RICK IN NM- DAY 7

up @ the crack of dawn. my plan is to walk to the Buddhist retreat and soak in their natural hot springs. the river that runs thru raymond's property has veins of naturally hot mineral water with the most amazing health benefits. the zen Buddhist retreat has one of the largest pools. some natural, some created.


(the sister cemetery)

although remote, raymond has some interesting neighbors. i walk past the catholic church and priest's diocese, make my way past THE SISTERS OF THE BLEEDING HEART seminary, (i like to call it sisters of the bleeding ulcer). the nunnery has that old school look you would find in films like the nun's story, song of bernadette, or the flying nun. they have a, 'SISTER CEMETERY" when all the nunnie's have been put to rest, and "THE NUN WALK" my favorite location in jemez springs. the nun walk is a quarter mile meditation path where nunnie's go to contemplate their lives. where they have been and where they are going.. although this area is not open to the public, i always take a little stroll on the nun-walk. i guess i'm just an unruly heathen.
this morning i take photos of the majestic nun-walk. it really is special.


(the nun walk)

right next door to the nunnies is the BODHI MANDA ZEN CENTER- buddhist retreat. i make my way down the path and surprise the head Buddhist and a group of monks having their vegan/gluten free breakfast.

i'm really not supposed to be here, since i'm not a monk... now what i am going to do? i politely ask the head monk, (her name is heath) if i may use the hot springs. she asks how i came to be @ the retreat. i tell her that i'm staying with her neighbor raymond, (they go way back). she says, " i'm sorry i cannot let you use the hot springs.. we are in retreat until december. tell raymond i am sorry."
i shake her hand, politely bow and leave the premisses. what a pickle... now i have to walk all the way back in the freezing morning cold without a soak, and very unrefreshed. raymond consoles my delimia with a good bye breakfast.. boy am i going to miss raymond's cooking. i have to figure out how to get him to cook for me when he comes to LA.

TOM is nice enough to drive me to albq to catch my train. tom is raymond's straight friend who acts like his gay friend.. raymond has a straight guy fetish. tom is a real character as are all people in albq. he's lived here all his life and has a heart of gold, with a good intentions gone haywire. albq tends to scatter a person who has the potential to be. to liven up the trip i decide to fabricate my morning story to tom.. this is what i tell him-

" so tom, this morning i made my way to the Buddhist retreat still somewhat asleep @ 5:30am.. in my haze I walked in front of the Buddhist's vegan/holistic/gluten-free commissary and i'm confronted with the head monk and her cult. she looks great although severe with her shaved, bald head and kung-fu style kimono... very minimal. i ask her if i may use her naturally-rejuvenating mineral springs and she shouts out, "breech of security! intruder, intruder- stop him." I guess in my crow-black nylon windbreaker and matching pants i look like a heathen/ terrorist from the middle east.

the Buddhists throw down their vegan breakfasts, (i'm sure they were looking for an excuse not to eat them anyways) and charge me all at once.. i make a run for it, scaling the mesquite wood fence, ripping my crow-black nylon pants to pieces. i am now nude from the waist down.. i do a back flip and end up on the nun-walk.. running for my life... the head monk must have texted the head nun, because all at once the bells at the convent start ringing bloody murder... ohmygod!
even quasimodo could hear these ear-shattering bells... the nuns come barreling out of the convent with their habits flapping in the wind.. one nun is running so fast her sister bertrille-like cornette catches a gust of wind and she becomes airborne.
wow i am in deep shit.. mid-way on the nunwalk i stop in my tracks.... behind me is a posse of monks, in front of me, a gaggle of nunnies.. what am i to do?!.. all at once the, "ladies" tackle me bringing me to the ground on a grave@ the sister cemetery. the tombstone reads- sister ruth. in all the ruckus i scab my knees & elbows. owww."

tom is looking at me incredulously.. "really?!" he responds with all earnesty.
I LOVE ALBUQUERQUE.



5:12pmish

i am now on the train. we are siting here, an hour late for departure.. this happened last time i took the train. you would think i had learned my lesson.

5:30pmish

an abrupt jolt and we finally leave the station.
i've already left my seat next to a boring, large, (of course) white lady... i learned my lesson from the trip over and don't even bother to make small talk. i jack-off in the restroom, (just to take the edge off the day) and i'm now seated in the observation car..
everyone is very chatty. there's the funniest little bookworm boy @ the table next to me. he was telling this good ol boy all about the train schedules and velocity of the train etc.. he's now playing chess with his brother.. i am determine to have a conversation with him without his parents thinking i'm pedophiliac, (which i am NOT- btw)... his father is kinda hot in that goatee/shaved head, gold chain-around-the-neck- suburban/midwest sorta way.



oh the boy playing chess with him is not his brother! his kinda hot dad just told him to introduce himself to his chess partner.. his name is NICO.. sometimes i wish i was a father... very rarely. but sometimes... when i'm on a train.. bored.. have nothing to do.. and the kid isn't mine.. under those circumstances i wish i was a father.

6:55ish

nico just asked his little chess partner, "do you know how to make apple juice?" "no," replies the boy. " put an apple in the juicer," is nico response. what a little smart-alec.


7:07ish

the views from the train are breathtaking... you travel thru parts of the country you'd never see by car.. unspoiled vast desert with random juniper trees every now and again.. and the skyline @ dusk... just wow.





7;10ish

i am still in the observation car. seated across from me is a native american lady wearing a boston sweatshirt playing crossword puzzles. next to us is a big, black guy playing solitaire. he has a very large scar on his neck.... it kinda looks like a knife wound. across from him is a white lady who looks also like mink stole, (i guess white lady's on trains have the mink stole look) but she is calm and enjoying herself. not like penny from the train trip over.

in front of me is nico and his chess partner... nico is raking him thru the coals. he talks non-stop... everything he says is amusing. behind him is his sorta hot father and mother. she looks like she may be a teacher. little nico comes off as a real brainiac.

the mink stole lady just got a corona... i guess she wants to unwind. she spots a lady directly behind me and lets out a squeal.. apparently they work together in albq.. what are the chances? this world is the smallest world, in the whole wide world.




7:26ish

it is almost a full moon. tomorrow- october 21st it will be a perfectly full moon.

7:57ish

the native american lady in front of me strikes up a conversation. she asks if i know where hwy 40 is.. i actually do.. we get into a very spirited conversation. she is from bythe, california. she is impressed that i know where that is. "not only have i been to bythe, i've bought jeans & socks @ BIG JOHN's surplus store on the main street.. i've also been to quartsite, (the next town over. just past the colorado river in AZ.)" she is now very impressed with my knowledge of her small hamlet. . she has lived in bythe her entire life! she has 8 children and 21 grandchildren. one of her sons lives in palm springs, another lives in hemet. another son lives in san diego. he is a cop. her daughter lives in boston and is a yale graduate. hence the boston sweatshirt.



i ask her if she's native american, even though i already know she is... "yes! she responds, can you tell?'" "yes," i respond. she says her family is from a reservation close to byth. her father always practiced the old ways. he lived in the tradition of his ancestors and didn't like anything modern. "he always lived by the moon." she said, "he planted his crops according to the moon. he was aware of family births based on the moon cycles. he lived his entire life by the moon."

she asks me about what i do and why i was in albq. i tell her about raymond and ray wiger and how they create organic art by hand. how raymond will be in LA next week and we will present our dia de los muertos exhibitions. she is very intrigued.
we chart for what seems like hours, but it is only about 20 minutes. she wishes us well and knows that our exhibit will be a great success. i tell her that if she wishes us well, i know that it will too.

her name is BEVERLY.

8:15ish
lighting just struck in the horizon.. it is beautiful.. remember when i said i wasn't self-reflecting on the train ride here? well i've made up for lost time.. i'm self-reflecting like a mother fucker.
it's now raining.

8:30ish

i find an empty seat and try to catch 40 winks.. the woman next to me is on a respirator and cannot catch her breath... her husband or boyfriend leaves to give her more room to breath or wheeze. i feel sorry for her. . she looks like she is in a lot of discomfort. her hacking and wheezing become my white noise. i am lulled back to sleep.

8:40ish
i am so mad.. i just got busted and was asked to return to my original seat! i do not want to spend the next 7 hours with that boorish lady in seat # 1.. what am i to do?... i've made my way back to the observation car.. it is still very lively. the table i was seated at before is still vacant. sitting next to me is the large black guy with the knife wound on his neck. he is hitting on this cuteish black girl.. it seems to be working.

nico's parents are seated in front of me.. i guess nico went to bed.


10:29ish

i find another seat and hope i will be under the radar of these over zealous conductors.. we just stopped @
WINSLOW, AZ. made famous by the eagles song- 1972-
'Standin' - On - A - Corner - In - Winslow, Arizona", the lyrics from the song "Take It Easy", written by Jackson Browne and Glenn Frey.

they've really done an impressive job in renovating the old train station.. the main station has been turned into a four star hotel called- LA POSADA HOTEL. there is art in the lobby and great food i highly recommend it.


11pmish
it is pitch black.. i can't sleep.. neither can the people around me.. i can hear everyone fidgeting in the dark.. just like an orgy, but way more boring.


3amish


AAAAAAAWWWWWIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!! someone behind me screams in the middle of the night waking everybody up. "oh" she announces, "that sacred me." "honey, you scared everyone else," says the other neighbor.


6:30ish

back @ the observation car.. the sun is just barley peaking thru the clouds just out of barstow... what a beauty. the guy sitting next to me is a "redo"- a white guy who grew up with all mexicans so has the characteristics of a cholo. slick back hair.. goatee, pendlton shirt. cuffed levis, sneakers.

i ask the commissary for a cup of hot water, (free). raymond gave me some of his tea. so i now have a good black tea, raisins from the Armenian market, and a plum from the two christian boy's fruit stand in jemez the day before. "god bless you," said the little christ-like boy after my purchase.
i'm drinking my tea in the observation car. the guy behind me is snoring like a buzzsaw. the redo guy is seated next to me as the sun comes up just out of barstow. i'm sorry, but it is fantastic... life can be so simple and great.. i feel like that scene from american beauty where the narrator is fascinated with a plastic bag blowing in the wind. i am really that happy, or just plain dumb?


7ish
a latino guy sits next to the redo guy and strikes up a conversation.. they speak to each other with that "cholo" accent i mentioned... it's very popular with straight guys. the dialog is peppered with "o de lay," and "ese."

the latino guy is asking the redo guy a lot of questions... the reno guy is a tattoo artist currently living in arizona and is looking to move to LA to further his career. in the meantime he's going up to visit family in salt lake, (that means he's ex-mormon) the latino guy lives in LA and is very impressed with reno's tattoo and career aspirations. if i didn't know any better i would think that the latino guy is hitting on the redo guy.. hard.

7:30ish
we're now in san bernadino! the train station is very american gothic with it's brownstone buildings and vine covered entry way. it's beginning to rain.
as i mentioned before, train travel is si different than air travel. it's slower paced,, gives you time to check out the surroundings and acclimate yourself to where you're headed.. unlike air travel where for one hour or so, you're suck in a cabin and then plotted into a frantic airport with security ready to do a cavity check. these days i actually find train travel more luxurious. if you have the time.. i make the time.



we pass graffiti, and these sad little houses.. wow some people live in complete poverty. just like tjuana. a little wood shingle house has homemade halloween decorations. we pass the old colton train station. it is teeny.. my father is from colton. we go under a fwy bridge.. a brand new car is parked underneath with no-one inside.. very suspicious.. we pass a dull suburb. people like plastic patio furniture. we're picking up speed... there's a lady standing in her doorway chatting on a cell phone.. it looks like a slum.. her front yard is cracked cement. her house is sooooo bleaaakkkk!!! i cannot believe someone lives like that.

7:44ish

we're now in riverside.
we pass an old fashion market called - olympic. a semi- modern cemetery.... an ubiquitous cell phone tree..... a group of kids waiting for the bus.. they are all wearing hoodies..... a football field.... it is empty... a cul de sac.. someone has a small boat parked outside their house..... .. a huge tumbleweed. .... a dead body...... discarded mattresses.. the guy that was snoring like a buzz saw just walk by.. he looks somewhat refreshed.... a little orange tent with a homeless guy inside.. he has a dog... .. pepper trees!.. i love pepper trees... more graffiti.... a discarded sofa is coved with graffiti... i think that's clever....

btw, i was just kiddin about the dead body.. i just wanted to see if you were actually reading this..

we just passed west covina... southern california sure is crowded compared to arizona and new mexico.... we pass a golf course... a natural an river! what a surprise.... an orange grove... condos... a trendy young girl in the rain.... huge track homes.... an industrial park.... . actually many industrial parks.... car dealerships.... suburban sprawl.. .. an oil well?... a pumpkin patch.. a guy walking his dog.... an auto graveyard with an oil well surrounded by rusty car parts... a huge ditch freshly dug up for possibly underground parking for a future mall... ..two guys with leaf blowers.... a cell phone tree made to look like a pine tree.... "undocumented" guys waiting for work outside a home depot.....



8:25ish

we're in fullerton!

what a bland town... the sun is peaking thru the rain clouds... we are really picking up speed now! we are booking.... passed a backyard with left over balloons from a party.. they are gold & burgundy.. they're sitting in a bunch on the lawn... they look like large grapes...


(the sewer they call the los angeles river)

8:45ish

we're right next to the LOS ANGELES RIVER.. if you can call it that... it looks like a sewer.. i mean compare this eyesore to raymond's river in his front yard... there is no comparison.

RICK IN NM- DAY 7

(the river of sandoval county)

i never like leaving jemez... LA is fine, but the big city is not all that... not when you're my age... all those things that seemed so important like leading the faux A-list life become so mundane and unimportant..






I AM BACK HOME... i know my kitties missed me.