Arhipelago 14-21 Texas-New Mexico

 Journeying   Autistic  Archipelago   

Safe Haven

Posting from Home  (backtracking) 
Notes written in Holbrook, Arizona

Continuing from: Archipelago 11-14 Mississippi-Louisiana-Texas

Mar 31 - April 8 TEXAS - NEW MEXICO

Sunday, March 31 - Easter Sunday. 

Dawn finds me driving towards El Paso. I'm starting to like the country. It's a whole different deal from the leg towards Austin. One day I'd like to spend more time here...

My camera stopped working. I think sand at Rutherford Beach got in, it also got bumped a bit at one point and the shutter didn't want to open afterwards, but then some time later it grudgingly worked. Now it is dead. I've recharged the battery, but the shutter still doesn't open...

Got to El Paso around 10:30am - gained an hour on the time zone change. I decided to continue and get to Albuquerque today, but I also wanted to see El Paso and perhaps leave "Loud Hands" there. It won't be in a library this time; I didn't have time for that. This was Easter Sunday and I wanted to stop at the church. I looked it up - The Cathedral Parish of St. Patrick, the mother church of the Diocese of El Paso. 

It was just about 3 miles away from the place where I entered El Paso when I looked it up on my Ipad; I punched Cathedral into my phone's GPS, but didn't notice that it picked Cathedral Drive instead; ended up driving on a loop to the outskirts of the city, and then back, but missed the turn coming out, and was sent back to the loop I just traveled, which was being repaired sending me 7 miles off and had to drive back again. Eventually got to the Cathedral just after the Mass; people coming out; I went in and sat dawn on a side bench, as people congregated outside.  

What did I pray for? I don't know; I think it was Faith, I need faith; how can I ever change things for him if I don't have Faith?

I came out as people started coming in for the next Mass - there were people coming in, greeting people that were still outside from the previous Mass. It was sunny and warm;  I sat down on a stone bench outside, in a corner where it was out of the way, looking at people greeting each other all dressed up. This was Easter Sunday, Day of Resurrection.

Then I took a book (Loud Hands - I had it in my little backpack) and placed it in a converging corner where the bench ended and the wall rose.  I took a picture of it discretely with my phone and walked away and then, before driving away, I took a picture of  the Cathedral. 
I wished for the book...

I thought about it some time before, regarding where The Church stands in regard to Autistic people; I thought it viewed us as a diseased people; but then it itself is in transition, searching for redemption. 

I don't go to church, but sometimes I like to go there, between the sermons, and sit where I want, and look and listen to its sounds, undisturbed, and maybe wishing for a miracle of a kind - a priest who would open his heart and understand.  A true priest, can do miracles... One priest, just one true priest...

I got in a car and drove towards New Mexico. Entering New Mexico on 25 is a sight to behold! I had no camera any more, but the habit of recording that I have developed during this trip was wanting out. I opened the note book, and started to write in it without looking, while driving; just recording there, where I would've snapped a picture on a way.

Mile 68 - Oh my God; Behold Your Creation! 
73- Truth or Consequences -75   
76 - Road into the Sky 
79 - Mirage  
<-- 86, 87 -->  Ravine 94 , 101, 102 - I draw mountains on both sides 
107 - Nogal Canyon

Mile 117,  some 90 miles from Albuquerque; I needed to stop for gas; and then there was a truck stop; 

To fill up you have to go inside to pay. I walked in; it was an interesting place; had it's own character; there was a shelf of books on a right just as you walk in, and the place opened like a doubled up train car with a partitioning wall in a middle; this wall wasn't solid and had openings on a window level so you could see from one side to the other somewhat. The owner was a middle-aged man; I knew that place was his right away - same character of content... 

I gave him my credit card, went out, filled up, came back, paid, and went to the bathroom - on a way out I looked at the books - they were really interesting; there were some good many books there, I thought - some 8 or more rows with at least 10 books in a row - but I didn't count, it might be different. I asked him if he sells them; he said yes, and I also let people (customers) read them as well, he said; I saw that already myself - there was a woman at one of the tables lining the side wall, drinking something and reading; the place was also a diner of a kind. 

I'd like to leave you a book, I said; It just came out. OK, he said, and added after a short pause - I'll trade you; Take any book you like. OK, I said and went to the car and brought "Loud Hands". This was better than library, I thought - it'll be read. I gave it to him, he took it, sat down and opened it.  I can take any book? I asked. Yes, he said. My hand went and took a book from the shelf; it was - "York: A Slave's Journey with Lewis and Clark, by Brad Phillips".  

I looked at other books; each different, there were many interesting titles, but I didn't switch. Later on, while reading it, I thought how strange it was that I took that book and not any other book - it was as if it was there for me. The things there - the culture and the vocabulary of the slavery, and the inability of the best people of their time to understand, no matter the many proofs to the contrary - it was as if it was describing what is happening to us. The best people of their time - Jefferson himself, fathering and justifying the axioms of suppression and segregation.

I kept driving towards Albuquerque; I had a friend there - A True Friend  - going back to the time we were growing up...

NIGHT 14-20  IN SAFE HAVEN  - at a friend's house in Albuquerque, NM

I'm out of Albuquerque next Sunday, April 7. What was I doing there for so long?

[Took showers, slept in bed, ate home made food. 

Fools day went without recollection 
Met my friend's extended family
Had an overload 
But was able to safe face; I think...

Went for a hike in the mountains with oldies

Met Ian and his family
Got jealous a bit but in a good way
Went to Autistic meet-up and 
Met different people
Some content and some distraught

Serviced my car

Read Ian's book and the Slave's Journey
Worked on my notes - didn't finish, 

But had to go... ]

Parting shots Saturday night, April 6, from a park in Albuquerque, taken by my smart phone.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Got out of Albuquerque on Sunday, April 7 just after Noon. Didn't get far. 

Got off I-40 to 412 and drove some 18 Miles south to the Bluewater Lake State Park. 

This shot of a small native village is on a way to the lake taken by smart phone ->

And this one from my Fish-Eye camera that I've mounted on my dash - some place on a way there 

Got there around 3 pm+. There was a ranger at the entrance to the park and an $8 fee. I didn't have change so we drove to the office but it was closed; he opened it and went in but couldn't find the change there either.  Asked me to pay in the morning if I decide to stay overnight. 

I parked by the water and went for a walk in the surrounding woods, hills surrounding the lake - decided to stay. The lake is not large and not very exiting, but it's a rarity in NM - it's a lake! 

A lot of local native people there at day time, and a handful at night. 

NIGHT 21   April 7-8 

Slept on a shore in a car with popped hatch - head out facing the water - that would be  straight down from the rocks in this photo  --->

It was a good night, and not a bad place - a decent place really, a good place for a few days...

Here are a couple of pix of the lake by the Fish-Eye.  Gives a different perspective. Somewhere there between the two is my own - the way I see it.

Enlarge and take a good look at the soil there; 

Yeah...

Paid $8 in the early morning to a nice smiley middle aged native woman; made use of their facilities - shaved, washed and was on my way still in the early morning driving back north to I-40 and then towards Gallup.

From I-40 got off to 491 and then to 264 - heading to Window Rock and Fort Defiance.

Crossed to Arizona somewhere there ...  (to be continued)