Roadtrip: Day 5

What happens when you go off-roading in a Hyundai Accent.

Our day did not start off well. We overslept until 8:00, and shortly after rushing out the door, ended up stuck in a snowbank. You see, there was a huge puddle in the road, and since we had already sailed through some very deep ones the day before we decided to go around. Getting back onto the road proved problematic.


We called for roadside assistance and then waited. We were first approached by an old man who lectured us before trying to help. Then two guys turned up and as they were discussing what to do, another truck came by. He had chains, so the two guys hitched us to their truck and pulled us out. I wanted to hug them. Who knew that when angels appeared, one would be a redhead smoking a cigarette and the other would have a mullet?


Later in the day, we crossed into Louisiana. We took pictures at the border and did a litle dance by the side of the road. Texas was awesome, and I want to go back someday. But seriously, it is a big state. Getting across it felt like it took forever.


We rolled into Monroe, LA at around 6 p.m. and then went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel across the street from the motel. Sometimes you just need meatloaf.

Roadtrip: Day 4

We reluctantly bid a fond farewell to room 14 at the Motel 6 in Van Horn (conveniently located right next to room 41) and headed down the road toward Abilene.


We followed a snowstorm into east Texas, and were hoping to arrive after it was cleaned up. We saw a lot of cars and trucks that had gone off the highway in the storm, but the highway was clear. Local roads, not so much.


We arrived in Abilene in the middle of the afternoon. We got lunch at a local greasy spoon and then went to K-Mart for snacks so that we could skip dinner and not be on icy roads after dark. Our tasks accomplished, we went back to the motel. I decided to take a nap. When you're sick and driving across the country, you take any sleep opportunities that arise.

Roadtrip: Day 2

We woke up in Benson, AZ to discover that an unprecedented cold front had swept through the West while we slept. We're pretty sure we were the cause of it since nothing about this roadtrip has gone as planned. I think the plagues of locusts are scheduled to arrive over the weekend.

Bowlin's Continental Divide Trading Post was heavily advertised on billboards for miles before the exit: "Snakeskin Belts!" "Agate Bookends!" "Mexican Pottery!" "Turquoise Jewelry!" "Grab & Go Snacks!" The appeared to have everything. We had to stop.

It was there that I ran into a guy I went to high school with. He lives nearby and works at the trading post. I figure the odds of that happening are even greater than the odds of Mother Nature deciding to send the worst winter weather in history on the same week we decide to drive across the country.

Monica and I bought matching mood rings at the trading post. Right now, according to the key, mine is the color of "mixed emotions." It's been like that a lot, actually. We're sick, we're stressed, and we're laughing hysterically over everything that keeps going wrong.

We pushed on and had lunch in the west Texas town of El Paso. We drove another hundred miles or so and, with the help of Monica's awesome sister Michelle (who was at home answering our calls and searching the internet on our behalf), we found a motel in Van Horn. When we arrived, we discovered that we got there at just the right time. The motel was filling up with locals who had no heat or hot water due to frozen pipes. I'm beginning to feel like we owe the entire country an apology.

Roadtrip: Day 3

Beautiful Downtown Van Horn, TX.

We woke up in Van Horn, TX feeling sick. After checking the Weather Channel and realizing we really couldn't make much progress through Texas anyway due to storms in the Dallas area, we decided to stay in Van Horn and begin life anew. We figured that a teeming metropolis must have lots of opportunities for a couple of women with skills and moxie.


But first, we went back to sleep for four hours.

After breakfast, we surveyed our new home. I thought this might be a good place to get a job, assuming they were only closed temporarily due to frozen pipes. At the shed in the back of the lot there was a sign proclaiming that they also sell books and do upholstery by appointment. I just want to work at a place where I can answer the phone "Fancy Junk, how may I help you?"

A short drive around Van Horn revealed that the town did not have certain things that we felt all towns should have. So we decided that if the weather kept us there forever (and it looked like it might) we would open Bark-n-Bowl Pizza & Hot Oven Grinders -- a combination bowling alley, pet store, and pizza place. Monica pointed out that nobody in Texas would have any idea what a grinder is; I felt that the curiosity factor would be a key to our success.

We had dinner at the Hotel El Capitan, which is beautiful, and was also interesting to me because I once knew Henry Trost, the grandson (or maybe great-grandson) of the Henry Trost who was one of the great architects of the west.

At this point, it didn't even strike me as an odd coincidence.