Sunday, December 18, 2016

Chiricahua National Monument, Arizona

It reminded me a lot of Goblin Valley in Utah. Neat!

I rolled a 5 = go to the nearest border. That’s New Mexico tomorrow!

Monday, December 19, 2016

I’m afraid of heights, so every time I come across a name or a map of “something Pass” I get nervous. But I keep going over them anyway. Learning my truck’s low gears and giving myself permission to be the slowest person on the mountain – and waving people by – makes it doable.

A few miles up the road after leaving the Chiricahua National Monument, I came across a truck sideways on the small, quiet highway. The driver with his cowboy hate was on his cell phone. I slowed to a stop next to him and asked if I could help. He was on the phone with AAA, and asked if I could help him push his truck off the road. We tried through muscle to push the massive vehicle into the grasses on the side, but even though we were able to get it rocking a few inches forward, we weren’t able to get it further. I pulled my truck around and slowly and carefully pushed him onto the side. That did the trick. Turns out, he owns the local mortuary and had been on his way to a funeral. The “remains” were in the back of his Durango and a friend of his was heading over to pick those up and get to the funeral. Glad I was able to help a little, I went on my way.

When I crossed into New Mexico, I felt a flitter of solidity to my leaving. I traveled into a whole different state. Arizona is officially behind me. I’ll return, of course, but in a wholly different capacity. The state line punctuated a finality to those previous eight years in Arizona.

Worry is one of my frequent companions when traveling. It’s impressive how large the world feels when stuck with a flat tire, and how small it feels when smoothly traveling on paved roads. From here, I could be in Albuquerque, Phoenix, Tucson, or back to Bisbee in a number of hours within one day. I could be visiting my mom in a just a few days. Small world. But if I was that truck sideways on a quiet highway, my world would suddenly become very small.