Across Country: August 2011

After our eventful morning, we sailed through the rest of Texas. As I said before, it was cliche to say the least. We dipped way down to the bottom corner, driving through the city of El Paso. It was here that we first saw "the border," the actual border that separates the United States and Mexico. On the US side, a never ending strip of chain stores, very similar to Broad Street in Richmond, VA. There were restaurants, department stores, strip malls, and too many fast food joints to count. Lots of leather and boots stores, too. Speckled between were condos and stucco houses. On the other side of the wall, a shanty town built up on a hill, painted in bright colors. Behind the shanty town was a mountain that looked impassable.

El Paso ended and then we were in New Mexico. In Texas we would look up a gas station on our GPS, only to find that it was abandoned when we got there. Every one out of about ten was left to decay and slowly rust back into the landscape. In New Mexico the ratio was more like nine in ten, and it became hard to predict when to fill up the tank. This day was a long drive, 14 hours or so, and we didn't want to make unnecessary extra stops. There were few towns on our major highway and even fewer cars. The only other vehicles on the road were semis, lots of them. Most of the time the speed limit was 80mph, EIGHTY!

It was my turn to drive and Tim wanted to take a nap. I had done the math and after our last fill up we would make it about 280 miles on this tank(we have a very small tank and were getting horrible gas mileage, with our car weighing way over the limit and going an average of 80mph, petal pegged to the ground and somehow always driving on a slight uphill). Well the little light came on and Tim woke up and asked me when the next gas station was coming up. I knew that there was a truck stop about 20 miles ahead and it would definitely have at least one station open. I could see it in his face, Tim doubted my math skills. He checked the trip meter and our fancy thingy that tells us how many miles to the gallon we are getting. He informed me that we might not make it. We thought about turning around, but the last opened gas station we passed had been about 20 miles back. We were stuck in the middle and could only hope that we were going to make it, with our cargo of babies and meltable vinyl records.

We could see it in the distance, a Flying J, Petro, and Love's all just on the horizon. We were gonna make it. Nope, no we weren't. The engine cut and I tried to coast the rest of the way there, but the bumpy New Mexico road stole all of our momentum and we stopped quickly on the shoulder. Our GPS said we were still 0.8 miles away. It looked so much closer than that. No more air condition, so we rolled down the windows. It was hot and the air was like breathing in an oven. It was the type of air that filled your mouth with cobwebs and hurt your lungs. This was our first time experiencing such an awful air, and now I know why no one lives in New Mexico and everything is abandoned there.

I tried not to breath while Tim fished out his running shoes from the back seat. He was going to run to the gas station, buy a container, fill it up, and run back to the car as quickly as possible so the pets, myself and the records did not melt in this crazy dry heat. I watched him run for a bit, and then just like that, I couldn't see him anymore. The terrain ate him up. There were bushy, awful, spiky plants all along the side of the road. Like an idiot, I stepped out of the car without shoes on. Two steps off of the pavement and I fell to the ground. My soles were engulfed by long thin sharp sticks, hundreds of them. I got back in the car. I could hear the cats panting, so I tried to give them water. They wouldn't drink. It had been about 20 minutes, so I put on Tim's flip flops, and took Persie to the shade of a tumble weed along a fence. I watched for Tim, but he never showed up. I started to walk away from the car. I thought maybe he had passed out, or worse, the locals had got him. My mind likes to think these things in stressful situations. And then I saw him walking very slowly back with a gas can in hand. Success!

He has blood coming from his running shoes. The little sticks had pierced through the mesh. He needed an inhaler and air condition right away. I took the gas can and carried it, with Persie still in my other hand. Tim got in the drivers seat while I poured the gas. Spike(the car) started right up and we drove the 0.8 miles to the Petro. After refreshments and a fill up, we were on our way out of New Mexico. I told Tim I was sorry, but, being the perfect man he is, he said it wasn't my fault. I will admit that it was entirely my fault, and that if our roles had been reversed, I would have blamed him. But I am terrible and he is a saint.

Crossing into Arizona, it was getting dark and the sun was setting in another perfect way. The plateaus grew and it started to look like picturesque Arizona, cacti and all. We arrived in Tucson, piled into the hotel, and prepared for the next day. So to sum up, we would definitely live in Texas, but never, ever live in New Mexico. We'd see how the next day went before we judged Arizona, but it had pretty good chances, following such a terrible act as New Mexico.