I stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona all goddamn day and not one single chick in a flatbed Ford slowed down to take a look at me. Well, not in a good way.

It was an interesting couple of days leading up to that particular disappointment.  I beat a hasty retreat from the snows of Colorado and that left me kind of bummed. There is no surer sign of getting old than how much your opinion of snow changes.

Rather than ruminate all moodily and live in denial, I decided to accept my fate and embrace the passing seasons of life. (text related)

That plan didn’t really fly so I deftly changed the subject.

One of my jobs on the road is to keep Trixie updated on all things happening outside of Glen Burnie. So I showed her this…

Self. Heating. Meals.  That is some serious next level Jetsons shit.

I found it in a truck stop. I didn’t eat one. I imagine they are gross. But, I did read the box to see how it works.

I drove through the desert. It’s big. I drove for miles of vast nothingness in all directions. (pic related)

I turned onto BIA Rte 5 and saw an idiot dog just standing there. Miles and miles from everything except this…

but this is just a large rock

I was prepared for this moment. I had spent some of my meager funds on a package of rawhide chewys! But, Dixie ate them all when I was staying with the Ross’ in Albuquerque.

I pulled over, dug around beneath the driver’s seat and found a handful that had spilled! (I’m a bit untidy).

I tossed them out the window and a flock of unseen dogs, wet from the recent storm, emerged from nowhere and had at it. (pic related)

Seriously, I have no idea where they came from.

I drove on. I stopped for gas on the Navajo Reservation.  I shouldn’t have. They don’t like white guys. They told me so.  They blocked the EM-50 Millennium Phantom in. But, it is more maneuverable than it looks and I gave them the slip.

I woke this morning and drove to the Petrified Forest National Park and Painted Desert.

The Petrified Forest didn’t impress me.  The Rangers are pretty weird about visitors taking “park resources” but they will sell them to the public.

Here is a big, stone log…

But the Painted Desert was another story.

There is an area called, “The TeePees”…

because they look like wigwams

This bird landed next to me and just stared at me for about 10 minutes…

I named it DiFranco

Except for the hurricane-level winds, it was a perfect day.

The Painted Desert is the most hideously gorgeous terrain I have encountered thus far…

And, we come to the close of another day.

I’ll have a blue Xmas without Trixie 🙁