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| (It's Desert Sage Y'All) |
So today saw us experience a variety of sights, emotions, musing and thoughts as I headed away from our night’s sojourn in Salome, AZ.
The day began most beatifically with the sun coming up over the courtyard that opened up to our rooms. I don’t know if I really properly described how cool the Westward Motel really is. It’s a small establishment with only a few rooms but its so cool and funky. When you drive up there is an old rusted open top roadster parked in front. The initial thought might be, “I’m staying in a junkyard?” but then you look about and you see the car’s presence in purely intentional. Everywhere you turn there are metal sculptures and other works of art that have been curated by the owner Rande and his lady friend. It really is a funky and eclectic mix and when I walked into the room I shared with the boys the cowskin on the floor only served to enhance the funky cowboy hipster feel.
As I was stirring at 5:00 this morning getting all of my preparations in order I was particularly struck by the fact that the sun was unusually beautiful this morning as my door faced east and I could see the sun rising above the rooftops across the street and the Saguaro in the front yard. (Side note: we went out of town last night looking for the blooming Saguaros only to realize that we had gone out too late and although we could sort of see them blooming, we couldn’t take any pictures because the flash feature wasn’t working well on the camera. Also, James was a bit freaked out about being in the middle of nowhere with the car having 43 miles to empty. After a valiant try we gave up and decided to do it again at an earlier hour when we get further north.)
As I started to go into the kitchen (yes, you get a full kitchen for your use at the Westward Motel which we availed ourselves of last night as Amy made meat loaf and black bean burgers) Rande handed my a cup of the strongest jet fuel I have ever had the pleasure to consume. He promised me that this crank would get me to Wickenburg in no time. After breakfast I had the greatest conversation with Rande finding out about his interesting life as a roadie for rock bands, how he and his partner ended up in Salome (of all places), and what the future of the valley holds for those who live (and winter) there. It almost made me think people like Rande have it right, just drop off the grid and live a simpler existence - but then I thought about the 115 degree temperatures and realized that was just stupid.
But finally it was 5:45 and time to push off for the last ride before a rest day and the shortest ride so far. I was pumped. Again, I had the experience of being the only moving thing on the road and enjoying the freedom of being “king of the road” at least until the first semi came along.
I also had a more important purpose for my ride today. Although our Ride Across America is raising money for Sunrise Day Camp, today I was riding for someone else entirely. One of my students contacted me last night to let me know that her mother was having surgery on Friday. Her mother had contracted a non-invasive form of breast cancer when my student was seven and she had beaten it back then. Now ten years later she was facing the fight again and this time she will be having surgery on Friday to remove the cancer and to have a double mastectomy. It really sucks because after five years you figure you’ve beaten it! I love this kid and her family have always been so supportive of what we’ve tried to do with Connor’s Army so I promised her that this ride would be for her mother. So today, as I rode I constantly thought of the energy I put into the pedal strokes going into the universe to be directed towards this woman. As I’ve often said before, don’t have the money that I wish I had to give to the cancer community, but I do have my strength and my energy and today it all went to somebody who is going to need as much as I can give tomorrow morning. Her surgery is scheduled for early in the day and she’ll be in most of the day so if any of you can remember, please send her your energy too - we’re all in this fight together.
In between my thoughts of this valiant woman, I found myself engaging in other musings. The thought that kept coming to me over and over was of that Keep America Beautiful commercial from the 1970’s with the Native American who looked out upon the landscape of garbage that our nation was accumulating and the final shot was of him with a single tear rolling down his face;
As I rode this stretch of Arizonian back highway it seemed that I couldn’t ride fifty feet with seeing another piece of trash on the road - mostly quart sized beer bottles. Considering I’m now in the land of Jan Brewer one of my other thoughts was this is how she views her state - one large garbage dump! And in more extrapolative musings I thought this is how so much of our culture has come to view our country - just a place to throw our stuff and refuse. It’s truly saddening to see what could otherwise be such a beautiful, pristine desert marred by so much detritus.
I am usually thinking of the kids of Sunrise when I ride and today I ruminatined long on how today they are enjoying camp for the first time. How I’ve only been teaching there for two years but how they seem like my own kids. How I miss being there and playing the introductory theatre games with them that I would be playing with them right now. How I will be missing some of thosse familiar faces that I have grown to look forward to seeing each summer.
And after much ruminating and profound brain things inside my head (and after a much needed rest stop with the family 18 miles outside of Wickenburg) I finally rolled into Wickenburg. I knew we were supposed to meet at the Super 8 where we'll be lodging on Friday night so I went there and gave Amy a call - only to be met with the message that I had no network coverage! This is not good! If I can't readch her in a town as large as this, I could be up a creek ( a very dry on mind you) without a paddle. - I could end up on the side of the road to Kayenta looking like this;
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| (New Jenny Craig Weight Loss System?) |
Since I had finally had enough and knew I needed at least one new tire we decided to head off to the Peoria Performance Bike shop to get me some saddle relief and some heavy duty tires. We ended up with two Continental Gatorskin tires and a Selle Italia SMP saddle but I have to say I wasn't too impressed with the service here. The shop mechanic was friendlier and more helpful than the salespeople and seemed so much more knowledgable. In the San Diego shop the young man there was great and helped us get exactly what we needed - here, not so much.
And then we finally headed off to Phoenix to visit one of Amy's oldest (not in age mind you since I know he reads this) and dearest friends. He and his family (wife Marian, twin daughters Jordan and Claire) opened their arms (and home) to us, made us welcome, fed us (Matthew made us an unbelievable stir fry meal!) and let the boys take over the Wii for the evening. Sarah and the girls bonded (she rendered them in her unique manga style drawing). I did my much needed bike maintenance and we got the kids to bed. After talking to Matthew for a while I finally had to hit the sack while Amy stayed up until almost 2:00 catching up.
Oh, and during the evening we discovered that the two new tires we bought in Clinton, OK are already worn out. WE ARE NOT HAPPY! But that will be a blog for tomorrow as we go in quest of fixing said tires.
And the reports for today (we may be trying something after this post - showing pictures of some of the detritus I find on the road!);
FFR - 1 Possum, 1 Squirrel, 1 Horny Toad (I didn’t know it was dead until it didn’t move when I rolled three inches from it), 1 UFO
RRL - 1 Toilet Bowl (mostly intact), 1 mattress, 1 cooler (they seem to be everywhere out here), and although I usually don’t include clothing - 1 enormous (I swear it was the largest I think I've ever seen) bra.
And here are some links you should check out!
Amy's blog is http://www.crosscountrymama.blogspot.com/
Securely donate and help us get the kids to Sunrise at https://www.wizevents.com/register/register_add.php?sessid=1809&id=1056
Check out our website at http://www.connorsarmy.org/
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