Whizzing Through America: Living Memories Tour, Blythe, CA

I've never lived in Blythe. In fact, this is the first time I've ever been in it. I'm here for two reasons: It is as far as I wanted to go in one day. It will allow me to pass all the way through Arizona tomorrow, even reach Las Cruces, NM, because I've been in Phoenix in the summer before. The hotel has air conditioning.

Really I had planned on camping tonight, really. Why I'm not is a good news bad news kind of story.

It really started last night as I got all packed in what has to be considered good news. The bad news is that it took me until after midnight what with getting clean sheets on my bed and folding the clothes I washed along with the sheets I had just taken off. (Getting the bed clean and laundry done is definitely good news.)

But this meant that I ended up sleeping on the couch, in my clothes, not all that well and definitely not all that long. Bad news.

But with all of that going on, I still got out in reasonable time. Definitely good news. Since I remembered going through Kansas in June of last year and feeling that 103 degree heat, I knew I would have to dress cool. Good news! I bought some mesh mountaineering shirts with my REI dividend that wick water away from the skin. Twenty-eight miles into the ride, Woodside, I pulled off to put on another layer and get out the "heat-troller" for my heated gloves. Stopping bad, having something warmer good.

Two hundred miles later, I was too hot. Since it also happened to be lunch time, I cooled off, ate, and took off the layer I had added, opened the vents to my jacket, and switched to my summer gloves.

Fifty miles later, I was still hot. Bad news! Fortunately I still had some cooling things that I could do, including taking off my chaps and opening up the scoop vents in my jacket. Good news. In the process of stowing my just removed chaps, I knocked my helmet off of my motorcycle seat and either the visor bouncing on my foot as I tried to save it or the concrete broke it. Definitely bad news.

Even worse, I rode for the next 75 miles to get to some civilization that might have a motorcycle gear store with my eyes watering from the wind. I asked at my next fill up and the guy seemed confident so I followed his directions. The good news is that I rode five miles each way on a rather fun road for motorcycles but no gear store. I did, however, see a UPS store so I decided to address the root cause and improve my storage by sending a few less needed things ahead. They were very helpful and gave me very clear directions to a Cycle Gear store really close the expressway. I bought a new helmet and was on my way, again. My old one really did need replacing.

The really bad news is that all those delays for cold and heat and storage and breakage, put me in Los Angeles during rush hour. The good news is that California allows lane splitting. The bad news is that I did that for over 30 miles.

At least the wind stopped being directly in my face, which helped my mileage. Of course, it waited to do so until I reached the desert. I was still committed to reach Blythe as not making a distance would throw all of my planning off. This meant that I had to ride after dark. Now the desert and rocky outcroppings are particularly beautiful in the setting sun and twilight. After dark, though, I couldn't read my printed directions on how to get to the tent camping area, which I consider good news.

Even though it costs substantially more, I'm sitting here in air conditioning and have six fewer miles to go tomorrow.

Memorileum

This post is intended to celebrate the significance of nothing and absence can be quite significant.

Yesterday, and for quite a few days before that, I overindulged, not so much in the quantity of food, although I'm sure I ate too much as well, but in the type of food. I keep telling myself that even vegan food can be bad for me. With high fat content vegan cookies, refried beans with guacamole burrito, mashed potatoes with vegan no trans fat margarine, and the list goes on, I had eaten myself into an upset stomach that a newly purchased Tums Ultra bottle wasn't making a dent in.

Now I know why I was doing it, a hopefully mild form of depression. Even if mild, I'm not motivated to do anything, except eat and watch TV, which, except for fixing the food, are both demotivating. When watching TV, I tend to stay up later because of the effort it takes to go to bed. After I eat, I am lethargic to the point that all I want to do is watch TV.

When my father was in college, I read his Behavioral Psychology text. At the time, I didn't agree with all of it and probably still don't but with my greater understanding of nutrition and the role it plays in a persons immune system or even chemical balance, I may agree with it more now than I did then. Besides, I have been able to smile at myself in the mirror and lift my spirits and attitude. Smiling for others improves any interaction you might have with them, reinforcing the improvement. I know that I like to think when I walk, hike, or even cross-country ski but those thoughts can sometimes take on a form of worrying. So, what I've been doing recently is follow some advice I picked up out of The Secret: "[Think] thank you" as I stride, "thank" on my left foot and "you" on my right foot. I don't know whether or not it has the effect that the book alludes to but it does tend to mentally relax me with a true feeling of gratitude and my mind no longer races around without going anywhere.

All of this is making a short story long but I also know why I am hopefully mildly depressed. In addition to the stock market collapsing, I live in a memorileum. Literally everything reminds me of Marilyn, even the things that are new to me are distinguishable by their lack of direct ties to Marilyn, although many of them can have a memory tie. An example of the latter is the MacBook I'm using right now. After we moved to Pacifica, Marilyn went to a digital picture class where the instructor was able to do some amazing things with a Mac. Marilyn said she wanted a Mac but didn't want me to get one for her. I got this MacBook last January, not because of Marilyn but because I was fed up with the hardware and software quality that I had gotten from PCs. There is even a Marilyn story for the hiking boots I am wearing right now. In early 2005, Marilyn wanted to make a quick stop at REI for some birthday shopping. I headed over to a nearby Starbucks for some headache prevention. (It is so good to be off of caffeine.) I got done before she did and wandered into REI looking for her. She was still shopping so I went by the hiking boot area and noticed these on sale. I bought them. I can't believe they are that old.

Even on my walk around the neighborhood this afternoon, to mail a couple envelopes and return three misdirected envelopes, I was reminded of Marilyn. There is this monstrosity of a house just around the corner on Glacier. It is a full three stories tall. They got away with the third story because the access to it is through pull down stairs, making it an attic. (This is something like the PT Cruiser being a truck.) I know this because on one of my walks with Marilyn, she went into the construction site and we went up those pull down stairs at least part way to see the size and finish of the rec room attic. I would have never done something like that on my own. Thanks to Marilyn, I've been in quite a few Pacifica houses.

So, I've changed my behavior, at least for today. I have gone on a one day fast of water and Metamucil only. I have left the TV off and will see if I have the will power to leave it off for good. I intend to start eating again tomorrow, but just the wholesome low fat foods I should be eating.

I also intend to do more, not just because doing more will give me more to write about, but because new memories...