Here Comes Desert Storm 2006!
I must admit, I totally took wide open spaces for granted until I moved to people-packed Europe. As a kid you could often find my family roaring across the States in our ugly brown station wagon [a kombi, in German], gamely scoping out America’s nature by day and a cheap motel with pool and slide being the mega thrill at night. Those pleasant memories stirred somewhere deep inside me this year. Soenke, Knut and I decided the best solution was to rent a big, gas-guzzling American car and investigate every wide-open nook and cranny in the great Southwest that we could squeeze out of 10 days.
We planned our desert invasion to commence in LA on April 19th – coincidental to our boy Mehmet’s recent arrival in Phoenix, AZ for Lufthansa flight school training. A few days ahead of schedule, I spontaneously opted to jet home early and surprise my family for Easter. There are just some decisions that you look back on and say “wow, that was the best decision I’ve made in a long time” and that was one of them. As much as I absolutely adore my foreign peeps, there is nothing quite like a big house full of fabulous family all speaking your native tongue. I especially enjoyed my little nephews who competitively hunted out Easter eggs full of chocolate, crammed the chocolate into their busy mouths, then proceeded to go on high barf alert for the next three hours.
Soenke & Knut arrived a few days later in obvious pain after 11 hours of economy class. We administered fish tacos and they revived.
DAY 1 - 5:00AM
Soenke, in a rare instance of very dubious judgment, wants to get to Phoenix in time to fly in a small airplane that Mehmet is piloting. Now, Mehmet is really cool, but he’s only been flying airplanes for about a week at this point. So Soenke drags us out of bed at 5AM and we slog grumpily downstairs to the super-sized Buick LeSabre that would be our closest companion for the next 10 days. Knut wants me to be sure and mention Angel Diaz (pronounced Dee-A$$), the poorly-informed manager at LAX Avis rent-a-car. Mr. Dee-A$$ gave our boys a lot of trouble when they were renting the Buick. Knut still hasn’t quite gotten over that.
We hit the road and an hour later accidentally blew by Palm Springs (so much for breakfast) but managed to tag the more-chic Palm Desert in time for a drive-thru Frappucino experience at Starbucks. We chomp down on my Mom’s trail mix consisting of Cheerios, M&Ms, marshmallows, and peanuts. We check the time. There’s not much happening on Hwy 10 between LA and the Arizona border.
Enter Arizona. Suddenly there are cool cacti lining the freeway…all with little cactus arms held up in a motion that looks like they are surrendering. We spot some impressive mesas (flat-table-topped mountains). We see really old pickup trucks driven by rednecks in cowboy hats. Arizona is cool. No….actually….Arizona is HOT. About 90F/30C hot.
A few hours later…. Phoenix. Well, Goodyear, AZ to be exact. This is the home of strip malls, chain restaurants, Lufthansa’s flight school and (as I discover), the German air force. The place is crawling with sock-and-sneaker-clad German dudes. It is completely weird - both the presence of all these Germans, plus the fact that they’re wearing socks and shoes in this scorching heat. We need to introduce them to the flip flop. I’m secretly filled with glee to see them suffering in the Arizona heat as much as I suffer in the German cold. (Wow. That’s so mean. I’m sorry. Really.)
We help Mehmet Americanize his wardrobe with a few garish Hawaiian shirts, then chow down with the other student pilots at a poolside BBQ consisting of hamburgers, hot dogs… and sushi. Mehmet’s colleague Uhlrich slugs an entire bottle of New Zealand wine and enchants us with his tales of skirt-chasing in Goodyear (which is about as productive as buffalo hunting on the moon). It’s starting to feel like a road trip!
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Day One Photos follow:
Lufthansa flight 456 to LA prepares its nose for the World Cup:
My nephews demonstrate that a ladder can make a very satisfying Easter toy:
Nephew Chase shows me his Easter loot:
Baby Drew prepares a big drool for his Aunt Sis:
The Knutster makes sure we know where we’re going:
Ubiquitous wind turbines alert us that Palm Springs is near (we missed it anyway):
I have never seen such a glorious and totally Americano sight:
The dudes clog their arteries with fine American cuisine:
What the heck are all these Germans doing in Arizona?!
We invade Mehmet’s 5-star digs at Lufthansa flight school:
Mehmet’s private jet:
I practice being a cowgirl co-pilot:




April 25th, 2006 at 3:57 pm
Hahaha, that’s funny!
You leave Germany and hope to speak some English, and you end up in a German flight school!
It’s fate girl!
April 30th, 2006 at 7:53 am
By the way, exactly where is my pink hat?