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There’s nothing here
I tell you, the western third of the USA is empty, completely devoid of man’s influence, well, maybe some roads and a couple of cities here and there.
I have just travelled 1000+ miles east of San Diego, and there’s noting here. Today, with the exception of Albuquerque, I went through no habitation much larger than hamlet, and the vast majority (99.9%) of the land was untilled, left as nature made it.
I’m down to 4,000 feet, so correct me if I’m wrong, but the Mogollon Rim must be more than 500 miles wide!
I’m in a place named Dalhart, TX. I’ve traversed 2 time zones today (only because Arizona cheats).
Dalhart, TX seems to be famous for vast feed lots for sad looking cows and good ole boys in pickemup trucks.
Delight of the day was El Malpais National Monument, which just hit me in the face journeying north on 117. Despite my daughter’s disgust with iPod cameras:- foto 1 is what the roads looked like today, 2 is El Malpais and 3 is a random rainbow.
Starting out
That was an interesting day. About 550 miles.
This Is horrible to type on an iPod touch, so I’ll be brief.
I-8 to Gila Bend. North from there to I-10 east to 87 north to 260 east, ending up in Show Low, AZ.
Fecking hot across the desert, esp. considering how lame the a/c is in the van. Getting up to 8500 feet turned the weather decidedly chilly, however. I’m told that it will be freezing overnight.
But I’m OK, I’m in a Holiday Inn Express, with wifi and heat.
Next stop, Tucumcari, NM.
Lot’s of driving like this today:
A trip across America, and back.
Hey
Well here it is. Home base for probably not too many trials and tribulations for B. and I to take a trip across America in our 1987 VW Vanagon Camper GL (aka Westfalia).
Yasee, B. got posted by her company to spend a wee while in Baltimore, MD from June 2010 until now, and this is her last week there. So, we decided that I would drive the camper out there and we would drive back, taking in family visits and sights on the way.
It was only last weekend that the camper’s transmission let out some smoke, and we have to thank Hugo’s European Car Service in Encinitas, CA for coming to a supremely superb rescue, but it feels slightly wobbly to set out on a 5,000 mile journey in a 23 year old vehicle. However, the only thing that has not been replaced in the van (Esmeralda) is the driver and co-driver. So, we should be good to go.
Preparations are going smoothly, which means I’ve done sod all yet, except put the GPS on the sofa to try and find Show Low in Arizona, which is probably somewhere around where I’ll spend the first night, and then I forgot about it (the GPS) and ran the battery down. See, it’s people who cause the problems!
More prep stuff tomorrow, and then we’re on our way.
Trod Bogs Sadly - Oddstray's Blog 