Raven's Roads
Living an interesting life: the travels and musings
of motorcycling author Linda R. Moore

Apr 10, 2005

Staying in Winslow

So, I checked in, felt miserable for a while, then got on with making plans and looking at alternatives. Sometimes you just have to work through the miserable stuff to get to the other side, or it stays in the way. Life isn’t all “the pursuit of happiness” - sometimes it’s just “the pursuit”.

Making plans made me feel better.

The first day, I went to the corner store and bought food, which I then microwaved. I’m living out of cans, mostly chilli and beans, soup, etc. It’s still a heck of a lot cheaper than eating out.

I then spent a lot of time emailing, surfing, and writing.

The second day, I went down into Winslow itself. I had always wanted to look for the Corner, and it was pretty easy to find. Winslow is actually quite neat, with lots of murals lurking around corners. There are a lot of ruins along highway 66 here though, old rusting cars and boarded up businesses, just left there without fuss. What I didn’t see much of was graffiti. And an odd mixture of architecture - slums next to well-kept houses. Nothing here is “rich”, but it seems for the most part to be well looked after and cared for.

I got caught up in a crowd of people from Colorado who had me risk life and limb to take their picture at the Corner. They then returned the favour. A car held up traffic for us *and nobody honked their horn*. That would not happen where I live…

There’s a little park there - that’s what I saw in the guide book once a few years ago - but it’s all fenced off, you can’t go in. I don’t know why. It’s a heritage site on highway 66. I later found the town’s other snarf, a placard stating that this was once an old wagon route.

I got some souvenirs and a book about the Burma Shave signs I’d been seeing on Route 66 outside Kingman, and had a chat with the nice lady in the shop, who I think was nice in general and not just because I was buying stuff. I’m finding that people here are pretty friendly. A couple of the housekeeping staff let me burble on to them for a while. I think I remember that Bill Bryson said that at a certain stage in one’s travels you end up burbling to complete strangers. I guess I’m there.

Last night I found I would be here for another day, which felt bad, but this morning it doesn’t feel so bad.

I downloaded a second free ISP so I have another ten hours of web access. I have no idea how much Netzero I’ve used, but I have Juno as well now. For all that I’ve used my paid wireless, I might as well have signed up for a $10/month dialup ISP.

You live and learn.

I’m going for a short ride this afternoon, about ten miles round trip. I’ll tell you about it later. One of my dearest friends back in England admonished me to go and have Experiences, and as it’s a nice sunny day, I shall comply.