The Trip - Day 2

I've named my GPS system. I've given it some thought since I bought it, and it was a tough decision.

The proper name needed to start with a "G" because it's a GPS system, of course. Which gives us Gretchen, Gertrude, Gina, Ginny (or Ginnie), since it's a girl voice. Gretchen is out, since the voice has an American accent, not German. Gertrude, well, it's not the right fit. So I've been going back and forth between Gina and Ginny.

Ginny is a little girl's name, and Gina sounds like a professional. Except when the name brings to mind one of the episodes of Hill Street Blues--the one where the extremely obese mobster has a heart attack and dies at the station, and his young wife, Gina, is with him. She has the little-girl voice of all little-girl voices. And as a couple of the cops are carrying the mobster's body down the stairs (Renko: "I think I done herniated myself!"), and we see the pretty young widow talking to one of the cops who didn't have to carry her husband, we hear this loud bellow, "Giii-naaa....!" And she says, "Oh, my God! The fat pig is alive!" But he died again and stayed dead the second time.

Anyway, that's what I think about sometimes with the name Gina. Still, my GPS is definitely not a Ginny, because she's kind of a control freak. I told her I'm going to my mom's house, and she just doesn't understand the need to stop once in a while for lunch or gas or whatever. So whenever I pull off the interstate and start heading for Jack in the Box or McDonalds, she starts telling me in no uncertain terms, "In point-one miles, turn left." And when I disobey, she says, "Recalculating. In 400 feet, turn right, then turn right." Like I'm going to obey any better this time than when I didn't turn left.

So it's Gina, the adult. And I'll just have to ignore the Hill Street Blues reruns that jump into my head.

One of the things I like about Gina is that she tells me how far it is until my next turn (or "Keep left"). It was disconcerting yesterday, after I got on I-8 and past a couple spots where the road split into two separate highways, because Gina said, "Continue for 371 miles," and then she shut up, until I pulled off the road (see above). The 371 miles ended just west of the I-10 junction.

Now that I'm on I-10 and in New Mexico (some town that starts with an "L", I think), I have about 120 miles until Gina gives me more orders. That's after she helps me get back to the interstate.

Here are some pictures of where Gina and I have been today. These are all in Arizona.

There's a stretch of Arizona, about 20 to 30 miles west of the place where I-8 meets I-10, where saguaros show up and surround the road on both sides, like really tall people with their hands in the air, begging, "Help me." This is near the eastern edge of that stretch. (The bush on the left is a palo verde, not a saguaro.) But after you stop seeing the saguaros, you see a sign for the next exit, which can take you to Saguaro National Park. I've never taken that exit. Yet.



Well, it turns out that if every boulder-strewn hillside deserved the name, the Rocky Mountains, half of the southwest would have that name. I guess it's best we leave things the way they are. This is in Arizona along the I-10. Note the similarity to east San Diego County.



Finally, for a little pink. These flowers were blooming at a rest area.


Now to see if I can get some more Medical Terminology to stick in my brain...