Epic Trip Day 2: Mojave, CA to Gallup, NM
Dec. 28th, 2003 11:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ninevirtuesI got up in Mojave, ate some oatmeal, and left. The u-haul and car were right where I left them, undamaged, not broken into, not missing. So much for the crime rate at motels along I-40.
I was a little worried about time; it was December 19th, and I needed to make it to Oklahoma City on the 20th to race on the 21st. I swore I wouldn't make this trip like my Dad reportedly does: Head down and hammering-- insofar as one can be said to hammer in a car-- and taking three days to do the trip. But I swore that and then did it anyway, hammering, in a u-haul towing a car trailer. I had my own food, so I didn't really need to get out of the u-haul or linger anywhere-- I didn't leave the truck cab except for pit stops and sleep.
I forgot: When you can't accelerate or brake very fast, it takes you longer to get anywhere. Nevermind that the u-haul is safest about 5 mph below the speed limit, and on no account ought you to go faster than 65 mph in that thing. Really, five hundred miles was a good day of driving, and it took 10 hours to get that far.
In any case... I stopped in a tiny town in Arizona, worried that the road to Flagstaff would ice over. Ice in a car, I can probably deal with that. Ice in a u-haul... no. I checked with my stepdad, who had kindly offered to be my own personal weather and routing service. The roads were dry. I didn't want to stop in Flagstaff, but Gallup-- right across the border into New Mexico-- seemed like an excellent alternative.
Flagstaff seemed nice-- as far as you can tell in the dark, anyway. They had an excellent NPR station. I had a momentary reasonable doubt-- after all, I also applied to Northern Arizona University, right in Flagstaff. If I'd gone to school there, I would have been home right then---- if you follow me.
Late at night, on an uphill in the dark, far from anyone or anywhere, I tried to accelerate. The U-haul faltered; I smelled scorched transmission fluid; worse, I smelled impending trouble. (If there had been actual trouble, I would have unhooked my car from the trailer and driven it for help. I didn't want to do that, but I had the option.) Just in that moment, though, miles from anywhere and with a potentially broken u-haul--- which, for all I know, has been soundly abused by everyone who drove it before me-- I was very afraid.
I did make it to Gallup, which-- as far as I can tell-- exists solely to feed and lodge truckers. Once there, I managed to lose the key to the truck. A very nice locksmith and her daughter-- both Native American (Navajo, maybe, or Hopi; I didn't know, and it seemed rude to ask) helped me make a new one.... until I found the old key, ten feet off the path. Arrrgh!
The locksmith charged me $85. In Gallup, New Mexico, I suspect that is the tourist rate, or the butthead rate. At 1 AM, for a lost key that is later found, I didn't begrudge her that. I hope it buys her family groceries for a solid week.
I was a little worried about time; it was December 19th, and I needed to make it to Oklahoma City on the 20th to race on the 21st. I swore I wouldn't make this trip like my Dad reportedly does: Head down and hammering-- insofar as one can be said to hammer in a car-- and taking three days to do the trip. But I swore that and then did it anyway, hammering, in a u-haul towing a car trailer. I had my own food, so I didn't really need to get out of the u-haul or linger anywhere-- I didn't leave the truck cab except for pit stops and sleep.
I forgot: When you can't accelerate or brake very fast, it takes you longer to get anywhere. Nevermind that the u-haul is safest about 5 mph below the speed limit, and on no account ought you to go faster than 65 mph in that thing. Really, five hundred miles was a good day of driving, and it took 10 hours to get that far.
In any case... I stopped in a tiny town in Arizona, worried that the road to Flagstaff would ice over. Ice in a car, I can probably deal with that. Ice in a u-haul... no. I checked with my stepdad, who had kindly offered to be my own personal weather and routing service. The roads were dry. I didn't want to stop in Flagstaff, but Gallup-- right across the border into New Mexico-- seemed like an excellent alternative.
Flagstaff seemed nice-- as far as you can tell in the dark, anyway. They had an excellent NPR station. I had a momentary reasonable doubt-- after all, I also applied to Northern Arizona University, right in Flagstaff. If I'd gone to school there, I would have been home right then---- if you follow me.
Late at night, on an uphill in the dark, far from anyone or anywhere, I tried to accelerate. The U-haul faltered; I smelled scorched transmission fluid; worse, I smelled impending trouble. (If there had been actual trouble, I would have unhooked my car from the trailer and driven it for help. I didn't want to do that, but I had the option.) Just in that moment, though, miles from anywhere and with a potentially broken u-haul--- which, for all I know, has been soundly abused by everyone who drove it before me-- I was very afraid.
I did make it to Gallup, which-- as far as I can tell-- exists solely to feed and lodge truckers. Once there, I managed to lose the key to the truck. A very nice locksmith and her daughter-- both Native American (Navajo, maybe, or Hopi; I didn't know, and it seemed rude to ask) helped me make a new one.... until I found the old key, ten feet off the path. Arrrgh!
The locksmith charged me $85. In Gallup, New Mexico, I suspect that is the tourist rate, or the butthead rate. At 1 AM, for a lost key that is later found, I didn't begrudge her that. I hope it buys her family groceries for a solid week.
