It’s 6:51pm and I am in the cheapest hotel, The
Malibu (mall-ee-boo en espanol), I could find in Guaymas,
Mexico. I’m polishing off a liter of Tecate (litros
de cerveza son uno de mi favorito cosas en Mexico!) and listening to some
random Mexican drama on TV.
Upon leaving Joshua Tree Park I headed East on I-10,
straight to Phoenix, AZ.
Though most people in California know me as a Tennessean, I was actually born in Phoenix and moved to TN when I was about
5. I have not been back in 20 freaking
years so was excited to see my godmother, Linda, and my friend, Joe, and his
family that was close with my parents. I
was making fantastic time (everyone is flying on this road) when I hear a
“BOOM” and I feel one of tires go out. I
pull off on the side and see my back driver’s side tire is toast.
Given that I still have about
20,000 miles left on my trip, I’m thinking, “No big deal. I can handle a little flat.” I get out and am all business. Everything’s cool and I jack up
the back, when I notice the tire is not going up. It appears the axle has fallen down or
something along those lines – crap.
I call AAA, which only takes 2 ½ hours to finally get to
me. I was amazed at the fact AAA would
not take my GPS coordinates…the most exact location I could possibly give
them. After 2 agents having no idea
where I am (even though I’m telling them the cross road I just passed under AND
my GPS coordinates) I get a woman who was actually competent and confirms my location and that a tow
truck is coming. During this time a highway
patrolman pulls over a speeder (the car was clocked at 99) right behind me. When he was finished with the ticket he takes
a look at my truck and says, “It looks like your back suspension has come
un-welded” and also calls AAA once again. The
tow truck dude finally shows up, gets out, and looks under my truck where I have it
jacked up. He says, “You have the jack in the wrong place.”
At that point I didn’t know whether to laugh
or cry and my masculinity was completely lost.
I don’t know if anyone has ever looked at a manual for directions as to
where to place the jack – it’s a very generic black & white drawn picture...drawn from space. I will never, ever forget where to put that jack. Needless to say, the
new tire was put on in minutes and I continued on to be late for Christmas Eve
dinner with my friends, the Carras's.
That night I stayed at my childhood friend, Joe's, house.
Joe & Amanda's family (from left to right): Norm, Joe, Amanda holding little Leighton (3 months) & Leo (6)
Amanda's Mom, Sandie, who didn't want to be in the picture - tough luck:
Amanda's twin sister, Ashley, her husband, Nick (Dang it, I'm so sorry if this is wrong) & their little guy, Darwin. (I told you
I would put you in the blog!)
All of them
were incredibly welcoming and as nice as can be – such a treat to spend
Christmas with some friendly folks.
Thank you, everyone!
I also had the pleasure of visiting my godmother, Linda, who
was so generous, and a pleasure to catch up with and share stories after 20 years.
I ate like a king (beef roast, croissants,
green beans, corn, turkey & gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, beans…bacon, eggs
& hashbrowns for breakfast – yowsers!) and watched an episode of 24
with her. Thank you so much, Linda! (I finished off the rest of the turkey on the
drive through Mexico
& am eating the beans right now – yum!)
I was also able to get a short visit, with Linda’s sons,
Rick & James. I only spent a little
time at Rick’s and wish I would have gotten a picture of him & his
family. I did meet back up with James at
Linda’s house and he invited me to shoot some guns in a ghost town outside of Tucson…see next post!
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