Friday, September 15, 2006

Nuclear fallout and miso soup


Uranium clinic was interesting. Today was mostly down-winders. Downwinders are those who were exposed to nuclear fallout in the 50s and 60s. They are eligible for $ from the government if they have cancer. (Does Uncle Sam think this is a fair trade?) Really, any kind of cancer except prostate and cervical qualify. Lots of paperwork is involved, including required documentation from the Navajo nation (and Hopi but didn't see Hopi in Chinle). The record keeping is rather poor. Patients have to prove they lived in an “official” downwind area in certain years. School records are most commonly used. However many of the records are impossible to find as schools no longer exist or have purged their records. Birth certificates are also required. But some Navajo don't have them if they were born at home. Plus names on these records vary a lot. One name appears on a birth certificate, another on a marriage license, and so forth. So it's a hassle and the group of people I worked with today work on making sure these people have everything they need to file for their benefits.

Clinic ended pretty early. I had checked out of the hotel in the morning. I wanted to drive to Canyon de Chelly (pronounced “Canyon de Shay”) to look at some ruins but it was thunderstorming so I just hit the road for Moab. Was another beautiful drive (both drives were around 3 hours long). Had a mammoth root beer float from A&W in Chinle and had to pee so badly on the way thought I might actually explode. The bushes in the desert weren't big enough to even crouch behind so I resorted to holding it until the next gas station, which happened to be at a border town (between Utah and AZ) called Mexican Water. There I found a laundry mat, some caffeine to keep me going, and the blessed bathroom. I was still sleepy so after I was in Utah I stopped at cute town called Bluff at a funky artist co-op/coffee shop/old west museum. I had fresh brewed iced tea that was overpriced and fabulous. The rest of the drive was gorgeous as red rock formations started shooting up and I could see snow-capped mountains on the horizon.

“The Hole in the Rock” kitschy tourist stop greeted me in Moab. I arrived an hour or so before Jessie and pretty much just collapsed on the bed and read until she got there. We had some seriously yummy edamame (I pretty much ate the entire appetizer platter myself) and Jessie had a burger while I ate some very, very salty miso soup crammed with veggies. We walked around a bit and eventually went to bed. We awoke in the middle of the night by a thunderstorm with thunder so loud it rattled the windows and set off car alarms. The lightening was light a strobe light from the curtained hotel window. We both agreed we were glad we didn't go camping.

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