If my aim on October 5th when I set out on this journey was to get out of my comfort zone, I may have overachieved.

What follows are the indicators.

1.  It is so cold that I am willing to look like this,

I am wearing long underwear (top and bottom), jeans, 2 additional shirts, a fully padded motorcycle jacket, rain pants, rain jacket and no makeup.  Note - this photo was taken by a lovely man who had never used a digital camera and who, despite several attempts to demonstrate, kept looking through a non-existent view finder. 

2.  I am so happy to be warm that I am unfazed by the breeze that inflates my bright yellow jacket, effectively making me look like an oversized Easter Peep speeding across New Mexico.

3.  The following interview exists.

In search of a place to warm up, I pulled off in Grants, New Mexico.  Not wanting to stop at a fast food place, I found the Econo Lodge and Restaurant.  I was the only customer and I struck up a conversation with the restaurant manager.  A young man named Greg Chapman, he was engaging and informed.  But it was hard not to notice an intense older man sitting in the corner. 

Please meet Alfredo Mirabal.  The owner of the Grants Econo Lodge and Restaurant, Alfredo is a rancher by trade, his life story and worldview among the most unique that I have found.  If my challenge when I started this journey was to stay engaged (without evangelizing) in the face of opposing views, Alfredo is my Kilimanjaro. 

Alfredo Mirabal

Contrast (kən-trāst’, kŏn’trāst’)  To set in opposition in order to show or emphasize differences

Visually, New Mexico geography defines contrast.  From the rich color stratifications to the jutting rock formations,  you experience it but it is hard to feel a part of it.  Meteorologically, you have to disavow yourself of everything you think a desert should be.  This is high desert.  And it is cold.

The multiple layers that I packed simply did not cut it today.  There is cold, and then there is 60 mile an hour cold.  I am learning.

During my many attempts to warm up today, I was able to speak with a variety of people.  I would like you to meet Barbara Gordon from Gallup, New Mexico.

Barbara Gordon is a study in contrasts.  She comes from a long tradition of military service.  Her father was a fifth generation career military man and her maternal grandfather was a General in a family of Generals.  She traveled the world and decided to settle in Gallup because it had ‘the best stars’ and a ‘360 degree sunset’.  Here, she worked for 28 years as a teacher and principal at the Zuni Pueblo Reservation.  She raised two children and now works with the Navaho tribe.  She speaks with equal eloquence of her support for Obama and the need to be more effective with our Federal funding programs.  Barbara has always wanted to see a woman in the White House.  Just not Sarah Palin.

Finally, I would like to introduce Mary and David Workman from Yorba Linda, California and Donna and Ron Workman of Williams, Arizona. 

We met at Old Smokey’s Pancake House and Restaurant.  David and Ron are brothers and share political leanings.  They were warm, kind and open.  And while they describe themselves as staunchly conservative, as you will hear, it isn’t that simple.  Listen for the contrasts.

(Ron speaks first)

The Workmans

 Sometimes irony demands to be noticed.

Today is my second day in Holbrook, Arizona.  Riding was simply not an option.  Sunrise began with 30 mph average wind speeds and it only went up from there.  Gusting, which was pretty much constant, reached 55 mph and produced more than one overturned semi on I-40.  The resulting dust storms were awesome and terrifying.

So here I sat.  In my hotel room, with sporadic power, staring at the one bar I had on my cell phone, willing it to leap to two.  I was restricted to how far I could walk from the hotel and both restaurants that I could reach were closed due to the storm and power issues. 

Note to the ladies - lip gloss in a dust storm is gross.

During the few respites when I had power, it was hard to avoid the news from the campaign trail.  The fracas surrounding Rep. John Lewis’ statements, the pastor at a campaign rally implying God’s preferences in this race, and, most disturbing of all, the crowd’s increasingly ugly calls and responses to campaign speeches. 

Dust storms.  They are disorienting.  But they are temporary.

Thomas Carlyle wrote, ‘The dust of controversy is merely the falsehood flying off’

If this was on my mind when I learned that the power was back on at Jimmy’s restaurant, it quickly left.  A full day of vending machine food sent me skipping over to Jimmy’s.  There I met Randy Andrews.  A father of three adult children, Randy is the retired County Assessor for Holbrook and his soft spoken account of how he came to shift his support was surprising and unexpected.

Randy Andrews

Just like a dust storm.