BARSTOW, CALIFORNIA
Hello. Spent the night in the Mojave Desert, amid the Joshua Trees, though I could not see anything, only a long, continuous line of vehicle lights headed up I-15 from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
I drove from Tucson to Las Vegas yesterday, spent an hour in traffic getting over the Hoover Dam, trying not to pee all over my floor, then had time to enjoy rush-hour traffic in Las Vegas. I saw the exit sign for The Strip.
Then I met with the Las Vegas Drinking Liberally group at a restaurant and pub. If you ever get a chance to sit around and talk to a group of Democrats for hours and hours, I suggest you shoot yourself instead.
My radio doesn't work, so I just concentrate on worrying about every imaginable car failure. I did kind of see the Las Vegas strip out of my peripheral vision as I passed downtown. Wow. Cool. Awesome. I couldn't wait to get out of there.
I've got a new bumper sticker: This Vehicle Makes Frequent Stops For Urination.
The Tucson event on Thursday night was great. Leon Byerly just did an outstanding job of organizing.
We had about seventy people. That's more of a crowd than I had on last year's book tour combined.
I shared the microphone with a bunch of great poets: Lylvia Soto, David Ray, Nora Nickerson, Michael Rattee, Michael Gregory, and we got to see the work of artist Joe Rebhbolz, which also appeared in the book "Cost of Freedom," by Howling Dog Press.
There's a recent review of Iowa Terror by Seth Sandronsky in the Chico News-Review.
Thank you for all the well wishes I have received on this trip. I appreciate it. And for those I have not heard from yet, just send cash.
Here is a piece of mine from "Cost of Freedom."
See ya in Los Angeles.
— Mike
________________
from "The Truth" [2003]
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
