The 3,000 Miles: Day 5

Volcanoes are the only natural disaster I have yet to survive thanks to yesterday's trip. As we were traveling through the barren desert to Wilcox, Arizona the car was hit by a "dust devil" or a mini dust storm.

(This one didn't hit us, but one of his brothers did. In New Mexico.)

Getting out of Texas and into New Mexico and Arizona was filled with cliche Texan things. We saw crumbling abandoned gas stations, coyotes (dead), wide sandy plains, oil drilling machines and cacti. Not the Marge Simpson kind, but little grounders.

(It's even flowering!)

The landscape changed dramatically too. We left urban San Antonio to mountains and cliff faces. Only to drive through deserts. Then back into the urban area of El Paso which gave way to New Mexico's nothingness deserts. 

I drove us into New Mexico and we had to stop and verify that we were American citizens. As a Mass liberal whose argued against The Fence, it was weird to be stopped. To be that close to the problem; giving new value to arguments.

The desert of New Mexico was beautiful in the only way Nature's harshness can be. The traffic was minimal, which only added to the sense of empty such large spaces provide.

In the far distance, mountains loomed, always watching but never reachable. The weather was so intense that he saw heat lightening, which is caused by extreme temperatures and high particle (like dust) count in the air. 

We stopped for food and Ali brought us to the hotel. There, after 12 hours of driving and two times changes (from Central to Mountain to Pacific), we hit the pool.

It was fantastic to just submerge myself in cool water as it was hot as balls the whole day. I'm certain I have a tan/burn on the nape of my neck.

After 30 minutes of swimming and relaxing, we walked across the street to a sit-down style Pizza Hut. We got pasta dishes and some booze from the gas station next door. 

Back in the room, we played drinking card games: Up The River, Golf, Drinking Old Maid and Blackjack. For Old Maid, the seven was the Old Maid for the first couple of games - it was creepily funny.

In Blackjack, Ali cheated somehow because she kept getting 21. Even though it was 9 p.m. Arizona time, for us it was 11 p.m. and we decided to go to sleep.

Climbing into my own bed, I snugged down to sleep through my buzz.

(A new friend, found at a Texan rest stop)

(These mountains aren't rocky, they're Davis! #jokes!)

(Cliff side in Texas somewhere on I-10. The rock is blue!)