On the Road

So we are in San Antonio, Texas. Brian was being sent for a school and we decided a half price vacation sounded good. So here we are. It was interesting getting here...
I was short on sleep coming into the weekend, working full time doesn't allow much time for packing, so late hours were spent preparing. I worked a short day Saturday and we got on the road about 1pm. We drove to Phoenix where we grabbed a bite to eat... hit up the first Cracker barrel we found... turns out it is affordable and good... imagine that. As we left Phoenix it was getting dark and I had a brief realization... It has been a long time since I have driven in any type of bad weather. As the thunder and lightning got going pretty good I became very excited yet anxious about traveling through the weather. (All for nothing seeing we only got sprinkles twice the full drive) So we drove until we reached New Mexico about 2 am... rough calculations make that about hour 20 of being awake for me. We stopped in longhorn? or something to that affect to get a room. The hotel we originally stopped at looked nice enough, so I jumped out real quick to check availability and price and as I walked around the back of the car I saw a spider... okay all of us Californians are thinking "spider= daddy long legs or black widow... not so much, this thing was as big as my fist with big ol' legs, and it was not breaking stride at the sight of me, oh no, it just kept on walking towards me as though I didn't even exist. I of course froze long enough to burn the image of this thing with its long, thick hairy legs, into my exhausted brain, then quickly turned and retreated to the other side of the car. I told Brian of the situation, more so he would move to avoid a hitch hiker than anything. He looked out the window at this spider and informed me it is actually a Tarantula... eewwww! I went on in and joking with the lady working, said, "what a welcome to NM.. a big ol' spider threatening to eat me" she looked at me as though I were crazy and said "Oh he's just a tarantula, won't hurt you, they just eat the bugs"... so after a few minutes of her realizing I was virtually asleep I was directed toward a more affordable motel, supposedly with less Tarantulas, followed by an offer to go shew the tarantula out to the desert for me.... haha!


After catching all of 4-5 hours of sleep we were on the road again. NM flew by quickly and as we came into Texas we realized that Texas is not much different than San Diego in many respects... we played "Border patrol or Highway patrol" and enjoyed the green of the land and the glimpses of the gulf. We made a stop hoping to make it one of the last and decided the gas being as expensive as California was cray so we put about 10 gallons in to get us to the next station that was bound to be more affordable... about 175 miles later the idiot buzzer chimes... refuel now. Ok we still have 70 miles on the tank. Then we drove up the hill in front of us... 65.. another hill... 60... as we searched the navigation for the closest gas we found some in junction Texas... 40 miles ahead... another hill... 35 miles on the tank... the a/c got turned off, speed was dropped to 65- 15 below flow of traffic (5 below the speed limit)... So about 5 miles up the road we saw a sign, gas next exit, Moe Brothers Market (or something equally unknown). We are doing it. Take the exit and the miles drop to 20 on the tank... thank goodness for technology! At the end of the off ramp a sign points left and says gas 1 mile. Its our one hope of not running out and having to call roadside assistance. Of course all we see is trees and a road that disappears into them. As we follow the road a half mile goes by and theres nothing but trees. Then out of nowhere we see a house and a bunch of green houses, very, very small town. Two structures later is this little bitty market that has a gas pump on one side for diesel and from the looks of it, it hasn't worked in years. The market itself looks like something you would see in a dramatisation of a small town.. the old couple sitting on the porch watching the wind blow and sipping some sweet tea. Before we have taken it in we are passing the other two pumps and the fuel price sign. The pumps are old, they are about rusted through and the covers are pulled off so you can see the pumps and all the guts that make it work- which also look worse for the wear. I swear this place was used in a movie I saw... any way, Brian gets out and looks at the pumps (I'm sure thinking how does this still work), as a guy comes out (we imagine as we screeched to a halt in front of the pumps a voice hollered "Jim Bob... GAS!" The guy pulls out the nossel and holds it while Brian opened the gas cap, and says "this here is the only one pump that works".. So Brian takes the nossle and puts it in place, the guy says "Lets hope it works this time!" You see Brians mouth drop as he says "what?" The guy just laughs... and switches on the pump. It of course worked and we were able to top off the tank... and it was actually cheaper than California. We of course unloaded to use the restroom and get a few drinks, and come to find that what looks like the whole town has come to the market at once to take a look at the tourist that got played by the run down appearance of the place.
Needless to say it was an exciting drive. We had quite a few laughs, and we made it. It has been pleasant not a drop of rain since we've been here. Will update again later to give more of the adventures of our trip. Til then...