On The Road 4

Part 4 

One of the goals I made for myself after driving for a few days without much interaction was to first thank them for driving with me, and then after a few minutes I always ask “Are you a native Arizonan or a transplant?”  From that question I find out if they are interested in having a conversation or want to be left alone.  It has been so great to hear of their reasons for moving here if a transplant or how quickly the conversation turns into living in Arizona in the summer.  I share with them that I was born and raised in Arizona but we left for California with our children and moved to Victorville where we lived for almost 40 years.  It is fun when they actually know where Victorville is.  I had passenger who grew up in Apple Valley and went to Granite Hills High School.  Another man’s mother lives there now.  Many California transplants get rides with me and it’s always fun to hear were they lived, especially when I know exactly where their towns are.  I transported a blind black woman to a doctor’s appointment who was in her late sixties.  She told me that they moved to California when she was a little girl and her father was so proud because he had savings bonds and was able to use them to put a down payment on a house in Garden Grove.  She said it was an all-white neighborhood.  I worried when she told me that and asked how their family was treated.  She said everyone was very nice and her neighbors treated their family very well.  I was so happy to hear that.  My most recent passenger said that she and her husband moved to Arizona from Portland, Maine.  Believe me we had a lot to talk about and the Holy Donut shop came up in the conversation right away!