A Breath of Hot Desert Air

So, we've been relaxing at a compound in Phoenix for the past couple days. It's a really rough lifestyle, what with the pool, copious amounts of food, and private living quarters. And to make matters even worse, our hosts are insanely kind and generous. Don't they know us rough & gruff rockstars can't be loved in such a way?

In all actuality, it's been a really nice reprieve from the barrelling down the road in the van. I haven't had to drive since Saturday, which is awesome. We've also been taking care of miscellaneous things that pile up over time. Like laundry. Trips to the bank, post office, and repair shop were also needed. Oh, and we went shopping at a Mexican clothes store on Saturday. The only crime was the fact that I didn't bring the damn camera. We tried on some comical items, to be sure.

I snapped a few pictures at a nearby park to give some idea of the change in scenery over the last week. It's about 95 degrees today, with a slight wind, which is a far cry from the other places we've played thus far. It doesn't cool down all that much at night, which is fine...our quarters are air-conditioned. I know, rough.

We are heading to Gallup, New Mexico tomorrow afternoon as we split up a long drive into two days. This is another hub on the old Route 66 arterial. A bunch of us in the band are quite fond of that nostalgia of the recent past. Just think about that trip from the midwest to California when you are dirt broke and the vehicle you are driving is held together with duct tape and a prayer. I think our 6 week journey can be trying. It's nothing like what it was for those folks moving west in search of a living.

Ironically enough, Bryan just finished up Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck, which tells the story of a family making the trek from Oklahoma to the California orchards. I read it a few years ago as well. It's a great book, and in a similar irony, I was about as poor as I had ever been. Tons of debt, living paycheck to paycheck, it was a miserable point in my life - at least financially. Even then, I realized that it was highly ironic that I had somehow supplanted myself into that very novel. Thankfully, after I finished it, my life improved (at least in my mind it did..).

That's it for now. Check back for some more pictures of Route 66 in Gallup. For now, all I got is blooming cacti and ducks.

cheers,
DF & SBSD