On my way to Arizona, I got a pedicure in Cuba and spent the night in Miami, but that was Cuba, Missouri and MYAAMA, Oklahoma. At least that’s how they pronounce Miami “in these parts” explained the person taking my money for the toll on the highway. It was quite a long drive from Vermont but I arrived last Friday in Phoenix and started work at The Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts at Arizona State University last Monday.
The drive through Oklahoma was new for me. The first part felt really familiar and then I realized that it must be the bottom of the Flint Hills that I painted so much while in Kansas. But then it soon turned rather ugly and there were no rest stops so that day’s drive through Oklahoma and then the Texas panhandle was not the most interesting. I was tempted to stop and pick up some of the cotton that floated along the sides of the Texas highway but by that time I was just anxious to enter New Mexico by nightfall. I was surprised in Oklahoma that it was the first McDonald’s I had ever seen where the customers are asked to punch in their own order on a large computer screen. And the tolls asked for $1.70 in change — the machine wouldn’t accept bills or credit cards! It wasn’t manned by anyone and I noticed a big bell went off in the lane next to me when a car drove through. I suspect he didn’t have that much change in his pocket, which may have sent off an alarm.
New Mexico was a whole other landscape. At one point I was driving past a lava field near San Raphael. I didn’t know there had been a volcano in New Mexico? At a convenience store I was surprised to see a man take out of his pocket a rather large knife to cut something he was preparing to put in the microwave. I’d never seen such a large knife used in a public place. It looked more like a dagger.
And then entering Arizona, the really magnificent rock formations greet you. There was even a road called Hibbard (my grandfather’s name) and another one called Jackrabbit. But there was also, Two Guns and coming in to Phoenix from Flagstaff you pass Bloody Basin, so there still is a bit of the “Wild West” out here, at least in the names.
The most beautiful part of the drive, though, was in to Flagstaff where I spent my last night on the road and then the two and a half hour drive from Flagstaff to Tempe where ASU is located. Driving in to Flagstaff the mountain that towers over the area was a translucent blue in the evening light and looked almost like a mirage hovering above the dark fir trees. And in the morning the road is a sharp descent with the red rocks of Sedona in the distance. The temperature difference and change from fir trees to Saguaro cacti is amazing.
I’m happy to be here and looking forward to unpacking this weekend. I managed to get enough unpacked last weekend to be able to function this week. But now I need to unpack and organize the rest. This job came through very quickly so I may not have been able to let most of you know I was leaving Vermont for Arizona.