Chapter 4-Sweat Girl
The 2010 SxSW March into Spring Haiku & BBQ Tour
Chapter 4--Sweat Girl
We are loathe to leave in the morning--Brendan is a very interesting guy and there is some good chatting going on when I arise. I want to hear it all & participate but leave we must. We don't have a gig tonight, but we have deserts and state lines to cross, and...god knows. And to add to our general sleep-deprived disorientation, it's daylight savings today--but we don't gain the hour yet, because our next stop is Arizona which doesn't observe daylight savings. Except in the Navajo Nation, we are duly informed by the internet.
Maybe it's because we didn't get to eat at a buffet in Vegas, but we end up at a 7.99 All You Can Eat Prime Rib Buffet in Laughlin, NV. All we have to do is sign up for the River Palms Casino Players Club to get that extra good price (that is, three big bucks off). And the prime rib is quite good, but of course, we all gorge. And pay the higher price of biliousness. Ooof.
Somehow the stop in Laughlin takes almost two hours...what the hell??? Did we slip into some alternate gambling dimension/ dementia and inadvertently play some unconscious hands of blackjack? We hastily get back on the road.
We are heading to Tucson where we are to stay at the home of one of my oldest & dearest friends, Claire . I have known her my entire life--our parents were friends before we were born. I have countless poignant, hilarious, and heartwarming memories of growing up in east Tennessee with her. For example...once, when we were 8, she kicked me in the stomach & knocked the wind out of me (it wasn't on purpose, I don't hold it against her at all, and I'm sure I was being a punk-ass). Another time, we had a picnic in the woods behind her house (I recall that we had some cubes of salami and crackers), and we both got a bunch of ticks on us. Yuck-o. And on another occasion she gave me a really heartfelt birthday card in which she kindly referred to me as a "sweat girl"--Claire was never the best speller. Possibly my favorite memory of our youth is of Claire coming to school in 6th grade with a lollipop stuck in her hair (it was one of those bright-red cinnamon-flavored cube pops). Apparently, Claire and her sister Susannah had had a tussle & Susannah threw the lollipop at Claire whose hair was long & tangly--it just lodged up in there. I can just picture their mom, Joan-Ellen, sending them off to school in dire resignation. And then, there we were in class and our teacher paused in the middle of a sentence to scrutinize the situation on Claire's head, while Claire chuckled good-naturedly. And that's how Claire is--she is simply good-natured, always ready to see the humor in bizarre situations and ready with a kind word of encouragement to others who may also have siblings or life itself throwing sticky things (or worse) at them.
It has been several months since I've spoken with Claire, so needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing her and catching up. We keep calling her with updates. The sun goes down over some saguaros, and we are still hours away from Tucson. Dammit!
Finally at 11:30 pm, we arrive, we get the sleeping arrangements sorted, the guys are situated, Claire says goodnight to her daughters & hubby, and then Claire and I can hang out chatting unto 2 am. It's good to be a sweat girl again.
Chapter 4--Sweat Girl
We are loathe to leave in the morning--Brendan is a very interesting guy and there is some good chatting going on when I arise. I want to hear it all & participate but leave we must. We don't have a gig tonight, but we have deserts and state lines to cross, and...god knows. And to add to our general sleep-deprived disorientation, it's daylight savings today--but we don't gain the hour yet, because our next stop is Arizona which doesn't observe daylight savings. Except in the Navajo Nation, we are duly informed by the internet.
Maybe it's because we didn't get to eat at a buffet in Vegas, but we end up at a 7.99 All You Can Eat Prime Rib Buffet in Laughlin, NV. All we have to do is sign up for the River Palms Casino Players Club to get that extra good price (that is, three big bucks off). And the prime rib is quite good, but of course, we all gorge. And pay the higher price of biliousness. Ooof.
Somehow the stop in Laughlin takes almost two hours...what the hell??? Did we slip into some alternate gambling dimension/ dementia and inadvertently play some unconscious hands of blackjack? We hastily get back on the road.
We are heading to Tucson where we are to stay at the home of one of my oldest & dearest friends, Claire . I have known her my entire life--our parents were friends before we were born. I have countless poignant, hilarious, and heartwarming memories of growing up in east Tennessee with her. For example...once, when we were 8, she kicked me in the stomach & knocked the wind out of me (it wasn't on purpose, I don't hold it against her at all, and I'm sure I was being a punk-ass). Another time, we had a picnic in the woods behind her house (I recall that we had some cubes of salami and crackers), and we both got a bunch of ticks on us. Yuck-o. And on another occasion she gave me a really heartfelt birthday card in which she kindly referred to me as a "sweat girl"--Claire was never the best speller. Possibly my favorite memory of our youth is of Claire coming to school in 6th grade with a lollipop stuck in her hair (it was one of those bright-red cinnamon-flavored cube pops). Apparently, Claire and her sister Susannah had had a tussle & Susannah threw the lollipop at Claire whose hair was long & tangly--it just lodged up in there. I can just picture their mom, Joan-Ellen, sending them off to school in dire resignation. And then, there we were in class and our teacher paused in the middle of a sentence to scrutinize the situation on Claire's head, while Claire chuckled good-naturedly. And that's how Claire is--she is simply good-natured, always ready to see the humor in bizarre situations and ready with a kind word of encouragement to others who may also have siblings or life itself throwing sticky things (or worse) at them.
It has been several months since I've spoken with Claire, so needless to say, I'm looking forward to seeing her and catching up. We keep calling her with updates. The sun goes down over some saguaros, and we are still hours away from Tucson. Dammit!
Finally at 11:30 pm, we arrive, we get the sleeping arrangements sorted, the guys are situated, Claire says goodnight to her daughters & hubby, and then Claire and I can hang out chatting unto 2 am. It's good to be a sweat girl again.
posted by Margrit | 1:03 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home