Golf On Anas Eyeball

Playing Golf On Ana's Eyeball





As we drove from Traverse City, Michigan to Tucson, Arizona, I wrote a series of

letters, and photocopied them to send to family and friends. This was the first of the

three.



Travel Letter #1



Saturday, 12/13/03 - Good morning. Welcome to our vacation form letter. We're in

Arizona now. The sun is shining and it will be in the sixties today, which should melt

the ice on the windows soon. Ana's foot doesn't seem to be broken, as we thought,

so we took a long walk in the desert last night. We saw a coyote, probably the same

one I chased the other day, and there were javelina tracks everywhere.



The library in Safford has books in Spanish, so Ana is enjoying reading now that her

eye-patch is off. The doctor promised that the "divet" left by his golf-club-like

blade will heal soon. We learned that eyeballs have many nerve endings, and we

think the object in her eye may have been a fiber from a yucca plant.



Our uncontrollable coughs are under control now, and we aren't among the ten

people in Arizona that died from the flu this week. Oh, and the antibiotics from the

Safford clinic seem to have helped with Ana's abcessed tooth.



I should start at the beginning. The first day, after dealing with the usual rudeness

of the INS employees in Detroit, we made it to Kansas. We hit a traffic cone there

at high speed, and heard a horrible sound coming from under the van. The cone, I

discovered, had been dragging along underneath. Nothing was broken, but later the

bright light switch stopped working.



Fortunately, we drove during daylight after that. In the Colorado mountains we

went from 16 to 20 miles-per-gallon, confusing the sensors and causing the "check

engine" light to turn on. We successfully ignored it until it changed it's mind.



In Farmington, New Mexico, we spent a few days resting and coughing. We were

about an hour away from buying a house when we discovered it needed new wiring,

had a garden hose attached to the natural gas line, and other problems we missed

on our first visit. The old man begged me to buy it, called our motel room to tell me

he needed money for open-heart surgery in three days, and called again to lower

the price, but we moved on. By the way, the house was to be a winter project, not a

new home.



Monument Valley was beautiful, the Christmas parade in Holbrook was cute, and

despite various problems and illnesses, we're having a great time. You see, I didn't

want to make you all jealous, so I left out a lot - the constant sun, the beautiful

sculptures in Grand Junction, and the nine times we've been in hot springs in

Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Next week we're going to Mexico for lunch.

Hope all is well in Michigan. Adios,



Steve and Ana

About the Author

Steve Gillman hit the road at sixteen, and traveled the United States and Mexico

alone at 17. Now 40, he travels with his wife Ana, whom he met in Ecuador. To read

letters #2 and #3, plus stories, tips and travel information, visit:

http://www.EverythingAboutTravel.com