March 12-14, 2018
It is my first time driving back across the usa since 2011 and i am anxious about it in ways i never expected. Committed to supporting my spirit sister in her quest to thru hike the Appalachian trail, i leave the warm comfort of Tucson for the cool eastern woodlands with no idea when i will return. My wagon, Esmeralda, is packed full of intruments, camping gear, and clothing, with a cassette tape soundtrack for the journey. After a sleepless night, i head out in the afternoon and receive a late response on my craigslist rideshare post from a lady needing a ride to Oklahoma. She has been riding with a grumpy trucker who wants to ditch her but agrees to drop her off at a truck stop off I-10 east of town. Late afternoon, we meet at this spot and Dawn moves her storage bin, bags and dog into my car, completely filling it. Into the night we go, slowly, but she is happy, calling it the ‘best rideshare ever.’ I have to stop and sleep when we are south of Socorro, New Mexico, so we set up camp on BLM land. She hasn’t camped in years and my old tent is falling apart, but we shiver through the cold night there and wake to a beautiful sunrise.
I take her on the old 2-lane road up the Rio Grande rift north through Socorro, Isleta pueblo, and to Albuquerque. On Central Ave, Route 66, I stop to show her the vintage diners, old motels, and stores like Masks y Mas, run by recycled metal artist Kenny Chavez. It is good to see Kenny and David, who i met in 2017, again, and my new friend Dawn enjoys this shop and the whole area.
East on I-40, we climb the Sandia mountains into the high plains, and her destination changes from Oklahoma city to Amarillo and it looks like a fun night ahead. In Santa Rosa, we stop for gas and manage free showers thanks to a kind trucker. But as it’s getting dark her destination situation changes again for the worse and so she finds a trucker heading west toward where she came from. I help her move all her belongings into the new truck, a reflection of the day before, we say goodbye, and i continue on, into the night, well behind where i hope to be for the night.
At the ghost town Cuervo, some miles east of Santa Rosa, i stop again, feeling the strange silence of solo travel. It’s so dark out here, with only the wind and the stream of cars on the freeway just beyond, and i walk along the old route 66, by the church and a few abandoned houses before i feel the presence of enough entities wanting to be left alone and know it is time to leave this truly haunted little town.
I make it to Amarillo, Texas around midnight and spend a blustery night in my car at the Travel Center.
arianna's creative travels 