Last night I slept in the town park of Duncan, Arizona. It was more than sufficient, but the restrooms were quite tragic. Seems like most park restrooms in this country are. Not to worry. Right across the road was the Road House Restaurant, and so this morning, bright and early, I scurried over to partake of their facilities, as well as breakfast.
There was nobody else there except for one table of cowboy-hatted, elderly gentlemen. The waitress brought them coffee. “Don’t you want to know what we want for breakfast?” asked one.
“No.” she said. “You will have the quesadilla, Steve will have the Four on Four, Barry will have the oatmeal and Mike will have two with toast.”
“Awe shoot.” sighed one. ”Anyways, what are you guys doing today?”
“Irrigating.”
“Why? It’s going to rain.”
“It’s just gonna blow and spit enough to get the windows dirty”
“I saw a nice Gila monster yesterday. A two-footer. Once I saw a three-footer. When I was a boy I had one for a pet.”
“Did you cuddle it?”
“Nah, you ever seen one of those things whip their head around?”
“Haven’t seen many lately, they used to be everywhere. Seems like they come and go.”
“What you do see are rattlers.”
“No kidding, too many.”
“I used to work at some archeology restoration site. Girl there heard I killed a rattler and she comes to me, and she says, ‘We need to relocate those, not kill them.’ Rest of the time I was there, I relocated them alright. Right off a 200 foot cliff. Maybe they lived. She could have gone and checked on them if she wanted.”
“Oh look, something new, looks like we have blueberry jam now.”
“I don’t care for that. I like strawberry. My mother, she made jelly from pyracanthas, prickly pear, blood oranges, just about anything. She didn’t let anything go to waste. Couldn’t around here.”
Needless to say, I was riveted. This guys mother must have lived here one hundred years ago. What a world it must have been. All along this ride there are memorials to settlers that died during conflicts with the Native Americans in the late 1800’s (no monuments to the Native Americans though). These men’s parents lived here not long after. My ears strained to pick up every little nuance of their conversation. What I really wanted was to sidle up to their table and start asking questions, but I thought I was already freaking them out-the dirty, eaves-dropping girl, sleeping in the park and all.
So, I finished my breakfast, practically gave myself a tub bath in the restroom and was off. The rest of the day involved so much wind that I don’t even want to talk about it, lest I have PTSD, but I made it. 38 miles was literally all I could do and that was a stretch. Now I am killing time in the library-my go to windy-day spot.
So glad to read that you are back out on the road. I hope the winds die down for you and that you stay warm. Thank you again for sharing your story. I thoroughly enjoy reading your posts.
Always love your writing Leah. I feel like I am there with you. Fight the wind!
Great little breakfast exchange. This story gets played out every morning in every country. How fortunate you could hear the banter- they may have spruced it up a little knowing you might be listening!
Hey Leah, Love the eavesdropping, when I was having breakfast in a cafe in Itasca, Texas a few years back I asked the waitress if she knew where a particular graveyard was located at and before she could respond an old local guy interjected. When this man found out this was my mom’s hometown, wow, he lit up and actually took me to the graveyard I was looking for. People are people, just have to stay away from politics. Be safe, be well.
Nice report and great photo!
Yes, I loved the photo, but it looks pretty desolate around there. Love keeping up with you.up with you.
My friends and me stay in the fair grounds. Great memories!
Just as a testament to the wind in NM, I spent a couple of weeks riding my motorcycle in and around Santa Fe. I remember times when I was leaning over so far it would have made for a nice tight corner if I wasn’t just trying to counteract the wind pushing me. You are you tough lady! Amazing how you can keep an eye on the beauty no matter what.