Comin' home

[curt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ua_ODg0FmzQ

soon

[waldopaper]

"They " know the economy is doomed... and "they" expect violent civil unrest. Wouldn't it be a scream if nothing happened? Yeah... nothing. Just ignore the fuckers. Quit working, quit paying, just... quit. No taxes, no papers, no IDs, no nothin. Great links, pan. Will have to check em out later.

[curt]

I should have refrained from informing family of my trip. Mom's back home, on steroids. Actin' like it's the best coke this side of the border. Now she's gone and invited the Cal family members (Cecil's four) and all Az fam out to the hotdamn sonora desert for a huge wingding at a goddamn church. Mom always was good at directing things and I was always better at doin' it my way or takin' the highway. We'll see. If the Calif Ornians agree on comin' down, my ride out plans will have to be revised. Gonna do Route 66 no matter what......Holbrook, Winslow, Flagstaff, Seligman, Kingman and on to Needles. Wanna do it alone. Just me and my renta Harley. Mom's trippin. And I thought that gen wasn't into drugs.

Bear with me, and my warped mind. Just might summit good come outa all this after all.

[BO]

I love the smell of family dysfunction in the morning.

Smells like more bad dreams comin' your way.

Actually, I empathize poor Curt. I could speak reams about painful family experiences. I now avoid them at all costs.

I feel your pain.

[waldopaper]

Speakin' o comin home... I noticed Al Feldstein posting on OEN... retired editor of MAD magazine... born the same year as my Old Man. geez... my first blotto acid, I morphed into a Don Martin cartoon... which kinda sounds like wot curts gonna be dealin with.... PLOOSH FLAPF... at the big fambily re-bunion.

[pan]

I'm taking a weekend flight to Iowa to see the folks. Wife put her foot down - "you need to go see them, and I need to stay here" - smart, another reason why I married her.

It will be good to see the family but it will suck too. They called last night to tell me that there is a family event planned for the winter birthdays (my mom's 86th is on Thursday). I usually can take my family in small groups but I just retreat when it comes to the big events.

Short trip. Guilt trip. Mom got diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She's been saying that she wants to see me for a couple years now. They say they want to see the wife too but that is what they are supposed to say. Everyone is probably relieved that it is just me. That we that can say "too bad that she couldn't come, we really miss her". My tolerance for pretense is higher than hers. That's one of the reasons why she makes them nervous - she can spot a phony at a 100 meters.

[littleoldme]

"Mom got diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She's been saying that she wants to see me for a couple years now. "


Having dealt with this, (hubbies mom), go now, go while she still knows who you are.

I take it your wife is in the same category I always was with my husbands family. They show lotsa teeth when they smile at 'er.
They're all republicans, the tape limbaugh to watch later variety.(the hubbies family)

[curt]

I'm glad I'm not the only one in this situation. btw, the same applies here....i.e., I'll be travelling alone, leaving my boss and kids at home. Easier that way. Boss (wife) knows more people in more places in the USA than I ever will and she's from Germany. Typical.

"...go now, go while she still knows who you are." This is so true. It's also, almost my reason for going home this time, maybe my last time. I really hate going home. That one trip home right after boot camp was the first of a short chain of really bad experiences. Each worse than the one prior. This last one, close to 15 years ago, I did confront my old man, put my foot down and stood my ground for the first time in my life. I was solid in my conviction....because I was defending my 6 year old son from taking a beating from my father. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. Dad's a lovely person. He rarely lashes out. It all came full circle that last time. My oldest brother spoke of our chilhood and memories came flying into my head, things I had locked out of my memory cache. It was then that I learned I have a selective memory, like a hard disk. And just like a hard disk, no single memory can be erased forever without your deleting or moving the index ....meaning, you lose your mind altogether. In my line of work, I have to make room for new info where old info once was stored. No other way to get the job done. I fear the day when I lose control over my hard disk.

Go now. Go slow. Go alone. Go with your chin up and with a smile on your face. Smile because you know all things come to pass. Take it in stride.....go placidly amid the noise and haste. Remember what peace there may be in silence. (from Desiderata) Or as my Dad says...be good to yourself, cause no one else will.

I owe this visit to my fam. I also owe it to myself. This one will be the mother of all homecomings and I'll do my best to make it a most memorable one. I just hope I can remember to stay mentally perched, way up high ....like in the pine tree. I need to smile and converse with them while keeping my distance, my composure and my senses. It's not only a mad mad world. My family is one mad family.

Iowa ? Holy shit. And I thought I was from nowhere ;-)

[curt]

workin on the tour route. came up with one from home to Tucson to other places then over what they call Devil's Highway / route 666. Overnight at Cuz's place then on to route 66. From there, I'm not sure. Desert.

This is gonna be a very religious tour. I'll need some acid at some point or another. Going it alone, mind you. Just the way I've tripped since my best trips. It's something you have to be able to do. Ya gotta like the loneliness if ya wanna beat it and win. Check out 666. Devil's Highway. What a trip!

[waldopaper]

Well... I tried to follow yer route as best I could thru google maps. The US Southwest. If I were diplomatic, I would say, "never been there." If I were honest, I would say there's a REASON I've never been there. For one thing, Los Angeles and Las Vegas are down there... feh. For another thing... well... I've been in some really godforsaken places in the US... North Dakota comes to mind... but nothing like that. Have no reason to want to mess with the desert. Guess because I fear freezing to death much less than dying of thirst. Carry lots of water for shitsakes. No I mean LOTS... at least a gallon. One good hot-weather biker trick... get yerself a steel thermos bottle. At truck stops, have the nice waitress fill it up with crushed ice. Keep the ice-thermos next to yer water jug. I know it's a pain to find that much room on the bike... but since yer solo, yell have all the room ye need... be able to carry much more than you can on foot (but NOT a good idea to do so). There aint no stranded quite like motorcycle stranded. Gor. talk about the end of the world. religious indeed... into the desert. And hey- it IS where you gotta go thru if yer escaping to Mexico and all points south.

[pan]

When are you going to be touring? I lived in Rancho Mirage, CA - the golf course and plastic surgery haven of Southern California and it was great in the winter but, if you are straying into the summer you better be wearing lots of sunscreen and drinking water by the gallon. The desert is a spiritual place - exactly for the same reason people go on fasts .

Last time I was on Rt. 666 the '75 Westphalia broke down in New Mexico - on a Sunday in a state with blue laws - and we drank our last beer the day before while driving through Navajo land. From the back of the van the wife started screaming - she had spilled her bottle of hefeweisen - so I proved that I really did mean it when I agreed to "in sickness and in health" and shared the last bottle of double bock. When we stopped at a gas station an old Navajo lady walked by and complained how hot it was. The car was overheating and not starting. We got stuck a couple places and broke out our berimbaus and played by the side of the road, getting bemused looks from guys driving back home on the rez.

[curt]

Mid June, I fly.

Lived in Casa Grande for lil over 7 years. Spent a lot of time out in the desert. I'ts been a long time but I do remember the heat and how to cope with it. But if you look at the map again, my journey begins in the desert, at about elevation 1463 ft / 446 m. As part of Devil's Highway (Route 666 or US Highway 191) it passes through Hannagan's Meadow at about 9000, 9200 feet and it snows there all the way into June. Average temps. for Casa Grande in June are 114 high and about 15 low....Hannagan's meadow at 70 high if it's a real warm day and freezing over night. That's the yin and the yang of the route. Everything else in somewhere in between.

[curt]

Of course I have my figures wrong there. Can't think in fahrenheit anymore.

Casa Grande is about the hottest place this side of death valley. In June, the average is around 40° C. It doesn't cool off much at night.

Hannagan's Meadow, from what I have read, warms up to about 20° C in the summer but it can freeze at night and they have been know to have snow in July.

What I'm gonna do is to stay the night in Clifton, check the weather and temps and all, let the cops there know where I'm going and call ahead to my cousin to let him know I'm headed out toward Show Low. Should be no issue.

The desert and how to live though the extreme heat, sun and all........well, if I find I can't take the heat, I can always ride at night. Won't see much that way dontcha think? And all the critters on the road.