13. Tag: The Heat Is On

I'm reluctant to leave my motel room today. It was a restful night and this morning the heat is bearable. The very quiet air conditioning does the rest and I dawdle. For breakfast I get a cinnamon roll from around the corner and sort through my photos a bit.

At 10:30 a.m. I set off and drive west on Interstate 10. The heat is getting stronger and stronger and as soon as I step out of the car, it hits me. On the way to Chiricahua National Monument, Google Maps sends me along an unpaved gravel road and that's when I feel a little different. There's no one on the road and if I break down, I'll just sit there.

After 15 endless kilometers, I end up back on the asphalt road. And in my joy, I almost run over a rabbit that is running across the road. It is still 20 km to my destination, and I notice more and more that the area looks familiar. When I reach the monument, I realize that I was here three years ago. Alzheimer's says hello.

So my stay is a little shorter, and I do drive the loop that I couldn't drive three years ago because it was closed. From the top you have an incredible view of the mountains of Arizona, so it was all worth it. On the way, an ocelot or lynx scurries across the road just in front of me - the creatures are really going for it today.

Back on the road, it only takes me 40 minutes to get to Willcox, an old western town made famous by Wyatt Earp and his gang. Tombstone is also very close by. After a quick stop at the gas station and supermarket, I arrive at my Motel 8 pretty early.

The young woman at the reception desk checks me in and I ask if she has a room on the ground floor. There is only one room left, but it has been recently renovated and is ten dollars more expensive. I look at it and take it. Then I notice that it doesn't have a refrigerator. So I go back to her and she gives me a three-bed room for the same price with a huge refrigerator. I ask if that's really OK and she says yes, no problem. Then I notice that this room doesn't have a microwave. So I go back to her and she gets the microwave from the renovated room. These Americans are just incredibly helpful. She also brings me a can of cold drink because I've been running so much.

I actually wanted to use the pool, but it's so tiny that the excuse that it's freshly painted and can't be used doesn't bother me. Instead, I use the time to sort out my things, which I've scattered around the car in a pretty chaotic manner. The size of the room suits me, and I pack my big suitcase in advance.

In the late afternoon I set off on a walk through the town, which has quite a few historic buildings. There is incredibly little going on here, the streets are also very quiet, and you can see that this place has seen better days. But I like this America, a little run down but still interesting and sometimes unintentionally funny.