LESLIE'S JOURNAL

Some people find it strange that we should want to 'do the whole thing over again' by retracing our tracks back to Chicago. I could go into lots of reasons why I want to travel back in the opposite direction, but for now I'll leave it at remarking that the drive east looks and feels nothing like the drive west. For example, Vito's grave isn't visible at all from the road if you're crossing the pass from west to east, but it's as plain as day if you're driving from east to west. From LA to Chicago, the Bagdad Cafe is the last stop before miles and miles and miles of scorching desert; coming from Chicago its the oasis at the end of the trail.

We didn't see the Bagdad Cafe on the way out because we came through that stretch of desert in the dark, after closing time. This time I am happy to report that we stopped in for some coffee and some chat. It was odd for me, because I clearly remember seeing the film Bagdad Cafe when I was an undergradute at the University of Sheffield in Yorkshire. At that time I had only been living in England a short time and having come from New Mexico, I found it funny seeing a film about the desert in Yorkshire. Today driving through the desert and stopping at the Bagdad Cafe had me thinking of Sheffield and the Anvil Cinema all morning. The people at the Cafe were talking about the earthquake the night before last and whether or not they woke up or slept through it. Last night at my friend Jenny's in LA we wondered if there might be another one and if we would feel it. But all was quiet. Jenny and her daughter Kady waved us off this morning, having given us several things to take with us, including a crayola drawing of us and the car.

As we were leaving, I noticed that the ring of cornflowers we planted around the trunk of a mulberry tree when we arrived were already appearing. Maybe we'll pick up our own trail in other places too.