saga continues...

so, arrived in Silver City Nm on the night of 9.5.05. Ate pizza, watched bad movies, went to bed. The next day it was raining, and I started this blog and sent multiple emails to folks letting them know what was up. now the saga continues...

we decided to stay around Silver City for the day, and in the afternoon when the rain let up we hiked around the small mines just outside of town. We brought pat's dads dog, Ivy, with us. Good view of the city from up on those hills.

Silver City seems like a real cool town. I was here 5 years ago, and it hasn't changed much. The downtown is very artsy. Many art galleries and coffee shops. The architexture is very southwestern, with mexican influences and many colors. The houses are old, and unique. Villa type spread. Opposite of the burbs.

Pat and I drove up into the hills after our hike, and stopped in at the Buckhorn Saloon for a beer. This saloon was established in 1865, and has a opera house attached in the back. 5 years ago we happened in to this joint on an open mic night and I sang "Buenos Tardes Amigo" with a local guitar player sitting in. Today, drank a Negra Modelo, snapped a couple photos and drove back to the compound for some dinner.

Actually, we went down to Brenda's house for dinner. Her and Tom Brand(Pat's dad) will soon be celebrating 10 years together. They are going to San Fran to celebrate in a week or two. Tonight, we had a delicious home cooked meal. Roast beef (from a crockpot), potatoes, salad, and bread. All of us (me, patrick, Brenda, Tom) had lived in Kansas during the late 1990's, so we discussed random things from the past (whatever happened to Peter Wiegmann?) Also, we talked about Tom's running feud with his neighbors ("Fuck them...okay? I don't want to talk about it.") Also talked about Pat's job hunt, and how he may soon move to Oakland if he is offered a job (he's a geologist, and it looks like he may land it).

We left Brenda's, went up the hill to the compound and started a bonfire, where pat and I talked about all kinds of debauchery and good times and people from days past (lawrence era) From the days of Hashinger hall (keg party in trents room) to the final days of post 2000 era (snip snip Penka, or Andy Mackenstedt from Minnisoda, or crazy Duma getting tazed). Watched a little of "Freddy vs. Jason" on sattelite tv late night and went to bed to have more of the many strange dreams I've been having of late.

on 9.7.05 we decided to flee the compound and head towards the Grand Canyon, flagstaff, and sedona. the weather has been odd by South west standards. Buckets of rain dropped on us as we scaled a mountain with little more than a patch of grass between our right side tire, and the edge of a cliff that would send us hurtling down any number of thousands of feet to our doom. But as bad as it rained at times, there were also patches of great weather.

Ate an "Arizona Burrito" in Clifton AZ from a very small, very mexican run shop. Some of the better mexican food I've had is in AZ and NM. Made it to Alpine, AZ when we decided we had to stop and camp. The rain had soaked all possible wood for a fire, although we tried (goddam we tried) to get one going. We camped at 11000 feet, essentially in the dark and cold. For a while we sat in the truck drinking beer listening to the Alice Cooper radio show. The wind blew up a gale, and my 12 dollar walmart tent barely survived it (not very aerodynamic I guess). More strange dreams. Most of them relate back to St. Louis somehow.

I woke at 5:45 am in time to see the sunrise on 9.8.05. Our site was really beutiful, a flat spot at 11000 feet, and cows roamed freely around us. Lots of bear hunters up here. We drove into Flagstaff that afternoon, ate BBQ, and went to the Grand Canyon. We chilled at the normal touristy spot for a couple hours. All kinds. It was a collection of all sorts of folks, ranging from the geriatrics, to the germans. An interesting collection, although a bit annoying. We hiked off to a trailhead and found more seclusion as we hiked a while down into the canyon. Going into the canyon is fun. Walking back up is a bit tougher, but we managed.
cheers