Day 12: in and out of time

 

When I went to bed Wednesday night my cousin asked me what time I thought I’d be getting up.  I’m sure she expected more of an answer than the befuddled look she got from me.  The truth was, I had no idea. 

We had been in and out of time zones enough that day that at one point even my cell phone (which I normally rely on to keep me straight) was confused.  I realized that I didn’t really have any idea what time it was in my cousin’s house, and I certainly had no clue what time it was in my body.  What time was I going to wake up?  Would my body wake up as if it was in North Carolina?  As if it was in Texas?  As if it was in New Mexico?  I literally had no clue. 

And then I realized I was almost as confused about the date.  The days on our trip have accordioned in an out in a manner most disorienting, as if we are almost travelling outside of time.  I usually have no idea which day of the week it is.  In some days the days have stretched out, widening past their normal boundaries, with none of the normal markers of the progression of a week.  In other moments they seem to all slam up against each other, smashing the entire week into a handful of memories.  It’s been so long since we left Durham and yet only a few minutes…

 

I had a great morning with Lori.  We left the kids at her house to read, play on the computer, and hang out with her dogs and cat. 

She and I went into an old town called Mesilla.  There we looked at old buildings, bought Mexican vanilla, (I’m sure I paid a much higher price than I would have in Mexico, but I didn’t have to worry about being shot while I bought it!) and ate a fabulous Mexican lunch.  Originally we weren’t going to eat lunch but she wanted to show me the restaurant because it is a famous building and very ornately decorated.  Once we were in it the smells overpowered me and I decided that we had better go ahead and eat.   Yum, yum, Russ would have loved it.

Once we were all packed up, leaving Lori’s house was an exercise in seeing how dirty we could get the van.  It had rained hard the night before and her dirt road had 2 big puddles, big enough that I was concerned that my van might get stuck in them.  As soon as I successfully cleared the 2nd puddle I realized that I had left the energy drink she had given me on her counter, so I turned around and headed back.  She was waiting with it in the driveway, we laughed and I headed back into the mud puddles for the 3rd time.  Just as we reached the end of the road she texted me saying that she had just found a pillow and a pillow pet behind one of the doors, and I turned around and drove back through the puddles (for the 4th time) to her driveway where she was waiting again.  I drove back down the road, through the mud puddles for the 5th time, and then we were off.

We took a few house pictures as we left.  The kids were so intrigued by the southwestern architecture—it’s so different from anything they’ve ever been around. 

This was also the first day we got to go through a border patrol check.

I wished Alisyn was there with me to remind me to be serious.  I have such a hard time not joking in these kind of situations, and border patrol people really don’t want to be joked with.  This time they just asked me if all of the people in my car were citizens, and fortunately I didn’t make any sarcastic jokes about my own aliens.

As we crossed into Arizona I had to wonder…am I the only person who thinks the Arizona flag would be suitable for a superhero??

We decided that Tuscon has the best overpass decorations that we’ve ever seen.  (Please ignore the splotches from dead bugs on the windshield.)

Jared and Rachel were wild and crazy for a lot of this day of driving, playing in the middle row like two little puppies. 

We arrived at Russ’s brother’s house just in time for a yummy bean burrito dinner and a night-time dip in the pool.  (Just the kids, not me.  I need seriously warm water for night swimming!)  When we pulled into the driveway Dave & his wife Susan came out to meet us.  The kids, who don’t know them very well, were all surprised to see that Dave looked so familiar.  They couldn’t figure out who he looked like, until I pointed out that he looks a lot like his baby brother, Russ.  I had a good laugh over that one…

miles travelled: 366                                                                              total: 2853