The Pumpkin Cheesecake Diaries: 1-14-2020

Margarita-Ville at the Laundromat 

If you have to do laundry, you might as well head on down to the CVS and buy yourself Margarita mix. So I did.

Cindy was off checking on errands and Dave was..well, I'm not sure...but if I had to guess, I would say roping. I ventured off on my own to Wickenburg.

My first stop was the Aquila Family Dollar Store. We were out of dog food, laundry soap and tea. I picked up some balloons to kill while I was there...you can't have too many balloons to kill... before heading to Wickenburg – 25 miles east.

The laundromat is right off the main drag behind Safeway. I had to park a ways out. Deja vu hit like a ton of bricks as I carried a large basket of laundry across the asphalt. It was 1982. I was 8 months pregnant with a belly that looked 10 mos. I had no car. I waddled across State Street in Boise Idaho from my 1 room dump to a laundromat 4 or 5 blocks down. A pocket full of quarters and little else. Certainly not much hope for the future. I wondered if I'd make it across busy State Street without getting hit and part of me wasn't sure I cared.

What a difference time makes on a persons life. 35 years later I practically skipped across the parking lot where my fancy new-to-me Dodge 1Ton sat waiting to escort me wherever I wished. A full basket of clothes dirty with recreational activities and a grin on my face to match. I was sad only for a second thinking back on that young girl. How scared and alone she was...yet a flutter of hope. The baby she carried would change her hole world. She would have a purpose. A reason to make something of herself – she would never be alone again. She would matter.

The cost of doing a load of laundry hasn't changed much. $2.75 to wash and a $1.00 to dry seems very reasonable. The West Plaza Green Laundry is clean and well kept with machines a plenty. I loaded two washers, added my $5.50 in quarters and waited. I'm not much of a waiter. I looked around at the other folks. Nobody in here looks like they would steal my new Kohl's underwear. Except that guy back in the corner. I decided to wait for the washer. I discovered the dryers lock until their time is up. I tossed the wet clothes in two dryers and put enough quarters in for 40 minutes and went exploring.

I could have stopped for Mexican food, signed up for cable TV, gotten my nails done or a butterfly tattoo. I'm thinking any one of those is going to take longer than 40 minutes. I opted to check out CVS. They didn't have the face cream I wanted but I discovered something even better. CVS sells Fireball. This is interesting: Fireball is the only alcohol in the place with a security locking mechanism over the cap. I shit you not. What the hell? Do people randomly pick up Fireball before buying it – twist off the cap and take a swig?

I opted for Margarita mix and Tequila. Cindy will have to show me how to make them. This laundry thing is serious business. It takes a lot out of a person and I'm thinking by the time I get home it will be margarita-thirty.

I placed the basket of fresh laundered clothes in the truck. The scent of Tide Fabreeze filled the mega-cab. I Googled nearest Verizon Store and headed East. I've been eating up data since I left on this adventure. I hadn't thought of the consequences of not being within Wi-Fi range at home. I went in prepared for the hard sell; expecting the girl behind the counter to try and sell me a FREE new this-or-that for the low low cost of $800.00. I gave her the “I know what your going to try and do” stare. She smiled. We agreed on an unlimited, hot-spot capable plan. “So, my monthly bill is going to be x amount – no hidden fees – no freebies I'll be paying on for the next 2 years...etc, etc?” “That's correct, she assures me.” “So, I can connect via hot-spot, tether my laptop, access my “free” tablet I've been paying on for 2 years....do anything I want and it's going to be x amount per month.” “That's correct,” she says with a grin. “Go WILD!!” I could see this girl new how to deal with old folks and their phones.

I checked out a horse boarding facility that looked promising: Horspitality. It looked like a clean, well kept facility with several arena's and access to trails for 100's of miles. Unfortunately – you have to book with them a year in advance...and they aren't cheap. Just for giggles, I put my name in for the cancellation list.

My next stop was John and Renee Smith's (if that's even their real names) at the Cypress RV park. I'd met the Smith's in Alamo, NV. John and Renee had just arrived in Wickenburg and were setting up camp. They use to travel with horses and John was a cutter prior to trading in the horse for a side-by-side. He knew of some places that board horses and wanted to introduce me to one of them: Jim Simpson of the Simpson Ranch. We found Jim in one of his arena's giving cutting lessons. Instead of cattle, they cut Buffalo. I shit you not. I'm told buffalo are better to work with than cows because they hold up better and don't get sour as easy. I was impressed - from across the fence. Not a very high or particularly sturdy fence I noticed. I guess these were “nice” buffalo?

So, laundry day turned out to be a pretty cool day. I got to know Wickenburg a little better, met my Alamo friends the “Smiths” (if that's even their real name) – got my new Kohl's underwear washed AND enough bandwidth to blog about it “unlimitedly.”