Texas to California

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I hadn’t thought about posting today, but it has been a fun 8-hour drive, if such is possible. Despite being able to sleep in even later than normal—we weren’t on a schedule today, and we picked up an extra hour by moving into Mountain Time last night—I still was up by 6:30 local time (8:30 Eastern) thanks to an inconsiderate person calling dad’s cell phone at 6:15 this morning. Some automated thing. Even in Eastern time, that’s barely 8 AM on a Saturday. Rude.

Nevertheless, it wasn’t too bad, since I got to enjoy a morning without having to rush to get stuff together. We were out of there around 9:30 and headed first to New Mexico State University in Las Cruces. I could get used to a town like that, to be honest. It was only 30 minutes away from El Paso, too. We first went to the bookstore, where I got my first pennant of the trip. For those unfamiliar with my travels, I’m intent on visiting all FBS (college football) stadiums before I die. I take pictures outside the stadiums (or inside, if I can get there) and usually pick up a small pennant to display on my “wall of pennants” back home. This was the first school on this trip where the bookstore was open, so I took advantage of that. There was also a Starbucks in the bookstore, and my dad, of course, struck up a conversation with the barista, who was told him she wanted to be a geriatric social worker. I got a white mocha thingy just to be nice. And then we were off to the Aggie Stadium. It was fine, but nothing really to write home about.

I had driven the first leg from El Paso this morning, so dad wanted to contribute to the driving, too. He’s been wanting to drive from time to time, but it’s been mostly me. I let him drive from Mobile to our hotel in Louisiana on our first night (less than two hours), and I wasn’t all that convinced that I should let him drive much more. Before the trip, he did tell me about his cataracts that prevented him from being able to drive around dusk and later, so that didn’t inspire confidence. And most of the trip has involved shorter trips to break up the longer stretches. Except for yesterday; that drive from Kerrville to El Paso was brutal. Anyway, I let him drive today from Las Cruces to Tucson, which was about 3.5 hours along I-10. And it was all in the daylight, so it wasn’t that bad.

Las Cruces has another thing going for it: Whataburger. By chance, we were heading back from Aggie Stadium to I-10 and found a Whataburger right before the entry ramp to the interstate. Score! They have probably the best fast-food hamburger I have ever tried, and we had been given coupons for free burgers at the Texas Bowl in Houston. So we used them. And it was heavenly. And then we drove to Tucson.

We finished listening to Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut about 20 minutes outside of Las Cruces. Next up was The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, one of my favorite books. We’ve stopped for the evening in Blythe, California, and we’re about 80 percent through the book. It’s a 3-4 hour drive to LA tomorrow, so we’ll definitely finish it by the time we get there. I’m not sure what’s next, but I have a feeling that it’ll be To Kill a Mockingbird.

One of the things I’ve been meaning to say about going to all of these bowl games is how funny it is to remember that I’m actually watching the game in person, and not on TV. One of the things that’s always kinda weird to me when watching a game at home is how there are different speeds for connections, and so sometimes I’m behind someone else by a second or 10, or ahead of them. So when people text/snap me at the games, I sometimes wonder whether or not they’re seeing things before me. Even though I AM AT THE GAME. Weird how old habits die.

Anyway, our second stop of today was in Tucson, Arizona. It’s the site of the University of Arizona, so of course there’s a stadium there to visit. I had hoped to see a friend or two, but they were not in town. And apparently something was going on at the stadium today, despite no big crowds or parking snafus. But there was a gasoline station across the street, with the cheapest gasoline I’ve seen since Florida. So we parked there, filled up, and then I walked around a got some pictures. It looks to be a very nice stadium from the outside. The Arizona Bowl was held there yesterday, and the trash cans were overflowing outside the stadium as proof. After we filled up, I turned the car back on to find that the a/c wasn’t working anymore. That wasn’t going to be very good, since the thermometer said that it was 80 F outside. And it wasn’t going to be cold for a few more days, and we still had a good ways to go. But it wasn’t just the a/c. The power outlet for the GPS had stopped giving juice, too. But the stereo was still working. So we started on our way again, and after about 5 minutes, everything started working again. Woo hoo.

The final stop of the day was at Culver’s, just before we got to Phoenix. I love their cheese curds, so I had to stop. It was also a good pit stop. After that, we had about 2 hours before we hit California. And our hotel was only 5 miles inside the state.

I can’t think of much else to say about today. This is my first time in California, which is also my first new state I’ve been in on this trip. It’s also my first time in the Pacific Time Zone, and I hope to actually see the Pacific Ocean for the first time tomorrow. If we get an early enough start, we should easily be able to get in all the sights I want to see around LA tomorrow. And then I’ll get my Rose Bowl tickets, which have been waiting for me at my hotel there since Wednesday. Fingers crossed.

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