Save me, I want a house and a wife...

So, now we have a predicament. We’re in Barstow, less than a days worth of driving to Carlsbad and my personal Mecca, but there’s two days before the park opens. Young, athletic still, got a pocket full of money and a mind filled with dreams. Where would I go? Vegas. Duh.



Off to Vegas we go! And hopefully I can find an acceptable place to park! A few hours in the desert, and some semi-humorous billboards later…







Vegas. Isn’t all that impressive, looks kinda crappy. Not too much traffic, smells kinda bad, and construction going on all around the skirts of the city, mainly the places where people enter. But I guess the people they want to stay and be really impressed are the ones that come in on planes, the high rollers. Oh well. Now what? Only a two hour drive from Barstow or so.
“Hell, it’s kinda cold.”
“Death Valley?”
“Eh, why not?”
Sometimes I love not having a set plan.





Jack in the Box. Holy CRAP we need these in Arkansas. Look at this damn burger! It’s some uge friggin boiga!







Driving in the desert is nice, not half as boring as most people think. The scenery is awesome, crisp, clear, uncluttered in most places. Maybe it’s because of the mountains all around that does it for me. I like my curves, can’t help it.



We hit the end of the road at this opera house. Nice rustic look to it, pretty good scenery. Eins nodded in approval as she relieved herself. Consult Streets & Trips, and off we go.

Death Valley. Sounds fun! =D



Now, as I rolled in on the highway, seeing all the Death Valley signs, and namely, Dantes View, I’m thinking to myself “well shit, this has nice mountains and all, doesn’t seem like I’m that far down, my ears haven’t popped yet. The fuck is this place a National Park for? Saw most of this stuff in Arizona.”





Then we started on the 12 miles to Dante’s View, which promised a 15% grade for the last little bit. Snapped a few shots.

There was a man on a bicycle. About 49 or so. What is it with people and bikes and the middle of nowhere? Also, mining. Didn’t think national parks and mining went together.



Ten to eleven miles later, said 15% grade:



Ok, so the view’s a little better up here.

And then we crested into the parking area. I hooked up Eins leash, grabbed my camera, opened the door, and felt my eyes start to water. Nice, crisp, high altitude air. I look over the edge…



(Be careful with this pic. 2.9 mb, very large, high resolution if you click on it. As I said, once I get PS C7 or so again, I’m going to make a huge, zoomed mosaic of the valley floor.)

“Touche Death Valley, you can keep your god damn National Park.”



I would have that the deepest hole in the United States would have a few less mountains, but they were fun.



Back on track, drove out of the west side of Death Valley, skirting cliffs that if you slipped up on, you weren’t ever gonna come back from it. Started heading south towards LA, then towards San Bernardino, but either way, we were off into the sunset.





Until it set, then we were just driving in the god damn dark. Had to pull over on a side road so Eins could answer the call of nature, as could I. She managed to kick up a pretty good sized jack-rabbit, and attempted to haul off and run it down. A click on the flexie and then my worst fears came true.

“Yew jus se’elle down naw, tha thing’d haul off and kick ye stoopid.”

I slap myself in the forehead and groan, get in the car, have a smoke, and drive towards San Bernardino.

“I did not just say that…”


Addendum: Yeah bro, haven’t talked to too many people, but there was two hot bitties at the grand canyon who I chatted with shortly. So hah! Also some lady in San Bernardino said I should be in the movies. Rawk.

Save me, I want a life...

Leaving santa fe, there’s really not much to say about it. It’s just a drive. A bad mood takes away from the view of the mountains rising around the city. On a nice Sunday morning, there aren’t many people traveling the roads. The silence of the road, the city, the crisp, cold morning. Makes me feel a little better. Eins takes the backseat gladly, and begins her daily ritual of being sleepy and bored. The sky’s a bit clouded over, but sadly any hope the desert has for rain just isn’t going to happen. We push onwards, past red rocks, super blitzing, and the dense church traffic that popped up later on.



I get the sensation that a drunk linebacker is gonna bum rush my car…



It’s amazing how much better things look in life when you’re on your way down.



Flagstaff begins to draw closer. The end of the world. “Come on baby, light my fire!”
We pull and we push and we come to a fork in the road. On onwards towards LA and my stop for the night. The other towards Phoenix, my old destination, my old future. Yeah, the one I kinda screwed up? I pass by the exit, jaw clenched and knuckles white. Things are already kinda bumming as is. A night of rest will make things all better.

Eighteen degrees…at seven o’clock.
Eighteen degrees. Eins won’t leave my sleeping bag, not that I want her to, but that last walk was a pain to get in. At least I had a plugin and wireless. Knocked out a book in a single evening too. How lucky eh’?

Rise to the fresh morning. What time is it? One clock says 5, the other 6. Let’s split it and call it 5:30. Let’s just call it time to go back to sleep.

Rise to a semi-fresh morning. What time is it now? 6:30. Time for…ah screw it. Back to sleep we go.



Rise to a stale morning, cold as hell, at 7. The tent is a pain to put up with hands threatening to snap into nice little fragments. Maybe one will lodge in my skull. Packed up, ready to go, put the faintest thought of Phoenix behind me as I head north, to one hell of a big, beautiful hole.



Once I get Photoshop handy again, I’ll post some panoramas, since things are usually better when you can let eyes wander a looooooooong way. You can’t tell in these pictures, but it was lightly snowing. For being a big ass hole, this place has some altitude.



Also, I got this nifty national parks pass. Most parks as I understand have a $25 fee per person. This pass was $50, and I had a few more parks on my list, so figured I might as well make a lil investment.



Miles away from anywhere on the way back from the Grand Canyon. This guy has some persistence about him. To each his own I suppose.

Vroom, vroom.


Whooo! California checkpoint. I pull over and pullout my papers. They ask me where I’m from, if I have any fruits or vegetables, and if Eins is the only dog I have. Arkansas, no, and yes. I hear one of the ladies at the checkpoint let out an “awwwwww” and the man tells me to go along. Damn Eins, you’re so cute they can’t stand the sight of you. Either way, complications have been adverted.



We were on the edge of the desert, somewhere outside Barstow, when the drugs began to take hold.



Get in!



Enthusiasm!



Enthusiasm!



Kelso, the town with two miles and doesn’t give a crap. Oh I slay me.

A mostly uneventful night in Barstow, aside from me getting a beautiful self guided tour of the city. California drivers don’t dick around, and it’s kinda refreshing. When I got into my first crowded situation, I gripped the wheel, downshifted, and repeated my crazy driver mantra.

“Be like Mike, be like Mike, be like Mike”. Brake only when absolutely needed. Check. Never leave fourth gear. Check. Lose all fear of death. Check. Gas depressed all the way. Check. I think I did a pretty good job, considering that when I stopped at the hotel Eins had a death-chomp on the Oh Shit! Handle.



Guinness, it’s for the soul!

A tree can be a hangin tree, a rose, a thorny stem...

Aus. Jetzt. Schnell. Weiter.

RUN!

The scenery changes into soemthing more pleasant. Something...emptier. Vast spaces of broken farmland, the earth looking like it has gave way to a heavenly hammer. Scrubs litter the area, cattle create long trails of dust, rising, disappearing over the long ranges. The steppes rise and fall, the winds carry an occasional tumbleweed across the road, and the sun keeps a steady heat on my cheek.



We're all running away from something today. But what are we working towards? I'm not even sure I know that. Enlightenment? I thought so this morning when I first entered New Mexico. We ran along our solid, snaking path, crested a hill, and the air seemed to scoop my spirit up a bit. We ran along into the valley, and the hills swept up along our sides, like the earth was cupping us in its massive hands, guiding us along to where we are supposed to be.



Life was grand for a few hours, strumming the engine along the road, each crest, each curve brought a more spectacular view. Each brought a new hope. Smiling at Eins, we roared over the barren, beautiful land, Credence on the radio, thoughts of nothing but the view rolling through our heads.




Happiness.
If only for a while.
She's dreaming right now, laying next to me, letting out muffled yips and twitching her eyes and ears. She's still happy.


Temptation for a side trip, anyone?


Oh noes! A mack with those stupid teeth radiator screens. notice my concern.
Gimme a cactuar, now that's something to fear!


Sasquatch & The Scrublands.


The poets were wrong. The artists and photographers, even myself, have all failed. It's gotta be seen in person. It's not breathtaking, I will admit.

It slams a new breath into your lungs, like a straight shot of intraveineous caffiene, your eyes bolt open, your ears unpop, and you see. You feel the slopes drawing you in, the outlying adobe houses tickle your senses, and you can't help but want to keep going on and on, but stay in the same spot for a nice long time.

And into Santa Fe. No pictures of the city though, batteries died. Besides, cities are easily seen.

but...maybe...



Maybe tommorow will be a new day.

Smokin cigarettes in mornin sun...

Since nothing really happened today…

http://imagesocket.com/view/scatter_005c44.jpg

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More to come, not going to the car to get the camera.

When we meet again, introduced, as friends...

Damnit.
Damnit, damnit, damnit!

Silly women and their damn stubbornness. I just wanted to sleep. The couch is fine. I’ve slept on worse things. The table of a cabin in the sweltering heat. The ground on a cool night since I fell there. On the worlds most uncomfortable ‘S’ shaped chair. But noooooo, nobody listens to Brian. We’ve gotta trouble ourselves and aggravate him because we can!

Do all of the women I know have some secret underground network, passing information on how to poke at me? It seems like they all do, anyways.

Rest, sleep.
Rise and rise some more.

Stretch, yawn, say goodbye to M, rustle, shower, yawn some more. Up and at’m, B and I out the front door. Breakfast and a tour, quite a nice town with a lot of places to see for such a simple visitor, one like me. B takes me out to the Ava Maria Grotto, a place where a monk spent most of his days replicating different religious buildings and scenes on a miniature scale, out of concrete. Towards the end of the display (and towards the end of his life), I think his sanity started to slip, as some of his creations started to become little goofy. But hey, it’ll do that to ya, won’t it?

Around the graves, we sit and stare,
Around the graves, our souls do bare,
Around, around, around, around.

Shops filled with creepy antiques, shops with curtains, lining the streets.

We stop by M’s place of employment, and shuffle around. As I finally prepare myself to hit on the lovely lady in charge at the time, who controlled whether M could go or not, we’re off! We go eat lunch, chatting about the strange things about town. The lifeline for the population. We’re off again, driving around, hitting the high points, the head shop, all the good stuff. B goes home, M and I continue to roam the streets, spreading terror and destruction to the masses. We went back to zero g and got some incense, but there WAS TERROR AND DESTRUCTION. We go back to M & B’s house, where I found basically one cow cut up into about 6 pieces waiting to be cooked.

Oh god, they’re fattening me for the kill.

So there am I am scarfing down some of the best beef I have ever tasted (No dad, you’re still at the top of the list, calm down now) laughing it up with two of the coolest people I’ve met.

After dinner I get my ass kicked at G’oh. Repeatedly. Without mercy. Women can be so cruel at times. I still think it’s a conspiracy against my sanity. After my repeated thrashing we sit and talk of days long past, of Nexus, of misfits, delinquents, freaks, weirdos, outcasts, trouble makers, and rogues.

Then we talked about the people who weren’t our friends.

A night gone, an extra day passed, and it was more than worth it. Thank you M & B for your hospitality. I really hope you guys know how grateful I am, and how much fun I had. I’ll be back for more cheesecake before you know it.

Sleep, sleep, in your heart you keep…

A night passed, a breakfast eaten, a ticket finally given up.
Goodbyes said, hugs greeted warmly, and off to home I go.