sunday morning came; we crammed stephanie's stuff into phoebe, my stuff into spacepod, and after some heartfelt goodbyes, went our separate ways.

i met marcy, her sister holly, and sky boo bug at the sally port; helped marcy get her bra onto sky boo and we were off to colorado.

a few miles up the road we came across chris and kellie hanner, and they picked up their pace a bit to join us for a while. after a while we hit a stoplight and chris pulled up beside me, and handed me a roll of alien decals for the SP's windows... then they took off for the grand canyon, and we continued north.

we drove through some mountains, which marcy had never seen before. for much of the trip i was behind sky boo, with the sky being very large and dramatic the way it is in that part of the country, and it was really quite a stunning sight. i tried to take a picture, but i have found that there's really no way to capture that sky with a normal camera.

i have to say that sky boo is one of my favorite bugs. she's vapor with white cloud decals all over, and marcy has done an excellent overall job of accessorizing her in and out. oh, and marcy and holly are ok too :)

we arrived in late afternoon at the monte vista movie manor, a combination motel/drive-in movie theater, where you can watch the movies from inside your room. i had seen a documentary about motels many years ago which featured such a place, and had wanted to stay at one (yes, there's more than one) for a long time. i was very excited to find this place, especially since it's an easy day's drive from roswell.

i have to admit to a little disappointment with the place; i thought that it would be possible to watch the movie from a balcony on the room, but actually you have to watch the movie from inside your room. you also have to make your room completely dark to be able to see the movie, which was a problem for me because i wanted to work on the computer while watching. so i left one of my lights on and sort of half watched the movie while working. it was kind of like tv.

after the movies had started, i had to go outside for something and discovered another r2k pod parked next to the spacepod. it was Gamera, who belongs to Betsy Lacosky Way. I never saw her, but left a note on the windshield.

Marcy and i also spotted a bright blue pod pulling in to the movie theater, and we were pretty excited that it might be someone we knew, but when i went out to the theater lot i could see that the car had colorado plates and i couldn't find the owners-- playing on the playground i guess. but i think they were locals.

the next morning marcy and holly continued north, and i struck out west toward california.

Monday, June 18: Monte Vista, Co to Flagstaff, Az, via the Four Corners, and the Navajo Nation

the main thing you need to know about monday is that i really, really, really, really, really HATE the desert. i have read many novels which romanticize the desert. i love that jonathan richman song about how great the desert is. i enjoy watching the desert in movies. but i really, really hate being there.

the first part of my drive, through a mountainous region of colorado, was quite beautiful. i was also surprised to see that every single gas station had diesel featured quite prominently! however, i had thoroughly vented and filled my tank to the brim, so i was able to drive all day on less than a tank of gas.

the mountain road was a fun road to drive and i stopped at one point and took a little hike up to a waterfall.

by the time i started approaching the four corners, the mountains had given way to desert and i knew i couldn't extend my drive through the desert to include the grand canyon; i just couldn't stand it.

right outside of the four corners is a sign which tells you that you are entering the navajo nation. i wish i had gotten a picture, but it's not an easy road to pull over on. i headed west along the nearly featurless, hot dry and dusty road, then went south on 191.

191 is a two-lane road that i think is primarily used by locals, who are pretty much all navajo. it is not a pretty road, even for the desert. there are no interesting rock formations, or cacti; nothing but scrub, and red dust, and tiny, decrepit houses all the color of dust, surrounded by cars and parts of cars that are also the color of dust. it is a long road, and hot, and there's no shoulder and if one's car were to break down there, one would be in a fairly interesting situation. i am very, very glad that i didn't have to find out what would happen should my car have broken down on 191.

toward the southern end of the road there is a town where i did stop; it was rather startling to suddenly see billboards for burger king and taco bell in the middle of all this nothing. so i stopped at the navajo burger king and got some french fries.

i finally reached I-40 and although the landscape wasn't much better, it was wonderful to be zipping along an interstate, feeling a lot safer. i am not usually a fan of the interstate, and i like remote areas. i say that to try and demonstrate just how desolate that road was.

i reached flagstaff, az after about ten hours of driving, probably one of the longest and hardest days i'll have during this trip. flagstaff is a nice little college town, and i stayed at a delightfully kitschy motel 6, where a young man told me that my car was "beautiful, just beautiful!".

Tuesday, June 19: Flagstaff, Az to Los Angeles, Ca

i put kevin's "retro r2k mix" on the cd player and hit historic route 66 out of flagstaff. the weather was lovely and the sky was lovely, and i was going to california, which is high on the list of States I Like.

i was still in the desert, but it was a lot greener; in fact, i was passing through what is actually considered a "forest" out here. haha.

when i crossed in to california, it was 110 degrees (and my snowflake was on-- of course). at the border check, the attendant asked me if i had any "fruits, vegetables, potted plants, or animals... or little green... things?" he had seen the array of bendy aliens on my dash. he allowed them.

i stopped at a little palm tree decorated oasis where gas was $2.65 and took a picture. happily, i did not need to fill up.

i expected traffic in LA to be much, much worse than it was. i found myself at drey & rich's house which was just as i imagined it, only nicer; a little stucco cottage.

we went to dinner at a place called Johnny Pastrami's, which they said is kind of a landmark; it was like walking into an Elvis movie. I expected someone to invite me to a clambake at any moment. we sat outside where a round stone well had a bright charcoal fire in the middle of picnic tables; drey and i ate massive, crispy hot fried fish sandwiches, rich had a pastrami that was about the size of his head, and we shared a basket of the crispiest, most golden crinkle fries.