Tongues of Flame Against Sheets of Rain
Water that burns?
And so I did not necessarily know that I was going to write anything about this trip until we drove through a storm in the desert and I saw gouts of flame spewing from oil derricks in the middle of a thunderstorm.
Shoeless
Meanwhile, back nearer to the beginning. We sold our house in northern Texas and ran the hell out of there just ahead of the flooding rains in Houston and the murderous motorcycles in Whacko, I mean Waco.
We crammed our Toyotas with about all they could carry and more and drove to California. My wife refused to leave behind her shoes. I for one would gladly have left them to drown in the encroaching Texas floods but she would have none of it
We ran flat out across the heart of Texas. My wife took the lead. She had the shoes.
I was clueless. I mean shoeless.
Vale of Lightning
As we sped through desert storms lightning struck the hills on either hand. Flames from oil wells pierced gloom when there was no lightning and hard rain pelted us now and then. The winds weren't bad so it was more like watching a light show then driving through a perilous landscape. Here and there it did look like someone's idea of what hell must be like.
Summiting the Continental Divide
I used podcasts, audio books and music to get through this two day driving ordeal to California. Around the Continental Divide in New Mexico I was using music.
I summited the divide on Desire (Paul Hardcastle) and entered the promised land on Mister Magic (Grover Washington Jr.).
Whirling Dervish
After the storms we entered the arid deserts of Arizona. Dusty devils danced and whirled on the horizon.
One pass was guarded by many armed giants who ceaselessly scythed the air with blades of steel. Or maybe they were those windmill turbines that some think are going to power the nation.
When we actually entered California it was immediately apparent why there is a drought in that state. The sand was endless and there seemed to be some man made water bearing canal running through it toward the border. You could not help thinking: Who in is right mind would build a civilization in the midst of this.
