So Many Nice Americans

When we set out on this journey, it was my hope that we would return feeling like we were participating members of this world and of this country.  It seems these days we often feel we have little in common with Americans from other regions, religions, parties and so on - we focus on the differences instead of the similarities.  And it sometimes feels, to me at least, that we have little appreciation for our fellow Americans who live differently than us.  But you know there are a lot of really nice people out there - just friendly people who are happy to listen to your stories and tell you theirs.  So tonight I'd like to give some props to all the nice people out there whom we have met along our way.  Here are a few of them:

Kevin and Dana Lohenry from Glendale, Arizona:  Kevin and Dana were sitting on top of a big, red rock in Sedona when we came upon them during one of our hikes.  Buster, as usual, starts the conversation ("What a cute dog.  Is he a chihuahua?").  They were very interested in our world travels and asked lots of questions while also sharing their experiences.  Kevin is the director of physician's assistant program and wanted to know our thoughts on the quality of medical care for GLBT patients.  An hour later they invited us to the university's alumni dinner at the Hilton Resort and Spa - which we did in fact crash that night.  They introduced us to PA's at the party - some students, some practitioners - and each person wanted to know about our trip.  After the party, they asked us to come out to karaoke.  One student even bought me a tequila shot!  And at the end of the night Kevin told me to feel free to contact him if I had any questions about the PA profession and that if we went to Tucson we should call because they had friends there that could show us around.  Isn't that soooo nice?

Bill Bladt from Sedona, Arizona:  We actually met Bill on the same hike as Kevin and Dana.  He came up to me and told me I looked just like his daughter Allison (Do you see any similarity in this picture?  Hint: not the baby).  I happened to be wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses so I think my headshape must have been the key factor.  Anyway, he was so tickled by this similarity that he asked to take my picture!  

Joe from Demming, New Mexico:  We ran into Joe at the Vietnam Memorial in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  He was having a coffee break from his weekend motorcycle ride and we had stopped to have lunch.  He was sitting alone so we went over to chat.  Joe was Korean War vet who retired from Minnesota to New Mexico with his wife.  A few months after they arrived, his wife got Alzheimer's.  He took care of her for 11 years before she died and clearly he was of the mind that each day he had was special and to be enjoyed.  We talked about the pointlessness of war and the poverty in America.  He joked that the New Mexico state tree is the telephone pole, and the state flower was a plastic Wal-Mart bag which litter the highways :)  Joe was just a really nice guy who was so pleased to visit with us in the warm sunshine of the desert.  

Angelica from Albuquerque, New Mexico:  Angelica came into the bar where we were listening to our friend Susan's co-worker's band.  That's a mouthful.   She came in near the end of the set and sat down to have a drink.  We started chatting and I told her we were visiting from out of town, that we had been traveling and yada yada.  Well, she was so excited about our trip and wanted to know about all the places we visited and what it was like.  Then she wanted to know what we thought of New Mexico and apologized for the weather being so poor ( it was really really really windy that day).  She said, "Please come back again when the weather is better.  Please!"  And she really meant it.  I felt like we could have asked her to let us stay in her house - she was that warm and friendly.  

Since we miss our friends and family a great deal, it's comforting to share time with such kind people.

Buster has also made new friends and comments that "dogs are also really nice across America.  And their butts smell interesting."  (note:  this is Sarah's contribution to the blog entry)

Off to Louisiana!

Goofus and Doofus Go RVing

Have you ever seen the movie "RV" with Robin Williams?  If you have, then you can skip this entry and just imagine our faces in his place.  For the rest of you who think we are fairly intelligent people, read on, and keep an open mind about remaining friends with us yahoos.

A couple of days ago, we had the RV day from hell.  We woke up to a brilliant dese

rt morning at the OK RV Park in Holbrook, AZ just off old Route 66. Eager to eat breakfast at the famous Joe and Aggie's Cafe, we started our RV shutdown routine.  Now the day before I had decided to do a little organizing and found that our shower - that we use for storage - was partially filled with what appeared to be waste water (I'll leave the liquid description out).  Hmmm...turns out the waste tank monitor doesn't work, and since we're oblivious, we let the tank overflow and back up into the shower.  Yum.  So on this fine day we decided to dump again for safe measure.  First I had to remove the "poop tube" as we call it.  

Idiot move #1:  Bending over to find my rubber gloves, I leaned into the heater

exhaust thingamajig and burned a big hole in my only fleece - a big cigar burn - great.  

Idiot move #2:  After successfully dumping the waste into the sewer without making any contact with the poop tube, we start to clean the tube with water using a hose.  Sarah aims the spray down the tube while I hold it upright.  Easy enough, yes?  No.  She says, "Wiggle it around to get the sides."  So I wiggle and the spray hits the edge of the tube and flies up into her face and hair.  I then drop the tube, and it splashes all over my shoes.  

Idiot move #3:  We get cleaned up and head to the Petrified Forest Nat'l Park.  Admittedly I took the turn a little fast and then Crash!  Wincing, we turn around and find a whole saucepan of chicken-water (I had poached chicken the night before and left the pan on the stove) dumped all over the carpet.  So now we're driving in a can of chicken noodle soup.  Buster immediately lapped it up to help. 

 

Fortunately there are places that will shampoo RV carpet (who knew?) which we did in Gallup, NM a couple hours later.  And if these trials and tribulations weren't enough, we also dealt with constant 30-40 mph winds, that had we done any research, we may have learned is the Spring norm in northern AZ and NM.  It followed us all day, whipping sand in our eyes, smacking us in the face.  I guess that was Mother Nature's punishment for being morons.

Southwest Quiz

Well, it's been six months since I've written a pop quiz. So I don't get out of practice, I thought I'd give everyone a video quiz. There are five questions. Can you get 100%?

Wild West WiFi

Now that I have recovered from my long dry journey through the salt flats of DEATH VALLEY in flip flops with no water or sunscreen, I will tell you a little more about the last couple weeks. We are currently in Cameron, AZ just east of the Grand Canyon and are staying in a Navajo Nation hotel that actually has WiFi. Although we enjoyed hunkering down inside the van at night outside a business or standing behind the Motel 6 in the cold to get a connection, it's also nice to sit in a real bed with heat while checking your email. But no purchased connection has ever come close to "lolas motorhome" which has an astounding download rate of 4000 Kbps -  if you stood in the corner of the Quality Inn and RV Park Laundromat in Springdale, Utah. Besides spending significant time stealing WiFi, we've managed to see a great many amazing landscapes of the Western USA. And it really is phenomenal if you think about the diversity that you can cover in a just a few days. We've seen brown dirt, red dirt, orange dirt, green dirt, gray dirt and black dirt. And then there are ridges, mountains, hills, and mesas. We've driven to 9,000 ft and then to -300 ft - all within 2 hours! And you can see all of it - because there aren't any trees for hundreds and hundreds of miles.

People have been really nice as well - helping us unload our RV waste (that's really fun), filling our propane, giving us recommendations and directions. Maybe we're a bit of a novelty - two girls and a chihuahua in big brown van - but whatever. I do have to say that I have a new appreciation for RVers. For one, they are very nice - sometimes a little chatty but it's nice to talk to people after 5 months of talking only to Sarah. And now that we are crammed in that not so big van, I can see why one might buy an entire home on wheels. We're even a little jealous at times - all that space, a full kitchen, March Madness, not having to step on the couch to step onto the counter to crawl up to the bed. And they can be really creative too - like building a yard complete with a fence out of that green astro turf, cinder blocks and 2x4's in front of their RV door in the middle of an RV park behind a motel. That's really neat.

That's enough rambling for now. We're on to more of the southwest in search of cactus and another lola. And don't worry - we're safe with the help of our ferocious dog.

On our way to ???

Well, we've been out of touch for a while due to the lack of internet access. Funny how it was easier to get online in Nepal than in the U.S. I think we were more motivated to let our families know we were alive :)

The Big Brown Van has visited Oregon, California, Nevada and Arizona. It's a tight fit at times (I've nicknamed the sleeping area "the coffin"), but overall the van has performed admirably (Thank you, Rudy!).

Quick story: During our drive through Death Valley, we got into an argument which sent Vanessa to the back of van in frustration. We drove in silence for a while and then I stopped to take a picture of the scenery. I informed Vanessa, "I'm going to take a picture," then jumped out of the driver's side, snapped a photo, jumped back in, and drove away. About 10 minutes later I took a turn a bit too fast and a drawer fell out. "Are you going to pick that up?" I asked. No response. "Oh, so now you're not talking to me?" No response. "Fine. I'll pull over and pick it up myself." No response. When I pulled over, I realized Vanessa wasn't in the van. She must have gotten out to stretch her legs when I took my picture. Panicked that she was walking along the desert highway, I turned around and floored it back to her. When we saw each other, we burst out laughing and the fight was over. Fortunately Buster was ignorant of the entire scary episode.

More soon.