"You know why he yells at his kids like that?" I said. "His wife is in control. She beats him at night when the kids are asleep."
"Damn, that's good. Let me try one."
A mother, father and daughter walk by. The father wears a collared white shirt. He looks like an accountant, miserable and wanting to be somewhere else.
"Pedophile," Leo whispered, cracking up.
"Leo, you have to be more subtle than that," I said, thinking your girlfriend eats monkeys. "Try again."
"Husband is a very sad man. He goes bowling at night. Hates his wife. She's seeing a senior at her daughter's high school. The best part of his week is the PTA meeting, because he likes the high-school girls in the hallway. But he doesn't know about his wife, because he works late."
"Very good. Another beer?" I say. You're girlfriend eats monkeys. We did this for a while. I was thinking of the luxury of being a solo-traveler, to imagine and take note of the landscape, and its characters.
Another family walks by, heads down. The daughter, young, gawky, clothes too big-fitting, says with a speech impediment, "Mom, dad, I'm going to run ahead to the visitor center. See you there." Leo wanted to comment, but I caught him off guard, "future writer."
The Loneliest Road A journey across the Nevada's Great Basin and the Loneliest Road in America. We follow the struggle between off-roaders, Great Basin Indians and conservationists over the fate of a blue butterfly.
Rachel, Nevada and Area 51
Area 51 is a dusty set of hangars at the bottom of a dry lake bed.
The Owyhee Puzzle Part I of the Oregon Testament. Follow us to Leslie Gulch, where we stumble upon a yet undiscovered Native American site.
The Alvord Desert Part II of the Oregon Testament. Fishing under the Steens Mountains, and wandering the alkali flats of Alvord Lake.
Mono Lake They are twisted, trollish, ungodly, like a woman turned to stone
Narrow Slot Canyon