Steaming, Boiling, Cooking Hot
All day we've seen tiny lizards skittering across the stark sun bleached soil as dust devils seem to constantly form, whip the surrounding dirt into angry formation for a bit and then dissipate until a new one starts all over again a little further down the horizon.
The day began with us in the follow vehicle crew realizing we had a sharp screw embedded in one of our rear tires. As it was only a matter of time before something bad might happen, we were lucky to be near civilization where we found a garage that was able to effect a repair at 7:45am. By 8:05am we were back on the road.
Lou is doing his best but he's fighting a relentless enemy today. The few times I got out of the relative air conditioned heaven of the follow vehicle to take pictures and shoot video was like stepping out into an angry sauna. Lou is capable of taking a great deal of punishment, and it looks like the forces of nature themselves are curious to see if he has a breaking point today.
I'm reminded of a line from the movie DUNE (which both Lou and I have a fanatical appreciation of) -- ARRAKIS WAS CREATED TO TRAIN THE FAITHFUL.
Today, Arizona is the desert world conspiring to test the mettle of a faithful athlete and the crew and family who are working to serve his goal.
If you're reading this, be sure to drop a few helpful comments to Lou as he's checked your messages and laughed out loud while reading them. Peter Pan asked for your belief to help bring Tinkerbell back to life, so a little love certainly couldn't hurt here.
Scooter McCrae, reporting from Hell's boiler room.
