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Before I start on today's fun, I'd like
to share a moment with you that I had last night
in Bing Crosby's Suite. It was time to turn in
for the night and I commenced with my flossing
activity. Naturally, there were the occasional
splatters of 'tween teeth shrapnel. Some of
which hit the mirror. As I focused on a
particularly large chunk of what I think was
once a Tootsie Roll, I realised that mine was
not alone on the mirror. It was sharing the
territory with previous occupant's ex-food.
(Perhaps some of it was even Bing's!) I had to
ask myself why this struck me as odd. Generally,
I'm not bothered about such things. It was more
that it was out of place in this environment.
Then it started to dawn on me. A glance at the
toilet confirmed my suspicions. It was still as
I had found it; Seat down and sealed shut with a
band of paper that assured me that it was
hygienically free of germs. I looked back at the
mirror. Was the toilet the only thing clean in
the room? Bemused, I hit the sack.
This morning started pretty well. I got
up on time and the twenty dollar phone bill was
within budget. Then I set out for Senoma. As I
followed the road around the edge of Oak Creek
Canyon I hit a patch off black ice and spun
completely around before coming to a halt on the
correct sire of the street, on the hard
shoulder. Initially I was shocked. Then I got
angry that I found the ice. Then I realised how
lucky I was that I wasn't going any faster and
that no other vehicles were around. If any of
these factors had been just slightly different I
could have plummeted over the edge into the
crater, had a fatal collision and at the very
least, the car would have been toast! I
eventually got out and checked over the car. It
seamed fine. So I continued on my way.
Senoma is full of mock Mexican
architecture, New Age chicks and wealthy
retirees. Its easy to see why they all choose
Senoma as their home. It is surrounded by huge
bluffs of red rock. If you've ever seen any
colour cow boy movies, it is almost a dead
certainty that you have seen these very same
rocks. It is beautiful. I stopped long enough to
get a strong espresso and a bagel before heading
further down the 89A, past the city of
Cottonwood, to the Tuzigoot National Monument .
This is a very interesting Sinaguan homestead
which sits on top of a small hill that looks out
on the Verde Valley. One of the main rooms is
still intact and the museum exhibit details how
the people of this tribe lived, worked and
traded goods with other tribes. From here I
headed back up to Sedona and then back to
Flagstaff via the 179 and 17 before getting back
on the I40 and heading for Albuquerque. It was
some where along this route that the front
driver side wheel started squeaking
intermittently.
A few miles East of Flagstaff is the
Walnut Canyon National Monument. Here I stopped
to see some more Sinaguan ruins. This time the
Indians had built their homes into the side of
the local cliffs. Wandering around these ruins I
started wondering about the civilisation that
had once inhabited these areas. They had
survived in harsh conditions for over four
hundred years. Then climatic changes forced them
to move on. During those centuries they had
lived in brick apartments while their European
counterparts had been living in damp holes. They
painted images on walls that look very much like
those of the Australian aborigines and their
tribes formed part of a huge trading network.
The name "Sinagua" we know them by now was given
them by the early Spanish invaders (it means "no
water"). I wonder what their name for themselves
was.
On returning to the car, I gave it
another good check over and removed a large
pebble that had got lodged behind the
break-disk. The car seams fine now. I am,
needless to say, quite relieved.
Next stop was the first crater that was
officially recognised as being created by a
meteor. Hard to believe that we ever thought
otherwise. It was also used to train the Apollo
astronauts. I found it less impressive than I'd
expected. The museum was very interesting, but
the crater is just a big hole! Sorry, its
probably all the ancient culture and near death
experience that took the edge off it.
Now I am sitting in my motel room at The
Western Inn on Central in Albuquerque. When I
checked in it seamed okay.The really worrying
thing is that I returned from dinner to find the
parking lot full of older American cars. As soon
as I got out of the car I was approached by a
shady, dark skinned youth who tried to elicit
personal information from me with the following
conversation:
Man: "Hi"
Me: "Oh .. Hi."
Man: " Hay, No offense, like ... Like I
don't know if you're married or nuthin' ... I
know this chick who saw you comin' in and has
the hots for you ..." He gesticulates with his
left hand in a circular motion.
Me: I raise an eyebrow, "Mmmm"
Man: "She ain't no pro. or nothin'. Nice
blond, wondered if she could get with ya'."
Me: "er ..."
Man: "So where you from, man? What's ya'
name? ... Anyway ..."
Me: "Wow, I'm flattered but I'm really
not interested."
Man: "Oh ..."
Me: "Sorry."
I left. Climbed the stairs to my room.
Went in and locked the door behind me. And
chained it. The room is unkempt and smells of
cigarette smoke. I am absolutely sure that no
one saw me earlier. So, is he a pimp or casing
me for a mugging? Right now, outside, I can here
the cars coming and going and raised male and
female voices yelling slang at one another. Oh
... and I got a couple of wrong number calls as
I typed and uploaded these details. Both
started, "So, man ... Don't I know you from
somewhere." I'll be glad to leave in the
morning.
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