The First Three Days

I meant to do this every night of the drive, but I'll incorporate the past three days into one post.

Monday we left Richmond around 12:15 and trucked it all the way to Nashville. We spent about 11.5 hours in the car and it was pretty dull since we had already seen the little that there is to see on that drive the last time we went to Nashville. It was nice to see a few random spurts of changing trees around Blacksburg and again in the Smokies. Contrary to NPR reporting, we had NO problem finding gas in TN and it was all less than $3.50 per gallon. A sore subject is the 95 dollar iPod radio tuner that barely works in my car but works perfectly in Beth's. Good thing I saved the receipt. We stayed in a "Microtel" that was kind of weird but okay, except for the lack of coffee and shitty Continental Breakfast.

Tuesday we drove from Nashville through Memphis, Arkansas, and ended at Fort Worth, TX were we stayed with two of Beth's friends. 90% of the drive absolutely SUCKED. I have driven through Arkansas twice now and both times have been miserable. It is a wasteland. It is obviously the setting for Gummo, and don't get me started on how much I hate that movie. Sites worthy of note were the abundance of "Jesus Saves" and "24hr PORN XXX SHOP" billboards in Arkansas. We saw a weird possible UFO-ish thing over the highway. It was a black dot in the sky(maybe 500 meters in the air) that did NOT look like a balloon at all. It didn't move at all, and it was jet black, like a pinhole to outer space. There was also this really funny potbelly pig-like animal that was dead on its back with all four legs in the air like a cartoon character. Beth and I exchanged comments about it via Walkie Talkie, but about 100 yards further we saw a truck driver walking back towards the creature and wielding a baseball bat. It seems we were not the only ones intrigued by natures beauty. The world got a whole lot prettier about 10 miles into Texas. The sun set as we were heading due West on I-40 (I think). It was postcardesque and really calming. Driving through Dallas reminded me somewhat of Las Vegas. A whole lot of nothingness and then a huge, neon lit city in the middle of nowhere. Arriving at Amy and Luke's in Fort Worth was great because we were served pizza and beer upon entrance. (Did I mention they also had The Office on?) Sleep that night felt incredible. We ate breakfast at the Blue Bonnet Cafe which was REALLY good and REALLY cheap.

Wednesday's drive was pretty dull until about the last 2 hours. The plateau country of Texas is overwhelmingly mesmerizing. I wish I had been a passenger in a car so I could just stare out on the landscape for all those miles. It would be insane camping. I was wondering who owns all that nothingness and decided it must be the state government, but I could be wrong. The sunset tonight was out of this world. It was the most powerful sunset I've ever been involved in and I decided that I would trade the best sex for another chance at the perfection of that hour of dusk. We were driving 80 mph straight West again on flat ground, so we were able to experience the sunset for longer than a stationary object. We stayed in El Paso tonight and let me tell you, COME! It made the last two days TOTALLY worth it. El Paso is RIGHT on the Mexican Border and there is a HUGE city (Ciudad Juarez) on the otherside of the border that looks really pretty at night. El Paso itself is just a huge jumble of crap that I could never imagine learning my way around. We got really good mexican food and beer and stayed at a nice Sunset Inn.

I don't know where we are going to stay tonight, but we don't have anymore 12 hour drives so hopefully I will be able to update more....

ask me about the windmills, the worlds largest rattlesnake roundup, George W's childhood home, and listening to Integrity while driving through oil fields.