Friday, May 25, 2007

Are we there yet?

Today, we (two humans and two cats) got into our jam-packed car and departed from Las Cruces to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a roughly 2500-mile trek. George, our male Bengal, protested from inside his carrier, and I presume he was also speaking on behalf of his more mild-mannered sister Gracie. We made it across West Texas hill country, land of Texas limestone, mesas and buttes, 80-mph speed limits, and lots and lots of nothing much. We'd had rain for a couple of hours, which brought out the strong smell of the creosote bushes. There is something clean and appealing about that smell, even though it reminds me of telephone poles and railroad ties.

Here is a Texaco station where we'd contemplated a quick rest stop. Frankly, their offerings were limited.




Somewhere past Van Horn, the land flattens out into a plain. The land has no trees to speak of, but lots of smaller bushes, and in the towns we begin to see lawns, small but lush. Oil wells begin to dot the countryside, small rigs that bob slowly up and down and look like praying mantises devouring their mates. Then the cities of Odessa and Midland appear, apparently so closely linked that billboards refer to Midessa.

So we are spending our first night in Midland, which proclaims itself "the home of President George W. and Laura Bush." Lacking an invitation to join them, we are staying in a La Quinta Inn.

3 comments:

Ruth L.~ said...

Have we got some fantastic weather waiting for you here on the eastern seaboard, Bob! Finally, spring has come to New England. It's almost summer, but that's the way spring works here, as you must know.

Enjoy the trip. I hope you continue to post pix as you head this way.

Bob Sanchez said...

Yegods, we heard it's 95 in Taunton, hottest place in the US? It was in the low 60s for much of our drive from Midland to Dallas today. Can you bottle some of that nice weather for me?

Ruth L.~ said...

You know nobody can do much about New England weather, but I'll certainly try.