Martha and Belinda’s Excellent Adventure: Part 2 Belinda Darcey Day 2: Sedona, AZ to Durango, CO On the road at 7:45 am - a small miracle. I have reluctantly agreed to getupatthecrackofdawnfromnowonsothatwereachourdestina- tion before dark. Unfortunately, when planning our route, I had for- gotten to factor in nightfall, or the changing of time zones, (oops...) and had chosen the Scenic Route for last night’s approach into Se- dona, with the result that, after seven hours of driving, we were forced to negotiate hairpin curves, whilst dodging potential roadkill in pitch black We finally got to visit my friends, Jaime and Michelle, and their new business; a coffeehouse called “Cups”. It’s quite the groovy, bo- hemian spot (read undergrormd queer hangout — Arizona not being the most liberal of states), complete with perfonnance space and T- shirt/mug/paraphernalia section. My personal favorite was the auto- graphed k.d.lang 8” x 10” glossy hanging behind the balked goods. Jaime believes it’s helped to boost (I don’t doubt it). And nei- ther of them regrets having left L.A. - encouraging to hear - and they were happy for us. Such a nice change from all the doorn-and-gloom we’d heard up ‘til now. I wasn’t ready for the dramatic scenery that met my bleary eyes at 7 am. Brilliant blue skies and masses of bright green grass against red, red soil. And huge flat-topped mesas surrormding the town. Very odd. But, (like many a queer thing) , very, very pretty. Speaking of rocks, there are crystals for sale EVERYWHERE. Even at the 7- Eleven! And everyone wears them - the more the merrier. Un- believable. It all felt a bit Stepford-y actually. Martha, who holds the title of The Least Spiritually-Inclined Lesbian On Earth, was quite creeped out by it all. Poor dear. An unexpected thrill, — Bedrock. Arizona, where the locals have cap- italized shamelessly on Fred Flintstone and company. We couldr1’t re- sist posing in Fred’s car, and snapping up souvenir glasses and pens. If we’d had more time, we would have paid a visit to the Flintstone’s village, with it’s jail, Wilma’s beauty salon, and of course, the bowl- ing alley. Next time. A picnic lunch at the IMAX theater about an hour from the Grand Canyon. Martha’s parents had convinced us to see the Grand Canyon show. Ironically, we saw this before the Real Thing, which I do not recommend. It’s hard to top the view from a hang-glider at dawn. Be- sides which, it was disgustingly sexist, racist, and colonialist in its in- terpretation of history. I felt like I was sitting through an Armed Ser- vices Recruiting film. Martha agreed but still managed to enjoy it for the special effects thrills. That’s my girl. The Lavender Connection A Discreet Dating Service For information write: The Lavender Connection PO Box 546 - Colchester, VT 05446 Fmally...El Canyon Grande! It just appeared all of a sudden, after we rounded a corner. I couldn’t believe the crowds - and this was an off- season Monday morning. The place was a sea of Camcorders and tour busses and lots of French-speaking tourists. Nevertheless, the majesty and grandeur rendered us speechless. Martha was actually moved to tears. I got a bad case of vertigo, and grew increasingly paranoid about her standing so close to the edge. (Well wouldn’t YOU. if YOUR Beloved insisted on standing inches from a drop of seven thousand feet!) Although we had less than 2 hours here, Mar- tha felt compelled to inquire about hiking and white-water trips in the area. We really wished we could have stayed longer, but with half our worldly belongings already two states ahead of us, there was no time to waste. Back on the road, we drove through the Painted Desert (real “Thelma and Louise” country), watching the srmset’s amazing effect on mesas and clouds. Local marketing efforts consisted of home-made bill- boards along the road advertising “Friendly Indians next N0 feet”, and “Authentic Indian Silver Jewelry Ahead”, and “We take Mas- tercard and Visa” and later “Stop, turn back, last chance for Au- thentic Souvenirs from really friendly Indians”. As the sun (and Mar- tha’s blood sugar) sank lower, we discovered upon closer inspection of our trusty AAA triptik, that our hotel was not EXACILY in town. In fact it was about 27 miles outside Durango (our destination) and up yet another Scenic Route. Now that Martha has calmed down somewhat, we haveresolvedto stop atthefirstphoneweseeandtry to find a room in town. Screw the deposit. We have a relationship to maintain.V (to be continued) /’