Sat On Their Park Bench Like Bookends

Many of my friends told me I HAD to go to Austin, TX. As I was driving into the city a couple weeks ago, a friend called and told me she’d recently read that Austin is the number one city in the country for singles. I had no idea what this meant, but it sounded promising.

In my opinion, some cities are great to visit whether or not you’re with other people, like Philadelphia and DC. Other cities are best seen with friends. Austin is one of these cities, along with Kansas City and New Orleans.

I didn’t have much fun in Austin. Being single is very different from being alone. I wouldn’t mind going back with friends sometime in the future, but if I ever take another solo road trip, I’m all set with Austin.

On my way to New Mexico, I drove to Carlsbad and did some non-metaphorical caving. It’s a very impressive place and I ate my lunch 700 feet under the earth.

After surfacing, I drove through Roswell (during the week of Alien fest), watched a July 4^th parade that featured slightly fewer ride-on lawnmowers than the July 4^th parades in Maine, and drove to meet my cousin Katahdin in Santa Fe.

Katahdin is a student at St. John’s, a college where all they do is read books, from Euclid’s Geometry up through some Faulkner and other modernish writers (only one of the author’s they read is still alive). Hopefully Katahdin can get DMR added to the list.

The first night we hung out on the campus where about 400 students attend classes during the regular year. Katahdin has a job that sometimes forces him to be on-call and on-campus. It’s been a few years since I’ve spent much time with him. In that period Katahdin has spent a year in Africa (where he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro), gone through two years of college, and learned way too many Borat quotes and bawdy limericks.

The next day I drove to the Albuquerque airport to pick up my friend Allie. She didn’t recognize me as she walked into the terminal (I was wearing my straw hat and fanny pack and sporting more facial hair than she’s ever seen on me).

Allie and I explored Santa Fe without Katahdin; he was still on duty. When I asked Katahdin to give us recommendations, he said he’d never really spent much time in town since he’s always reading books. This seemed like an indicator that he’s chosen a good school, but I hope he never reads Walden in the woods.

Santa Fe is a great little city, either with a friend or without. If you have money, there’s lots of art to buy, and if you don’t have money, there are plenty of nude statues and nude paintings to take pictures of yourself in front of. We visited the Georgia O’Keefe museum and saw some Ansel Adams prints. And although she’s a vegetarian, Allie bought a pair of leather cowboy boots.

That night, at Katahdin’s insistence, we watched Borat. I realized how many parallels there are between his journey and my own. My moustache isn’t nearly as full as his, but I feel a real kinship with the man. After Borat, at Allie’s insistence, we watched Two Weeks Notice. This film gave Katahdin severe diarrhea.

Towards the end of the film, a St. John’s student walked into the common room where we were watching the film (because Katahdin doesn’t have a television) and asked Allie if there was any part of her body she wouldn’t let Hugh Grant kiss. Allie told him to keep his eyes on the television. I think he’s been reading some extracurricular books.

On Monday I gave my reading at the Albuquerque public library and it was nice to have Allie and Katahdin there with me. It was also nice to have an old lady in the audience (who seemed to be tripping on cough syrup) ask me question after metaphysical question that I was unable to answer.

I don’t have another reading for a couple weeks. During this period I’ll be spending time with friends in California, Oregon, and Washington. It’ll be a nice change of pace, and I’m very grateful they're willing to spend the money to come out and join me in my rather stinky Odyssey.

Allie and I drove from Albuquerque to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We toured much of it and camped in the park that night. The next day while driving to the Hoover Dam, a red minivan going like 90 miles per hour cut us off. Two minutes later the minivan got pulled over and Allie and I both cheered. I like cops once in a while.

From the Hoover Dam we drove to Vegas where the temp was over 110 degrees. We took some pictures and lost two dollars in a slot machine—it was thrilling.

That night we drove to LA (lots of driving that day and Allie and I were forced to eat peanuts off the floor of the van since there weren’t many places to grab snacks). We drove straight to the ocean where Allie jumped in the Pacific. I just waded because I’ll be here for a few days and have opportunities to go swimming during the day when it’s much hotter.

I think the Grand Canyon and the Pacific are both best seen with friends.

I’ll be spending the next few days in LA and the surrounding area with my friend Gina, then I’m driving up Route 1 with my friend Liz.

(Added after original post was published)
John Thorndike (author of Another Way Home and other books) and I met for coffee in Santa Fe after discovering we were both spending a couple days there. He'd read my book on the bank of the Cheyenne river during a canoe trip. I had to wipe off the mud before signing his copy. He said he liked the book very much, especially the fact that the ending offers no redemption. We discussed the self-publishing process. I think I convinced him it's a legitimate method, but maybe he was just being nice.