into the dust, into the snow, into the mountains, into the hostel

i left amarillo just after george, my doppelganger, came into the coffee shop, i was glad that he didnt come talk to me - i was done with these people. i hopped on i-40 west in the face of strong winds and shortly i found myself in the middle of a moderate dust storm. tumbleweeds were desperately running across the highway, dodging the metal machines and the horizon was a low thick mist of brown. i was happy for this.

except that the strong winds played hell on my already shaky drivers side window. like this i drove until i made it through the dust and then i started climbing. i hit some rain and small hail and climbed ever higher. the towns and gas stations were few and far between, and it started to get cold in the cab. i was perplexed by this, because i had forgotten about a little thing called topography. and those big things known as mountains.

i was heading right into the heart of the sandia mountains, known for the watermelon color that they assume at sunset. the highest peak in this range is just over 10,000' and i wasnt getting up there, i think my altitude topped out between 6 and 7000'. but, up here there was a fair bit of snow on the ground and the clouds in the sky were muttering some kind of curse on the people below. luckily i had stopped just before i left amarillo to fill up my tank and got a relatively cheap price for the petrol. i made it through this range unscathed, but as i descended towards albuquerque i saw the channel 3 news team in a field of snow on the side of the highway. this image led me to assume that the amount of snow was unusual or there was some sort of impending doom.

in albuquerque i drove around for a while trying to find a good place to take a picture of the sandia mountains, because it was sunset, and it was beautiful. at this, i failed. the sun went down and i was left looking for a place to warm my bones for a few hours before i searched for a safe spot and succumbed to sleep. i found a coffee shop and sat in there for an hour or two, alternating between reading and wasting away on the internet. eventually i left and drove for a fair bit again looking for a place that i could park overnight, the temperature was dropping but once i am inside and under the covers it really isnt that cold.

an albuquerque morning.

in the morning, however, it was that cold. i could see snow perched on my window outside and i was not looking forward to getting out from under my cover pile and putting my clothes back on in the winter air. but, i persevered. when i emerged from the truck i saw that about an inch of snow had fallen throughout the night. cursing the gods of travel i loaded into the truck and headed back to the coffee shop. i had no reason to be in albuquerque, it was simply a way station on my path to flagstaff. so i sat in the coffee shop again for a while feeding my addiction to the internet and eventually being able to talk to steve on the phone.

we talked about the money he is lending me and i gave him the details to deposit into my numbered offshore account. on monday he will deposit it into my account and by that time it will be sorely needed. yesterday was a heaving spending day, the likes of which i havent seen since...well, i guess since dallas - not that long ago.

and then i was done in albuquerque. i didnt even try to explore this town at all, which is a testament to how much i am actually done with this trip. and it was off to flagstaff, back onto interstate 40. shortly after i started driving, i had to stop and get gas. and this was an alarming thing for me because my gas mileage was much lower than it should have been. generally, especially all highway driving, i should get about 360 miles out of a tank of gas - not very good by any standards. but now the needle was resting on "e" and the mileage was just under 300. i pushed it as far as i thought i could, to about 312 and then stopped to get gas from one of the infrequent stations that are placed in this high desert. and gas is expensive in these more remote places.

for $45, $2.80 per gallon, i filled up my tank. and it was near empty, i didnt give it much thought and just pushed on. the distance between albuquerque and flagstaff is 322 miles, and i would be driving for more than five hours this day. i drove again through mountains, up steep grades but not down many. and all the while the snow was thicker on the ground. when i stopped to get my daily food ration, i could see some more mountains in the distance and that was when i remembered about flagstaff. that it was situated high in the mountains, and would most probably be worse off than albuquerque.

these mountains drew ever nearer as i continued to climb and the snow pack thickened and thickened. my reason for being in flagstaff is to receive a piece of mail, general delivery. this place was the choice because, when i was thinking about it, i thought it would be a beautiful crisp dry warm place and i had already successfully received mail general delivery there. it was actually the first place i got mail on this trip and now it might also be the last, so it was supposed to be symbolic. realizing that it might not be awesome to spend time in flagstaff this turn round, i pushed faster in an attempt to get to the city before 5:pm, when i figured the post office would close on saturday.

the san francisco peaks, the mountains i was speeding towards, were becoming ever so closer and calculating the miles i have left to travel and the nearness of these mountains my dread was secure, into the cold i go. i got to flagstaff just around 4:30pm and i was happy about that, i could get to the post office and just spend one night nere and be gone in the morning, however all was not well in flagstaff. route 66 was clear of snow, but all around the road the snowpack was about 6'. the gas stations and shops all had just enough of one lane clear to allow for cars to get through but not clear enough to really see where you were going. the town was a mess. i drove through the tiny lane cleared to get to the post office and was excited to see people coming and going there. however, when i went to investigate i learned that the post office had closed at 2:pm on saturday and my hopes were dashed.

icicles!

i drove into town, to scope the scene. there were emergency crews on the roofs of buildings, frantically clearing snow, the downtown square was just being cleared out and all of the roads were barely one lane. people parked willy-nilly where the could. this was starting to become very shitty. i found a place to park and started to walk around town, there were new signs posted that informed motorists parking was illegal on the city street between 12:am and 7:am to aid in snow removal. that meant i would have to try to find a parking lot or something to park in for the night. and parking lots suck because there is very little protection from the wind and my truck is not windproof. also, there is much more traffic through parking lots.

also, after only 290 miles, my gas tank was resting on empty again. i must be the altitude that is giving me such poor gas mileage, but whatever it is i am displeased. the gas is way more expensive and the mileage it gives me is much less. so i am paying more for worse.

anyway, i walked to the visitors center and got there just before it closed. i got the guidebook in order to test some of the local hotels, get an idea of rates and such in case i needed to head down this road. after that i walked back to a coffee shop that was always closed when i was here before, but i dont think i was drinking coffee anyway when i was here before. i went in and proceeded to look up some of the hotels and such and see if i could get a deal for the weekend. no such luck. i did, however, learn that the city of flagstaff had been shut down for most of the previous two days as it received about 4' of snow in that time. luckily i came in after that.

the dumb snow and a small path.

unfortunately the coffee shop closed earlier than the time posted on the door and i wasnt able to complete my research. now it was just dark and i was out on the street again. i capitulated and drove to the hostel, it would be the cheapest rate in town and get my truck off the street. also, i promised my dad that i wouldnt freeze to death in my truck, if it was too cold to sleep outside i would bite the proverbial bullet and book a room.

i dont have a very long history of staying in hostels, this was the first time i had been in one since 2001, i guess. the first hostel i stayed in was in san francisco, california sometime in the later days of january...much like now. so, to celebrate my 9 year anniversary, i thought i would wow you with the journal entries i made when i was staying at that hostel, at that time, when i was that person (unfortunately, i wasnt into dating entries then...):

"And the joy is overwhelming. After riding last night for hours in the not-so-warm temperature and the oh-so-high hills, I found a hostel with vacancies. The San Francisco Travelers Inn at 374 5th St. Nick dropped me off at 20th St. I had little direction and hope. I went to two hostels before this one. I dropped $120 for the week and I get kicked out on the 1st, I am pretty sure. By then, I should have this city on the back of my hand (hah!). I did a lot already today, I went to the top of Telegraph Hill, to the Marina, to Haight-Ashbury (and I saw a neat anarchist bookstore). I have been to two natural foods stores—the Rainbow something on 13th and Folsom and some other one on Haight St.. I have eaten twice and feel I am spending too much money. But, this big city living never really attracted me, I feel I may be bored before Parenti. I may go back up to Sacramento. But, Steve! Where is he? Who knows, and he knows not where I am. I really want to be somewhere like Tempe, where it is warm and it doesn't rain and we can camp out and no worries. I am just spending way too much money. But, other than that, things are great! I wonder what'll happen next.

--

So, the guy sleeping on top of me is an Aussie named Dechlan. He is a neat fella. I have no idea what I am doing here. I walk and bike around this town and I just don't know why. I was looking into jobs yesterday, and I am going for an interview on Wednesday. I have no doubt that I will get the job, so what am I doing? Am I already settling on San Fran? I hope not. But, I guess it could be wonderful. Steve should, said he would, wind up here tomorrow and we were supposed to correlate a place to meet, but we didn't. Now, chances are, we wont even meet up until Parenti. I am sick, I have a cold. It is horrible. I am going to take Francisco's words to heart and make eating my least priority, and I don't think I can make food in the hostel kitchen anymore, as that is probably why I am sick. I am at the SF City College waiting for the library to open, because I am completely lost in technical life and I really want to check my email. Hah!"

okay, i just got caught up reading through my old journal from that point and about waiting for steve to get his dumb butt to san francisco so i could talk to him (i am pretty sure this was before cell phones were a thing). i love reading my old journals, i remember so many more things while reading the few words i wrote, and everything becomes much more vivid. also, i get to laugh at the younger me, that is always fun.

so, anyway BACK TO THE HERE AND NOW! so i checked into the hostel last night and that was all okay. it is $18 a night and it is mostly empty here i am staying in a dorm room with one other guy, ichiro, from japan - he doesnt speak much english. i hung around the hostel all last night, i went next door and bought a bottle of wine to enjoy. i took a nice long shower and enjoyed that immensely, then i called it a night. it was very warm, almost hot, in the room for the night and i slept a bit fitfully. this morning i have been enjoying some coffee and hanging out with the other folks here.

many of them left to go skiing, which is something that is beyond me. i will explore this snowy town for a bit and enjoy being inside at least as much. i just bought another night here at the hostel and hopefully tomorrow i can make it out.