Have An Agave

Anchoring San Antonio’s Market Square, Mi Tierra makes Mariachi music and Mexican food 24 hours a day. They’re proud of their margaritas, and why not? Margaritas cure ricketts, wealth and marriage.

Pumped In For Your Pleasure

The desert flower waits for months to bloom. Forgive me, great spirit of agua: We rolled into a desert oasis grimy with the soot of snow removal after sliding sideways out of a Flagstaff snowstorm at 7,000 feet. Through a … Read More

Print

Walked into a bar in Las Cruces, saw a young man sitting at a table, tattoos over most of his exposed skin head, face and arms protruding from dirty biker leathers. He was reading a book. Reading a book. We … Read More

Finding Wild

No car. No motorcycle. Not even a mule. The mountain doesn’t care. The sun fled the scene like a burglar, tossing back its last rays into the dusk. Cold crept into the mountain’s desert cusp even faster than darkness. Safety … Read More

Services Ahead

Next exit. An oasis to behold after traveling through ice and snow and wind. A forest of gasoline signs offered my car the lure to drink deep from a selection of gas pumps not seen since the ‘60s. But the … Read More

Outhouse Robinson

7th grade art class. My teacher, Bessie Fredericks, asked us to create our own nametags using picture symbols to tell our names. I drew an outhouse (John), a robin (robin) and the sun (son). Bessie was fearsome even when calm. … Read More

12,000 Poles Down: Bootheel Disaster

Downed Power Lines

Long before The Weather Channel began naming continental storms, this one will be remembered as The Ice Storm of ’09. Its widespread devastation covered Missouri’s Bootheel like a glacier. In the two counties that form the heel of the boot, … Read More

Ancient Island Hopper

Headed toward Key West. I remember the old road. Imagine driving that narrow bridge trying to outrun a hurricane.

Seven Mile Bridge

This old bridge goes forth for miles and backward to 1909. Bet it has seen some winds. Most recently Hurricane Irma. The new bridge is a more comfortable, less romantic way to be tossed into oblivion by storms. Marathon Key. … Read More