"Revel in what you can do"

This topic comes up a lot. Wanting to lead the old life and go do things we did before. Unfortunately the range of options is not what it was. Ambulation is much slower and our survivors tire quickly. We therefore look for what we can do. Lately we have been to some museums. The Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport during the summer and the Museum for Contemporary Art Chicago over Thanksgiving. Both are places I really wanted to go. Both were handicap friendly. The Air and Space museum is so large she wouldn’t have been able to walk it. They had some marginal wheelchairs that did the trick. We “ooh’d and ah’d” quite a bit there and at the MCAC.

I bet there are lots of these now. Complete with loaner wheelchairs, elevators and plenty of ramps. Annie might not get to see the Meteor Crater or walk the Pat Tillman but we can be sure she gets onboard for the museum tours. Next stop Fort Worth and its renowned collections.

So we’ll not do the Grand Canyon again together and hikes are pretty much out. We’ll adapt. She got to go hunting with me and that didn’t slow her or us down. Today she mentioned fear of falling. The concern is breaking something and becoming too much of a burden. She doesn’t want to go into assisted living. I told her that wasn’t a bridge to contemplate right now. My mantra is find new challenges – and revel in what you can do!

It's a wrap

Hours on the road are good for contemplation. I cannot say enough as a caregiver how good the break is. “Take care of yourself” was the advice I heard at the hospital in the beginning and have heard since. You’re no good to the person you care for if you’re worn out and bitter.

I walked the Pat Tillman Bridge that spans the Colorado in front of the Hoover Dam and now links Nevada with Arizona. This route used to go over the Hoover Dam. The roadway atop the dam would seem very tight by today’s standards. I did side track and drive over it. Neat. The Bridge is the current rage. Both good and bad. Sorely needed it is a modern four lane crossing distinctive for the length of span of poured concrete. Truly a sight. Even better to walk across though the inevitable feeling of sorrow for a life cut short – Pat Tillman – and the circumstances of his end do come to mind. I tried to stick to the cool engineering and incredible grace of the design. The bad is complaints about cost. Gotta have roads…

The morning was cool and crisp, the tourist buses were just starting to show up and a seemingly endless line of helicopters circled past. I grinned thinking the pilots were probably chatting away with each other about maintaining spacing with the seats full of people going “wow”. By the way, the tour bus trade is run by eastern Europeans. I asked several of them questions and was amused by their accents. A country of immigrants. On to my primary target – The Meteor Impact Crater outside Winslow.

The red rock deserts of Arizona never get tiresome. So beautiful. So empty. It was Veterans Day and the radio full of stories. The balance between the hero’s of WWII and the despair of the Vietnam Vets made for good listening. Lots of guys in fatigues. Old guys (looked a bit like me) with various campaign hats on the back shelf of their Buicks. “Praise God but pass the ammunition”.

The crater rises up out of a dead flat plain. Because there is so much remnant volcanic activity in the area it was assumed the crater was volcanic for a long time. Once it was realized it was impact (quite some time ago) it was like “duh”. As you come up on it the impact is clear – no pun intended. What a sight. Worth the deviation to Highway 40. I’ve always wanted to see it. We flew over it several times on trips to California and the Grand Canyon. But standing on the edge is what it’s all about.

I was completely satisfied by the experience. My trip complete, I headed for home cheerful, rejuvenated and ready to get back to work – on all fronts. 

Pacific Coast

I had a goal and a mission for my road trip. The goal was the LA County Museum of Art and the pending installation of the 340 ton rock. My mission was to reenergize creativity and take a break from care-giving. I’ve stated many times how I feel about care-giving so I’ll spare you that. Instead, check out Ariel Kaminer and The Ethicist column in the New York Times today (Sunday 11/1). She says it all in the last paragraph of her response.

But back to road trips and missions, I will do this twice a year if I can make the time. Maybe it won’t be 3500 miles in eight days but there will be a goal and a mission.

Here is a shot through the fence at the construction site at the LACMA. Moving a 340 ton rock from Riverside California to LA costs $1.5 million bucks and takes a special trailer with 200 wheels. My friends, Virginia and Tom, facilitated my getting to the LACMA and seeing the site. Tom, because he saw beauty in one of my art pieces and Virginia, because she knows the “surface” world of LA streets like the back of her hand. She likes the art too. Virginia made getting about LA a snap. Traffic on the famous freeways backed up? No problem, drop to what the call “the surface” and time is recaptured. Great friends and wonderfully welcoming. The original sculpture is fixed, another is delivered to some new friends, and we are all happy. I saw the worksite – hard to capture on film – thanks to the generosity of a Security Guard who understood my artist’s plight. I’ll go back when the rock is in place.

A side note, the La Brea Tar Pits are right next to the LACMA. 30,000 skeletons have been pulled from the goop. There are active dugs going on right now. It is so impressive that one could spend a day there. And yes, they are still bubbling tar and methane as they have for eons. Another surprise. Another joy.

And let's not forget "Smoke" by Tony Smith. Something else I have wanted to see for some time. Look this one up. The story is really cute. The piece is spectacular.

Then it was on to Las Vegas…and more adventure.

Windmills

As I came through Coachella and headed west into California I came through the valley of windmills. Mesmerizing motion, a sea of whirling blades and stunning design. Now I understand that they are not so efficient. Not because of high maintenance or cost but because where the wind is, people aren’t. People don’t want to live where it is windy all the time. So you can make plenty of power but there’s no one there to use it and transmission lines are terribly inefficient. Still, we’re trying – and they really are beautiful examples of engineering. At least to me. 

Western Arizona

The day started well with bright sunshine, birds chirping, hummingbirds buzzing about and a Starbucks at the first turn. I10 was empty except for a few truckers. Al the roads of the West are 75 and 80MPH – where have I been – and making good time is easy. I noticed a road alert that I10 was closed at some exit near Phoenix. Right after that there as a divert opportunity to Hwy 8 and 85 to bypass Phoenix. SO GLAD I DID!

Hwy 8 was a couple miles ahead. I turn on to it and I was in a world transformed. No cars, few trucks and an open landscape that defies description. Saguaro cactus as far as the eye could see. And that exquisite morning, golden desert light. Magic.

But Gila Bend will bring one back to earth. It is located in “beautiful” Maricopa County, Arizona home to the renowned Sheriff, pink convict outfits, tents for the inmates and the epicenter of immigration reform. I went into town looking for a breakfast taco. Imagine western Arizona with its population mix and no breakfast tacos. Burger King in Austin serves breakfast tacos. Following the speed limit carefully, I skedaddled right on out of there. 

From the road

Fight the Bacon Boy “Gotta get there” all I want and I still went 900 miles today. I have said to anyone who will listen that I love the American West. Simple, vast, beautiful, full of interesting travelers and all the roads are 80MPH. I have a van full of metal art and tools, a book of maps and the desire to come out of a week of this with more than just a road weary body and a lot of miles under my belt. I seek inspiration, perspiration and new ideas. I expect the installs and deliveries to take me to cool spots and interesting people.

Being the incurable optimist I threw in a couple extra pieces. We shall see.

I’m off to a good start. I went from Austin to Tucson today because of dread - robbery. My truck was stolen for the tools onboard back in January. I thought about sleeping in the truck but – well – I may be a little old for that. When I arrived in Tucson I stopped at a gas station and fired up my laptop. Hotwire came through. For a hundred bucks I got a room at a lovely resort with extraordinary security.  A cold local brew and a good nights sleep. Then back on the road.