Read the Zapfic serial #GHAWG on LeoThreads to follow the transformation of a courier into a Harley-riding tool of God.
Cover image is a screen capture of LeoThreads edited with MS Paint
● What is GHAWG?
● Zapfic Entries 450-456
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#GHAWG is short for "God's Hog: A Watchful Guardian." This fictional story tells how David Guardia, a courier and business owner from Bayonne, New Jersey, US moved into the next phase of his life after spending the final ten years of his ailing father's life helping him.
More details can be found in the first post of this weekly recap.
| "Map shows Gallup inside Navajo Nation territory," said Frank. "If anyone has a right to complain about how they were treated, it's the Navajo. Yet they found a way to make peace with their situation." Lindsay & I nod together. |
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| ΒποΈ Most Americans know about the nation's history from 1850s through 1880s in terms of the "Civil War" and related events. However, taking place at the same time was the resettlement into "reservations" of the Native American population along with associated events and battles. One of the Native American peoples-- technically considered sovereign nations by the US Constitution-- was the Navajo. On a person-to-person basis today, the Native Americans and the Newer Americans get along well with each other, and even admire each other in many respects. On a "state"-level basis, relations between the federal government in Washington, DC and the nominally soverign Native American nations are nothing to brag about. |
| "What's past is past and can't be undone," I said. "The future is a clean slate, so their fate is what they make," said Lindsay. "So that's the meaning you and I assign to this flag going forward." She and I nod in agreement. |
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| ΒποΈ "The sins of the father cannot be visited upon the son." One of the promises of the United States as a land of opportunity for immigrants is that grudges from the past stay in the past. It's how many ethnic groups who had troubles in "the Old Country" were able to form friendships in the US; some to the point of even intermarrying. When these people left the Old Country behind, they also left behind (in most cases, anyway) bad blood. ποΈ When David Guardia was negotiating safe passage of Our Heroes out of Portland, Oregon, US, he had told the demonstrator (later to be revealed as Lindsay Etxeberria) "Let us go and you ride with us to Riverside with a clean slate. You're over 21, so your fate is what you make.". After listening to what Frank Marchenko had to say about the Navajo in Gallup, New Mexico, US, it was Lindsay's turn to make a similar quote to David. She remembered what he had told her, and she was applying that lesson. |
| At Continental Divide we took some pictures while at the Yah-Ta-Hey gift shop. We made sure each of us had some sort of picture to document our stop there. This included the sign showing how rainfall picks either of the oceans. |
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| ΒποΈ Although it's not the only place named Continental Divide, it has the unusual geographical and environmental property of determining how rain falling to the ground returns to the oceans. West of this point, the rainfal returns to the Pacific Ocean, and east of this point the rainfall returns to the Atlantic Ocean (or Gulf of Mexico, maybe, I don't know). |
| As we left Grants we encountered at Exits 81 & 85 the relatively new Route 66 Arches, built in 2016. As we did at Grants, we took some pictures here. Rhonda hammed it up on the selfie sides of these arches. It was a fun break. |
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| ΒποΈ Most tourist attractions along Old Route 66 are vintage, or at least decades old. The arches at Grants are around 8 years old as I write this note, so they will be 12 years old by the time Our Heroes reach them. ποΈ Being an independent trucker, Rhonda Bella Guardia didn't have much free time to enjoy the sites as she hauled freight. She had learned to take advantage of every free moment she had to enjoy whatever she found interesting, fascinating, even kooky and amusing. This was one of those times. |
| At Budville, 4 towns before Albuquerque, we took time to take more pictures. This time, it was The Twins who hammed it up, claiming it as the site of their 1st HFBM Customs garage outside Iowa. Rhonda had fun photographing them. |
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ΒποΈ Here we learn the first new detail about The Twins, also known as the Brothers Marchenko. Although we know they have their own business, we never knew its name until now. As motorcycle mechanics who work on custom projects, their business is HFBM Customs: Hank & Frank, Brothers Marchenko Customs. They have at least 1 shop in Iowa, and maybe additional shops; that will be determined either by the time Our Heroes return to Iowa to finish David Guardia's Epic Ride in Rat Bike or at some point in Blue Lion. |
| Over 4 miles east of McCartys were 3 notable areas: San Fidel, Acomita Lake, & Alaska. Just as I paused us at Defiance, Rhonda paused us at Alaska for pictures of the sign. She hauled freight in Alaska as an ice road trucker. |
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| ΒποΈ Rhonda Bella Guardia surely wasn't expecting to see "Alaska" in New Mexico, so it made sense that she would want to document this ironic (to her) signage. ΒποΈ Back in Oregon when she and David were doing some shopping to replace missing supplies she revealed to him that she was an ice road trucker. Actually, she made a casual comment, David wanted to confirm if she meant what he throught she meant, and she confirmed with a nod. |
| Just after passing High Desert RV Park, I saw a name I wasn't expecting to see near Albuquerque: Bruckner. It reminded me of the times Pops & I would go to The Bronx to see the Yankees play at either version of Yankee Stadium. |
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| ποΈ ΒThe Bruckner Expressway known to David Guardia is named after Henry Bruckner, a 3-term US Congressman and a former Bronx Borough President. Bruckner, New Mexico is named after a different Bruckner. ποΈ The highway near Yankee Stadium in Bronx, New York, US was named the Bruckner Expressway. Needless to say, traffic was brutal on game days. ΒποΈ Just as Rhonda Bella Guardia had memories of her time in Alaska, David Guardia was reminded of all the trips he and his father ("Pops") drove from Bayonne, New Jersey, US to The Bronx to see the New York Yankees play. The latest building to bear the name Yankee Stadium was opened in 2009, and that same year the Yankees won the World Series. The previous building was built in the 1920s and was nicknamed "The House That [Babe]Ruth Built"; within a few years they had won the first of many, many World Series championships. During the middle 1970s this building underwent renovations, and soon after the baseball team won another World Series. |
Our Heroes, recently reconfigured as the reduced and more mobile
Felix Legion, cross into Texas and reach the "midway point" of Old Route 66, but not before passing Amarillo, Texas, US along the way.
More zapfic entries for this week were made to supplement (if not "re-do") the New Mexico portion of the ride east along Old Route 66. Taking place in New Mexico west of Albuquerque, these entries are travel entries with a bit of commentary from the characters themselves (especially in Gallup).
NOW AVAILABLE! -- GHAWG, Uninterrupted for those who want to binge-read the daily zapfic serial one Act (or Interlude) at a time. Act 7 is in progress, so GHAWG-U proceeds through Interlude 3.
ALSO AVAILABLE! -- The GHAWG Diaries for those who want to witness the formation of The GHAWG Universe and how it's taking place. Published on Mondays when there is no GHAWG, Uninterrupted post (or, for that matter, any other post).
PLUS! -- GHAWG Behind the Scenes to see how elements of The GHAWG Universe take shape, from graphics to spreadsheets and other research. Included is a subseries called "Fun with Maps" showing the interesting things I find as I map out the David Guardia's ride. "Fun with Maps" is at South Bend, Indiana, US. Coming up is a series of posts showing the SEO impact of GHAWG on both the story and the inleo.io domain.
Catch the latest zapfic entries for GHAWG at LeoThreads. Get caught up with GHAWG with these weekly summaries at InLeo.
To find other weekly summary posts such as this one-- or to read the serial without annotated commentary-- use the post GHAWGnav: Navigating The GHAWG Universe.
[!!][!!] -- signature graphic was made by @ahmadmanga
