Cali to 'Zona

This first thing I had planned today was to meet with some of the local (Santa Monica) Nia teachers and do some choreography jamming. I got caught in traffic on the way there yesterday and would have been late had I not allowed an extra half hour to get there early. So today I allowed for the amount of time the drive yesterday actually took. But to my surprise the traffic was much thicker and slower and started sooner than it did yesterday, so I ended up arriving about five minutes late.

When I got there the teachers were already jamming so I just stepped in. They showed me a few of the songs they had already created and I liked one of them so we just designated that one as the Santa Monica contribution to my next routine. I showed them the choreography to a couple of my Frankie Say Nia songs and everyone was happy.

They bought me breakfast at Starbucks and I even had an espresso. (I know! Those of you keeping track might remember that I don't typically have any coffee outside of my one morning French press. But it was just one espresso and it was delicious with my egg, cheese and sausage on an English muffin.

In the course of our chatting, I discovered that one of the women used to live in Seattle. Oh, I said. I live there, too. We compared notes. We both lived in the Capitol Hill area; my favorite neighborhood. She gave me the intersection and my jaw dropped. I said, "No way! I also live on 12th and Republican!" She explained how she lived in the town homes on the corner. "But those are the townhomes I live in!!" It was getting weird, but it continues.

"When you drive in the garage, my space was the first one on the right!"  You're kidding! That's my unit! She and I were talking about the same unit! I live in the townhouse that she used to live in ten years ago! I showed her pictures and she confirmed. What a small world!

After the choreography jam and breakfast, River and I got in the car and headed southeast to Tempe.

I took the Pomona Freeway, which I almost never do. It was fun because it's a winding, treacherous road with a really high speed limit. Even though the posted limit was 65, the prevailing speed was less than 60 because of a bit of congestion. Another factor confusing the issue is multiple speed limits. On the same highway, I can go 65 MPH, any vehicle with more than two axles or towing a trailer has a 55 MPH speed limit. On a road with only two lanes, that can cause an occasional bottleneck; especially when the slower vehicles want to pass each other. But no worries. I'm just reporting the conditions, not editorializing. I had no vested interest in any sort of driving speed nor arrival time, so I was Mr. Zen in the traffic. River was pretty chill, too.

The further away we got from the Pacific Ocean the higher the temperature and the lower the humidity. It wasn't long before I could feel the mucus membranes feeling dry. At one of the rest stops we took, I accidentally left River's bowl of water sitting on top of the pile of coats in the back seat area. As I took a U-turn to get back on the highway, it sent the bowl tumbling. I only knew it happened because I heard a distinct splashing sound. I pulled off the road to investigate and learned that the water had ended up in the storage cubby at the base of the passenger door. I guess it's storage for sunglasses and maps etc, but I reached my hand in and felt a puddle of water deep enough to submerge my fingers in up to the first knuckle.

I had a thought. No puddle of water is any match for these conditions. With the windows down creating strong wind conditions with the dry, desert air, I wondered how much of the puddle would survive the trip, so I decided to leave it there and drive on. I had a feeling that the added moisture was actually increasing my comfort as my nasal passage and my throat felt less assaulted on this leg of the drive.

After about an hour and a half of driving, we took another rest break. I was wrestling with the thought that the pool of water would soak into the material of the car door, get into the sound system or something and cause damage. But when I reached my hand into the cubby, it was bone dry. Not even a hint of evidence that there was ever an entire bowl of water in there. It had completely evaporated. Closer inspection of the inside of the cubby showed me that it was seamless and made of thick plastic, so I was convinced than none of it soaked in, but that it all dissolved into the dry air.

I reserved a Studio 6 in Tempe, rather than my typical Motel 6. The Studio includes a fully stocked kitchen, so I am going to make a trip to Whole Foods and get some meat that I can cook on the stove and/or the oven. I'll also buy some fresh vegetables and put them in some of the jars that have been emptied since leaving Seattle over a week ago. While I'm here I can also do some laundry. I have all day on Thursday to do these household chores before I'm back on again, teaching Nia in Phoenix.