Manifest Destiny: America from the Bottom Up - 88 - Tucson, AZ - Tests of Darkness 1

I awoke to the sound of coyotes yipping and whining in the distance. Another siren made its way down the highway which caused local dogs to howl and bark where they were chained outside about half a mile away. The dream was obvious in its meaning. I didn't know if it realistically reflected the way Gabriel is in real life, but it made my decision easy for me. I wasn't going there. I didn't need it, and they didn't need me. I had been leaning away from the idea. Now the choice was final.
I got up, slipped on my shoes and walked around a bit. Then I slid back into the sleeping bag and quickly fell asleep again. I slept without dreams that I could remember until about 5:30 am. I got up, peed and went back to sleep.

* * * * * * *

This time I had a very vivid dream about going to a hotel. There I met a beautiful, young woman in a simple red dress. We were at the hotel bar. She asked me what I was doing in California. I told her my story. I found her very attractive. The bar band began playing a slow Eagle's tune, I think it was "Peaceful Easy Feeling." And I asked her to dance.

Above the roof of the patio were palm trees blowing in a light breeze. A tiny sliver of moon hung in darkening sky.

I looked down into her face and she smiled with her large brown eyes. We walked over to the door so we could leave the bar and it was locked. I looked at her and we both laughed. I seemed to recognize her suddenly. I know I've seen her face before, but I could not place it. I tried the door again and it seemed to be welded shut.

A strange and cold feeling came over me. Behind me I heard her soft feminine voice whisper at first "Welcome..." Then it turned into a man's deep growl, "...to the Hotel California."

* * * * * * *

I woke and sat up and the same time, unzipping the sleeping bag automatically. I couldn't believe I'd fallen for turning song into a dream! I just laughed my ass off.

The sun was almost above the mountains in the east. And I did the pack up, slowly. There was no rush. I took a few more pictures and secured my backpack. For a moment I just stood there looking back and forth at Explorer Trail which went down either side. If I walked west I'd have to go down the cliff I climbed up the afternoon before. If I walked east I saw that the trail (shown in my video recently posted) curved around toward the road. I took it. It was a much easier hike and would make a better way to come back up that night.

The Hotel California dream popped into my head again. And I chuckled to myself as I gingerly stepped from rock to rock. I replayed the guitar solo at the end over and over again in my head. Then it occurred to me that there might actually be a metaphor there, if I were to indulge in some pessimistic fiction.

Maybe the state of California IS that hotel? Maybe I'm going to somehow be trapped there? "You can check out but you can never leave." The thought left as soon as it arrived and I continued toward the trail terminus on to Route 86, and walked east back to Tucson.

I walked the 3.5 miles or so back to the McDonald's that I'd left the evening 14 hours earlier. I bought a refillable drink. I was now down to about $5.00. I spent quite a few hours there working--about six. They were very patient with me, like McDonald's always is. I got all of my shots of Downtown Tucson and the desert night on Facebook.

At about 3:00 pm I did one last refill of the drink and walked out and over to Food City (a local grocery store). I scoured the meat department for something in the $2.00 range and found some pork; four small strips.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to cook them. I wanted a skewer of some sort, but they only came in packs of four, for $6.00. I had planned all along to use the rest of a tiny bottle of hot sauce I'd bought about a week before as seasoning. I remembered seeing a metal screen along the trail that morning and conceived the idea of folding it over with the meat inside. I also remembered seeing a metal fork on the side of the highway. I would have to walk up the right side of the road to find it again. But it would make a perfect handle. It was a plan!

I checked my Camelbak and found it about half full. That would be fine. When I walked around the corner of the store to get back out to Ajo Highway (Route 86) something caught my eye. It was an unopened 1/2 pint bottle of Popov Vodka. I bent down and snagged that sucker! I examined it closely. The cap seal was unbroken. I looked back and forth like a thief, then slipped it into my back pocket. I even had the olives I found earlier to make a couple martinis!

I considered myself the most fortunate homeless guy in Tucson! I had water and lemonade. I could have a martini, cook up my meat, watch the desert sunset and sleep under the stars, in peace.

I walked the 4 miles or so back down the highway to the entrance of the trails. It was a bit of a climb up the hill to the campsite. I was sweating again quite a bit by the time I got there.

The first order of business was to get the tarp down. That out of the way, I cut the bottom off of a water bottle I'd picked up along the way to use as a cocktail "glass." With motel soap and Camelbak water I washed it out and made myself a drink. Best drink I have ever had I think.

Free Martinis

I took more pictures of the second sunset I'd seen there.

Tucson Mountain Park Sunset

And when the stars began to emerge I lit my fire, slathered the meat with hot sauce and left it there to marinate, while the flames burned down to a coal bed. It took a while to braze the outside. Then I made damn sure to cook it long enough to get the insides white (all pictures are at Facebook, including my grill rig). By that time I'd had about three small drinks and was saving the last one for right before bed. I felt fantastic!

Desert Meal - Pork Strips

I couldn't really sit down. There were no rocks around big enough to sit on. So I paced and thought, glad I didn't have the backpack on. I had learned that Monday (the next day) was a bank holiday and that I would have a whole other day and night to wait before being able to withdraw any money. This bummed me out a bit. I reached in and took out my wallet. It had a $1.00 bill in there. In my pocket I found almost $2.00 in change. This was going to be a rough one.

I got in the sleeping bag around 9:30 pm, forgetting my last drink. When I laid my head down on the rolled up blanket that I use as a pillow, I noticed a strange sound in ground that I had also noticed the night before. It was like a very slow heart beat mixed with a sound not unlike a large object being moved across a hollow wooden floor. It was rhythmic and never changed its frequency or rate. It was as if inside the mountain a very large machine was running. One long sound and then one short one, over and over.

It was hypnotizing and it put me asleep. I slept very well but didn't have any significant dreams that I could recall, except one. It was just a simple image of standing on a beach watching waves come in. The temperature when I got up in the middle of the night to pee was really warm. Soft breezes were blowing up each side of the hill alternately. And the foot end of the tarp was flapping occasionally.
When I awoke in the morning and started the pack up process, I dreaded the day to come. There was darkness still there, even after the dawn...