Well folks, we have had an EVENTFUL couple of days since leaving Memphis. We are currently en route to Santa Fe, NM after a night in Dallas, TX and a night in Lubbock, TX. As I type this we are on our 2,471st mile of travel through 12 states, have spent $400 on gas, and have made it into Part 3 of the Hungry Games book we bought on iTunes (the closest I would ever get to winning something like the Hunger Games would be if we happened to break down on this completely desolate road we are on and Ryan tried to eat the chocolate chip cookies we have stashed in the backseat).
So let’s talk about our stop in Dallas. We actually stayed just north of the city in McKinney, TX with Kendall and Jeff who are commonly referred to as Ryan’s alternate set of parents. We seriously could not have asked for a better night in the Dallas area because of these two. Here’s why:
1) They greeted us with cheese.
2) They like wine more than we do.
3) They did a Blackened Cajun Catfish Fry in their backyard for us – picture filets dipped in melted butter, covered in a homemade Cajun rub and then cooked in cast iron skillets on their grill then topped with a white gravy-ish shrimp sauce. It was unreal.
4) Once we were a few bottles of wine deep we got a really great account of all of the neighborhood gossip which would give a Real Housewives episode a run for its money.
5) Two words – Pecan. Pie.
So thank you to Kendall and Jeff because that night was a definite highlight of our trip thus far.
After we left McKinney (with a HUGE bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies – THANK YOU KENDALL!) we decided that we would go through Lubbock, TX for the night then swing through Roswell, NM on the way to Santa Fe. Ryan’s to-do list was a nice big steak while in the state of Texas so we went to a place called Triple J’s in Lubbock which was a little underwhelming. The REAL excitement in Lubbock was our trip to a little enchanted place called Prairie Dog Town. That’s right. Prairie Dogs. It was a sectioned-off area in a park that is the home to what has got to be hundreds of the little guys. As far is sight-seeing is concerned, this type of attraction is right in my wheelhouse.
A couple hours after our departure from Lubbock this morning we did a quick stop in Roswell, NM which if you didn’t already know is the Dairy Capital of The USA. Who knew!? Here I thought I was going to have a close encounter of at least the first kind (there are three different kinds of close encounters, but you probably wouldn’t know that since you didn’t just spend the last hour at a UFO Museum) but unfortunately there are no sightings or abductions for me to report… yet. I did manage to pick up a few GEMS of postcards and get a talkin’ to about UV Radiation that is being used by the US Government to cloud our minds while they cover up UFO crash sites and the like. So I would count our last stop as a success.
Honestly, the drive through this part of the country has been almost more enjoyable than the drive through the mountains in the North Carolina/Tennessee area only because it is so incredible how little there is out here. Whoever said that the drive through Texas is a whole lot of nothing clearly has never driven through New Mexico. I think because Texas was so flat you don’t really notice how far the road goes on ahead of you because you can’t really see where it ends. New Mexico is hilly so when we get to the top of hill, all you see in front of you is empty road and just an expansive empty land around it. It is pretty crazy and these pics barely do it justice. Being practically the only car on the road for the last 1000 miles has just been a constant reminder that we are actually on a road trip across the country… well that and the fact that my backside has been asleep for 5 days.
A two day adventure in Sante Fe, NM is up next followed by another two days of camping at the Grand Canyon which should be very interesting. Until next time…
