The OTHER other desert cities

The title for this blog is taken from the signs I'd see along the I-10 in Southern California on my way towards Palm Springs. This blog is not about those cities per se, or about the band, or the book, or the off-Broadway play. This blog is about ... ... other desert cities. The ones I like to visit, the ones where I like to work, take pictures, eat, sleep, and play. These days, those cities are in New Mexico.

I've been remiss in my blog writing for three main reasons: 1) my internet connection, until recently, was non-existent; 2) we got the RTK up and running with one week left before we had to send it back to Cambridge, so it was virtually non-stop work from dawn to dusk; 3) I've been working out in my head what to actually write about. Do I write about archaeology? Do I write about my non-project life and adventures in NM? Do I write about my first few baby steps into ethnographic work? What is sacrosanct and what is fair game? Will anyone be interested, and if so, who?

I suspect these answers all fall somewhere in between and beyond the issues listed here. Blogging for the public is one thing -- but what do I publish for public consumption with regard to my work? I'm finding out it's not as easy as simply not writing anything that would offend or upset other people. The tricky part lies in determining just what those things are. I'm very much looking forward to the PAIG Symposium at the next SAAs, as well as future dialogue about blogging and archaeology.

Meanwhile, it's time to play catch up. Here are photos from the sites of Patokwa and Astialakwa:

RTK schmar-TK

Having a blog about archaeological adventures over the summer seemed like a cool idea when you think that you're going to get work done. The RTK GPS unit that we're trying to get up and running is giving us a world of trouble. For some reason, the radio isn't transmitting or receiving signals the way it's supposed to, and so our work has been stymied.

Scoreboard

Techmology 1 | Archamachology 0

Speaking of scoreboards, at least the Bruins came back and the Stanley Cup Final Series is tied 2-2. That's the only solace I have out here.

Earlier in the week we visited one of the sites in the area which, if we ever get the radio to cooperate, we will map. It's one site (out of many) on top of a mesa and it's a brutal hike, especially when you've been sitting on your butt for the good part of the school year reading and writing papers. Regardless, the view is worth it.

I love Intercourse. (PA)

I'm blogging from my cell phone by sending an MMS message to Blogger Mobile. Seems to work all right after a little finagling.

I stopped off at a gas station a couple days ago ($3.85 a gallon? Sheesh. Well, beats $4.50 the summer of 2008....) and walked into the convenience store to grab some water. What's the first thing I see when I walk inside? T-shirts that read "I <3 Intercourse" in big bold letters; then, in small letters, PA.

ROTFLMAO

Places and town names all just kind of run together when you're zipping through on the interstate (it's still weird to call it the "interstate;" I just grew up out west calling it a "freeway") at 65 mph. But boy, oh, boy, am I glad I stopped in here. I have a half-heartedly cultivated taste for road kitsch. Convenience stores at gasoline stations, travel plazas, and truck stops sell some really great stuff, and if you're lucky (or plan a visit well enough in advance, like I did out in Beaver, UT), you'll get a t-shirt commemorating your 15 minute stop at Intercourse, PA, or some other unfortunately-named city -- just like me.

Anyway. The road is getting longer and the weather's getting hotter and more humid the further I get from New England. The radio blurts out severe weather warnings every so often -- about thunderstorms, mostly -- but the closer I get to Joplin, MO, the more wary I get of hearing a tornado watch warning over the airwaves. On top of the fact that I already watch too many horror movies for my own good, I also unfortunately watch too many disaster movies, just like -- yes, Twister. Last thing I want to have happen is a tornado sucking me up and spitting me out somewhere in the middle of a densely populated cow pasture.

Yes, the road is getting longer and the sacroiliac is not happy. Little Sonny has gotten used to the journey and sits half-asleep in his cage most of the time. Sometimes when I turn around to check on him, he'll open his eyes and let out a scratchy "Hi." before going back to sleep. When he comes out at rest stops, he chirps, takes baths, and draws a crowd of parrot lovers and children. That's when the beak flashes open and the eyes slit and he goes into defense mode momentarily, all before diving for cover underneath my hair to hide from the crowd out of shyness.

I'm in Collinsville, IL now, just a little outside St. Louis. This is my second time in Collinsville, and I realized sometime today (while roasting my limbs and getting that authentic "road warrior" driver's tan) that I was lucky to be able to say I'm driving across the country. I've always wanted to. Next time, though, I'll have to put in more time to get in some of the roadside attractions I would have liked to see (like Jesse James' cave hideout).

Ugh, next time...? By the time I'm done with this time, I'll probably want to fly next time. My poor sacroiliac....

Countdown

I'm preparing to head out on a very long drive to New Mexico. Once upon a time (when I was younger, probably), I probably would have been very excited to leave and see the country. Now I feel the need to just get out there and do it. But it's never the destination, so they say -- whoever they are. Whoever they are, they're probably younger than I am, and so are excited to sit in a car for hours on end.

This summer is the first summer after I started the Ph.D. program at Harvard University in the Anthropology program. I will be doing some mapping around Jemez Pueblo, about an hour away from Albuquerque. I haven't been to New Mexico in awhile -- well, just last year I was in New Mexico, but around the Four Corners area and at Aztec and Chaco Canyon. That's just a tiny bit of New Mexico. I'm talking about the belly of New Mexico -- Fort Sumner and Billy the Kid's grave and Las Cruces and Santa Fe and the desert and Taos and everything in between. The West is great, and I haven't been out west for almost a year now.

Despite my excitement, I still have to sit in a car for days.... I'll be sure to pack my copy of Roadfood.

So I'm making my preparations to leave home like I do every summer since I became an archaeologist -- finding babysitters for the pets and new homes for my plants, putting away the school clothes and breaking out the fieldwork clothes, unearthing the Camelbak from all the camping gear, reorganizing the camping gear, and making sure that most of the academic albatrosses that have been circling my head have been hunted down and destroyed. I sent off the ferrets to the babysitter out in Boston the other day, and am now missing them very much. But the good news (and bad news) is that Sonny the sun conure gets to come out to New Mexico. There was the option to board him to spare him the cross-country trip, but he's so bonded to me. It won't be his first cross country trip, anyway, and he's endured the past trips like a champ.

Blogging will be interesting, given that I won't have internet access, although I'll have 3G and wifi access in town somewhere, I suspect. So I'll see how it works out. In the meantime, I'll continue packing and shoot for a Saturday departure. In celebration of my escape from the 02138, I might grill up a lion steak before my departure. If I consume the lion, will I get the lion's strength?