Day 4: Burrs, Boulders, and B*tching, Oh My.

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Thrifty Travel Tip #5: Continental breakfasts are always Continental... even if you didn't EXACTLY stay in the hotel. Continental breakfasts are your friend.

Hi Friends and Family!

My oh my, what a day in the desert. We got off to a good start in the morning, even though we didn't have the best sleep. Sleeping in the car results in waking up about 15 times throughout the night to change positions and reconfigure your sleeping situation according to what parts of your body have fallen asleep or are cramped. In the very early hours of the AM, (I believe it was about 630,) we woke up and decided we were hungry. In order to travel on a budget, one must use the resources around them. For us, that means eating for free at hotels. One of us goes in the front while the other waits at the side door, then we walk down the hall together and wah-lah, free breakfast. We only take what we're going to eat (plus the additional road snack) and we figure not everyone eats their breakfasts since they sleep too late or their alarm doesn't go off, so we shouldn't let them go to waste.

On the way out of town, I explained to Dustin that I was beginning to go a little crazy from the lack of exercise. Sympathetic to my demise, we decided to do a bit of hiking when we left Oklahoma City. We stopped in a park called Red Rock Canyon that had beautiful plants and wildlife as well as a gorgeous canyon view. We got maps and drove into the park around 930 and it was 10 by the time we hit the trail. Th beginning of the hike went well; besides me having to suppress my irrational fear of snakes with every step, the only thing that bothered me was that I decided to wear shorts instead of pants and the grass was tickling me.

We hiked for a little under an hour or so when we saw that the trail split. By this time I was very annoyed that I chose shorts since I had picked up a few Burrs and small cacti like spiky things which put little scratches in my ankles. We decided to hike a little further because we wanted to see "where the trail went." Instead of walking towards the two markers we took the path away from them, assuming it would lead us to the road where we could hike back out. Unfortunately, the trail we choose did not lead to the road. In fact it wasn't much of a trail at all. We bushwacked for about a half an hour, through large spider webs, up huge boulders, through long, up to your shoulders grass, and directly into a fence. Tired and disoriented, Dustin and I realized we were lost. Somehow, after a lot of yelling and turning around, we found our way out (thank god there was two of us,) and back to the trail. We were absolutely COVERED in hundreds of small burrs, my legs were cut open and itching in about 5 places, and we were dehydrated. I've never been so glad to see a car in my life. Thank god we ate that big freakin' breakfast. Lesson: Stay on the trail that's marked and if you're not sure where you're going, just turn around and go back. Don't be a hero.

We hopped back onto 40 W (by this time, Rte 66 kept crossing back and forth over 40, and it wasn't worth taking since 40 was now free,) and headed towards the border of Texas. We drove past the biggest cross in the US, which really didn't look all that BIG, and a leaning water tower which was kinda neat, but not nearly as cool as the leaning tower of Pisa, which I haven't seen but somehow know it MUST be cooler than that water tower. Before night fall, we made it to Amarillo. We once again weren't sure where to eat or even where the places were so we stopped in a visitors center to pick up guides. We check out a few places on Polk, the main strip and couldn't find anything we liked. I wasn't all that hungry since I had demolished the car food and decided after walking around for an hour or so to let Dustin choose where we ate dinner. Out of all the surrounding places, including barbeque pits, he choose Italian. Italian food in Texas. I mean, really? Are you serious? But he was starving and I wasn't so I put up with it. The food was okay but service was terribly slow, so when you're in Texas, eat what Texans are known for: F*cking BBQ.

Oddly, during this dinner I felt my first pang of homesickness. After a long day off burrs and boulders, I was in tears at the dinner table, missing you all, wishing I could see your faces.

By the time we found somewhere to eat and finished, we had seen most of Amarillo and decided we should forge on to New Mexico if we could. We saw a somewhat large town on the map called "Tucumcari" and decided to go for it. As the sunset on Texas, we couldn't believe how beautiful it was. We had never been anywhere so flat to watch it set, and though I did most of the watching in the rearview mirror, we were astounded. Simply stunning. The "towns" we drove through that night were tiny and offered one gas station with the possibility of food from the same place. We accidently pulled over at one and saw a VERY SCARY looking man walking down Rte 66. I was screaming and trying to turn the car around - it was the first time I ever got chills from someone simply looking at me... I got over it. I think.

Homeless, but simply too tired to do much of anything, we surrendered to another painful night of sleeping in the car. We checked out the KOA which had potential, but after the long day, setting up a tent seemed impossible. We pulled into the darkest spot in the Best Western and said goodnight to another day on the road.

Miss you all, very, very much.
All our love,
L+ D

Next Up, "Day 5: We <3 NAU."

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