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Nov. 24-25, BLYTHEVILLE, AR to
WILLCOX, AZ. Later
that night, sometime after midnight, somewhere on I-20 in Texas. Alone in
the dark and the passing headlights, discover AM radio. A show for
truckers. The topic: the unexplained. One long-hauling caller believes
that "life carriers" travel the universe seeding planets with
dollops of "life plasma" in the primordial oceans, and did you
know we're all descended from tree lemurs? Another recalls the ghostly
skeleton he swears he saw in his closet night after night when he was a
boy. Both of them, their voices wide-eyed and sweet. Blip to another
station. Two conservative hosts taking long rambling calls from
conservative truckers. "Boring!" the hosts cry. "Please,
you people who disagree with us! Call us! Please!" So I call. And
what do they do? Cut me off after two sentences. Silly me, thinking they
were actually interested in an in-depth, thoughtful discussion. Blip back
to the gullible truckers. Better too open a mind than a closed one. By
morning, it's West Texas and community radio. Through vast flat scrub
dotted with bobbing oil wells, a woman with an Hispanic accent tells the
host she's selling 14-inch tires, offers her phone number if anyone's
interested. An old man selling some pipe, a baler, and a winch truck,
gives his address, if you want to come by and have a look, yessir. Garage
sales. A lounger. A baby swing, good condition. An offer to do odd-jobs,
thank you a lot. A girlish voice looking for a used refrigerator, call me
at this number...
Arkansas to Arizona, 1400
miles in 20 hours. Actually didn't set out intending to drive a third of
the way across the continent in one shot. But ahead to the west, the Vette
is waiting with the good people at B&J Automotive in Willcox, Arizona.
And behind me to the east waits my husband. I miss my husband. I just have
to put more miles between us before I can stop, turn around, and let the
Vette devour them all -- which it will only be able to do because Doris
and John and Steve at B&J Automotive made it possible. If you ever
find yourself on I-10 in Arizona and pass the exit for Willcox, stop in
and say hi. And have your transmission rebuilt while you're at it. You
won't be sorry.
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