“I am not some stone commission
Like a statue in a park
I am flesh and blood and vision
I am howling in the dark
Long blue shadows of the jackals
Are falling on a pay phone by the road
Oh, all I ever wanted
Was just to come in from the cold.”
― Joni Mitchell
Good Morning All,
We’ve had warm, sunny days for the past couple of weeks. I’ve enjoyed visiting David most mornings sitting outside his van drinking coffee and solving the world’s problems. In the afternoon, I often sit in the sun listening to my audio books, and several days David and I walked one of the many trails in The Magic Circle. The one David chose is a little over 3 miles and takes us just under an hour to complete. It’s good exercise. David has long legs, and I have to take a step and a half for every one of his, so I’m definitely getting my steps in each day.
The neighbor with the generator left and the silence is not only noticeable, but very much appreciated. I now have a clear view of the desert, cacti and mountains from my front window. Don’t miss him at all.
Tuesday and Wednesday the temperatures dipped from a high of mid-70’s to low 60’s. Still, it’s hard to complain about that when it’s the middle of December. Besides reading and walking and drinking coffee, I’ve been working on cultivating my new lotus water garden. I bought some seeds online, sprouted them and some are planted in mud in a bowl I bought at the dollar store. They thrive in temperatures between 68 and 86 degrees, so I’m having to bring them in at night as the temperature is forecast to drop into the upper 30’s this week. So far, they seem to be doing well, putting out long runners with a lotus leaf at the end, floating on the water’s surface. I am confident I can keep them thriving until they bloom.
My shoulders are still an issue but seem to be better every day. Yesterday I was pain free until about sunset when they started to hurt. I’m avoiding motions that seem to cause pain, but I guess just routine movements throughout the day trigger the pain. It makes me so aware of just how many things throughout the day involve my shoulder muscles.
Lessons From The Road: This week I’ve been hyper aware of the many worlds I inhabit, either physically or mentally. My current spot on the edge of the Magic Circle is a very primitive world. When walking the paths (I’ve been walking almost every day) I usually encounter one or maybe two naked people walking in the opposite direction. We exchange pleasantries. It feels very “caveman” to me, except when I pass someone with an iPhone and earbuds.
When I go into Quartzsite, it has the feeling of a resort town, but not in a luxurious way. The “tourists” are, for the most part, people in RV’s or car or truck campers. There are some big rig people, but by and large, the “tourists” are somewhere between impoverished and homeless. It’s an alternative for people who can’t afford to fly off to some exclusive resort in Aruba. There are paid RV parks and paid campgrounds, but I’d say the majority of visitors stay on BLM land for free.
Ehrenberg is another world as well. A town that is quite small and has very few amenities, it is a town in decline for the most part. There is a laundromat that has about 20 washers, with fewer than 5 working at any given time. The rows of dryers nearly all have handmade signs that say “Out of Order.” They offer showers for $10, and although the water is hot and they don’t care how long you shower (many of the truck stops limit you to 10 minutes), the showers are clean but in need of some TLC. The town has a Family Dollar, an elementary school and a post office. They have two gas stations, which being on the Colorado River with CA on the other bank are often very busy because gas prices are usually a couple dollars cheaper in AZ than CA. No restaurants or even fast food. The residents seem to all live in trailer or RV parks.
Across the River in Blythe, CA, the town is bigger with real grocery stores, restaurants, an Ace Hardware, a Verizon Store, car dealerships and many businesses on the main drag. Once off the main drag you find there are many rundown, single-story stucco houses. The population is (I think) mostly Hispanic and many of the houses and businesses have bars on the doors and windows. I went into a bank there once and had to be “buzzed in” making me think that it’s not the safest of towns.
In this part of AZ I am far from big box stores, Walmart, Costco, etc. Quartzsite has lots of homeless people here in the winter and most street corners have someone (often with a dog) with a sign asking for money. But even though it seems to be quite a depressed town, it feels very safe and even quite friendly.
Spattered throughout these places are the expensive, extravagant big rigs and the people who occupy them. I suppose, like the rest of us they’ve come here for the warmth from places like Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and the Dakotas. Most of the people vacationing in them seem to have a sense of entitlement. You can pick them out in line at the dollar store, complaining that there is only one cashier and 5 people ahead of them in line. They pull their giant homes into parking lots and park across 5 or 6 parking spaces blocking others from entering and some from getting out. They are big and rich and it would be inconvenient for them to find a place where they could park out of everyone’s way. At first, I thought I was perhaps being unfair or judgmental, but I’ve heard many people who are struggling to make ends meet in much more meager camping vehicles say the same thing (or much worse). I do my best to avoid the big rig people whenever possible. And I suspect if they have any awareness at all, they try to avoid me and my tribe as well.
That’s all I got,
Love you like a dog.
See you down the road,
Scott
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