Raising Arizona

113°. That is why I haven't yet set foot outside today. I'm calling it a "rejuvenation day" rather than a "I'm scared of heat stroke" day. I'm in Phoenix, AZ, couchsurfing yet again for a few days before I go to Joshua Tree in California, then on to Los Angeles on Saturday to see some fam (yay!).

My possessions are not all coping with the heat very well in the car, unfortunately. My Birk clogs have fallen apart, the glue surrendering to the sun gods; even the darkest of chocolate is mere pudding; water bottles frozen solid in the morning are lukewarm in a few hours; and I'm drinking ridiculous quantities of water (and thus making a ridiculous number of associated pit stops). I'm a little worn out, and am looking forward to some cooler temps at some point, although I might have to wait for Bogota to get those...

So here are some notes from the road from the past few days:
There's a town in Texas called Iraan, something that amused me to no end. Even more amusing was Iraan's interesting mix of energy sources: both oil derricks and windmills, hundreds of them all along the ridges. Of course, it was Texas, so Jesus was not to be outdone by some paltry windmills: there was a massive cross perched on an opposing ridge, as if to defend the area from the heathens who dare to impose alternative energy upon the people of this land. Another Jesus-related declaration seen in the great state of Texas: "Jesus Christ is Lord, Not a Swear Word" (on the side of an 18-wheeler).

As I passed through El Paso, I caught a few glimpses of Juarez across the border... it wasn't pretty. Even had I planned on stopping, I was so sick of being in the car that day and so close to my destination in New Mexico, I just bypassed all of it. I was, however, stopped at a border patrol station that funneled everyone off the highway for a few questions from a local sheriff. The guy in front of me with Florida plates was waved right through, but me, with my load of stuff, got a curious look and a few pointed questions such as "Where are you headed?", but with an intonation that I heard as more like "Where do you think you're going, missy?" Maybe I read too much into that one though.

In New Mexico there were lots and lots and lots of dust devils; at any given time I could look on the horizon and see five to ten of them. There were associated warnings about wind and dust at intervals along the highway:


As I drove, the road followed the railroad tracks and gently wound through the stark landscape. There's some poetry in that, I think, although I'm not the person to actually work it out.

NM actually was a low point in the trip, though, since my couchsurfing host flaked out on me, and the campground I found was apparently RV-only (just a gravel lot off the side of the road, not very inviting) and I had little choice but to check into a hotel. It was comfy, but I'm cheap and it made me mad.

Once in Arizona, the sun was so intense that I didn't even want to stick my arm outside the car. It actually felt cooler to just have the breeze within the car rather than the wind rushing by outside. Even at 5:30 pm, the temperature was 108°, down from a high of 112° that day. At the truck stop I stopped at to refill my water bottles and cool off, the guy at the counter told I should go sit in the bathroom, since it was the coolest room in the place. I resisted the temptation to crack some inappropriate jokes there.

Finally, the sheriff in Tucson had a badass Batman symbol as his front license plate, which I would totally have on my car if I were an officer of the law.

To wrap up this post, I leave you with some surrealist art a la moi... (I have no idea if this would actually qualify as surreal.)

(more photos here)