From Searchlight to a Happy Place

From Sunday afternoon until that evening, I sat at the perimeter of the Terrible's truck lot, using the row of pines as shade to keep the RV cool. I had papers to grade.

Buena looked at me as if to say, There's all kinds of smells here. I just want to be outside.

The area outside my door, to the west of the lot was surprisingly clean. The area to the south of the lot was littered with piles of dog poo and plastic. Maybe maintenance had recently cleaned this section.

It felt clean, so I let her put on a short leash tied to the side of the RV while I prepped the computer. With only a little battery power left, I hoped to grade quickly but knew I'd have to find the power inverter soon.

The power inverter plugs into something that looks like a lighter-socket and changes the power stored in the batteries to plug-in power. My eyes start going cross-eyed with the talk of AC and DC power. As far as I'm concerned, it's an 80s heavy metal band. That's all I need to know about AC and DC...until I have an electrical or solar problem. Then I need to learn it real fast so I can forget it again.

Seriously. My brain can only take so much of this knowledge. I feel like my hard drive is full, and the computer is running slow. That's what 70+ hours a week will do to you, particularly with cerebral jobs.

Teaching and assessing student work is one thing, but the health food store was a different brand of cerebral. In addition to organizing the stock room and merchandising product, I had to help customers.

"My husband snores. What will cure him?"

"I'm having digestive issues. Should I go with a probiotic or a digestive enzyme?"

"My melatonin isn't working for me. What should I do to stay asleep?"

"What supplement will cure cancer?"

Seriously. I got asked that question two weeks ago while organizing the uric acid cleanses. I stood to my feet and looked at the woman. Her short hair was a blend of soft brown and grey. She was my height, but skinny. The worry showed through her wrinkles.

"Are you really asking me what will cure cancer?" I watched her face change. The worry evened out.

"Well...no," she said softly.

"I don't think doctors know what will cure cancer. I'm just a gal who works at a health food store. I can show you what cancer patients are using, but I don't know what any of it does."

There was a look of resignation in her face as I took her around the store. I told her to take out her phone. "You're going to take pictures of these supplements and then go home and do your own research. I've read the research on some of these things, but there's a lot of conflicting data. You need to figure it out and talk to your health care provider."

Ah...that was then. This is now.

And so I graded papers to the hum of diesel engines as the sun crossed the sky and darkness eased in.

The term ends tonight, I thought, watching the clock. At 11:59 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, I could make the post to empty assignment portals: The term has ended. It is now too late to submit this assignment.

I made the post and went to bed.

Monday morning, I started by taking care of emails and handling oddball assignments for students who'd received grace due to accommodations or circumstances beyond their control.

Searchlight is cooler than the Mohave Desert surrounding it. This is due to it's elevation. Searchlight is a little over 3500'. Where's, CalNevAri to the south is at 2550', and the road near the solar field near the highway to the north is 1726'. That thousand feet makes a difference, causing Searchlight to be an oasis for a gal driving an RV with no AC....air conditioning.

Despite the day warming up, I didn't want to sit still and continue grading.

Think of how good it will feel to put the grading behind you before coasting down off this mountain.

What if you don't have internet where you're going? The signal is real good right here.

The day is heating up. You'd be crazy to leave now and cross the desert! Even if you only drove up to Boulder City, you heard what the gal said at Denny's. It's always about 8 degrees warmer there.

So...around 10:30, I left the lot. I headed northward, down off the mountain. The bonus was that I hardly had to use any gas because it's a long hill down to the solar fields, about 25 miles of a slowly de lining hill with little curves and bends.

In the desert, you want to go Point A to Point B in a straight line. No lollygagging. No monkey business.

But I was willing to risk the cooler air for the monkey business of getting to Boulder City. I just wanted pineapple from the Albertson's store. Besides a Denny's and an over-priced McDonalds, there's not much else other than the two gas stations and the jerky place.

I'd put six over-priced gallons of gas from Terrible's into the tank just to see if it would take gas while the engine was cool. It did, giving me enough gasoline to make it all the way to Boulder City.

A noticeable heat change occurred at the bottom of the hill. Whether from the solar fields or elevation, I don't know. Maybe it was the combination of the two at noon that made me wonder why I'd left Searchlight.

Boulder City was warm, but I opened all the windows for Buena before running into Albertsons. I also filled up with gas because I had a sneaking suspicion that I wasn't about to sit in the Albertsons lot to grade. The tank completely filled up! Thank you, Jesus! Faith and fumes!

In order to avoid Vegas, I took the Lake Mead Parkway all the way to Overton.

The slow speed limit through Overton made the RV unbearably warm, despite having both windows rolled down and the triangle windows open. The rest of the RV, unfortunately, was closed up. With the louvered windows like what I have, it's not good to ride with them open. I could get too close to something and rip one off, or the hardware could wiggle out of place on the bumps. Best to avoid problems by keeping them shut.

For a Monday, interstate traffic was light north of Vegas. No angry drivers honked at me for going 45 in a 75.

Rather than get off at Mesquite, I kept going for another nine miles to Littlefield. I just wanted to reach one of my happy places with the Joshua trees. I'd set up camp there and finish grading. It's a good spot, and Buena can be off leash.

So, I drove, parked, and got to work. The two-day turn around window from the close of the term to posting final grades is a tight one, but I managed to get everything graded and posted three hours ahead of schedule.

Now, I could start my vacation.