Some of it will be right form my journal including the spelling or abbreviations... so bear with me.
I headed out of Sacramento at 3:00 PM and had to be back in Indiana by Sunday night to teach Monday I figured I "gots plenty o'time" boy did I cut it close... Check it out!
I'd been in San Leandro the morning I left and had to hop the train to Sac to get my car. At the Richmond station I ran into a former student from the Main College of Art, Ben Carpenter. Ben had worked with me on a couple public art pieces and is now in the the bay area making sculptural fab work, VERY cool to see him and such an appropriate way for me to enter back into my "on the road" lifestyle.
In Sac there was an issue about a box of tools I'd shipped that hadn't turned up yet. I'd been fortunate enough to not need them at the shop but I'd want them on the road. My experience about road trips is if you travel with tools you will not have major car issues.. if you don't... carry a AAA card and a cell phone; you'll probably need 'em.
I got to Sac around noon I guess and had called Dave to have him meet me at his Post office
and see if the tools had arrived. THEY DID!!! (COOOOoooool) and Dave and I rolled over to the shop where I packed up the car and said my good-byes to Dave.I'd already said my so-longs to Dan and his brother Crazy Red (also a Dave but there are soooo many) and set off to Crazy's house to drop off the shop keys, and a photo, from my recent exhibition, for Dave, Diedra and their son Alex. Time to gas-up and get out.
I'm off!
The first few hours are kind of a blur and I just put the pedal down and left California. I had tags on the car that had expired in 2004 and one trip permit in the window. I figured the place I would get the most hassle would be in the state that the car came from so I just wanted to get out. I stopped once to check under the car to see if something was loose because the car felt so twitchy on the road towards Donner pass. But nothing was wrong and when I got back on to I-80 I discovered it was just the right lane that had really taken a beating with all the snow and big trucks.
Nevada is really a funny place... step across the state line and you find slots in virtually every gas station. Gas is a bit cheaper here considering I'd spent huge amounts in California and that was the biggest expenditure for my budget I was thrilled to no end to be getting a break on fuel. Around 7pm PST I lost cell contact in the midst of a brief conversation with Shannon to tell her I'd be out of cell range till I got to Wendover.... that was funny I thought but Shannon had thought I was screaming (I was laughing ) as the phone cut out which made her a bit concerned for my well being...
I was really getting tired by the time I got to Winnemucca
but there was no place to nap that felt secure and there seems to be a bunch of meth heads running around at midnight.. whoda thunk?
As I was rolling out of town I kept seeing the American flags on the light poles running through the middle of town. Since 9-11 there has been an abundance of "Lee Press-on Patriotism" in my mind and I find it kind of creepy. I wonder if these flags were up before the tragedy or if they were some one's idea of creating a nationalist unity. I'm not picking on Winnemucca, NV this phenomenon is going on everywhere but I was so interested in it here that I got out of the car and shot this particular flag for around ten minutes... it was a good way to wake up before I got back on the road.
I drove on felling the weight of my head heavy on my shoulders, my eyelids flickering and brain dimming. Not a good thing... ahead of there is a set of blinking lights and I'm trying to figure out what the hell it is. I should be closing on it MUCH faster than I am and I realize its moving. I'm driving down a mountain pass with the sunroof cracked open the heater on and a window open just to get a little cold air on my face and try to sharpen me up.
The flashing lights are getting closer slowly and as I approach a tight bend in the freeway I slip into the left lane and go around this slow moving truck... it takes me a second to realize its not a truck like a semi its A freakin' snow plow!
Just as I'm wondering what the hell a snow plow is doing out here in Nevada the road takes on this odd glow and sure enough I'm driving through snow..... Its cold I'm tired and the road is significantly more slippery all of a sudden and I'm on unfamiliar roads in the middle of the night and did I mention I was so tired that things were running through my brain at 18FPS (frames per second)and I felt like I was moving down the road in CHUNKS of time.... Just as I crest the pass I see a bunch of trucks pulled over to the side of the road their lumbering hulk snoozing away their engines running to keep their pilots warm... I pull over, put the seat back in the fully reclined position elevate my tray table toss my jacket over my head and fall asleep. I sleep till I get cold; fire up the car to warm it up again, get out, stretch, walk around, water the local flora on the side of the road, and climb back in the car to fall asleep again....
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