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Day Two: We spent the first night in boarding-house like hotel in the little mountain town of Cloudcroft, 20 or so miles out of Alamogordo, since hotels in town seemed to be in the $300+ range. There must have been something going on with, or at, Holloman AFB since Alamogordo is not exactly tourist-central. We headed back into town after breakfast at Cloudcroft’s Dusty Boots Café where apparently masks were not allowed,… Read More
So the story goes like this. Lace and I had tickets booked for Cuba and Colombia for 2021 Thanksgiving holiday time. Something came up and we had to cancel. Darn pandemics with their death and destruction and cancelled travel plans. However, there was also very good news from my point-of-view. Lace elected to come and spend the whole 10 days with me anyway. Those of you with grandchildren know that when any… Read More
“Life is beautiful if you are on the road to somewhere.” ~ Orhan Pamuk It’s felt like such a hard slog to venture forth this year. Part of that is basic covid fatigue—endlessly hearing about it, the signs, the masks, the lack of services. Part of it though, at least for me is the knowledge that this is the New Norm. New-Norm. NewNorm. We live in a world of incompetent political leadership at… Read More
Way down in southwestern Texas along US 90, three odd little towns named Marfa, Alpine and Marathon hug the roadside. I’m told (by a local artist) they contain Important ART and the cool art crowd (Marfa, of course); Christian conservatives and shops full of ‘pretty’ landscapes (Alpine); and free and independent art spirits, and laid-back hunters and ranchers (Marathon). Previous exposure to Texas being Dallas, Houston, the Panhandle, and too many Republicans,… Read More
September 22, early 23, 2021: Albuquerque, New Mexico almost to Marathon, Texas. Cheap motel on noisy street in Carlsbad on night one. My first substantial road trip in a few years. Albuquerque to Carlsbad NM to Marathon TX to San Antonio TX. Granddaughter Patricia’s in San Antonio to Granddaughter Teresa’s in Austin to Hobbs NM to Albuquerque. Primary goals, besides having good fun with Patricia and Teresa, include never setting tire to… Read More
Before and after Tamerlane’s Terror. Coming to you today from lovely downtown Osh, Kyrgyzstan. And it may well be lovely. I however have been enjoying it from my guesthouse sick bed. You are familiar with Delhi Belly and Montezuma’s Revenge…well, I (and now Scott and Teresa) appear to have the Central Asian version…trying to name it…how about Tamerlane’s Terror? So far Teresa and Scott seem to have the lighter version of Tamerlane’s… Read More
Isn’t family what it’s all about after all? But now for the ROAD TRIP. Life in Minnesota moves along just as it should. Sleeping again, visiting cousins, stocking up on moose and walleye sweatshirts and enough new shoes for all the abs classes and walking marathons of next year. And a road trip. Granted it was not of the fifteen-hundred-miles-plus kind I enjoyed so much in the past—still it did stir some… Read More
I’m going to be cremated. Partially so I don’t have to be stuck in one place. First of all…a handful or so of my ashes (mixed with Max, my last border collie’s) must go out on the Old Place, some more in the Bosque down by Tingley Beach and at Neset Camping in Byglandsfiord, and…finally the rest should be here at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Northome, Minnesota. Burrowed in right between… Read More
Chapter Three My Mom’s South Dakota Granny Furiosa struggles to return to her [Minnesota—by way of South Dakota] homeland and escape the clutches of a ruthless [New Mexican] desert gang leader… With the harsh desert sands [of Farmington] in front of them and marauders behind, only the maddest will prevail the storm. (IMDb/Mad Max: Fury Road) That was Saturday morning. By Monday, our fearless heroine and her loyal steed, Ghost, were leaving… Read More
Chapter Two Scars are Cowboy Tattoos with Better Stories It’s Friday, September 1st now. Minnesota. Leaves one more degree golden this morning. Heavy rain this evening. Am I happy? Well YES. I drove through Wyoming last Sunday. Not sure I’ll do that again since I still have so many other places to see…maybe I will though because I cannot bear to say ‘never again’ to some places. I’ve already written about my… Read More