it is 7:21 God's time.

and by using the phrase "god's time" i realize i am inviting a world to google "god's time" and land here on minor american. so.

we welcome you god's time googlers. you probably won't be back.

this means... we are in TEXAS. specifically,
flower mound. we are staying through the 4th of July with my sister & her sweet little family. but. before i go too deeply into Texas. [which is unavoidable. always. isn't it?]... let's talk about the trip so far.

first. we were up late the night before we left with some of our favorite folks. s showed ups with a bit of tequila and a very nice pair of shoes, elise showed up with a bit of of a cold & some duck mugs that belonged to our housemates... & much later sara, the Itinerant Poetry Librarian, showed up with some smokes... sans library, i believe....anyway... we spent most of the late night going through my iTunes library... which "dates" me, according to my HOMOSEXUAL PARTNER.

all i'm saying is we didn't actually leave san francisco until 3 pm.
which means we got to las vegas at 2 am. and to bed at 3 am. because the dogs were very much annoyed with us. and needed to tell us so. o, and it was 109. at 3 am.

in vegas we went to Paris and ate very well and then watched the fountains across the street at the bellagio.

i don't care for vegas. i mean that, i never have, not just this time around, but before now, too, i didn't like it... or, actually, i have had some fun there... like when i went with a bunch of folks from AA and saw some good friends get married & then we all got tattoos the next day. [no, not the dragon. another one.] that was fun. and sober. of course.

but i don't care for desert settings, so much, except at night. the desert at night is gorgeous. but in the day. in vegas. at least the heat is dry.

i just went to look up the ecological footprint of las vegas and can't find it. i'm really curious. can anybody else find it?

okay. so vegas didn't do it for maggie either. she was disappointed by the very same things that disappoint me... and some different things. i don't like the waste of it all. and how easily you can spend all yr money. let me rephrase: i don't like how easily I CAN SPEND ALL MY MONEY.

we spent two days there. then left for holbrook, ARIZONA... "the gateway to the petrified forest." a very depressed indian town. gorgeous at night.

we have footage. i should tell you. i just can't give it to you now. we were going to travel with my computer but it took up too much room... so i am computerless until we get to durham. and also. our former housemates are mailing it. so. who knows how long it will take. not because of them... but because of UPS.

holbrook isn't as cool as that link makes it.

it was very small. very poor. but also the first cool night since we left SF. we sat outside... next to the pool that was being renovated... and drank some beer, hung out with the dogs.... watched the sky actually meet the earth. yeah. i wrote that.

but not a whole lot else to do in holbrook, az. have to say.

next morning we went to the painted desert & petrified forest. absolutely gorgeous! the dogs seemed to appreciate it, too... and they were welcome on paved paths. i will save this for maggie to tell you.... only because... i lived in the desert for a long time... and, even though it is not the same desert, i do not appreciate deserts in the way that maggie can. i am too .... harshed by the people of the antelope valley to be kind to many deserts.

it was gorgeous but i just wanted to leave it.

from there we got back on I-40 and busted through New Mexico. we hit a much needed 10 minute t-storm through alberquerque. maggie and i were discussing landscapes. she was telling me that on her trip from the east coast to the west [on her search for a wife]... she was consistently blown away by the landscapes of the west. she asked me what the most impressive landscape i've ever seen was....

now. i think this is a difficult question for a californian to answer. and i think the answer for a californian is maybe... probably... CALIFORNIA. but i haven't been many places outside of this place. so my answer was and is... North BAY. hehe. although... that probably isn't true. it is probably THIS.

she understood. being from california and being from new jersey means something.
something different.

okay.

where are we? NOT in california.

we landed in the yellow rose of texas. AMARILLO. home of cadillac ranch. {which is a bruce springsteen song, fyi} ... this is great. you HAVE TO SEE THIS. and bring spray paint.

we met a family from NJ there... they loved our dogs... and they were on their way to live in San Francisco. we told them to make sure they had their winter clothes handy.

okay.

i have to stop now. i am getting too lazy. and texas is big. texas has a lot of money to buy ART. and we've seen a lot of ART.