Trailer Trash Mama: Ta-Ta to Texas

Saturday, September 18 - Amarillo to Santa Fe

In all fairness to Dan, I have to say that he was only on the wrong side of the road for a very short time. We were coming off the Interstate and there was no stop sign at the end of the exit ramp - it just led onto the narrow road that ran alongside the freeway. If there was a dividing line it was so faint we didn't see it but there was a cop right there there to witness Dan's end-of-a-very-long-day-somewhat-less-than-perfect driving technique.

The stench had abated by the morning but I was very glad to leave at the crack of dawn, even if we didn't get to try out for the free steak at The Big Texan.

That's right, a free 72 oz steak (that's four and a half POUNDS) if you can eat it all in one hour. It's bigger and better in Texas!

Five miles after fleeing the Oasis we found out where the wind was blowing from last night - a giant feedlot.

I may never eat beef again.

Maybe those neighbors in Memphis figured out we weren't fellow travelers in the political sense (he was retired airforce, on their way back to Alabama because Oregon had become too liberal.)

As the sun rose we saw ghostly wind towers in the distance.

And later we got to see the blades up close:

The drive through the panhandle of Texas did something strange and quite wonderful to me. I felt as if I were going through a decompression chamber. Looking out to the far horizon with no sign of human habitation I felt like I was finally leaving New York, and my old life, behind. I felt a lightness inside which Dan attributed to the residual effects of all those bovine emissions, but I like to think was something a teeny bit more profound.

The landscape changed subtly and by the time we got to the New Mexico border, (the first one that actually felt like a border crossing thanks to this lovely ceremonial arch) we were leaving the grassy plains behind and climbing into arid, rocky hills.