last days

I will say for the last time, it is easier to blog in Asia than the US. It is either the slowest connection in the world or no connection. I am rather sure that if you knew where to go it would be easier. But even Libraries are not consistent..some turn them off, some you need a pass code and some don't have wifi.

I have taken longer to drive the last few hundred miles than most of the rest. It is not that I have lost my curiosity but more that I have found the jangle of the east harder to live with....like coming up from a deep dive...you want to adjust. What I have learned about me and the country... buy the book.
Here are a few pics from the last days and some thoughts. I think I can sum up my observations... the bigger the space the more awareness of boundaries and the more out of others business it becomes. The boundaries between the natives and the whites is clear. I did not see Navajo in the Dam Bar in Page and there are places that they sit in the breakfast place down the road. I saw many people coughing in the west and asked about health care. We have great health care and terrific doctors or I almost lost my leg with a sore and my diabetes...we have health care in Tuba City about 60-70 miles away.... guess who is who. The Navajo nation is miles and miles and miles of scrub bush..mountains, canyons and free range. Texas is very smelly slaughter houses and miles of crowded cows. Tx and Ok are friendly people who have lots of churches and you don't talk about anything too deep. I asked a native where the fairgrounds was and she had the blankest look I have ever seen...looked up and down the road and said... I am not sure. I looked over her head and saw the sign..fairgrounds. I think the hills of West Virginia and the pines of PA have gotten a bad rap.

US gave the most barren land to the Navajo... miles and miles of sage....the cows and horses run free or amble free and they also have a good sense that they are just part of the scene and no one will harm them. The look at the car as if it were a new cow in town....

They auction property and goods more out west and they try to sell property in the east...but to whom. You can get 10 acres and a 3 bedroom side by side in eastern OK for about $40 and a new adobe house on a few acres cooking in the sun with no trees on a dirt road for $300K in NM. Same same but different. The employer in the small towns.. one of the many evangelical churches. We have more trash that we feel we need to get off the property in the east..so more collective junk yards.. in the open spaces...you just leave it where it stopped running. I am reminded that nothing is permanent..some day Ru will be in the pile... but not for a while. Georgette keeps her emaciated dog going with liverwurst...I will honor Ru until she can't take anymore oil.... to start out cross country with 100K and dive over 8K and give it everything over the roads that I elected...great car. My first car, the green pig was like that....I took her to the crusher myself...and watched them pick her up and smash her... sad day.

I have eaten the same thing when I ate out..eggs, toast, potatoes, and coffee... $3.50-7.50. potatoes have been out of a box, out of a bag, but rare real... ah..miss Pat's. This was the last egg place in Pitts... a young couple bought the pace 4 yrs ago... open every day but Christmas and Thanksgiving... close at 4... the potatoes were real but have so much grease and peppers, I only ate half. I asked to take pictures and they gave me a t-shirt to remember them by... I will remember them but give the medium shirt to someone or a child. Each part of the country is unique. The rolling hills and vibrant color is terrific in the east.. but I will miss the boundaries of the west. The farther east, the poorer the service and the more there were no boundaries. I watched an intellectually limited staff person who was responsible for picking up the trash on the floor....I watched her being let go yesterday. She wanted to talk about it..and the two doing the job just said nothing. Everyone knew what was happening and the others snickered and laughed... and I watched like a crow on a line.... they didn't take her in the back room at the end of her shift... they just let her go and finish her shift. She was heavy set, had limited social skills, her eyes set close together..and she walked in a strange manner. The best part..I don't think she knew what was going on... but it is how we treat each other. You are either part of the in group or not.. don't question what is going on... The public PA roadside had no idea I was observing.. and then walking about listen to their bad mouth .... I will remember Heather.. for she is now unemployed and unemployable in the hills of PA.

I know I can't fix the world but I can make some real changes in me and what I tolerate around me.

Back home....it is not Nick the not so nice guy's house that is below code..it is the good Laura the church woman who is below code....but she is our friend.. I will spend more time looking and writing..I have seen the cruel effects of the righteous.... and the calm of the code talkers.... I have much to do with me so that I am the person that I think I am. This was much more of an adventure than I thought it would be.....and I can't go home again at least not to where I have been.