Day 6 - Out of Flagstaff
A quick look in the mirror at the roadblock that had formed behind them
was all Billy Bob required to spur him off the main highway and into
the various back loops that would carry the truck through to the next
day.
The plan had been to visit some of the
south west
indigenous ruins anyway and it was fortuitous that the bulk of the
significant sites were located off the main highway.
Distracted by the news that the "the dead guy" at the side of the road
had been identified as "Big Charlie" and the news reports indicated
that police were looking for information about his death, Billy Bob had
forgotten himself and popped a cold Mickey's right in front of the
Luby's family restaurant.
In full view of the picture window with the skirt curtain half way up
the side, the open beer at 9:00 AM, Wednesday (?) morning had inspired
three cell phones to flip open or on and call the Flagstaff police
department.
Fortunately it was shift change, 9:00 on a Wednesday (?) morning and
the new shift was a little slow to catch on. The roadblock was set up
behind them and was sure to catch anyone drunk enough to drive south in
the northbound lanes. Billy Bob and Cletis were heading north
in the north bound lanes (as mentioned - it was early yet).
They headed off the main track, chugged through some construction and looped
through Sunset Crater and
Wupatki National Monuments.
Looking out over the broken and scrambled red rock ground around
a building vacated less than 800 years before, Cletis thought to himself
"Hard to believe that there used to be farming and eating sleeping and birthin
babies and art and the like happening here, and now there are just organized
heaps of rocks. Hard to beleive that Big Charlie started out as a baby and
ended up a bloated dead body at the side of the road."