desert journey

10:06PM, days inn, south tucson, arizona

day one of our trip to texas. we covered 600 miles, much of it bright dusty desert.

we spent the first five hours of our drive navigating southern california highways, finding our way south and east to the edge of the state. summer in southern california means hazy skies and heat. the traffic in the LA area is year-round. by mid-morning, the temperature climbed into triple digits and the sun reflected brightly off the highway, making it gleam from black to silver.

almost immediately after we crossed the state line into arizona, the skies lost their layer of brown haze and became blue. sparse clouds floated along the skies casting dark shadow spots that crawled over the mountains. unlike those in the los angeles area, hidden behind a thick layer of smog the mountains in with their peaks, plateaus, and picachos stand abruptly against the sky. the cacti along the side of the road stand straight as soldiers with arms reaching toward the sky.

the arizona I-10 is pure desert – striking, beautiful, but brutally hot. as we arrived in tucson, the time is 6:30PM and it is still 106 degrees outside. nevertheless there are dark clouds hovering over the mountains in the distant and lightning flashing in the distance as the sky dims to purple. every year we have made this trip, it's as if it wants to rain over tucson.

the end of the day finds me and my mom at denny's for dinner. the windows reveal a brilliant view of the sunset over the mountains west, the storm to the north. i quickly gulp two glasses of ice water and she nurses a cup of decaf. our eyes are both bloodshot and we are too tired to speak.

two more days.