Flagstaff

Flat Tire in Flagstaff. Sounds like the name of a song don't it? Or some kind of kinky euphemism. "I totally dug him but then he was all about having a Flat Tire in Flagstaff if you know what I mean."

I guess I saw it as more of the former because the whole time Butterscotch was changing, I was humming Tenth Avenue Freeze-out and substituting Flat Tire in Flagstaff for the lyrics. A cop walked by with a tip of the hat and says "that sucks." as we stand there at the curb with all our luggage strewn on the sidewalk in front of a diner. Snake-Eyes mutters "asshole" under her breath as soon as he's past us.

Flagstaff is a quaint looking town. Brick sidewalks. A shop-lined main drag where none of the buildings top 3 or four stories. Right down the street from us is the Hotel Monte Vista where we'd spent the night before.

A “haunted” hotel. Barbara Stanwyck suite. One of the walls was light blue velvet. Something is spattered on it. Lit mainly by a glass dangling light fixture. Out the window is a balcony that we couldn't figure out how to use, and the window facing us across the street had its blinds shut, and red light pulsing through the cracks.

Across the hall was supposedly the room where two prostitutes were murdered. John Wayne himself had sighted ghosts on the hall where we stayed. Perhaps adjacent to the Debbie Reynolds suite a couple of doors down. From a peek in when we went down for coffee, it was bright pink. Maybe a precautionary measure against bad spirits.

The key didn’t work at first. The desk clerk told us it was because sometimes when there’s ghosts in the room, they short out the electrical circuits. Truth? Or agenda

None of us slept terribly well, caused by ghosts or no, and the first thing we come across when trying to get going in the morning is the realization that one of our tires is a virtual pancake.

Once the donut is secured, it's on to the Flagstaff airport. Goodbye Blue Hybrid Nissan. Hello White Non-Hybrid Nissan. Least we get to see several cute little cub airplanes on our way back out.