The red rocks of Arizona

Durango, Colorado to Flagstaff, Arizona

John McCain was accused of carpetbagging when he ran for congress in Arizona. The charge – that he had no personal history in the conveniently Republican district – was repeated again and again, until eventually he “snapped” in front of a crowd of voters.

"Listen, pal. I spent 22 years in the Navy. My grandfather was in the Navy. We in the military service tend to move a lot. We have to live in all parts of the country, all parts of the world. I wish I could have had the luxury, like you, of growing up and living and spending my entire life in a nice place like the first district of Arizona, but I was doing other things. As a matter of fact, when I think about it now, the place I lived longest in my life was Hanoi."

That put paid to the carpetbagging claims. The outburst sums up two features that have dominated McCain’s political career. His time as a POW has been trawled over relentlessly. But, after everything, his first-person account of his time in Hanoi remains quite devastating. Nothing can blur that combination of endurance and heroism.

The second trait is his capacity for “snapping,” which has been kept under wraps throughout this presidential race. Gordon Brown’s dealings with mobile phones and innocent bystand-ing furniture has been well covered, but by all accounts, McCain leaves him for dust. If McCain wins this election – looking increasingly unlikely – the British PM and the American president could have a particularly lively special relationship.

But sometimes, for McCain, flipping works. He knows that. And it's still three weeks until election day.

Arizona will, of course, come out for John McCain in November. The home state advantage is largely neutralised in this presidential race. Barack Obama is home clear in Illinois. Both Joe Biden and Sarah Palin come from sure-thing states, Delaware and Alaska respectively, that both bring the minimum number of electoral votes – three.

Meanwhile, my (utterly tragic) interest in road signs is continuing. I drove across New Mexico a couple of days ago. New Mexico is absolutely flaming enormous. Because it is next to Texas on the map, you think “Aha! No problem,” forgetting that Texas is bigger than – I don’t know – everything.

But New Mexico is huge. They exploded the first atom bomb there. Secretly. Aliens go there to practice crash landings. Maybe.

It’s so big that you pass signs saying “McDonald’s – Exit 75. One hour.” And then you drive in a straight line past nothing but desert for an hour. When you’re an hour from a McDonald’s in America, you really are in the middle of nowhere.

So I liked the McDonald’s road sign. But then I got to Utah. And I give you the Utah road sign:

It doesn’t encourage you to slow down for the bend.

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Comments

[Peter Zabriskie]

I am so greatly pleased you are bringing Western America to the UK. I grew up in the east in the shadow of NYC in New Jersey where a long distance was the 14 miles to Times Square. My wife Christine and I have just finished living the last 3+ years in Las Vegas(saw the realestate meltdown coming) and were completely captured with the beauty of the high desert from the Grand Canyon and Southern Nevada and Utah all the way up the Sierra Nevada Range past Lake Tahoe and thru Oregon to Yakima Washington(Mt.St. Hellens). Just the shape and color of rocks and the "Sky Islands" of mountain top parks like Mount Charleston 45 minutes from Vegas is so extrordinarily different than anything else we have seen we have become rockhounds and Chris is pursuing gemology as a new career.

[Jim Gibson]

I grew up in Arizona, lived eight years in Flagstaff and traveled the Four Corners area extensively. It's my favorite part of the world (next to the Scottish Western Islands) and Durango is great year round. I highly recommend the Four Corners area as a destination for anyone. Some of the oldest history in North America is located in this area.

I also voted for McCain in the Senate every election when I lived there. I have no intent of voting for him now. He is the complete opposite of the person I respected as a voter and an Arizonan. I no longer trust nor respect him.

[brendan stallard]

Holly,

LOL, you get quite a few of those road signs with the bullet holes in South Georgia, too:)

brendan