Today was a day of big ideas and great rewards. Awoke at 8:00am for the first time since my days opening at the golf range in New Jersey. So, I guess it’s been a little over a year since I saw the world that early in the morning. Drove to Santa Monica and Hobart to have my tires changed. I decided to change all four tires, but told the mechanic that I didn’t have enough time for an alteration, as I needed to be on the road as soon as possible. It took an hour. I read some back-issues of Maxim. It was boring.
I arrived back at the house just as my sister and Nicci were returning from the market with snacks and materials for making sandwiches. We hung around the kitchen for a few minutes and, once everything was packed away, we departed for Joshua Tree.
Unfortunately, I hopped on the Interstate in the wrong direction, so we lost a half hour before turning around and getting ourselves going along the correct route. Traffic was relatively light, and we made good time. Arrived in Joshua Tree shortly after 1pm, and went into the little wine-and-cheese store to ask directions to the Noah Purifoy sculpture exhibit. The weird hippie woman running the store drew an in-depth map but forgot the names of some key streets, so it wasn’t easy to find. We wound up on a few wrong roads, dirt roads that reminded us of The Hills Have Eyes. It wasn’t the most welcoming environment.
The Purifoy exhibit (is that what it is?) was trippy as hell. I can’t even really describe it other than to say it’s totally fucked up, and it might be a completely transcendent experience with a few hits of acid. Or it might drive you insane.
The National Park was just as beautiful as ever, but absolutely FREEZING today. The temperature never got above fifty degrees, and at the tops of the rocks we climbed in the Jumbo Rocks region it was a considerable amount colder. We had a little picnic in a small nook between rocks where the wind could not harm us. My sister blew out her knee, or twisted it or sprained it or something, pretty much as soon as we got there. Also, she dropped her cell phone and let out a horrific scream as if she herself had fallen off a giant rock. It reminded me of how a vapid high school girl on an MTV reality show might react. Totally embarrassing. Through a steady stream of tears, she managed to scale the large rock, stopping along the way to compose herself and take some miraculously good pictures. She was a pretty good sport when she wasn’t complaining about not being able to walk.
After the sun dipped behind the mountains, we made a quick descent and briskly walked back to the car. The drive home was relatively quiet. I almost fell asleep at the wheel once or twice, but the sister thankfully noticed I was being quiet and we had a few conversations that served to keep me awake. We got home early, ate leftover pizza from last night, and I settled in to Photoshop all the pictures she’s taken in the past three days. She leaves tomorrow afternoon. We’re going to conclude her trip with a visit to In-N-Out. Then she’ll fly back to New Jersey.
