Winter Wonderland

Continued

It has been seven weeks since the quarantine began, the apartment felt like a prison, and i am a prisoner trapped in its caving walls. My imagination brought me to a world i have never been but have read about, somewhere in South Vietnam, captured by the guerrillas in a raid. I am political prisoner, a communist coerced to write a confession, but instead i decided to write about life. Now back to reality. 

Driven by strong winds, tumbleweeds bounced freely and uncontrollably in every nondescript American West towns i passed by, which to me was a pretty fascinating sight to see, as fascinating as the equestrian road signs i never knew existed which warned possible wild horse sightings somewhere in the arid New Mexico. I find pretty much everything interesting. I have learned that Nevada having no state or local lodging tax has the cheapest hotel accommodation, while Texas where most oil in America is refined and sourced, has the cheapest priced gas, a republican state pride, so they say. I have read somewhere that while other states are in recession, Texans are simply unbothered and are out burning gas, thats how strong their gas-fueled economy is. I tried to make as many side trips as i can as if i was in no rush to finally get settled in New York and by that i mean to accomplish a never ending to-do list that included apartment lease agreement, Ikea furniture assembly, new driver’s license, new primary physician, new professional license, new job and the list goes on. The seven day solitary journey felt so short, i wanted to do more, i wanted to see more, i got used to being alone, I guess i do like being alone. 

I have dreamed of converting my Jetta into a camper sedan with a small space dedicated for a one-person sleeping area in the rear compartment where I managed to squeeze a four inch tri-fold memory foam mattress and a cyan Teton sleeping bag that i never really used since i ended up spending the night mostly at cheap motels or crashing at a friend’s place. Overnight, heavy snow hammered the Oregon mountains in the south which gave me driving anxiety. I will surely miss the panderosa winter wonderland, the smell of the pine forest, the junipers and the red woods. The lush green woodland landscape on higher elevations gradually turned into golden valleys on flat lowlands contrasting the rugged hills and the gentle mountains, and eventually became Reno wetlands threatened to be destroyed by citywide developments. The hotel prices in Reno were jaw dropping cheap, and staying in for the night in one of its pretentious and kinda-luxurious hotels, was not a bad idea after all. 

To be continued...