July 26 and 27 – The End of Texas (and a run for the border)

Not wanting to disappoint us with their reputation, the RV was not ready until 2pm in the afternoon. Nothing of interest happened in the morning. I finished Dad’s Christmas ’07 scarf. He did not want to wear it, as the temperature measured 94 degrees.

After noon we were gently kicked out of our motel room, and so we went and sat in the shop, subtly pressuring the mechanics.

Finally, we left. We stopped in some town around 6:30 to get two tires replaced on the right rear axle. The only place open at 6:30 on a Saturday is the Wal-Mart supercenter. We drove on into the night. Around 9, dad went to sleep. At 9:30, I followed suit. We drove on route 84 to route 320, heading for Roswell, New Mexico.

There aren’t any pictures for this section, because it was dark. Very dark. Astoundingly dark. Even pictures of how dark it was wouldn’t convey how overwhelmingly dark it was. We could see thunderstorms in the distance: huge clouds lit up from the inside by their lightning.

At 3:05am, we reached New Mexico.

I woke up and sat co-pilot for mom, who had been driving since about we left Wal-Mart at 8.

Then I drove for a bit.

We reached Roswell around 4:30, which was actually 3:30 because we had reached Mountain Time (I have long stopped wearing my watch). I didn’t see any aliens.

We lost about half an hour in Roswell first trying to find a gas station, and then at the gas station. I got coffee.

I drove for a while longer, and then dad drove and I sat shotgun. Then we switched it around again, and I went to sleep, and the sun came up.

We reached Santa Fe at 7:01am, MST, and had breakfast.

We were worried, it being Sunday, that things would be closed (the yarn store certainly was), but we were fortunate enough to have arrived on the second day of the Hispanic Arts Festival. We wandered around and ate another breakfast of carnitas and breakfast burritos. Delicious.

We strolled through the fair for a few hours, and then went off to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum.

Then we went “home” for a nap (driving all night will require that), and then dad and I went to find internet at a cafe, and eat chips.

We split up after, and I wandered around and found another small market in the yard of a church.

Then mom and I went to find the “oldest house,” which was a simple, old, adobe house just… sitting there. Just chillin’. Nothing special. Very cool.

By 4, we were on the road again, headed for Arizona.

It got flat very quickly.

July 25 – Nothing at all

Nothing at all happened Friday. We drove back to Rockdale, stopped in Taylor for lunch at an “All You Care To Eat” pizza buffet. Classy. Then we saw Batman: The Dark Knight. It was very good. When we got to the motel in Rockdale, in a fit of restlessness mom and I went for a run. Then we sat around, had dinner at Sonic, and went to bed, being promised the RV at 8am the next morning. Needless to say, we were not convinced.

July 24 – Austin again

Not much happened Thursday. We’d exhausted Austin’s options, to some extent. So we played with the cats in the lobby at the Austin motel (there were two, but these might both be the same cat).

Then we walked around, and I ate a cupcake from the cupcake… pod.

We hung out for a while at Hill Country Weaver’s “Knit Buzz”—their separate building for their classes, sit-and-knit sofa, and kitchen with snacks. Very cute. We waited for it to stop raining, and then had lunch at Taco X-Press.

We got a room for another night at the Austin Motel. Dad went to find Austin Aikido (successfully), and the rest of us watched TV and did laundry.

I met this cat. It was very sweet and friendly (and not dirty).