We came back to Texas with a bunch of stuff. Two old guitars, 9 boxes of photos and yearbooks and stuff, an old video camera, a super 8 movie projector, Ari’s big cassette holder full of 80s tapes, a ‘72 VW Beetle with a reasonably new engine, and, well, a bunch more stuff. We had originally planned to rent a car which we would use to tow the VW back. But no rental places would let us do this. I tried to get U-Haul to attach a tow-bar to my own car, a Honda, so I could tow it back myself. They wouldn’t do it because the VW exceeded the weight limit the Honda was rated to tow. In the end, U-Haul’s refusal was a good thing, really. Lugging 2600 pounds back probably would have killed the poor thing. So at the last minute we decided that I would drive the bug back. We packed it full of the aforementioned loot, basically all the stuff that had been stored in my mom’s shed for the last three years. I had Julien’s blue, fish-shaped tape player with me. I drove the entire distance with the windows down and as a result the fish player strained at maximum volume with Lucinda Williams, Lyle Lovett, Los Lobos, Luna and Folk Implosion. At 3pm in Lubbock I gave in and bought a squirt bottle to keep myself cool. (As an aside, 3pm in Lubbock in the summertime is about as joyful as dirt. Remind me to sleep through it next time.)

Even though 65mph was the bug’s top speed we made it home in reasonable time and in one piece. The Honda, actually, gave us more trouble than the old bug did. Apparently, we have a leak in the radiator. After a hundred or so miles of highway driving, the Civic would overheat. Fortunately, we made it to Albuquerque without breaking down. Once there, I bought a bottle of coolant and a jug of water and made a point to fill it every day. On the return trip, we decided that we would stop every hundred miles or so for a half-hour rest, just enough time to let the car cool so I could open the radiator and top it off. This was before I found out there is such a thing as radiator patch fluid. Oh well.

Once home, I actually started to peek through some of the stuff that we brought back. That’s when it hit me just how amazing Ari’s tape collection is. What memories! Human’s Lib by Howard Jones, The Swing by INXS, every Eurythmics recording, Ministry, The Cult and, best of all, Depeche Mode’s Black Celebration. Typically when I think of 80s music I involuntarily lurch into my anti-Duran Duran mode. But Duran Duran wasn’t the only band in the 80s. And seeing Ari’s tape collection reminded me of this. There’s some really good stuff there.

While I’m on the topic of 80s music and Duran Duran, did you hear that the original 5 members are getting back together for a 2002 reunion album? Apparently, Warren Cuccurullo is leaving to join a revival of his old band, Missing Persons, which left the door wide open for the three AWOL Taylors to sneak back into the fold. Admittedly, I’m curious. I mean, yes, I hate that I wasted so much of my 80s on Duran Duran. But I’m reformed now and so it is with strength and confidence that I admit that I’m interested in hearing what they sound like 15 years later.

Anyway, I won’t bore you with too many more road stories here. Ari and I are reserving a special place for that. It’ll be a few days coming, though. It seems the old digital camera we took has a tendency to make things really yellow when you use the flash. This means I’ll be chained to Photoshop for the next few days, slaving away at trying to make jaundiced flesh look “natural.” Joy. Oh, and let me say stuff one more time. Thanks.