Incommunicado and Fly-over Country

And Then

Leila
Photo by SB

My plane's Goodyears touched down at San Francisco Airport (SFO) at 9:38pm yesterday. I am home from my work odyssey to northern New Jersey. I am exhausted.

I arrived at my hotel right near the stadium where the NY Jets play early Saturday evening. They are building a brand new stadium right next to the ~25 year old stadium. Kind of scary that we consider buildings that can hold tens of thousands of people as being disposable.

I could see the New York skyline from my hotel window. It was beautiful to see the lights of the Empire State Building at night rising above all the other buildings. In the morning, the city was back lit by the sunrise. The reds and oranges flowing between the buildings and painting the far wall of my room in colors you could almost taste.

I never saw the twin towers when all three of us were on the planet together. I knew where they should have been and tried to imagine them towering over the southern skyline. I wish I had seen them before their destruction so I could appreciate their loss deeper than I do.

Once I turned on my laptop at the hotel, I discovered I could only get a weak and unsteady wireless connection to the internet. This was after agreeing to pay $12 per night for access. I called the front desk and they said they "... would get a technician to look right at it." There was still no internet connectivity on Tuesday morning.

Why do hotels that charge more than $175 per night also charge for wireless access? I've stayed at Super 8s, Days Inns, Holiday Inns, and other sub $75 per night hotels where it is free? I guess the more expensive hotels know that most of their clients are business travelers and will charge it back to their company. They removed the charge from my bill.

So, I was stripped of access to the fun internet that I use my personal laptop for. I could get online at the office with my work laptop, but they have such tight security and restrictions that I was afraid to look up an address for a local restaurant. I really missed reading others' blogs, looking at art, nude women, and keeping myself entertained in the hotel.

The upside of no wireless, I read the first quarter of the dense great book 2666 by the late Roberto Bolaño. It is a great translation from the original Spanish. If you are into literature and want to read a novel about literature, I highly recommend it. It is a hefty book with 898 pages, but is well worth the read. I will talk about it more in a later post.

While flying out to NJ, I looked out my exit row window (at 6'4", I need the extra legroom) and saw USA float by under me. The country between the coasts is nicknamed the "fly-over country." Many feel the only important places to go in my country are on the coasts. After looking down upon the land and thinking of much of the politics of those areas I wondered if I felt the same.

Evening in Lavina, MT

Photo by SB

I grew up in fly-over country (FOC). I lived in Idaho, South Dakota and Montana. My family still lives in FOC. I learned to drive in FOC. I graduated from high school and got two bachelor degrees in that area as well. My first car accident happened there. A friend and love interest of mine killed herself by jumping off a cliff in FOC. I discovered self-pleasure down there. I enjoyed my first kiss, caress, blow job, tasting a woman, feeling her orgasm and mine together down there. I took my first photo down there.

Since moving away from FOC in 1997, I am not visiting as often as I used to. I am discovering new things everyday in California. I photographed my first nude here. I have enjoyed many other firsts here as well. I've grown here.

As I flew south of the Great Lakes, I looked north and around and thought about my blog friends living down there. I imagined Joe (if he hasn't left yet), Stephen and Dr. L living their lives beneath me. I looked across the aisle and out the window and imagined Z and Mrs. counting their days until they can retire and escape their current location.

I then asked for a glass of wine ( $8) and thought about FOC. It is so easy to dismiss things at 37,000 feet. You can't see people, just their cities. You can't hear them, understand them, or attempt to be with them. They just glide beneath you at 500+mph. The next people I would interact with (other than my fellow fliers) would be east coasters. I just flew over millions of people and dismissed them as scenery.

As we were flying over western Pennsylvania, I realized that I need to take a Robert Frank car trip around this country. I love this country and hate parts of it. My view of it is narrow though. I have my Montana self and my California self. I need to discover my American self. I need to see where I live in a greater sense. I need to see there are good, intelligent, fun, sexy, productive, artistic souls around this nation and learn about what they are up to. Maybe I will discover a much needed part of myself as well.