Southwestern Sojourn
Now that I'm back home, I thought a little
summary of my excursion was in order. I covered a
lot of ground in the last 10 days, but I'll try to
be brief as I cover it here.
I began the trip with my friend Rick McKinney,
the self-styled "Road Dog," a couple of days before
the end of 2002, still hacking from my Christmas
flu. We covered a lot of ground that first
day—about 500 miles—pulling into
Tombstone, Arizona, after dark for a brief visit
and some vittles. No time (nor sunlight) to see
Boot Hill or the OK Corral, but we definitely got a
feel for this Old West relic.
Twenty miles later, we arrived for the night in
Bisbee, another relic of times past. And what a
quaint little treasure. I was immediately struck by
the town's rustic brick buildings and narrow
streets. Situated as it is within a narrow canyon,
the town more closely resembled a Mediterranean
village than an old Southwest mining center. It's
almost as if a circa-1920 American town had been
physically relocated to the cliffs near
Monaco—sans ocean, of course.
Bisbee is now home to artists instead of copper
miners, and it was with one of Bisbee's
artists—a friend of Rick's—that we stayed
the night. The plan was to continue on the next day
into Texas, ultimately to Houston for New Year's
Eve, but Rick decided to stay in Bisbee to ring in
the New Year. Thus, I continued on alone, into New
Mexico—which was just fine, since I still
didn't feel well enough to celebrate.
I spent the next day making time, landing at the
end of the day in Las Cruces, New Mexico, a largely
uninteresting city in the desert. The next morning,
I continued eastbound, finally reaching the first
of my big sights: White Sands National Monument.
Here, in the middle of the desert, giant white
mounds of gypsum sand break the surrounding
monotony. The vastness of the dunes made the stark
whiteness of the sand all the more dramatic. Add in
the juxtaposition of white snow on white sand, and
the place became surreal indeed. Though my next
stop—the Carlsbad Caverns—had a more
dramatic impact, White Sands ended up being the
highlight of my trip.
You can read the conclusion of this
travelogue tomorrow at Travels
to Distant [Strick]Lands.
©2003 Michael
Strickland ALL RIGHTS
RESERVED
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What is "The Daily Strick"?
I have long called
myself a writer, but too often I don't do
what a writer must do daily: write. So
you, dear reader, are the beneficiary of
my resolution to make a positive change in
at least one area of my life. Every single
day of this new year, I will write
something, anything, and post it here. It
is my intention to use this daily exercise
to jump-start my too-long-dormant creative
energies, and perhaps generate some
worthwhile material this year. Hopefully
you will find at least an occasional
amusement or insight in my daily
musings.
Today's
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Previously...
1/7:
Wheel
of Fortune
1/6: Class
Warfare
1/5:
Very
Large Dream
1/4: The
New Nuclear
Age
1/3: Going
Solo
1/2: New
Year, Old Cave
1/1:
All
Things End
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