On the Road

It seems like everything I read these days is dealing with "the road." Maybe it's because I left Texas a few weeks ago to travel the southwest, and the road has been my only companion.

Having stopped in Albuquerque for a month or so, I've been catching up on my reading. It turns out that most of the books deal with someone on "the road." Cormac McCarthy's post-apocalyptic tale "The Road" was one of the first novels I read while in ABQ. Then I read Hunter S. Thompson's novel of his Latin American adventures in "The Rum Diary." He laments that as he is getting older, being on the road and traveling around the universe is getting tiresome. Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was published 50 years ago and is getting attention in the press, plus was reissued in a new edition to mark the anniversary. I became interested in Kerouac a few years ago and read everything I could get my hands on about him, including a book of his notes and drawings (more doodles, really, than drawings).

I left Texas with a desire to just go, somewhere, anywhere. I had a desire to travel the country and to write about my experience. I was at a time and place in my life where I had the opportunity to pack up the car and leave. So I did. I'm not sure there is any meaning to it, any reason for it, or any life-altering revelations to be discovered by it. I do think I will be different, though, once I settle down again.

The road has an allure, an attraction, a seductive quality for someone hungry to experience the unknown. I was starving for a change, a new world. After a lifetime of relative security, stability, and normalcy, I needed a mistress. The road is a jealous lover, and I can see it's going to be difficult to let her go.

For Jack Kerouac and others like him, the idea of staying in motion was vital to their sanity. Kerouac's survival as a writer depended on his westward journeys on the road, his passion to discover meaning in unknown places and people.

I'm beginning to discover the passion he felt for experiencing life on the road and it's a little unsettling. To read about my travels, visit my blog "1,100 Miles to Las Vegas" at http://2Vegas.blogspot.com.

"What most people are at 25, I don't think I became until I was 38...I thought, even if I could just make enough to buy a loaf of bread and not starve to death, this would be the greatest adventure that I could ever go on. I said, 'I don't give a damn what happens to me. I'm doing this.'"
Jerry Seinfeld, October, 2007, on being a star and a comedian.

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I'll be spending my last week in ABQ trying to prepare for the next leg of my Fall Adventure. My plan is to visit Santa Fe on Tuesday and Wednesday. I can't be this close to Santa Fe without spending some time there before leaving the area. On Tuesday night I'll be attending the "New Mexico Filmmakers Intensive," at the College of Santa Fe. Screenwriters who attend the school will be reading from their screenplays, and the college will have an open house for those interested in attending the school. Actors will also be performing some of the scenes from scripts actually produced in 2007.

On Wednesday in Santa Fe, I'll be attending a new photography exhibit at the Photo-Eye Gallery on Garcia Street. Mark Klett is opening an exhibit titled "Saguaros," with a reception and book signing after the opening.

My last day in ABQ will be Sunday, October 28.

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One of the items to hit the paper this week concerns a lawsuit against the Sandia Casino. Good Morning America was on site Friday to do a feature story that will air sometime next week. The pending lawsuit might make it to the Supreme Court and have an effect on how Indian casinos operate in the future. That's why it's attracting the national press.

The lawsuit concerns Gary Hoffman's complaint that the casino failed to pay him a slot machine jackpot prize of almost $1.6 million. Hoffman was playing a nickel slot machine last summer when he supposedly hit the jackpot. He even took a photo of the slot machine showing his good fortune with his camera phone. Casino officials claim the slot machine malfunctioned, and therefore, they don't owe Hoffman a dime.

Hoffman wants to sue the casino in state court, but the Sandia Pueblo tribe that owns the casino and the surrounding reservation lands believes they are a sovereign nation and cannot be sued in a state or federal court. Thus the Supreme Court may need to decide if Indian tribes that owe casinos can ever be sued for such a thing. Poor Hoffman just wants his money but for now must fight it out, probably for years, and he may end up with nothing.

The fact that Indian tribes are sovereign entities within the U.S. shouldn't provide a shield from someone wanting their day in state or federal court. It's only fair, it seems to me, that Hoffman have his case heard. The tribal governments have their own courts, but few people believe he could ever receive an unbiased opinion in a court run by the same people who run the casino.

I'm beginning my last week in ABQ, with plans to head for Tucson on Monday, October 29. The photos below show the year's first real cold front moving into the Sandia Mountain area today, so I'm leaving at just the right time. While beautiful, the mountains today look ominous and very cold. Some elevations will get their first snow this week.

Later in the week, warmer weather will return. Tonight it will dip below freezing sometime after midnight, but by Tuesday night the evening temps will return to the mid 40s.

In Tucson, Arizona, the temperatures will be much milder during the next few weeks. I'm seeking the warmth of the sun this Winter, so it's time to move on west and south. Once in Tucson, I'll see how things go. The Casino del Sol looks nice. I'll check it out first and go from there.

I've enjoyed my time in ABQ, but it's time to hit the road once again.






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I’m guessing the best place to taste the real flavor of a community is the coin-operated Laundromat. One of life’s necessary duties is washing clothes. Almost everyone must do it. I say “almost everyone” because I doubt Paris Hilton has ever put a cup of Tide into a washer, unless of course it was done on some goofy reality TV show. Without the local coin-operated machines where would a person go to wash their smelly socks?

The American Laundromat provides a snapshot of the community in which it is located. Visit any of these places and you’ll find a cross section of locals: college students, senior adults, single mothers with kids in tow, middle-aged couples, and travelers like me. And it’s amazing how quiet the place is.

For whatever reason, the Laundromat is the one gathering place in the community where very little talking takes place. I suppose it is the nature of cleaning clothes in public—exposing of your dirty laundry before a gawking crowd tends to make you tight-lipped. When you walk in with your duffle bag full of soiled underwear, the last thing you want to do is have a deep conversation with a stranger about the war in Iraq. So, the result is often silence.

I wonder if the Laundromat is uniquely American. Do other countries have such places? For some reason, I just cannot picture a Laundromat in Paris, or Stockholm, or even London for that matter. Obviously, foreigners must wash their clothes somewhere. Unless your in Germany, that is. And I know in many places around the world the local river serves as the place to clean your pants, so I guess we are lucky to have these places.
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I know I’m fortunate to have found some wonderful Laundromats since I’ve been on the road. The nicest one I’ve seen is located near the University of Oklahoma in Norman. It was clean, had an attendant ready to help you with a big smile on her face, and there was a color TV so you could watch “Oprah” while waiting for the rinse cycle to finish. Of course, the day I was there Paris Hilton was Oprah’s guest.

My Christmas Wish List

My Christmas Wish List

The Winnebago View, 2008, is now available and I want one. I only need to raise about $50,000. No problem.

"Like most of the others, I was a seeker, a mover, a malcontent, and at times a stupid hell-raiser. I was never idle long enough to do much thinking, but I felt somehow that my instincts were right. I shared a vagrant optimism that some of us were making real progress, that we had taken an honest road, and that the best of us would inevitably make it over the top.

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At the same time, I shared a dark suspicion that the life we were leading was a lost cause, that we were all actors, kidding ourselves along a senseless odyssey. It was the tension between these two poles--a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other--that kept me going."

"The Rum Diary", Hunter S. Thompson, 1959.

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I saw this sign yesterday and had to take a shot of it.

Husband to his wife: "Honey, breakfast in bed is so cliche'. How about breakfast in the pool?"

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The Borders Bookstore on Wyoming is next door to the Whole Foods Market, and I've spent plenty of days at both places. The photo below is taken from my favorite chair near the front windows.



Here I am trying to look like I'm working. See the Dallas Cowboys decal on my laptop? I won the decal at the Sandia Resort in a drawing. A local radio station was giving away prizes during a Cowboys football game. That decal, retail $19.95, is about the only thing I've won at the Sandia Casino!

Where will I go next? I'm thinking seriously about heading south to Socorro, then take the scenic Hwy. 60 through the Tularosa Mountains on my way to Silver City in the southwestern part of New Mexico. From there it's a short drive to Tucson, Arizona. I can make the drive in one day, unless I decide to stop and visit some tourist attractions along the way. The Gila Cliff Dwellings might be a nice place to see, located in the Gila Wilderness Area north of Silver City.

I've made my decision to head south and west in a few days. I'll give my notice to my boss today, and will work through next week. I'll target Sunday, October 28, as the launch date for the next leg of my Fall Adventure (the Fall Adventure is quickly becoming a Winter Adventure!).

I've been receiving emails regularly from investors both in Dallas and Las Vegas, making me anxious to get to Nevada. However, I'm in no hurry. We'll see where The Road takes me. It may be early Spring before I arrive in Henderson, Nevada. I'm enjoying traveling my way across the Southwest. I'm looking to spend the Winter in the warmest climate I can find. It appears that southern Arizona and California are nice during the Winter months.

"Finger of the Week": October 15, 2007

Balloon Fiesta, 2007, Albuquerque

As I continue my travel across the Southwest, Albuquerque has been a nice stop over for me. I recently took some photos with a new Nikon digital camera the size of a credit card. I'm wanting to push the limits of this low cost 7 pixel camera, and will post some results here as I go along.

Below are a few shots from the Balloon Fiesta in Albuquerque.