Thursday, July 23, 2009

690 Miles and the Tar Baby


We actually made it out of the state in one very long day across miles and miles of Texas. We stopped at a new eatery in Del Rio for lunch and got filmed in their TV commercial. (Just wait until my client there sees me stuffing a panini in my mouth).

There was so much water in the Pecos River we now understand why our Frio is a trickle. The rains must have been falling in the desert. We saw many Texas towns that looked bombed out and falling down, wondering why there was even a dot for them on the map.

Near Dryden, we were singing along with Eric Clapton Unplugged when a piece of my jewelry fell between the console and car seat. We pulled over at a rest area so I could get out and contort myself to reach it.

When the mission was accomplished, I lifted a foot and thought I had stepped in bubblegum. But on inspection of my Chaco sandals I was standing in a small pool of tar!!! I suddenly understood how a dinosaur must have felt stuck in the La Brea Tar Pit. Arrrg!

I walked over to the dirt and did the Watusi. This did not remove the tar. Instead I picked up my own small rock collection. Now I had macadam feet. Farmer Rick helped me as we used bigger rocks to scrape off the tar and smaller rocks. Only I got one of these rocks stuck on my hand! As I walked I left goopy footprints and then got tar all over the car.

Do you recall the old story? Sadly, I am now the tar baby.

We enjoyed seeing the New Mexico orchards of what looked like Pistachio trees. In Roswell we saw a sign for the International Airport. I have no idea what other countries might fly there...perhaps they meant Intergalactic Airport?

It was dark by the time we reached Mountainair. We were exhausted and not in the mood to put up a tent. We opted for The Rock Motel, which is just about the cutest, nicest motel in which we've ever stayed. The super-fast DSL allowed me to upload some client billboards in a fraction of the time it would have taken on the wood-burning DSL at home.

Today we rested and ready to explore!

3 comments:

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Oooooh! Now that explains why I had a phone call on my called ID from The Rock Motel! lol! Sorry I missed you guys. I was up at the barn trying to talk my stubborn mare into wearing her fly mask. She doesn't know what's good for her, silly girl.

So Tar Baby, are you still planning on stopping for a visit today? Don't worry about the cell phones and trying to call...just come on over!

See ya soon
~Lisa

Nola said...

Sounds like quite an adventure; I love exploring Texas. Never been to Del Rio, but I had an uncle who was foreman of a ranch there in the 40's.

Brittany said...

I hope you and Uncle Rick are having a wonderful time exploring and adventuring!

Much love,
Britt

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