Visiting Arizona

Dream

I’m going down to Arizona to see some family. Apparently, my route takes me through some caves. Someone has told me (possibly my Aunt Joni) that in these caves is a special type of rock that can add a nice flavor to chewing gum (huh?), so I stop to check this out. The mineral in question is a kind of marbled blue stone that makes up one wall of the cave. I clean off a section of wall (rub any loose dirt off anyway), and stick a piece of lightly chewed gum to it. The flavor takes a while to soak in so I'll have to come back for the gum later. I make my way through the rest of the cave and find an old truck parked at the exit. It is a two door junker, and has right hand drive. I get in and start heading down some country roads to get to meet up with my relatives. I’m having a real hard time driving the truck. Being on the wrong side is throwing me off, and I’m having a hard time hitting the pedals. They seem to be set up for use with the left foot, and even when I can find them the breaks are fairly worthless (bad breaks seem to be a common occurrence in my dreams). I hear the approaching sirens of an ambulance but struggle to pull over. I end up driving on the shoulder and just coast to slow down since I can’t get the breaks to work. A second ambulance passes me and the process is repeated. I eventually meet up with my cousin Harrison (a younger cousin) and my uncle Loose (his actual name is Roger, but Loose is much more fitting). I ditch my old truck and Loose drives us into Phoenix. He complains about the traffic and how long it takes to drive through town. He makes a comment that if you’re going to attempt the trip you should bring a change of clothes because it'll take more than a day. The 20 mile trip does end up taking us into the night so we eventually stop driving. We walk downtown and all of the sidewalks are packed with people. Loose tells Harrison to stay put while he and I continue, but Harrison doesn’t comply (I agree with him since it was so crowded that we would never be able to find him again). We end up going into a bar and Loose offer to get us both sodas (I don’t drink and Harrison is underage). He is given a receipt for the drinks and he puts it into his pocket with an exaggerated gesture and say “for my records” in a sarcastic manner.

Analysis

I do have family that lives in Arizona during the winter, so that’s a thing. I’ve never heard of rocks that could add flavor to gum (it would be hilariously stupendous if real), and have never had to pilot a right hand drive vehicle.

Bad breaks seem to show up in my dreams after I drive on snow, and are probably just symptoms of the anxiety that this can produce. Losing control of a fast moving vehicle is not something that outright terrifies me, but I don’t relish the thought either. Pulling over for ambulances is another driving related uneasiness of mine, since I always worry that I won’t get out of the way fast enough.

I live in a part of the country where traffic jams don’t really exist, so I’m not sure where that part of the dream comes from. It merged right into the busy sidewalks which are another thing I’ve never experienced. As a big fan of personal space, I can’t say that I ever want to.

The attempt to get Harrison to stop and wait for us is unfathomable to me, both in the dream and out. It may have been because he didn’t want to take him into the bar, but no one seemed to mind when we got there. The sodas seemed to imply that neither Harrison nor I were very good drinking partners, but I liked the joke about the receipt. I’m pretty sure that a purchase should have to be over $20 to involve a receipt, and even then I rarely see the point.

Auguries

Always carry a change of clothes. Also gum.