gaze will bring motorists into view. Few cars pass, and none stop for the hitchhikers. A truck driver heading for Needles, California, does offer them a ride, but Dick refuses: they are not seeking just any lift. Their intended target is a lone traveler in a decent car with money in his billfold, whom they plan to rob, strangle, and leave in the desert.

The landscape also shapes how they perceive the road. Sound arrives before sight: Dick hears the faint vibrations of an approaching car before it appears, and Perry Smith hears it too. The long, exposed wait turns each passing vehicle into a possible opportunity, but the pair’s selection of a victim matters more than simply escaping the heat or covering distance.

The Encounter on Route 66

When the car comes into view, it is a blue Dodge sedan carrying one passenger, a bald, skinny man. Dick waves and smiles, and the driver slows almost to a stop before looking the two men over and speeding away. Their appearance explains the rejection: after a fifty-hour bus ride from Mexico City to Barstow, California, and half a day crossing the Mojave, both are bearded and dusty.

The failed attempt does not provoke Dick into abandoning the plan. He calls after the driver, laughs, and hoists the suitcase onto his shoulder. As he later recalled, he was too glad to be back in the United States to become really angry; he expects another man in another car to come along. The moment shifts from anticipated predation to a brief, mocking dismissal, but the intended violence remains in view.

Luggage, Song, and Narrative Significance

Perry Smith’s straw suitcase is their only luggage. It bulges with his souvenirs and a small inventory of necessities: three shirts, five pairs of white socks, aspirin, tequila, scissors, a safety razor, and a fingernail file. Their other belongings have been pawned, left with a Mexican bartender, or shipped to Las Vegas. The suitcase makes their precarious mobility concrete: they carry what remains with them while moving between places and schemes.

Perry Smith takes out a harmonica he stole from a Barstow variety store the previous day and plays the opening bars of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” one of his favorite songs. He has taught Dick all five stanzas. Walking side by side and in step, they sing as they move through the desert. The music gives their departure a shared rhythm, sharply set against the criminal purpose that brought them to the roadside. With no suitable victim stopping, the Mojave does not deliver the opportunity they seek; instead, it becomes the open passage through which the two continue their journey and carry their plan onward.