Indians in the Southwest

For the first time in two months we had to run water this morning to
get it hot. We have been unable to get cold water out of the tap these
100 plus days. Everything in the coach has been body temperature; you
can’t feel it when you put drops in your eyes. And we have put in many
drops. Albuquerque has constant wind, hot and gusty. A couple of dust
storms reminded us of that movie “Tornado” where Helen Hunt says “There
goes a cow.” We didn’t see any cows, but we saw blue tarps, blankets,
beach balls and a lot of dirt go by. Actually, we stopped a lot of
dirt.

We stayed in a park between Rio Rancho and Bernalillo. The latter is
still a crumbling little southwestern town of low adobe buildings and
hollyhocks along the walls. Rio Rancho is a new, rapidly growing faux
adobe complex with no plaza and acres of look-alike middle income sand
colored “adobe” homes. No grass. No trees. The clay bakes to a hard
smooth finish and the dust moves on. Intel seems to have been the
founding impetus; Sprint is also huge here. Albuquerque is high on
Forbes list of the top 100 places to work and build a career.

We made a map featuring two parks, one in Albuquerque and one in Rio
Rancho, so we have been able to experience a lot of the area. Dave rode
his bike along the Rio Grande but generally found the area lacking in
information about where to ride. We agreed we could never live here.
The slow western pace is gone. The sweet Mexican flavor is covered in
faux and the art is overpriced. Makes me sad. The New Mexico I
remember, from living in Santa Fe in the 60s, exists only in pockets of
poverty. Some things are still the same, though: Corruption in
government. Democrats and Catholics are still the majority.

The park owner here is a middle easterner. While 95% of the motel
owners I call on are Pakistani or Indian, this is the first RV park
owner we’ve worked for. (Motels like to advertise in RV park maps.) We
can see that if this group of people buy RV parks the way they have
bought motels, our map-making business will be severely impacted.

My two weeks with Ali has given me a lot to think about.. Apparently I
am so solidly locked in my culture and my belief system that doing
business with someone whose value system is the opposite of mine makes
me not like them. And I don’t want them in my country too much. But
because I like to think I am not prejudiced, these feelings make me
uncomfortable, so I’m trying to understand and accept differences.

Ali runs a jewelry business in the University district of Albuquerque.
As Dave says, it’s “genuine, hand-made by Indians in the southwest.” He
buys cheap imported beads and has a warehouse sized building full of
tables and bags of beads and people stringing them. A 90-something old
woman is the receptionist. Although reception is hardly what you get.
The front door is locked and you have to be buzzed in.

All the signs on the walls of the warehouse say this is the Islamic
Center. The quotations to Allah look like they are written in Arabic.
Yet Ali’s RV park is full of references to Christian living – prayer
cards and magnets, God Blesses from the management, invitations to
worship at the Baptist Church. This throws me right into judgment:
This man has no integrity. He’s pretending to be something he’s not.
Ali himself sort of clears it up for me at our exit meeting. “To make
money is what is important.” Take out the playground and put in a
motel, “whatever is necessary.” BUT no places of gambling or sellers of
alcohol on the map. He was very emphatic about that. And me with two
casinos and a big smoke shop lined up.

What to think? Can I possibly withhold judgment until I know more about
this man, who may be Iraqi, and not trusting of the American’s tendency
to prejudge …. Ali never works in the park office. Although his wife
worked there the day the manager quit. She is a lovely woman. (The
manager later agreed to continue working. She says negotiating with Ali
is tough. I hope she knows she is history once he gets that motel in
next to the office and moves his nephew in.)

Ali agreed to everything we wanted to do on the map (except the
gambling and alcohol). But he also contradicted himself so often and
flagrantly that we doubt he was listening, doubt that he cares. He has
so many rules in his map we had to make a special insert. When we
showed him samples of how we could put both his parks on the same map,
he went right for the rules. “Oh, yes, these are veddy good rules.
Maybe I will see some I can use on my map.”

So, we’re headed to Utah, looking forward to some serious
grand-parenting. Xander won’t remember us and there’s a dog we’ve never
scratched. We are scheduled to work two parks in Utah in September, so
won’t stay long this stop. At least I won’t. Dave is going to stay in
Logan and work on the rig while I drive up to Bothell and spend a month
with my mother. We have two parks to do in Washington in August and
Dave is going to do the Oregon Bike Ride and we have doctor visits to
do in Bend, plus want to clear some stuff out of storage. Haven’t
figured the logistics of all that yet. Hope to spend some time with the
kids in Tacoma. Morgan is doing so well in her show jumping with
Desiree, her new horse. We would really like to see a show. Hard to
believe she’s nearly in high school.

Everything is not always what it seems on the road, but it’s all good.

Sam