DAY 7

Hola amigos!!

The state flag of Arizona is a picture of a huge gigantic star baking the desert floor. This should have been my first clue.

My second clue should have been on Wednesday when my sister pointed to a weather map and said, "Oh my gosh!!" I looked. Phoenix. 109 degrees.

Dust Devils welcomed me into the state and have kept pace with my car the past two days. Spinning columns of dust swirling up and up into the sky. I keep thinking they are fires. Or construction sites.

The road goes straighter than even Euclid thought was possible. It's a straight-edge, a ruler, marked by miles and Rest Areas and sagebrush, not inches or centimeters. I never imagined there was this much brush and sand in all the world, much less in the state of Arizona.

Phoenix snuck up on me. I almost passed it. Singing along to Wall of Voodoo, I was. It occurred to me that the road I was on was suddenly in the midst of very tall buildings. I got off the freeway and was immediately underwhelmed. This was Phoenix? It was like L.A. without the charm.

I stayed at a Rodeway Inn last night, ate sandwiches in my lonely hotel room of pain, and watched a documentary about sexy TV from other countries. Man, I love HBO. Hubba hubba.

As I drove on today, I kept noticing the sky. It was blue. Very blue. Blue squared. Blue to the nth power. It's bright, clear, crystalline in its very blueness. It's like Paul Newman's eyes have been boiled down to their essence and then spread across the heavens for me to enjoy.

Yeah. It's blue.

I'm in Tucson now (and, just to be a hick, I keep calling it "Tuck-sun." NObody has corrected me yet...). I was going to try to make it to New Mexico today (probably Las Cruces, and then on to Roswell), but I saw a sign for Tombstone, Arizona ("Daily Gunfights!"), and I thought, "Sign me up for that!" So I'll be heading for Tombstone tomorrow morning, and
hopefully make it to Las Cruces by nightfall. Roswell Sunday (Monday?) and then on to Texas early next week.

I'll give you a call, Beanie...

I spent the afternoon at the Arizona International Wildlife Museum. A really cool animal museum about 15 miles outside of Tucson. I kind of stumbled across it on a side road, and was blown away. Out amongst miles and miles of sand, cactus, and the occasional pastel-stucco'ed pueblo comes the International Wildlife Museum. Bears, rhinos, sheep (LOOOOTS of sheep), cougars, and an entire room just filled with heads. I was one of about 3 people who were visiting at the time (2 hours prior to closing). Nothing like being the only one in a roomful of stuffed lions bringing down a stuffed wildebeast. Makes petting the animals much less of a crime.

Just before I came here to Kinko's (bless them--by the way, I passed the "No-Tel Motel" on the way here. Across the road was "Ceasar's Adult Videos." Yin and Yang.), I took a dip in the hotel pool. The sun was just going down and as I floated face up, chatting with a retired school teacher from Mt. Shasta (we are EVERYWHERE...), I watched the sky turn darker and darker blue. No clouds, just a deepening blue. Off in the distance I could see through the palm trees; the sky was pink and orange, brilliant and fiery. I turned and faced the opposite way and the (nearly) full moon was floating in the night sky.

It was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen.

Peace,

--MIke