Arizona Sunset at 60 MPH

Winter Sunrise New Mexico

Good bye Texas

I was able to start driving earlier this morning, as the temperature was over 40 by 9a.m.

Still no deep interactions with anyone, although I am moving pretty quickly. I want to make it to the Bay to get my truck smogged in time to leave California and be back in Atlanta by the 4th of January. Then I’m hoping to make it to D.C. for the January 18th march.

We’ll see.

Of course, being Sunday if/when I can find a Y, then close early – sometimes at 2pm, other times maybe 4pm. But I’m too late pulling into El Paso to find one, even with the hours I gained heading through time zones going west.

But I do find a Planet Fitness to work out at – thanks to my health insurance paying for Silver Sneakers – a benefit I will lose January 1st but it’s been a nice alternative to working out at the Y, as they are often open 24/7 or at least 24/5.

I’ll cross state lines into New Mexico tonight – where there is a very modern, very new rest area.

A few responses..

I got a late start this morning, mostly due to the cold but also looking working out and finding a place to charge my battery. My solar has issues and I’d have to pay to camp and plug in my electrical system, which I don’t want to do – that good ole budget thang.

I didn’t make it half-way through Texas without the other good ole white boys in white pickup trucks pulling in front of me and letting go of thick black smoke. Twice.

Another pickup, white again with two white boys, almost catapulted out their respective side windows to make sure I saw their middle fingers jabbing at me and my truck.

They had to suddenly stop, as we ran into traffic, so I almost got to catch up with them but they weaved in and out of almost stationary lanes to work their way ahead.

Hmmm

I also received one blatant heart from a Black male driver who took his hands off the wheel while passing me at his exit to smile broadly making the heart in both hands.

Another Black family honked loudly, fists raised, smiling broadly as they passed me.

And yet another car with a very elderly Black womon passenger raised a shaky hand to wave at me, smiling broadly, as the driver probably her daughter also smiled and honked.

Not so many responses in such a big state.

Disappearing workers

I did find a Krogers in Texas but much to my chagrin, there were no cut-up watermelon or any fruit at all. One of my staple road foods. When I found a red-headed white male employee and asked him about where the cut-up fruit was, he informed me that they used to have an entire department of employees who cut up the fruit and made pico de gallo, guacamole, etc. but everyone up and quit all at once.

We stared each other down, until I broke the silence by asking when this happened. He told me the weekend after the election.

My heart hurt for those workers, those humans so terrified they walked off their jobs.

And I can’t help to think of those excited white people, so happy and wonder.

Texas

There was a time in my life – actually a few times – when I refused to drive through Texas. Way back when I was driving around the country with my partner, we were malevolently introduced to the “Sundown Laws” by menacing white men. We both tried to appear nonplused but later vowed to leave Texas asap and never return.

I relented decades later and only zoomed through on I40, the Texas Panhandle, when Route 66 was replaced. I’d make sure I filled up before entering Texas, refusing to spend a penny in that state.

And then came our war against Iraq and bush became president (not in that order), I didn’t even take I40 then. Finally a few years ago I decided to venture through Texas, both on I20 and I10.

Today I’ll head south on 87 through Bridge City so I can indulge in my daily routines of treadmill (when it’s too cold or too hot for fast walking outside) at the Y, library moments, and checking out reduced produce at Kroger or Safeway.

If it’s still below 40 degrees, I might seek out a Goodwill or thrift shop.

On the Road Again!

I intended to leave Atlanta yesterday but got caught up once again in my daughter’s extremely busy life. My help was needed until she returned home from her job that allows us all to fly free (except for her work hours) around the country – standby, but free. So I’m happy to help for that reason as well.

So finally today, I'm ready to leave.

First though, I have to wait until the temperature gets firmly into the 40's. Atlanta is cold, despite being in the south.

So whilte waiting for it to warm up, I head to my to my tire guys and to have my back outside dually repaired. It’s a new tire but has had a slow leak in it almost since I bought it. I didn’t want to head out with a leaky tire.

An hour, several great conversations with the men who work there, one thin nail removed, hole patched and $60 later, I’m on the road, ready to get a feel of the country post tRump…

I’ve received a few smiles while driving down I85 through southern Georgia to Montgomery Alabama. I decide to take a smaller route, highway 80, to Selma and then cut over to I59 south at Meridan Mississippi to connect with I10: through the deep south. 80 is a surprisingly pleasant route, little congestion or traffic, no white guys in white pickup trucks belching black smoke out their tail pipes in front of me.

At rest stops where I try to make eye contact and remain open to conversing, several strate white couples do smile excitedly and engage in benign conversation with me: one couple was formerly from New Jersey (my home state), another couple was on their way to visit grandchildren. No one talks about either the results of the election nor the messages on my truck.

I can't tell if their smiles are gloating or condescending. They're definitely excited and I'm not quick enough to think how to initiate a more meaningful conversation to the sidewalk smiles before they jump back into their waiting vehicles.

I’m kinda curious, wondering if this will continue to be my experience. And will have to put some thought into what to say, what to talk about, if I want to know how people are feeling and what they are doing. I kinda feel I'm getting the screen version of interactions - surface and glib.

Maybe what I've chosen to paint on the back of my truck doesn't reach anyone.

I made it to the Louisiana/Texas state line. I had to keep driving during the warm hours so I pushed myself through 700 plus miles of u.s.ofa. roads.

Time to turn down the veggie oil and rest. As usual, the Texas Welcome Center is totally overrun by tractor trailers so I do a u-turn and head to the Louisiana Welcome Center, maybe 4 miles back the way I came on I10, which is a much more pleasant, less crowded rest area.

One Billion Womxxn Rising and Raging!

My new paint job on the back of my truck!

I'll be heading across the country from Atlanta to California next week.

So sorry I didn't have room to paint everyone's suggestions and not even enough room to paint everything we refuse to bow down to during the next four years!

I'll be taking the most southern route so my veggie oil doesn't freeze on me!

Road from Ikenne to Lagos

Leaving Ikenne after four days and heading back to Lagos.

Sunset then full moon over Ikenne

Almost full moon over Ikenne, Nigeria - and sun set

What Message Now?

In December of 1999, I purchased a new Isuzu box truck for my business buying and selling old thingz, almost a year and 9 months before 9/11.

When 9/11 happened, I quickly painted on the back of my truck “Thou Shalt Not Kill” in big letters and underneath in smaller letters: "unless securing 60% of the world's resources for 4% of the world's people" and hurried around the country to engage with primarily womyn about the threatened war looming in our near futures.

I returned to California a few days before congress was giving Bush the right to go to war and my courageous congresswomon Barbara Lee, was the ONLY one out of over 400 congresspeople to stand up and vote NO.

Protesting this horrific vote on the steps of the SF Federal Building, I learned about CodePINK: Womyn For Peace. Realizing I had two more 14’ billboards on either side of my truck, I repainted one side of my truck “CodePINK: Womyn For Peace” and the other side “Proud To Be Another American Womon For Peace” and set off across the country again.

The sides have now morphed into other missives: one side an anti-monsanto/womyn growing peace mural given to me by an awesome local Berkeley artist Phoebe Ackley; the other side “End Violence Against Womyn And Children: #SayHerName and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Womyn and Girls”.

Since 9/11, I’ve put about 498,000 miles on my truck – mostly protest action miles – and I’ve repainted the back often, depending on what’s happening in the country.

I’m ready to get back on the road but I need help deciding what message I should paint across the back this time. A message that will bring inspiration and support to those of us who are devastated by the racism and sexism overtly embraced by the majority of white amerikkkans, to keep our fight alive and vibrant while we work to protect those most impacted by those put in power.

Here are some versions of the back of my truck- not in date order: