4100 MILES IN THREE WEEKS. WHAT I LEARNED:

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How it started.

Wife: We could fly to Albuquerque and rent a car to see Monument Valley.

Me: Or we could drive down and see what we miss from the air.

Wife: You drive and I’ll meet you in Albuquerque.

Me: Then I’m taking the dog with me.

Wife: What?

Wife: Will there be enough room?

Me: We’ll make room. Maybe rent a carrier for the top?

Wife: That’s bad for gas mileage.

Me: Then we’ll keep the bullet profile.

 

You’ll Miss The Sights From The Plane 

It’s a long drive from Portland to Albuquerque with huge, open space.

Me: Try to take pictures out the airplane window.

Wife: Okay.

 

Wife: I’m landing at 4:30 on Thursday. If you leave on Monday you’ll have three days to get there. You can leave on Sunday if you think you’ll be late.

Me: I won’t be late.

She sent a text when she landed.

I sent her a picture of her plane landing from the cell phone waiting lot.

 

What Did She Miss?

An AirBnB or Breaking Bad?

You won’t find it on a map or see it from the air.

I made a wrong turn off 191 to 160. If you make a wrong turn out here it’s a long wrong turn.

Instead of heading south I was going west.

I back-tracked about forty miles to the Hwy 59 cut-off instead of the junction of 160 and 191.

The road signs were sketchy, like I was supposed to know where I was.

I stopped when it seemed like a good place and asked the folks in an old store-gas station where I was.

We’ve all seen that guy; now I was him.

Me: I’m looking for Hwy 191.

Store Lady: That’s it going past the front door. Where are you headed?

Me: Gallup.

Lady: So head south and go past two stop lights. People make the mistake of turning, but don’t do that. After two lights you’ll find a round-about. Take it to the left and follow the signs.

Me: I haven’t seen a sign in hours.

Lady: You’re on reservation land, but you probably didn’t know. I live about thirty miles away in a house with no address on a street with no name. We pay $1 a year property tax on our acreage and no building codes.

Me: How’s it going?

Lady: We love it. But the post office closes at four and I get off work at five so I hire someone to get my mail.

Me: Sounds good. So two lights and a round-about.

Lady: About forty miles down the road.

 

What Did I Learn

Spend enough hours behind the wheel and you start getting a feeling of ‘passing through’ a feeling of ‘transience.’

I rolled past towns full of people dreaming of their escape, some fulfilling dreams of finding their place.

I drove past truckers in their office, snow-birds migrating south, and this bird on a pole.

With my dog playing the part of faithful companion, we found our way overland mile after mile, day after day.

Wife at the airport: Thank you for being on time.

Me: I’ve been here three hours.

Wife: Why so early?

Me: Because it’s Albuquerque. What else was I going to do?

Wife: Take a look around?

Me: I’m saving that for us. Ready?

Wife: We’re on the way to Santa Fe.

Me: Just like the plan so far. I missed you more than I thought I would.

Wife: It’s only been three days.

Me: A long three days. The longest.

Wife: And here we are, together.

Me: Did you miss the dog?