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Published: March 7th 2009
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"Standing on the corner of Winslow Arizona such a fine sight to see ..." (see the Ford in the background?)“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.” John Ruskin
It is January 30th and I have arrived in Santa Fe. I had decided to skip Albuquerque so that I could be settled in one place for a few days. I knew that after these few days I would be sharing my trip with others for a few weeks, so I wanted to enjoy the little time I had left alone. I settled into the hostel and had a great night sleep.
The next day I walked to downtown Santa Fe. I explored the shops in the morning. George was also in town so we met up in the afternoon and did a walk along Canyon Road to see all the art. We also ventured on to some private streets to see the local homes and architecture. For those of you who don’t know, all the homes in Santa Fe are made of Adobe (in simple terms they are all brown). After our walk, George had bought us tickets to a Beethoven concert with the child prodigy of Conrad
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Street in Santa Fe Tao. He was only 14 years old and played the piano amazingly.
The next day, I went to explore Taos on my own. It is a small community about 60 miles from Santa Fe along beautiful country roads. I went to visit the Pueblo that was there in town and then hit the local casino (for lunch) before heading back to Santa Fe. I met up with George in the evening and we went to a local bar to watch the Superbowl. Of course, I couldn’t help but sing along out loud when Springsteen hit the stage.
It is Feb 2nd now and I am on the road to Flagstaff Arizona. Today was a weird day because I didn’t really feel like being on the road. Most days I don’t mind driving, but today was a day that if I had a choice, I would have stopped anywhere and taken the day off. I couldn’t stop though as Jorg and George were waiting in Flagstaff for me. I had stopped along the way at a Macdonald’s and I got talking to a trucker. He was telling me of all his travels around the US. He had mentioned how
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Art in Santa Fe he had actually went and stood on the corner of Winslow Arizona and asked a young girl if she had a flat bed Ford. I decided immediately that this is what I needed to do.
When I drove into Winslow, I found a local neighbourhood corner. Just as I was standing there taking a picture of myself, I noticed on the other corner a truck parked … you guessed it, it was a Ford. So I went over there and took my picture. I then got in the car, found the song “Take it Easy” and listened to it. I then listened to it a few times as I left town and drove to Flagstaff.
After settling into Flagstaff (and struggling with internet), Jorg and I went out for dinner. We talked about our trips so far (if you remember, I left him alone on the coast of Galveston a few weeks ago). After dinner, we met in the dinning room of the hostel where I was going to show him some of my pictures on my laptop. There were other people there, and before I knew it, I was playing drinking games with them until 2am (though
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Art in Santa Fe - anyone wanna play Rock, Paper, Scissors? I didn’t get drunk).
The next morning, I ran into Jorg and he was still feeling very sick. He had chills in the night and decided he would not join George and me in Sedona. He decided he would go to Las Vegas, and rent a car and possibly come back. So I left him there in Flagstaff, not knowing if I will ever see him again.
I met up with George in Sedona at the visitor center and after getting some info, we went on a hike in the afternoon (Soldiers Pass trail). It was supposed to be a “moderate” hike, but the fact that we got lost and went totally off trail made it strenuous but fun. I got stuck by several cacti. At one point I had to pull down my pants while George removed the needles with tweezers (from my knee).
At abut 5pm, we pulled up to the house where Adrien and Rosemary were staying. These were people I had met at Skyline hikers last summer in Banff and happened to be in the Sedona area when I was planning to be. We stayed with them for a few days and they
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Prayer flags on the truck ... I loved it! were great hosts. The next day we all went for a hike together and it was a lot of fun. The red rocks in the area were incredible. In the evening, George and I went out to watch the sunset from the airport (a favourite spot) and it was beautiful, there were just the right amount of clouds in the sky. The next day, we all went separate ways. I went shopping and then for a massage and George went for a bike ride.
Feb 6th now and it is time to hit the road. I am heading to Bullhead City to visit my father and Lynne for 6 days. Along the way, I stopped on Route 66 to have some lunch. When I arrived at the trailer, Lynne had left me a note to say they were up at the lodge at a 50’s dance. So I ventured up there and I quickly realized I was the youngest person there. It was nice nonetheless and it didn’t stop me from getting up and dancing to the “Twist”
The 6 days with Dad went by way to quickly. We really didn’t do much but workout, play in poker
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Did someone say Casino? tournaments, play Hand and Foot, go to dinner, watch a movie, etc. but it raced by. The fact that it rained for three days straight didn’t help. In fact, we saw snow on the local mountains that was a rare sight in Bullhead City. I even clipped the newspaper picture of it. It was a well needed rest that I got though.
On my last night I went into Laughlin on my own. I went to the Riverside Casino and enjoyed its many offerings. I went to see all the antique cars on display. At this time, I also saw the motorcycle of a man who drove around the world. Of course I forget his name at this time, but it was inspiring. I then decided to go to a movie as it was a theatre right there in the hotel. I saw “He’s just not that into you”. Given I read the book, I thought it would be good, but it wasn’t. It still had a lot of the “fairytale” endings which is so against what the book was all about. Afterwards, of course, I headed to the poker room and played until about 2am … I left about
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Church in the pueblo in Taos. $60 ahead.
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