East from the Pecos....
It all started with another road trip… this one into distinctly alien country. Although I pride myself on being able to traverse most of the western states without a map or GPS this was the mother of all road trips.. cross country to the Eastern seaboard. So of course I started by driving south.. to the southern California high desert and mountains.. to cherry valley to see the indomitable Aunt Billie and to see my Dad up in him forest home. After a short visit I headed west, resisted the temptation to stop at the grand canyon and landed at Chris and Lisa’s for a few days in the big turkey (that’s Albuquerque for the uninitiated) I attempted to clean out my storage unit but didn’t quite make it.. a few pieces of furniture that hold sentimental value holding me back. About a year and a half ago while I was still in Grenada I got the news that this storage until had been broken in to. I couldn’t remember much of what I had stored there.. But what I did worry about was still there.. artwork by friends, my Japanese teaware… Some things I had forgotten about were gone.. notably the Pentax K1000 SLR film camera I had been using since I was 17 and had been still using and shooting film with just before I left for Grenada. Any other feelings of loss and violation at was taken--- my bicycle, a television, a dvd player.. has been tempered by the fact that those things would have cost almost as much to move as to replace.
My friend and classmate Tri met me in Albuquerque and from there we caravanned east.. drving our own cars but landing in the same spot each night.
Three days.. about 700 miles per day give or take. No less than three states a day, although that number picked up on the east coast… Knoxville TN to Ringoes NJ took us through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland Pennsylvania, before we got to New Jersey. Free breakfast and working WiFi became the standard of comfort… and the somewhat scary motel six in Oklahoma became the standard of discomfort… The bed linnens and towels clean but more worn than I have ever seen… The mattress noticeably bowing in as I lay down. Tri and I carried in EVERYTHING from his open bed truck.. including a large carpet, a chair and a kitchen table.
Oaklahoma is also where Shade refused to get out of the car... after so many miles and so many new places to sleep.. she was just done with change.
I do have that distinct feeling of immigration again. This is not my culture and yet it is. I found myself sitting in a natural food co-op in Princeton last week, drinking tea eating vegan oatmeal cookies while the ladies at the table next talked about the sex lives of their grown children.. This could have been many places in the western United States but it was not, and not just the narrow tree lined streets told me so. If my neighbors haven’t figured me out yet, they are getting close.. I got strange looks from two impeccably dressed elder ladies looked me up and down as I walked back to my apartment barefoot after having run down to the parking lot to help Larissa (with her beautiful tattoos on display) and her baby boy Niko find my apartment. And I don’t even start at the hospital until Tuesday.
My friend and classmate Tri met me in Albuquerque and from there we caravanned east.. drving our own cars but landing in the same spot each night.
Three days.. about 700 miles per day give or take. No less than three states a day, although that number picked up on the east coast… Knoxville TN to Ringoes NJ took us through Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland Pennsylvania, before we got to New Jersey. Free breakfast and working WiFi became the standard of comfort… and the somewhat scary motel six in Oklahoma became the standard of discomfort… The bed linnens and towels clean but more worn than I have ever seen… The mattress noticeably bowing in as I lay down. Tri and I carried in EVERYTHING from his open bed truck.. including a large carpet, a chair and a kitchen table.
Oaklahoma is also where Shade refused to get out of the car... after so many miles and so many new places to sleep.. she was just done with change.
I do have that distinct feeling of immigration again. This is not my culture and yet it is. I found myself sitting in a natural food co-op in Princeton last week, drinking tea eating vegan oatmeal cookies while the ladies at the table next talked about the sex lives of their grown children.. This could have been many places in the western United States but it was not, and not just the narrow tree lined streets told me so. If my neighbors haven’t figured me out yet, they are getting close.. I got strange looks from two impeccably dressed elder ladies looked me up and down as I walked back to my apartment barefoot after having run down to the parking lot to help Larissa (with her beautiful tattoos on display) and her baby boy Niko find my apartment. And I don’t even start at the hospital until Tuesday.
posted by Sa @ 7:39 PM
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