White Bus Black Dog

For my own records, before new memories erase older ones, I want to write down a few of the delightful small things I have stumbled into or worked hard to find over the past couple of weeks:

Minden, Lousiana : “Are you lost?” the cop asks, instead of giving me a ticket for bad lane-changing. He didn’t notice the busted rear-view mirror, either. After running my license, he talks about his pit-bull for 5 minutes and encourages us to “do it” (the trip), because he always wanted to but can’t anymore if he is going to put his kids through university. He points us towards the diesel station, and wishes us good luck. Broken-down buildings (”Dixie Laundry”) line a quiet stretch of railroad tracks.

Shreveport, LA: Old black woman on a rocking chair on a wooden porch, Municipal Auditorium, choir practice across the street (better than Elvis), little girl waved, Old men frolicking on benches in front of the courthouse. Got lost looking for the highway, thank goodness.

McLellan Lake/reservoir, Texas: Sunk into rock sculptures, snake dangers, made me like Texas. Miniature oil derricks, the bird with yellow wings. Muddy’s bid for freedom, and Gordon’s attempts to herd him back. Gordon’s bathroom duties (following Paul there and back to guard against danger). Old people on bicycles. Men floating in mud water inside an inner tube… fishing? Fire resistant grasslands. Firefly on Paul’s guitar case.“Free” campsites.So much light!

Quanah, Texas: Public swimming pool on a dirt road, $3 entrance fee for anyone older than five, teenagers who hang out there all day, sexy lifeguards Sandlot-style, Indian history.

Santa Rosa, New Mexico: Best enchiladas at Joseph’s Bar and Grill. Night time drive out of town up to a State Park… scrubby desert next to another unswimmable lake. I grabbed a sun-bleached stick, cactus flower. Route 66 pride everywhere. $10 rear-view mirror, plus license plate finds in a junkyard. Police chase over a misunderstanding. Starter cable died, and resurrected. Blue Hole: 81 ft. deep, they say, but for those of us without scuba equipment, mostly valuable as a COLD plunge on a hot day. Moderated body temperature back down to manageable levels for 72 hours and counting.

Taos, NM: Quite the drive here: snow dabbed mountains. Woke up at a lake cradled by hills. No swimming. Adobe Taos, hippie-haven, artist over-population. Donald Rumsfeld has a house here? Bill O’Reilly-loving tourists from San Diego admonish me to be a “good” journalist, like those on Fox News are. Green city, Indian jewelry. Turquoise and polished red coral in silver. The big, soft hands of Tony Reyna as he showed me pieces crafted by his son and other Indian artists. He cautioned me against fake turquoise, and taught me how to tell the difference. The Taos pueblo dwellings, with their 3 ft thick adobe walls and revolutionary history. Hot tub in a mountain side. On a detour, more waxy cactus flowers in yellow and orange. Spanish, at last.