Tucson, Arizona and Tools of the Trade filming

Tucson, Arizona has to be one of the worst places to arrive after a failed trip to Europe: between the 115 degree weather, the aridness of the desert, and the improbability of finding any gig makes this part of desert quite useless to me, except for the fact that my very good friend Dan (from my childhood and who is a Masters/PhD candidate at The University of Arizona ) lives here and has an apartment where I can regroup. I am planning on staying here until my skin is brown (I give it five days max in this volatile sun) and when my plane ticket refund comes in (with US Airways that could be weeks). When I've got my brown skin (I should say red peeling skin instead) and my money back I will buy another car and continue filming across the southern portion of the US. I am currently working on booking interviews with people in the South.

It took me two days to hitch here from Sacramento. For the most part, my rides were great and we shared engaging conversation. I even filmed a short segment with one of my rides. There are a few people in town here who I will be filming as well. I'm still a little sad regarding Europe, but I'm adamant about planning another trip for later this summer. I don't know when I will return to NY. The road life is dangerously addicting and I feel very far away from the city. I miss it more now, however, especially since I am in an area with so little moisture and such little green save for the cacti and short, wispy desert trees.

I would like to share one specific hitchhiking experience: I got a ride from Palm Springs into Blythe with a girl and a guy in their early 20's who organize raves out in the desert. They were only driving as far as Indio, the next town from Palm Springs in the Southern California desert. When I told them I was headed to Tuscan, a five hour drive, they offered to drive me if I payed for the gas. Apparently neither of them had to work that day and they didn't have too much going on. Gas would be around $100 because I would have to leave them with enough to get back. That was more than I wanted to spend so instead I asked if they would mind driving me to Blythe, a town on the California/Arizona boarder which is also the next real town after Indio (FYI: It is roughly a two hour drive from Indigo to Blythe). They said sure and this trip would only cost me one tank of gas. At an average of $3.35 a gallon, gas is really cheap in the desert (considering the national average). I filled their tank for $35 (they were on absolute empty) and we headed down the road. In Blythe, they dropped me at a gas station across from the I-10 east ramp. Literally, one minute after getting out of their car and crossing the highway to the ramp, I was face to face with ride share Dan; the Canadian guy I gave a ride to from Vancouver to Portland a week ago!

These are the best moments on the road: the perfect meeting of time and place (and in this case, even interstate exit). He pulled out his camera to take a photo. I hope I get to see these pictures one day because the first photo of us was in my old car as we were making our way towards Portland wearing sweaters and now there's this picture of us with both of our backpacks on in the 106 degree sun. He was headed west, on his way back to LA from a short trip to Phoenix and I, of course, was headed east to Tucson. We had about two hours max of daylight left and both of us wanted to get as far as we could before dark. Needless to say, our encounter, as amazing as it was, was short lived. He turned up the street to the I-10 west ramp and I crossed to the I-10 east ramp. I couldn't see him from where I was so I hope he got a ride pretty fast because the sun, even at 7pm, was murderous. It is also unfortunate that my ride took off  before Dan and I spotted each other because they were headed back towards LA. Dan, if you're reading this that was incredible! Be safe and lots of love!

I am posting a clip of the wind and grass from South Dakota because I am in the desert and like to think about this...

...Although, it would probably be best for me to forget it and instead just slather on the sunscreen and wear a straw hat so I'm prepared to sit back and embrace the heat. I mean, it's like living in a sweat lodge, which is a place to sweat out the body's toxins. I might be healthier (except of course for the skin cancer I'll accrue in a few years) and I might start the agonizing process of quitting smoking when my pouch of tobacco is gone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_CpPv-LooA