Wow so many American made trucks and SUVs you can't even shake a stick at. I tell you what, these guys with their 10 gallon hats and their Ford Duallies are happier than a ground hog in soft dirt!
Cool painting we saw
Now some of these phrases may seem foreign to you but I just learned them in Abilene. Now that we are in the heart of Texas, the Texas Twang is much more common. People are saying y'all and just have that southern way about them. It feels like I am in a very different land now that the majority of people have a different dialect as I do. Though it does feel different, I have enjoyed my time in Texas so far. When we were in Abilene we headed to the older historic part of the town and walked around getting to know the town. We went into an All Things Texas store, which is basically a tourist's stop to get novelty items relating to Texas. I found this funny book that explained all the nuances of Texas and got a good chuckle. I then noticed they had a stuffed animal of an armadillo and realized they had those here. I went to the cashier who was this sweet young southern belle and asked here where I might find an armadillo. She responded, (With a very Texan accent) "Gosh, dead on the side of the road I guess!"
Pondering the art
Some of the Architecture at the Museum
We laughed then she told me a good road to drive down to possibly see some armadillo road kill. She asked where we were from and I said Sacramento, California. I then hesitated then asked her, "If I just said Sacramento would you know where I was from?"
She said at least she would and thought most people in Texas would. I suppose I am a little paranoid that we are so far away from Cali now and that possibly Sacramento isn't all that well known that they would be clueless as to where I originate.
Well we walked around Abilene and about the time I started warming up to the city Anna was ready to go. You see I was kinda in the mood just to get on the road and get to Fort Worth after waking up in Abilene but she wanted to see the sites. We left for Fort Worth on a country road hoping to see some armadillo. We filled up and they had 93 octane! Maander was very happy with the upgrade in cuisine for himself. As we made our way to Fort Worth we didn't see any armadillo though.
Cool church in downtown FW
Cityscape of FW
We rolled into Fort Worth and headed for the Museum of Modern Art. We drove through Texas Christian University (TCU) and saw a sea of students. We soon realized that colleges were really important in Texas. TCU won the Rose Bowl just a few weeks ago and the area around TCU was all decked out in their TCU pride. We got through all those young people and made it to the Museum which is just a little out of downtown in an area that looks to like it is being developed. Fort Worth had a very familiar feel to it. Big City with lots of diversity and the twang was not very apparent in a lot of peoples speech.
Variety of buildings in FW
We meandered around the Museum and saw the art. They had some very prominent artists such as Andy Warhol. It was nice seeing the Art but we left the Museum feeling like the 10 dollar price tag was not quite worth it. We don't plan on going to anymore art museums unless there is a particular reason to go. The building itself was very interesting and everything was really well done but it just didn't float our fancy.
We then explored downtown Fort Worth. We first stopped in a coffee shop that seemed hip and had a cool coffee house feel to it as you would find in Sacramento or any other California major city. Downtown was full of different kinds of styles in architecture. We saw a lot of tempting restaurants to go to and read many historical plaques all about Fort Worth. It got cold and we decided to head back to a Walmart and shack up for the night, the nights looked to be getting colder and colder now :(
On the trail
We woke up and knew it was a lazy day. We got our laundry done and settled on going on a bike ride. We found a park with a nice long trail and first made lunch then headed out for a longish 11 mile bike ride. The weather was very nice and the scenery was beautiful. It had a winter feel to it without any snow. Texas is pretty flat so the ride was easy and we just trucked along. We saw and heard a russeling in some leaves just off the bike trail and slammed on our brakes!! It was an Armadillo!! We tried to get a picture but he quickly jumped into the bushes to escape. We hoped to see more. Oh and we did. We ended seeing probably 5 armadillos total. I was very happy we went on the bike ride.
OMG OMG an Armadillo!!
It felt good to get back to riding bikes after a long hiatus. Ever since Tucson we have been somewhat in a hurry to just get across the country. Now that we have arrived in Fort Worth it has been a bit more laid back and we haven't had to worry about extreme weather with the safety of a big city within reach. We hit up 24 hour fitness the whole week until we got to Melody and Stephen's house in Mansfield.
At Melody and Stephen's chillin'
In Mansfield we visited Melody and Stephen's church. First we went to the youth group on Thursday the first night we were there. It was a lot of fun to interact with them and they had some free pizza and I am all about that. We spent Friday in Waxahachie with Melody while Stephen was at work. It is this cool town with houses one would imagine would be in a Midwest country town. We visited the courthouse and walked around downtown Waxahachie. We stopped at a pub and had a pint which hit the spot proper. Friday was night the girls went to a girls function at the church and Stephen and I just stayed home and played video games. Saturday was the Botanical Gardens where we just stared at plants' private areas all day. We started acting silly and getting into trouble grabbing a cart meant for the staff there. We ended the night with some Settlers of Catan and passed out, Melody and Stephen were very kind and allowed us to use their bed while we stayed with them.
Melody and I getting into trouble
Cuuuuuute
Waxahachie courthouse
Waxahachie Museum
Anna like phone booths for some reason
They didn't answer
Sunday was church and the fast that Melody and Stephen were on was over so we had some Chinese food afterwards. This food was great and we ended it with some ice cream at this fast food joint called Braum's. We hung out with their family afterwards and ended the night with a rematch of Settlers where I was able to pull of a W.
Taking a little sippy sip
of the Holy Grail water
In the tropical greenhouse at the botanicals
They are way more in love than Anna and I are :)
.... NOT!
We are in Austin now and the 93 octane has turned Maander into a well performing beast who is gnashing at the bit to be driven. We got excellent gas mileage from Mansfield to Austin. I estimate the mpg to be at least in the 20 mile/gallon range. We have only heard good things about Austin and we plan on staying in Austin for 3 days if the weather permits. Looks like we will have to be strategic about how long and where we stay while we are in Central Texas because the weather can change quick and it can have snow or freezing rain. All stuff we want Maander not to be close to. We have a place to party for the Superbowl in San Antonio and hopefully my Uncle will shack us up in Houston. I gotta call him though :/
Maander and the sea of nothingness
where we parked before entering
Carlsbad Caverns
So the people we have met warned us about west Texas. They said there is nothing there. You want to blow your brains out because there just isn't anything to see and you have to drive... and keep driving and keep driving. Guess what? They were right! Our trip that took us from El Paso to Carlsbad was barren. It was insane how straight a road can go for so long and for there to be nothing, absolutely nothing. But before that lets talk about Las Cruces!
Actually beautiful sights on our
way to Carlsbad
New Mexico. I have never been here and had really no expectations. I knew we wouldn't hit Santa Fe or Albuquerque and those are the only towns I know of in New Mexico and even those I have little knowledge of. We arrived in Las Cruces after a short little jaunt from Deming. Lately, we have really been hitting the road hard and getting east as quick as we can. We want to avoid the cold that is in central Texas and get to the Gulf Coast to help regulate the temperature. Las Cruces is a good in between as we trek slowly but surely. We chilled at Starbucks for a longtime and watched all the new NBC comedies from the night before (The Office, Community, etc etc) Afterwards we went to explore the town. Turned out NMSU was there and we have had fun walking around colleges in the past so we said how bout it.
Las Cruces had a good vibe to it. According to Wikipedia its main industry is the federal Government which has some military test facilities nearby. We walked the campus of NMSU saw the peeps and just tried to get an idea of what NMSU student life was like. We saw some ROTC people and looked at some bulletin boards to see what activities went on. It was a Thursday and it said they had a Improv show from 9-11pm. We said we would try and make it cuz that just sounded like a cool way to see a different side of Las Cruces.
ROTC Ooh rahh!
Nifty!
We walked a bit more around campus then headed back to Maander to go find some grub. The site Yelp.com has been a great help on our journey. It is a bunch of reviews by people who go to these places and rate them and write up a short review. You find all the local hang outs and if a place has some unique nuance to it they let you know. A highly reviewed place was Ziffaro's Pizza. We headed downtown to see what was up. It looked like Las Cruces did a half-hearted attempt and making a downtown walk that didn't really work out. We found Ziffaro's after a bit of searching and proceeded to nom. The food was excellent and the atmosphere had a very midtown Sacramento feel to it. I liked it and I over ate the food was so good. Not many young people at all at the restaurant but it was popping.
After dinner we headed on over to the Improv. When we went inside it was only 2 other people. We introduced ourselves and asked if it was a performance or something you participated in. They said either or and Anna said earlier she wasn't interested in trying improv. I said I would try one little thing then we would be on our way. A couple more people showed up and we began. They had to explain every improv game they had but it was easy to catch on and I did my best. I couldn't say I did a great job but I was able to get a couple laughs. I found the way you get the best laugh is if you reference something they are familiar with. So my Seinfeld quote went over well. I have been watching a lot of Arrested Development on Netflix lately and I noticed they used lines from that show a lot. I participated for probably 40 minutes then excused myself, it was a cool experience.
Only Steers and ____s come from Texas!!
Jk Jk :)
Las Cruces to Carlsbad would be the longest drive in a single day we have ever done so far. Maander has been strong and I was confident. Our plan was to stop in El Paso, TX get some good grub, we heard their Mexican there is really good. The road you take you have to swing into Texas then back up into New Mexico. Getting to El Paso was no problem and I realized I hadn't been to a big city in awhile. El Paso has 600k people there. We went into the predominantly Mexican area, though we are unsure if possibly the whole town is the Mexican area, and went to a highly rated Mexican hole in the wall joint. Anna and I succumbed to our temptations and we ordered way too much food. I have not eaten so much in a long time. The food was great but did not warrant me gorging myself.
Nom Nom
From El Paso to Carlsbad was when I realized what all those people said was true. We drove, and kept driving. There just was nothing. Absolutely nothing. There were little cafes or gas stations along the road that tried to capitalize on the 120 miles of nothing in between El Paso and Carlsbad yet every single one of them was shut down and looked to have been out of business for many many years. It had an eerie feel to it and I just wanted this leg of the trip to be over with but it didn't want to be over with. The caverns are a bit before the city so we stopped at the information booth and got info for the caverns with the day almost over the caverns were closing and we would hit them the next day. We rolled into Carlsbad exhausted and the weather was this blustery cold that made you feel like crap. The town of Carlsbad is a complete pit of garbage nastiness. Never ever go there by choice. If you see the caverns make sure you are way the hell away by the time you rest your head. The roads were the crappiest I have ever seen in a city. Every building looked like it was falling apart and the highest octane of gas they had was 90. I was pissed and this city felt like garbage, Anna suggested just getting a hotel and I gladly agreed. I didn't want to experience this town at all. We ended up in a Best Western and tried to recharge our batteries. Late at night it sounded like some drama was happening outside and it was hard to go back to sleep which just made me have an even worse taste in my mouth in regards to Carlsbad. Blaaahhh now the caverns
Just before we enter the Cavern
Carlsbad caverns is way bigger than Kartchner. We walked probably 3 or more miles into the cave and into a depth of about 800 ft. When I compared the two caverns I found that Carlsbad is like a typical American meal and Kartchner was like a decadent Gourmet meal. Both are good in their own right but very different. Kartchner is much smaller but it has much more color and the formations or decorations that are found in the cavern are rarer and more intricate. Carlsbad doesn't have big differences in color but it is just big, really big. It has solid decorations some awe inspiring things it just is lots and lots. Carlsbad is significantly cheaper than Kartchner (6 bucks compared to 22) but it is self guided and not as well lit. Carlsbad allowed photography in the cavern so we took many pics, enjoy:
Looking out as we descend into the Cavern
Column
Listening to the recordings as
we see the decorations
Extreme close up of a stalagmite
Thats a tall one
Draperies
Some parts were quite low
imagine myself, couple close
calls in bumping my head
Get your mind out of the gutter
Not pointing at the pic above me
Just being amazed at some of the formations
A pool inside
We now are just trying to get across Texas and get to Fort Worth Dallas area. We aren't doing the 600 miles in a day thing so we have stopped in a couple of smallish towns. We stayed the night in the town of Hobbs, NM which is right on the border of NM and TX. Nothing there and is mainly there because of the oil fields that surround it. We didn't do much just hung out at the Chili's. We had some adult beverages at the bar as we waited for our table to be ready. I got the bill for a beer and a Long Island Iced Tea and it was 15 bucks! I was like ouch but the friendly dude next to us popped down a 20 and said, "On me, the casino treated me well today" hehehe I knew there was something good about a casino.
That night we spent at Wal-mart where in the middle of the night we were awoken by some more drama outside but it sounded like a cop rolled up quickly. We then awoke to find that someone threw an egg at Maander during the night. Dang 'ol dang children, I shake my fist at you! Now I find myself in a Starbucks which are increasingly rare here in the middle of this nothingness in a town called Abilene. We just finished the longest drive we have ever done, about 200 miles. Maander is mighty and eager to take us to our destinations. Tomorrow we plan to do another long haul and roll into Fort Worth. We will bounce around that metropolitan area till Thursday where Anna and I will spend sometime with her friend Melody in Mansfield, a little south of Dallas.
Kisses and I thought this would be short but I now realize when things suck there is more to write because I can just complain a ton. I wonder if there are more negative adjectives in the English language than positive ones. Someone look that up?
Our journey continues and many exciting things have occurred. We head east into lands we have never trekked.
Jonah and I at the park!
After spending time with Lyle in Tempe we spent the night in Gilbert. We started the day nice and slow and eventually jumped on the road to Tucson. We were going to meet my old Pastor Dusty and his wife Jamie! As we drove, Maander seemed to keep at a nice temperature at about 60 mphs. This is OK just the only problem is that in Arizona the trucks can drive just as fast as the rest of the traffic and the speed limit was 75. So we got whizzed by all day long by big trucks. The cactus began to become more and more common and the scenery became more and more redundant. Soon I grew weary of the desert. The desert is a new experience for myself but I believe I have achieved the point of now knowing what the desert is like and so some of the appeal has worn off.
Seriouz
Dusty's Church
My Church- that's the name
Dusty lives in a suburb of Tucson a few miles south of Tucson called Sahaurita. I would liken it to the Laguna area of Elk Grove because it is mostly large home developments. We rolled up to Dusty's house with the kids playing in the cauldesack and Dusty making sure they were all safe. He hasn't changed much. We parked and we greeted each other with a hug. We got our bags and made our way into the house. Soon Jamie got home from the store with supplies for the weekend. We talked and caught up. We got to know the kids. The last time I saw them were when they were babies. The oldest was Josiah then Jonah and lastly Sophia. All the kids have tons of energy and it was fun to see the trouble they got into ;P. Dusty cooked up some amazing shish kabobs and we just got settled in. The next day was Sunday and I would get to see if Dusty still had it. We ended the night just chilling playing the guitar. I am quite a bit out of practice :(
Sunday was nice I got to see what Dusty is like as a Senior Pastor and see how his congregation was. It looked like Dusty knew what was up and that he truly had a heart for the people of Sahaurita. When starting the church they met outside for 2 years! Now you know that takes heart. After church we went to the park and threw Frisbees and Dusty had one of those cool kites where you can make it do all kinds of maneuvers. Just before heading to bed Dusty got a call from a friend inviting him to go dirt bike/quad riding the next day. He said I could come too and Dusty said he was so excited he didn't think he would be able to go to sleep that night. I thought to myself that it sounded fun but I was nowhere near being too excited.
Our view while Quadding and Dirt Biking
I look so beautiful
We woke up early and made our way out to where we would ride. Dusty got a dirt bike I got a quad. His friend was on a quad and his friend's friend was on a dirt bike.... you follow? We took off down these trails and as soon as I gunned the throttle I was like, "OOOhhhhhh Daaammnnnn this is awesome!!" Way way way better than I expected. They warned me not to try and keep up and I wasn't pushing myself too hard but I was happy that I wasn't left way behind. The first little stint was difficult and I was just getting used to it but soon I was willing to get a little crazy. As we rode the trails we saw some evidence, some clothing and a blanket, of an illegal alien making his crossing into the US. We were riding somewhat close to the border and in some rural hills. I loved every minute of riding and I found myself yelling things like, "Get on it!!"
I don't like this pic but one of a few of Dusty and I
Taking a short break between shredding
I felt like I did a good job riding but near the tail end I started to fatigue and the part that just started pooping out was actually my thumb that controlled the throttle. Going up the rocky steep hills you have to feather the gas just right and with my thumb exhausted it made for some difficult travels there. Atop some of the hills had some amazing views. Once we got down and were near the tail end of our 3 hour adventure we hit the main dirt road. This one wasn't difficult to navigate at all and it was just pedal to the metal. The quad had a speedometer and I topped out at 65 mph!! It was so amazing to ride these things. I realized why all those bros that are super into dirt bikes are into them. Dang it now I can't hate on those bros anymore either :P
Farmer Fam with us minus Josiah :(
We ended the night at Chuck E. Cheese's, you know for the kids. Pizza was OK, I drank soda and tried to make some ticket dough. Wasn't too successful in making the tickets but it was whatevs. Making our way to Cheese's we saw some cool planes as we drove by the Air Force Base. Apparently, it was in the movie Transformers.
Mission de Xavier
Mission de Xavier was super beautiful. It looked to be kept up as well as if not more so than the Mission in Carmel. We went through the museum portion quickly then saw the sanctuary. Wow. It was awe inspiring. As we walked around I heard a person challenge all of this decadence with what they could have accomplished for the poor if they did not spend so much money and time in making these elaborate missions and sanctuaries. It is nice to make something that will last that will inspire, that is beautiful. But it is true there is a point where you are neglecting something so that you continue building this thing that when reduced down is merely a building. I certainly don't disagree with a congregation wanting a nice building or wanting some stained glass or what have you. How does one determine when certain moneys should be spent on aesthetics or charity?
The Three Altars?
Not sure what they are called
Narrow Hallways
We went through the town of Tucson but it didn't seem to have free parking nor that much appeal to walk around. We stopped at an In-N-Out for fear that it would be the last one we would see and then left to go visit Tombstone. Tombstone has turned into a tourist town as its major revenue generator. It was cool to see the old graveyard then walk down the main street where everything was happening. There were tons of cowboys there. I think they were paid just to walk around the town with their six shooters and give it a more western feel. We stopped in the Big Nose Kate's Saloon and had a beverage. The band was playing a bunch of Johnny Cash which is never a bad a thing. We meandered some more then wen to Benson and spent the night in a Walmart.
Rocking out with a Whiskey Sour
Mean streets of Tombstone
Near the edge of town some buildings
that aren't restored and look
really old
When we were hanging we read reviews of Kartchner caverns which were less than 10 miles where we were at. It was named in the top ten most beautiful caverns in the world. We decided that was too good to skip so in the morning we headed there. The tour cost a lot and we weren't allowed to take pictures in the caverns. Inside the caverns it was 72 degrees with 99% humidity. We were quite toasty and the different formations were amazing to see. The guys who found the cavern found a sink hole then followed it more than 1000 feet under ground where it was insanely tight fitting to get through. You would not catch me doing that in a million years. They then got to the cavern portion and it opened up into this huge room where all these different formations have occurred. They discovered it in 1975 and it took from then to 2003 to get funding and to build the various pathways and what not to experience the caverns. Basically this is a recent cavern a regular person could experience.
That's a sloth they found in the caverns
The entrance into the caverns
This is what they had to squeeze through for 1000 ft
to get to the caverns, they are crazy
(this is a model btw)
Just models of stuff we saw in the cavern
Since then we have just been on the road going east. We are trying to avoid the cold and it looks like Thursday will be quite chilly. We decided that if it ever gets too cold we will get a hotel room. I think we want to try and get to the Houston area pretty quick to try and avoid any snow or very cold temperatures. We have made it to New Mexico and basically just stopping in towns to rest and then keep on keepin on. It seems that New Mexico is more yellow in color than Arizona though quite flat and desert like still. There are many Firework stores along the freeway and I am tempted to get some serious fireworks for some good times. Peace out y'all
