Posted on Wednesday, 9th August 2006 by Bull
OMG, yes, I’m back and I apologize to those who regularly read this blog. Its been over a month since I’ve updated and I apologize! I’ve written a little bit but I’ve never uploaded it so here goes:
Dallas Texas:
Well here I am, after a long day of babying my car and hoping like hell it will hold up. I can proudly say that my car behaved nicely today. The entire trip was uneventful to say the least, but I ran into traffic hell by the time I hit Dallas. At the perfect rush hour too: 1700. While sitting at a light behind a cluster of cars, I looked to the right and saw a motel6, and even better, a Denny’s right next to it. “Hot damn!” I said. I pulled out of traffic and checked in for a lower level room. Then I walked over to Denny’s and had their wonderful country fried steak, mash potatoes and green beans. That’s usually the only thing I eat at a Denny’s, ’cause their CFS is the best.
When I went back to my room, I got online and checked my email and logged on to CNW, giving everyone there an update on my first day’s trip. Shortly afterwards I fell asleep
The 17th and 18th.
Woke up the next day at exactly 0445. I gathered all my things and packed them back into my car, and walked over to Denny’s again. I had a great ham eggs and cheese sandwich, with some fried hash browns that I didn’t finish. After 2 more glasses of OJ I paid the waitress and proceeded on my journey west. I stopped down the road and filled my car up then hit the highway.
My first stop was at Memphis, TX. This was a quaint little town similar to all the others I’d been seeing on I-40. They all pretty much looked the same: One street and population 1500. I filled up again, bought a couple bottles of water, and was on my way again.
The entire country west of Dallas was very serene, the open plains of brown grass and wheat. The sky was enormous, the way it ought to look. The further west I drove, the browner the ground got and the hillier it got as well. I experienced my first problems when I hit these inclines, and it seemed like the slightest little hill, but my car didn’t care. I could be going 65mph, but once I hit that hill, my car slowed down to the low 50’s, no matter how far I pushed the gas down. And this was in 4th gear too; I always had to downshift to 4 just to keep it going up
At approximately 1100, I hit the New Mexico border. I yelled in joy and bounced all around, then pulled into the Visitor center. This is when I realized that my cell phone was no where to be found. I freaked out, nearly tearing the entire interior apart just to find it. It was gone. A slow realization hit me that I had left it in the motel room back in Dallas, 5 hours away. I told myself there was no way I would be turning around now just for a stupid cell phone. And I did just that, nothing; I walked into the visitor center and after the lady gave me 10 different books on New Mexico, I got on the visitor computer and looked up the motel number on Google. After finding it I asked her if I could make a long distance call, and she gladly gave me her cell phone to use. I called the motel and after asking the manager about the phone, she asked me if she could call me back. I gave her the number to the visitors center and after I got some foul tasting coffee the manager called back and said the cell phone was indeed there. I asked her to ship it express but she said she could only send it regular COD. I said that was fine and thanked her. I took a picture of the lady who let me use her phone and I got the hell out of dodge.
I looked at the clock after getting into the car and said screw it, I can make it there tonight, no need to stop at another hotel and spend another 50 dollars when I was so close now.
I continued onward and enjoy the scenery: Beautiful desert mesas and rolling hills of brown-green bushes and trees. Wonderful!
I encountered a storm just East of the Sandia Mountain range, and once I hit it I had 0 visibility, and everyone in front of me was crawling at 20MPH. That all lasted for about 5 minutes; after that it just stopped raining and everyone zoomed back up to 65mph. Well, I didn’t zoom, I just kind of stuck my foot out the door and started pedaling again. And I need gas again!
This was another small town, called Tucumcari, NM. Obviously an Indian name of some sorts. I filled up again at a whopping $3.09/gallon. I almost choked when I saw that.
I left there and started my climb again. The nearer I got to the Sandia Mts. the steeper it got. I was chugging uphill at a nice 50mph while everyone, including big rigs, passed me going 70mph or faster. My poor car, it went to hell and back and lived to tell the tale.
I kept checking my navigation on my laptop for the altitude.
6,500
6,900
7,100
7,300
And then we all reached the peak of the highway, but not of the mountains of course; they still went up higher, probably another 3 to 4,000 feet. Then things went downhill, cars of course, and my car breathed such a sigh of relief that I thought it might have died. After rounding 3,000 curves I finally see Albuquerque itself. Woohoo, I’m here!
I proceeded down I-40, encountered some mild traffic, then took a right at I-25, got off at the Pan American exit, followed it around two hair pin turns and drove right into the Desert Creek Apartment complex. I met Kai, whom I’ve been speaking with over the phone for almost two months, getting everything set up for my move here. She was in a bit of a rush to get to the airport so we did all the paperwork, I wrote her a check and she handed me my keys. One for the apartment, one for the deadbolt, another for the fitness center, and a fourth for my mailbox (which by the way doesn’t work at the moment).
I got into my room and was so happy to see it I jumped for joy. Then I realized there were occupants beneath me so I quit jumping.
And so began the arduous task of unpacking my trailer. I would unload one or two items, lock the trailer up, and drag it upstairs of my apartment building. I did this 10 or 12 times until I was done. Then I drove the trailer down to the local U-Haul center, which I found by a fluke, and unhitched it and left (a realization came to me about how easy it would be to steal these things! But I’m not of the sort to do such a thing). On my way back I stopped in at a Mexican restaurant and had some great food. I hadn’t eaten since I’d left Dallas that morning. I went home, filled up my air mattress, and unpacked a few items. I went downstairs and used a payphone and called mom to tell her everything went as good as it could have. After that call, I went and crashed onto my mattress and my life winked out.
Woke up and showered, took care of some more unpacking and whatnots.
UPDATE 9/17/06
Here I am, updating this thing. I’ve been here for a month now in great Albuquerque, NM. I absolutely love it here. The scenery, the large cultural mix of people. And then I went on that camping trip with Richard two weekends ago. Richard is the maintenance man here, and he’s been nothing but a friend ever since I moved in here. I can possibly call him a friend because he’s done everything he’s said he would do.
So yes, life is great, and I have many happy moments to look forward to.
So, ’till next time!
Signing off,
-Bull
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