wichita falls, texas, to texarkana, texas, 331 miles.
thought i was going to be in arkansas tonight, but it turns out i'm one exit off the freeway shy of arkansas. seems like i've been in texas a long time. not sure whether that's because it's big or because it's still BORING. why did we want texas anyway? of course, i'm saying this having seen just the northern part. i'm sure places like brownsville are much more scenic and interesting. galveston! oh, galveston. i don't really have anything to say about texas despite umpteen hours driving through it. except it has nice speed limits. you go 70 on the freeways, and you go 70 on little farm roads. everyone goes 70, all the time. nice. and i absolutely detest texas mud. yesterday, when i had to take a little detour because of a "major accident," according to the sheriff's deputy, i was following a car with texas plates that pulled into a driveway, then backed out to turn around. after i did the same and got going down the road again, it felt like the entire car was going to fall apart. shimmying, shaking. if the car had a front axle, i would have been certain it had fallen apart. got out and looked, but saw nothing, so started slowly down the road again. little by little the shimmying smoothed out and i picked up speed. eventually i was doing 70 and everything was fine. the only thing i could figure is that i had picked up some nice red texas mud on part of the front tires when i turned around, and it had dried and was causing the problem. but when my shimmy problem was gone, so was the car i had been following. I WAS IN THE MIDDLE OF TEXAS AND HAD NO CLUE WHAT DIRECTION TO GO TO GET OUT OF TEXAS. fortunately, a nice guy driving a huge combine stopped and opened the door when i climbed onto the thing and told me where to go. today, there were a couple of firsts. number one, i was so engrossed in the fabulous texas scenery that i missed a turn and had to backtrack about 20 miles. the second was when i made an intentional detour and drove north about 10 miles into oklahoma, just so i could say i had been to oklahoma. noticed on the map that there's a durant, oklahoma, and i almost went there to see what marketing plans they had for kevin durant of the sonics when he becomes an oklahomaniac. also stopped in paris, texas, but the hilton girl wasn't there, and the guy putting out flags around the town square for the fourth of july didn't know if she had ever been there. i just finished spending a day and a half driving across texas, and i must admit i'm still looking for a reason for its existence.
tomorrow, texarkana to memphis, where i'll pick up olivia. it's about 5 p.m. texas time, and i just got off the phone with her. she's in the airport in hawaii getting ready to fly to seattle, where she'll have a layover of about 12 hours before flying to memphis. will be good to see her. miss her. miss a lot of folks. hope you're all well. don't worry about me -- i'm getting used to talking to myself. and i've been asking lots of questions of the folks behind the counter in the hotel lobby today so i can get used to talking again. good night olivia, good night ray. good night, texas, wherever you are...
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
day eight
socorro, new mexico, to wichita falls, texas, 550 miles.
boring. texas is really big, and so far really boring. in new mexico this morning, i crossed the rio grande river and later the pecos river. also passed the trinity nuclear site. i'll have to check tonight to see if i glow. speaking of glowing, a highlight today was the town of roswell, new mexico. alien central. many of the businesses in town have names that speak to the "crash landing of a ufo" near town decades ago and the alleged hauling-off by the military of a couple of alien bodies. believing it or not doesn't really matter in roswell; they're cashing in on it in a big way. across the state line in texas, oil derricks, big farms and ranches, cowboy boots and hats and a happy "join the NRA" sign replaced rock outcroppings and the beauty of the desert. boring. maybe tomorrow i should sneak up to oklahoma city and stand on a street corner downtown and tell everyone there what seattle thinks of the new sonics owner. maybe not.
tomorrow: wichita falls to texarkana or however far into arkansas i get. it better not be boring...
boring. texas is really big, and so far really boring. in new mexico this morning, i crossed the rio grande river and later the pecos river. also passed the trinity nuclear site. i'll have to check tonight to see if i glow. speaking of glowing, a highlight today was the town of roswell, new mexico. alien central. many of the businesses in town have names that speak to the "crash landing of a ufo" near town decades ago and the alleged hauling-off by the military of a couple of alien bodies. believing it or not doesn't really matter in roswell; they're cashing in on it in a big way. across the state line in texas, oil derricks, big farms and ranches, cowboy boots and hats and a happy "join the NRA" sign replaced rock outcroppings and the beauty of the desert. boring. maybe tomorrow i should sneak up to oklahoma city and stand on a street corner downtown and tell everyone there what seattle thinks of the new sonics owner. maybe not.
tomorrow: wichita falls to texarkana or however far into arkansas i get. it better not be boring...
Monday, June 30, 2008
day seven
phoenix to socorro, new mexico, 403 miles.
an absolutely great day on the road, once i finally left the traffic of the phoenix area behind. refreshingly cool as well, because the temperature only reached into the mid-90s. there's so much to see out there, and today's drive was a good example of not knowing what was in an area and discovering a lot. if you haven't been to the salt river canyon along highway 60 in east central arizona, go. go now. it's beautiful. not as spectacular or deep as the grand canyon, but it has a significant "wow" factor. and you get to drive down one side to the river and then back up the other side. crossing the state line into new mexico, i drove through a thunderstorm. a little one, but lots of lightning and rain. lasted maybe 15 minutes. also came across pie town, arizona. hey, i didn't name it. wasn't much of a town, with about four businesses on the road, all of them advertising pie in big letters. why pie town? in the middle of nowhere? someone's grand marketing plan to put the community on the map? but none of the businesses were open, and there weren't any indications they had been open for a while. a pie in the sky? in pie town, i crossed the continental divide at about 7,800 feet. much of the day was spent more than a mile high, driving through some beautiful country. east of pie town, there was a stretch of road that was straight as a line for 21 miles. not kidding. 21 miles. it stretched all the way to the horizon. and about halfway through it there was a strange assemblage of stuff -- at least strange from a distance (initially thought it might be my first mirage). at a little rest area near the stuff, a sign indicated that it was the "very large array," the most powerul and widely used radio telescope in the world. it was substantial. lots of big dishes arrayed in lines and pointing to the stars. there was a jodie foster movie years ago with scenes that included a very big array. don't know if that one was this one, but if you saw the movie you get the picture. all in all, a good day on the road. need to put a lot of miles behind me in the next two days, though, to reach memphis.
tomorrow: soccoro to wichita falls, whatever state it's in.
good night jack and shirley, jack and jackie, jake and jill, mike and barbara. good night jean...
an absolutely great day on the road, once i finally left the traffic of the phoenix area behind. refreshingly cool as well, because the temperature only reached into the mid-90s. there's so much to see out there, and today's drive was a good example of not knowing what was in an area and discovering a lot. if you haven't been to the salt river canyon along highway 60 in east central arizona, go. go now. it's beautiful. not as spectacular or deep as the grand canyon, but it has a significant "wow" factor. and you get to drive down one side to the river and then back up the other side. crossing the state line into new mexico, i drove through a thunderstorm. a little one, but lots of lightning and rain. lasted maybe 15 minutes. also came across pie town, arizona. hey, i didn't name it. wasn't much of a town, with about four businesses on the road, all of them advertising pie in big letters. why pie town? in the middle of nowhere? someone's grand marketing plan to put the community on the map? but none of the businesses were open, and there weren't any indications they had been open for a while. a pie in the sky? in pie town, i crossed the continental divide at about 7,800 feet. much of the day was spent more than a mile high, driving through some beautiful country. east of pie town, there was a stretch of road that was straight as a line for 21 miles. not kidding. 21 miles. it stretched all the way to the horizon. and about halfway through it there was a strange assemblage of stuff -- at least strange from a distance (initially thought it might be my first mirage). at a little rest area near the stuff, a sign indicated that it was the "very large array," the most powerul and widely used radio telescope in the world. it was substantial. lots of big dishes arrayed in lines and pointing to the stars. there was a jodie foster movie years ago with scenes that included a very big array. don't know if that one was this one, but if you saw the movie you get the picture. all in all, a good day on the road. need to put a lot of miles behind me in the next two days, though, to reach memphis.
tomorrow: soccoro to wichita falls, whatever state it's in.
good night jack and shirley, jack and jackie, jake and jill, mike and barbara. good night jean...
day six
june 29, flagstaff, arizona, to phoenix, 294 miles.
27 or so years ago, in a world far, far away, i was covering baseball for the paper in bellevue, washington. each year, i drove to spring training in arizona. one year, terry tazioli, a good friend who also worked at the bellevue paper at the time, joined me for the trip south. along the way, we drove through a snow storm at the grand canyon; enjoyed laid-back sedona, arizona; discovered picturesque jerome, arizona; and marveled at montezuma's castle and montezuma's well, a couple of national monuments that contain dwellings used by folks here thousands of years ago. today, i revisited those places. sedona is no longer laid-back -- it has two starbuck's -- and jerome is no longer a tumble-down community perched precariously on the side of a hill in copper-mining country. the buildings have been renovated, it has been designated an historic site, and the tourists are out in force. but they're still good places to visit, and montezuma's castle is still amazing. the day ended with family and friends, first family at a dinner in chandler, arizona. an uncle and aunt, jack and shirley, have been in arizona for a while, and were joined about six years ago by one of their daughters, jackie, her husband, jack, and their kids. much more recently, one of their sons, jake, and his wife, jill, arrived. so we had dinner. and good conversation. then it was time to drive to sun city west and spend the night with mike stanton, who had been my boss at the seattle times before i drove him into retirement, and his wife, barbara. when i started planning this trip and contacted mike about the possibility of mooching a night's lodging, his first comment was something along the lines of, "what? are you crazy? it'll be like 110 degrees here that time of year." ok, so he got lucky, and it was 110 degrees. i finally turned on the air conditioning. on the way from chandler to sun city west -- it took over an hour to get from one to the other because the phoenix area has become huge -- it rained for a while and the wind blew strong. felt good. it was a good day. it was nice to see everyone and spend at least a little time with them. wish i could have stayed longer, but olivia will be in memphis in a few days, and i need to be there as well.
tomorrow: phoenix to socorro, new mexico...
27 or so years ago, in a world far, far away, i was covering baseball for the paper in bellevue, washington. each year, i drove to spring training in arizona. one year, terry tazioli, a good friend who also worked at the bellevue paper at the time, joined me for the trip south. along the way, we drove through a snow storm at the grand canyon; enjoyed laid-back sedona, arizona; discovered picturesque jerome, arizona; and marveled at montezuma's castle and montezuma's well, a couple of national monuments that contain dwellings used by folks here thousands of years ago. today, i revisited those places. sedona is no longer laid-back -- it has two starbuck's -- and jerome is no longer a tumble-down community perched precariously on the side of a hill in copper-mining country. the buildings have been renovated, it has been designated an historic site, and the tourists are out in force. but they're still good places to visit, and montezuma's castle is still amazing. the day ended with family and friends, first family at a dinner in chandler, arizona. an uncle and aunt, jack and shirley, have been in arizona for a while, and were joined about six years ago by one of their daughters, jackie, her husband, jack, and their kids. much more recently, one of their sons, jake, and his wife, jill, arrived. so we had dinner. and good conversation. then it was time to drive to sun city west and spend the night with mike stanton, who had been my boss at the seattle times before i drove him into retirement, and his wife, barbara. when i started planning this trip and contacted mike about the possibility of mooching a night's lodging, his first comment was something along the lines of, "what? are you crazy? it'll be like 110 degrees here that time of year." ok, so he got lucky, and it was 110 degrees. i finally turned on the air conditioning. on the way from chandler to sun city west -- it took over an hour to get from one to the other because the phoenix area has become huge -- it rained for a while and the wind blew strong. felt good. it was a good day. it was nice to see everyone and spend at least a little time with them. wish i could have stayed longer, but olivia will be in memphis in a few days, and i need to be there as well.
tomorrow: phoenix to socorro, new mexico...
Saturday, June 28, 2008
day five
moab, utah, to flagstaff, arizona, 415 miles.
hothothot. hot at canyonlands national monument, though "newspaper rock" was great. a big bunch of petroglyphs on one rock. they don't know how old it is or who exactly created it, but it's nice. they call it newspaper rock because it tells a bunch of stories. hot at the four corners, but not too hot for me to stick a foot in four states (arizona, new mexico, colorado, utah) at once and take a picture. hot in keyenta, arizona, and the air-conditioned mcdonald's there was booming. they were selling huge cokes for $1; i got two. hot in the car, but kept the top up. i'm getting a road-trip tan -- brown in front and washington state white in back. canyonlands and arches were great, but there's so much beyond them. they're the national monument theme parks, but there are rock formations to ooh and ahh over everywhere. climbed to wilson arch, which is all by itself south of moab, and stood under it.
tomorrow: south to phoenix, where it was 109 today. hmmm. good night olivia in hawaii, good night mom in the potholes, good night jean...
hothothot. hot at canyonlands national monument, though "newspaper rock" was great. a big bunch of petroglyphs on one rock. they don't know how old it is or who exactly created it, but it's nice. they call it newspaper rock because it tells a bunch of stories. hot at the four corners, but not too hot for me to stick a foot in four states (arizona, new mexico, colorado, utah) at once and take a picture. hot in keyenta, arizona, and the air-conditioned mcdonald's there was booming. they were selling huge cokes for $1; i got two. hot in the car, but kept the top up. i'm getting a road-trip tan -- brown in front and washington state white in back. canyonlands and arches were great, but there's so much beyond them. they're the national monument theme parks, but there are rock formations to ooh and ahh over everywhere. climbed to wilson arch, which is all by itself south of moab, and stood under it.
tomorrow: south to phoenix, where it was 109 today. hmmm. good night olivia in hawaii, good night mom in the potholes, good night jean...
Friday, June 27, 2008
day four
ogden, utah, to moab, utah, 333 miles.
suffering today from a bad case of topdownitis (a combination of having the top down too long on a day in which the sun focused its energies directly on the car and the temperature may have topped 200. ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration), so called it quits early after driving through arches national monument. if you haven't been to southeastern utah, you have to see this stuff. rock formations -- and colors -- that are too remarkable for words or pictures. the scenery earlier in the day wasn't as spectacular, but still interesting. huge, wide open spaces way above sea level. went over one pass east of heber city -- it's in heber valley -- that was 8,020 feet. can't remember when i last saw a real tree. and i'm so in need of conversation i've started talking to random folks in parking lots. stuff like, "hey, that's an interesting bug on your windshield. where'd you get it?" and "I see from your license plate you're from ohio. you know my uncle hank and aunt ruth?"
tomorrow: canyonlands, the four corners and eventually south to flagstaff, arizona.
suffering today from a bad case of topdownitis (a combination of having the top down too long on a day in which the sun focused its energies directly on the car and the temperature may have topped 200. ok, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration), so called it quits early after driving through arches national monument. if you haven't been to southeastern utah, you have to see this stuff. rock formations -- and colors -- that are too remarkable for words or pictures. the scenery earlier in the day wasn't as spectacular, but still interesting. huge, wide open spaces way above sea level. went over one pass east of heber city -- it's in heber valley -- that was 8,020 feet. can't remember when i last saw a real tree. and i'm so in need of conversation i've started talking to random folks in parking lots. stuff like, "hey, that's an interesting bug on your windshield. where'd you get it?" and "I see from your license plate you're from ohio. you know my uncle hank and aunt ruth?"
tomorrow: canyonlands, the four corners and eventually south to flagstaff, arizona.
where's olivia?
the day i drove away from woodinville earlier this week, olivia flew to hawaii for a wedding. she returns to sea-tac around 12:30 a.m. on july 3, then flies to memphis about 12 hours later. i'll be in memphis to meet her, though she likely won't recognize me in the elvis outfit i expect to wear proudly in the airport. and if she does recognize me, i'm absolutely certain she won't acknowledge me. we'll spend a couple of weeks doing florida and the atlantic coast, then she'll fly home from d.c. ...
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