Day XXXII of the Out in the West Texas Town of El Paso, I Fell in Love With a Hyperintellectual Catholic Girl Who Went to Choate Road Trip
Carlsbad, NM to Center Point, TX
Have to give credit where it is due today: Tessa got up first, straightened out our schlumpy motel room in the 1.5-horse town of Carlsbad, NM, and drove us clear into the Great Bend of Texas before I took the reins. The road itself US Hwy 285 South, for those of you playing at home – has got to be one of the most godforsaken drives in America. I've had my fair share of bleak driving experiences (I-80 through Nebraska, I-5 through California, etc.) but this road is dusty, cold, flat as sheet rock, unable to withstand vegetation, and stretches as far as you can fathom.
Plus, most roads have a definitive stopping point, like an ocean, to keep it from being ludicrous, but you get the feeling you could drive US 285 clear to the Antarctic tip of Chile. Fortunately, we turned east on I-10 and wandered into the driveway of Tessa's mom Sandy just in time to see my beloved Heels get throttled again by Maryland. I'm really sick of losing to those bastards, but at least this time we gave them something to stick in their pipe.
Sandy's home here in the Hill Country was devastated by the floods this July (she saw her neighbor's house floating by on Verde Creek), but most of the repairs have been made, and I lie now in the guest house made 300% better than the original thanks to insurance money. It's still a beautiful landscape, here in the mid-Texas town of Center Point, but it's a beauty that has been viciously rearranged.
Posted by at January 22, 2003 8:54 PM