Ana and Isa’s blog

4/24/08

Dear friends,

Thank you for your ongoing interest in our book tour road trip! It is almost 9am Mountain Time and we’ve been on the 40 Interstate since 6:20 AM! We are listening to Christian and Country radio and PSAs about alcohol abuse and abstinence.  We just passed a billboard for a motel that was $19.95 a night…

 

Ana and I left Albuquerque after a quick 48 hours in this beautiful New Mexico.  I don’t know if we are just high on life, because we love to see different parts of our country, but something feels different here. The sun is brighter, the air is clearer and people are extraordinarily friendly.  We are fully alive.  I sometimes don’t know if I’m dreaming, because I visited Santa Fe last August and wished more than anything to return here with Ana when she recovered from her 2^nd lung transplant.  And so we set a goal, we aimed for it, and we made it happen!  This act feels like such a privilege… this is a want fulfilled, without any health, time or financial barriers.

 

We spent two nights in Santa Fe’s historic El Rey Inn thanks to the generosity of our friend and host, Olin.  Our room was huge and adorned with fancy New Mexican décor. This was not the type of hotel where we needed to use our can of Lysol, which has come in handy for our caliber of hotel!  On Tuesday, we spent the day together, starting the morning with a fantastic New Mexican breakfast at the famous Tecolote Café (featured on the Food Network’s “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives”—our guide to good food across the country! I decided I really do like red and green chile- though I favor the latter. Before, I didn’t think there was a difference between New Mexican and Mexican food, but now I appreciate the special chile flavor of NM food!

 

After our meal, we visited an Indian Museum on Santa Fe’s museum hill.  We saw some amazing arts and crafts from centuries ago, and read about the history and culture of the Hopi, Zuni, Navajo and Pueblo people.  This was a positive museum about the resilience and cultural pride of these survivors.  After a taste of culture, we went for a short walk through the hills of the Santa Fe National Forest/Sangre De Cristo mountains just outside of Santa Fe.  The drive was gorgeous, as the sky was bright blue and the day was warmer than normal.  The dry shrub-covered brown and red hills were speckled with homes in the unique tan-colored, adobe-style New Mexican architecture.  I could stare at the landscape forever.  It was such a joy to walk through this land at nearly 8000 feet and not suffer from the altitude. We talked with our special friend for hours and hours.  Among other things, we talked about Olin’s writing about his experience as a father of a child with CF.  It is wonderful to have this shared experience. 

 

After our walk, we went to downtown Santa Fe’s Plaza. We browsed some touristy shops, and enjoyed the gorgeous plaza surroundings.  Then we went to another delicious New Mexican dinner and ate extremely large portions! Ana and I said goodbye to Olin early, saddened by the quick passing of the day.  We had a lot of emails to catch up on, as well as do other chores like wash laundry and nebulizers.  We figured the high desert air was perfect to dry our laundry outside overnight.  Two days before, I hung my washed socks and underwear out the window when we drove by the Grand Canyon. When the crowds appeared I took down my underwear but left the socks.  When we drove back on the highway, I suddenly realized the socks were gone! Either someone wanted a pair of used socks or they flew off the car with the speed. Darn! Those were great socks!

 

Random Tangent: It’s 10:25AM now because we just entered Texas- and it’s Central Time!  I was trying to avoid Texas but the I-40 lead me here.  I am officially in BFT…

 

Yesterday, Wednesday, we woke early to pack the car, and had a light breakfast in our spacious room with Olin.  We then ran some errands, including buying 5 jars of green chile at the local supermarket. We drove down to Albuquerque together.  I sat in the car with Olin and talked and talked about everything. Close friends are the best! We then ran a few errands and head to the University of New Mexico Hospital, where Ana and I agreed to stand at the cafeteria hallway with the Donate Life booth (April is organ donation awareness month). We met Maria Sanders, the community outreach director, of New Mexico Donor Services, who has passionately fought and supported organ and tissue donation in New Mexico for 17 years.  She has quite the challenge that is different from our California Transplant Donor Network- the population here is extremely spread out, less educated, and faces cultural challenges in attitudes towards organ donation among the Native Americans and 40% Latino population.  After chatting to hospital staff who passed our booth for an hour, Olin, Ana and I headed to the Indian Cultural Center.  There, we didn’t go to the museum, but went to the courtyard to meet Olin’s friend, Michelle T. Cisneros, a popular Pueblo/Navajo artist.  For Christmas Olin sent Ana and I each one of Michelle’s prints of “Sisters”, an image of two gray-haired Indian women.  We strive to be as grey and old as those women some day!

 

After grabbing a quick but delicious meal of Indian tacos and nave rellenos at the cultural center, we saw some beautiful Indian dancing in the courtyard.  Then we joined Michelle and her husband Murphy at their booth for some precious one-on-one connection.  We sat for a little more than an hour, sharing stories of our lives and hearing about her evolution as an artist, mother and Indian woman.  This was one of my most special moments in my life; relating deeply to a stranger just because we were face to face, and open to hearing and talking about our lives.  Having Olin there sitting with Michelle and her husband made it seem like this was just an old reunion of friends and we had somehow known each other before. Michelle and Murphy kindly invited us to visit their Santa Clara Pueblo and go fishing in the future, which we took to be a great honor.  We gave them our book and they gave us some art, and we parted, deeply touched forever.

 

Ana and I head out to our friend Ed K.’s aunt’s home in Albuquerque where we were planning to spend the night.  Ruth was 85 years old and was as sharp and energetic as a 35 year old!  She lives in a spotless and spacious beautiful New Mexican home which welcomed us openly.  Meeting her and connecting is another joy of our road trip.  Ruth was an extension of the love we have for Ed and we had never even met! We took her to a modest New Mexican restaurant (never tire of green chile!) and listened to her stories of old life in Tokay, New Mexico, a now-defunct mining town.  We wene inspired by her service to her church, Meals on Wheels and her very active social life!  This woman’s involvement in giving back and cherishing life was truly inspirational. What a joy it is to meet this special lady.

 

After dinner, Ana and I went to Page One Bookstore for our signing, which was an extreme success.  We only knew a few people in Albuquerque but advertised like crazy.  When I walked into the booksigning space a few people were gathered and I noticed them turn their heads and look brightly toward us, as if they knew us.  The event was a beautiful collaboration of our two causes, cystic fibrosis and organ donation. Maria Sanders was there to support us, as a portion of the sales went to NM Donor Services.  A few others from NMDS came as well, including one lung recipient and one kidney donor and her family. By 7pm there were close to 30 people there.  A huge group from the CF Center, including Dr. Cousar-Taylor, Patricia, Bill and others came to support me after I spoke at their CF Education Day last August.  They just had CF clinic that day and I appreciated them coming after a long day!  People from the NM newborn screening and a genetic counselor attended.  Tracy, Amanda and others came from the NM CF Foundation, including a 12 year old named Jaleh and her sister Siri. Jaleh has a 7 year old cousin from California with CF, and after her recent visit to see him, she was moved to do something for CF.  Her mom and aunt gathered donated fabric and sewed a GORGEOUS blue and yellow quilt and Jaleh is selling raffle tickets to raise money for CFF!  After Ana and I spoke and read, Jaleh gave a speech and so did Maria from NMDS and Amanda from CFF.  Jaleh sold raffle tickets.  We answered a few questions and then signed books.  We write a lot on each book and enjoy to chat with each person.  We met some CF families and a young mom with CF who is preparing for a lung transplant in Denver.  These families affirmed that our story is not unique and life repeats in the trials and tribulations we endure with cystic fibrosis and transplantation.  Unfortunately, our chatting with each visitor made people wait in line for a while. The best feeling for me while signing books was to overhear conversations among CF parents lined up, chatting about their kids’ medications and coping.  They were relating to each other, sharing their stories, and CONNECTING.  Though they might have known each other before, I felt grateful that our book and booksigning allows people to BUILD COMMUNITY.  We want people all over the country to have the loving supportive CF community that we’ve been blessed with in the Bay Area.

 

We left our signing around 9:30PM, sadly saying goodbye to Olin and our new friends. We sold 17 books since many people already had their own copies! We left with our hearts overflowing with love and connection to all these new people. This event was a total act of grace. 

 

Our goal is to reach Tulsa, OK or Springfield MO tonight, around 700-900 miles. That is very ambitious! We are taking turns driving and being very careful.  We are both admittedly exhausted.  We were high with excitement last night and had a hard time sleeping.

 

We miss our doggy Rupie, and havea flip video camera with a short film of her. Ana and I are cooing and gooing and giggling as we watch her on video over and over.  We are taking shots of the scenery we see on this road trip as a great memory of this adventure.

 

— Blog entry, 4/24/08 continued—

It is 10PM and we have checked into Day’s Inn in Emporia, Kansas City! We drove nearly 700 miles or 13 hours today!  Believe it or not, the time passed quickly.  We tried to nap but I was too uncomfortable.  We listened to “The Tower of Power” album including songs like “Ain’t Nothing Going Stop Us Right Now” and “Gotta Have Some Fun” (thanks Nahara!).  We live in the illusion that we are invinsible on this roadtrip, knowing that is not true but basking in this freedom nontheless.  As we passed the flatlands of America’s Heartland, we also sang along to John Cougar Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane” and “Pink House,” which made us feel truly American!

 

Ana and I covered 4 states- NM, Texas, Oklahoma and now Kansas.  By 9pm, it was so dark, we just couldn’t make it to Missouri, which is only 100 miles away.  We had a brief stop at a tourist trap in Oklahoma, the Cherokee “Trading Post” where I bought overpriced postcards.  Then we stopped for 30 minutes at the moving Oklahoma City National Memorial commemorating the bombing on April 19, 1995.  The ranger, Stephanie Click, was absolutely phenomenal and gave a brief but touching tribute/tour.  We passed roling green hills and flat, flat ranch land.  My imagination soared as I imagined what my life would be like if I lived out there in the middle of nowhere.  As long as there was a library, I’d be okay, but it seemed like there was nothing in the remotest parts along I-40.  We drove for miles along the historic Route 66 and took a brief sidetrip to pass through historic downtown of El Reno.

 

The scenery was fabulous.  Sparrows flew haphazardly in front of our windshields, and schools of finches swooped up and down in unison as a group, darting downward and upward over fields of cows.  We witnessed a magnificent red sunset over Kansas- there is no comparison for the sun setting over the plains.  Our only annoyance was that there was absolutely no civilizations for miles on end; and every 20 miles or so there’d be a gas station and McDonalds. Those of you who know me know I am a food snob because of my job in obesity prevention so I refused to eat at McDonald’s.  By 9pm we finally found a town, Emporia, and at a nice meal at the famous Village Inn. We are exhausted and ready to sleep here at Day’s Inn.

 

I haven’t moved my legs all day and my lungs feel shriveled up. I used my time in the passenger seat to practice my bagpipe chanter (like a recorder) and strengthen my muscles using my old rubber therabands.  Twice Ana and I ripped them because we pulled too hard! We now bid you good night and we are so grateful to have made it this far safely. 

 

Thank you for your ongoing interest in our trip. We wish you all health and safety and adventures of your own at home. We are thinking of you and thank you for your support.

 

Take care, Isa 

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 24th, 2008 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Life Status. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.