The Trip - Day 3

No, I'm not in Cisco yet. How on earth did I make the trip last year in only two days??? Oh yeah, I didn't have to stop a little early each night to be sure I had time for homework.

I could have made it tonight, probably after 11:00, but when I talked to my mom and mentioned the possibility of stopping early and spending one more night on the road, she preferred that idea over my driving all the way today. So I'm in Monahans, Texas. I almost pushed on to Odessa, because as I got close to Monahans, the smell of all the refineries got pretty strong, and I didn't want to breathe that all night. But then it faded again before I reached town.

Here's the view from the road near Pecos, which isn't too far west of Monahans:



Here's this morning's view across the street from last night's motel office in Lordsburg, New Mexico. The gas station--and its "clean restrooms"--have been abandoned for a long time, and I'm sure the promise of cleanliness, though still made, is no longer kept.



I had lunch in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I saw the signs for Cracker Barrel, and the thought of comfort food called to me. Meatloaf and mashed potatoes. But when I was driving toward it, I passed Applebee's on the other side, Applebee's with their Weight Watcher's menu so much better for all the exercise I'm not getting. I made a U-turn, which made Gina happy, though she was disgusted with me when I turned right, before she wanted me to.

I took in the book I've been reading when I dine alone. It's Too Far From Home, the story of the three astronauts left behind on the International Space Station after Columbia disintegrated on re-entry and the shuttle program was put on hold. I'm enjoying it. The writing is good, full of the kind of details civilians like to see, and the technical things are light and readable. (But at dinner tonight, I got to the part where Columbia's families waiting in Florida had to be ushered away from the grandstands, and I felt myself starting to cry, so I had to shut the book and finish that chapter back in my room.)

On the road this afternoon, in the middle of New Mexico, where the landscape has finally turned a recognizable shade of green, the center divide between the two directions of I-10 traffic was clogged with 4 or 5 police vehicles in one spot. To one side of all the cop cars, was a yellow single-engine plane facing west. And all the cops were standing around looking baffled. I tried taking a picture but only got the frame of my car door. I have no idea what happened there.

Shortly after I crossed into Texas, I stopped at a rest area and got a chuckle at the forthrightness of the Texans about where they'd like you to put out your cigarettes:



Not two minutes later, as I tried to leave that restroom, this is the sight that greeted me (click to enlarge):



I'm sure not in California anymore!

One more picture, of a butterfly in a flowering tree at a different rest area.