NM to Arizona

I set off the next morning, July 5, with a mug of sweet chili tea. It was raining outside and I realized when I pulled away that I really should check the oil and the coolant in the poor Jetta. I had to take my bike off the back in order to accomplish this task, but both fluids were needed so I was glad I rememberd to check. The view as I drove out of the mountains was splendid.

Most of this day was hours and hours of driving. Occasionally, the thought would occur to me that this did not look like the landscape I remembered when I made the drive with ncd's family a couple Christmases ago. However, these thoughts were accompanied by the wandering soundtrack in a movie about someone trekking across a desert. It is the kind of music that indicates to the viewer that if a stream of consciousness is even occurring inside the person they watch as he/she puts one foot in front of the other or dozes on his/her camel, then surely each thought is as important as every other which is to say that none of them becomes a priority or requires the thinker to act (except, perhaps, to take an occasional swig of water or, in my case, eat a cherry).

Thus, it was not until I was about 20 miles out of Las Cruces that it suddenly occurred to me, that Arizona is not due south of New Mexico. I kicked myself because miles ago, I had talked to ncd's mother (who was visiting Scottsdale) and said that I was about 90 miles from Las Cruces. It hadn't even dawned on me then that I was headed the wrong way, that I had looked directly at the exit I should have taken and registered it with interest, but as if it were irrelevant.

I pulled out the atlas Mom gave me and discovered I was south of Tucson. My quickest option was to take a county road to the west and head toward Tucson. Though I had been in very empty country for some time, this detour was somewhat unsettling since it meant leaving the familiar interstate and taking poor Jetta off into the range. Luckily, the Jetta, guided by its stalwart car 'coon traveled like a champ...all the way to Tucson. There, in the middle of a fancy gift bow made of concrete, the car suddenly coughed and lost power and the check engine light went on. I went to press on the gas (since the cruise control had started working again after some coaxing) and it was all the way to the floor. I almost pulled over, then followed a burst of flight instinct for approximately 12 yards until it became clear that I had no option but to steer the car into an even less ideal patch of concrete shoulder.

I had been running the heat all day to go easy on the engine just in case. I had one long sleeve on and a scarf wrapped around my neck (since I realized I had no clue where the sunscreen was). As the cars blew past, rocking my car, I had to admit that it really was my own fault if this was as far as I made it. If I had paid any attention at all, I would already have been in Scottsdale. I called ncd for moral support. He stayed on the phone with me as I started the car up cautiously and drove past the next FIVE exits: all closed, barricaded with cones and barrels before I could get off at a gas station. I was pink and sweaty and suspected that half of me was sunburned despite my best efforts (even though there were no mirrors in the bathroom in which to confirm this fact). Luckily, there was no toilet paper in the bathroom either. Also, the gas station was attached to some fast food restaurant, but not the DQ I had been hoping for while I kept my eye out for gas. Now I would be lucky to make it to Scottsdale and there was definitely no option of risking another stop to get a blizzard.

Ever since I realized that I had traveled hundreds of miles the wrong way, I had been trying to figure out whether I could gloss over the fact. Was it possible that, even having told ncd's mother my location hours ago, I might just say, "It was a fine drive. Yes, everything went as planned" and leave it at that? Was there some thing I could say that would not be a lie, but would prevent me from having to explain this? The sound of the car's engine winding down decided that issue. I spent the next 15 minutes driving and stroking the searing hot black dashboard each time we passed a mileage sign.

"Only 97 more miles. Thank you. I know that's more miles than I really have a right to ask from you, poor mistreated baby."

An hour and half later I arrived, two toned in the driveway of my destination. The Jetta has been sitting there ever since, with the exception of one day when I took it out and it balked at the heat, bucking like it was trying to impress scouts from the rodeo scene.

More Flick Pics and Continuation of the Journey

He's a parsley shark:

He's a Pepsi poster dog:

He's the companion with the crazy eyes:

He is Flick the wonder weirdo. He was very coy during his photo shoot. There are additional pictures that show him posing contemplatively in the long grass and also pointing some floating cotton. He can really work it, people.

So, where was I? I drove toward the border, through Denver and southward. The car alternately granted me cruise control and a working gas gauge. There was rain off and on all day and it was beautiful. I was listening to the Gladiator soundtrack when I drove past this downpour on a lonely road in the middle of the afternoon.

I was also thinking of a dog I had seen a couple of hours before. I was just outside Raton and looking for a gas station when I saw a black dog with cinnamon paws. He was settled into a slow, resigned looking trot at the outside edge of the shoulder. I watched as a car and a truck ahead of me passed him and he slowed and turned his head to look at them. Although he looked like a smart and experienced foot traveler, he was also in pretty good shape. I wonder if he had just recently gotten lost, chased off, or abandoned. I've never wanted to make an animal my companion more than I did that one. There were a litany of reasons I couldn't/didn't pick him up, not the least of which was heading toward someone else's house in a neighborhood that might not even allow dogs. Since I couldn't keep the pup (or even fit him in my car), I didn't want to impose my will on his Incredible Journey style travelings. He seemed smart, but also lonely and heartsick which, in turn, made me heartsick as I drove through the empty landscape.

Several hours later, I decided I would stop and Aunt K's (fondly known as AK to her nieces) for the evening. AK is in Green Bay, but gave me directions to her cottage where I watched part of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and then fell asleep. This is a photo of the moon and landscape from behind a statue of Anubis (maybe?) in AK's window.

Tomorrow: New Mexico (continued) and, finally, Arizona.

2 in 2

I forgot to mention the ebm + Flick photo shoot from Wednesday afternoon. At some point, ebm and I tired of carrying out drudgery and decided to sit in the backyard with some beverages and a camera. This is a preview of the results since I neglected to load all of my pictures onto my flash drive this morning.

On Thursday we ate delicious dad-made waffles with walnuts and chatted pleasantly about climate change and the scale of future doom. We bid the California contingent a fond farewell mid-morning. I made Mom listen to some Radio Lab stuff about the periodic table of the elements and recounted another episode about the mind body connection until we left to see "Public Enemies". Several of us liked it. A couple of us were disturbed by the occasional reality TV cinematography. This is the camera work that looks like "The Blair Witch Project". Instead of making me feel like I am in the story, it makes me feel like I am on the set. It totally ruins the illusion for me and is bothersome. However, this only happened a few times and I thought it was an alright film. One of us did not like it (initials ebm) and one of us was proud to have fallen asleep for only 15 minutes during the movie (initials clm).

We had spaghetti for dinner. Unlike last time I was home, I refrained from making garlic bread. My garlic bread was really garlic salt with a thin slice of support bread: hideous. This time I selected some sundried tomato bread and just let it ride.

Friday I finally gathered three seasons of "Gilmore Girls" DVDs which clm is lending me and began to pack up the little white (ailing) VW Jetta. Because unflattering diagnoses have been made about the catalytic converter and other mainstays of the inner workings, and because those dire predictions have been followed by dismaying seizure like symptoms upon travel at less than highway speeds (including idling in line for fast food), I packed a cooler full of cherries, sandwiches, bananas, cheese, and crackers before vowing not to stop except for gas. My only other precaution was to show some love by pointing out my lucky car 'coon to clm. He looks like this:

Thanks to evershedm's flickr account for this photo demonstration of the car 'coon.

Tomorrow: the drive from WY to CO to NM.

10 Minute Post

This really takes the pressure off. 10 minutes remaining on this computer at the Mustang Library in Scottsdale, AZ. I've been searching for teaching jobs and in the last few minutes have made the decision that my mental and financial health might be better served making a push to get on as many sub lists as possible. Besides, I tell myself, this will afford me the opportunity to get another job during the evening or go to school to get a reading endorsement or a special ed. certificate. Nevermind that I haven't even finished the Master's program in MN yet: have license, will travel is the guiding principal of this venture, I guess.

I left Minnesota last Wednesday and rolled into Cheyenne early the next morning (so early it was still nighttime). I woke up early enough to walk Flick with Dad and spent Thursday with Erin cleaning up the house and taking recycling to the appropriate parking lot. clm and CLM when to pick the Mom up at DIA. She was flying in for an appointment for clm (apparently quite successful--this doc not resigned to clm's having chronic fatigue and ordered up some more tests). That evening we watched Eddie Izzard and ate Papa Murphy's pizza while we tried to stay awake to receive Aunt Kate and Uncle Joe and their two pups.

2 minutes. Decided to spend Thursday in Cheyenne as well and didn't leave until nearly 11am on Friday. Next post: hanging out with the fam & driving to Santa Fe.