My blog post from the Flying J just outside Tucson Arizona.
Cold, tired, relatively hungry and not at all expecting to find myself shifting through this thought process that I have wondered over to in the last few days. Who am I? What power do I have over the US government? Why would I risk losing any chance I have to come back here again and visit the great and wonderful people I have met along the way? I know it's stupid, the people I have met in the United States know it's stupid and have voiced that quiet angrily. My friends, family and everyone I have met back in Canada think it's stupid. So, I guess I will be the bigger person in all this and follow the ridiculousness that is American Homeland Security and I shall vacate the US in a an organized and timely fashion. I will not even go into the gong show that was the New Mexico Homeland Security and their bully/intimidation games with this now nervous and paranoid Canadian traveller. All I will say is I do in fact have some video footage of being tailed for approximately fifteen minutes at one point and two other situations of being tailed for between three to five minutes on both occasions. Is Canada really your enemy? Do you really want to do that? I once heard from a little birdie that people like Canada and Canadians, do you really want to go and make an enemy out of us? I can say with confidence and absolutely no hesitation that doing so would in fact be one of the dumbest things you have ever done in the history of the United States.
Ok, now onto what I have decided to do. I am as you have already read; sitting at a Flying J travel centre along I 10 somewhere between Tucson and Phoenix. Yesterday was a day that could have probably been broken up into a week but I made it through and I do actually have some amazing footage. Let me start from the point where things pick up...Literally lol Driving along I 10 on one of the windiest days in my history. I find myself yet again, face to face with a Tornado. Now, this one would probably not even registered but when you see them and you experience the brutal power of the winds and debris they produce...you don't really give a crap that it probably wouldn't register. It's violent regardless. Once I stepped on the gas and got my butt out of there (the smart girl that survives all the horror movies) I realized the fun was actually just beginning. The only term I know to use here is (shit canned) sorry! I could have gone with pelted, or bombarded or even ambushed but shit canned is what I came up with at the time so that is what I am going to use here. :-) Two words...Texas Tumbleweeds!!!! As I have told a could people, these things look so fluffy and innocent on tv lol in real life they are huge bushes coming at your car like a heat seeking missile. they hit and explode and you can see them coming for miles and no matter how you try to adjust your speed they seem to just find you. The giant weeds in my grill were tolerable it was the massive chevy sized bushes coming at me from the side. I don't know if you have ever played frogger but that was my day in a nut shell yesterday. Texas Tumbleweed frogger. I lost ;-)
Anyway, more on that day later. For now I must hit the road and figure out where to stay tonight. I should be in San Diego by tonight maybe even south of that. I am upset that I have to leave so early but I am excited to get back to Canada. Only because I said I wouldn't work in the US and I have in fact held up my end. There have been a couple people keeping this trip going from behind the scenes and I will make sure they are given the credit they more than deserve. So getting back and starting to work again will be the first step in saving money and planning my next tour. lol probably wont be called the Kindness tour but we shall see ;-)
So there you have it. My decision is made and if you are my mother or know me at you will know that once I have made up my mind there is really no changing it. Sometimes that works in my favour sometimes....not so much lol
West Coast here I come!!! anyone there wanting to meet up or shelter me and Pepper for a night feel free to email. I look forward to the final stages of this trip and other than the winter wonderland which awaits me, I am excited to be heading home. Carla...hope you are ok with getting your house painted about a month earlier :-)
