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july 3, 2000 The sabbatical is off! still getting packed and ready to fly north... (more)

july 7, 2000
Today is departure day. I pack up the stuff I will need for the next two months, and load up my Jeep. It is about a two and a half hour's scenice drive north from Phoenix to Flagstaff.

None of the family is home, all busy at work and play. Even the dogs do not even think much of my walking out that door.

The drive is always seems like it takes a long time before you get out of the metropolitan sprawl of Phoenix. It seems like there is no end in site to how many housing developments and strip malls can be flung across the desert. "Anthem" way north of town is a brand new one that will soon be home for 50,000 people (about the population of Flagstaff!)

The drive out of Phoenix always reminds me of the excitement of when I first arrived in 1987, essentially this route in reverse. The area between these cities is so diverse, with extremens of rock and vegetation, long looking vistas, and just space. Space to roam, space to let your mind roam too.

I arrive in Flagstaff around 6:30 PM, and after a little of a mixup about where the keys are hid, I can settle in the house I will be staying in. It is owned by a pair of geology professors from Northern Arizona University (NAU), one I ironically knew from a conference field trip in Germany 10 years ago while I was a Geology grad student.

The house is very comfortable and walking distance to where I will be working at NAU. It is wonderful to have a cool breeze come in thw windows at night.