from the road......

18 november 2006, 11:25 am, mile 60ish: we have just left a gas station where daddy browsed the snack aisle, kathie visited the little girls room, and i bought (i kid you not) postcards of wheat. you know a state’s hurting for things to photograph when they resort to producing postcards featuring a closeup of a wheat stalk.

4:40pm, no clue what mile we’re on: stopped in oklahoma city for my first southwest region national park stamp- the oklahoma city memorial. off all the things stuck in the fence along the edge of the memorial, the cookie monster and the army boots affected me the most.

7:55 pm, somewhere just inside texas, mile 575ish: maggie seems to think she knows what’s best for me. i’m beginning to regret the 24 oz propel, 15 oz grapefruit juice, and two glasses of water that i have consumed in the last 8 ½ hours. unfortunately, texas seems to be living up to that whole “everything is bigger” theory, which apparently includes the distance between rest stops, gas stations, and other points of interest where one is allowed, nay- encouraged- to relieve oneself. as a result, despite maggie’s protests, we have stopped at a gas station that looked promising from a distance, but dramatically less so upon closer inspection. however, i sincerely doubted my ability to travel another 15 miles to the next approved facility, and therefore can honestly say that there is nothing quite like the thrill of taking a whiz at a gas station full of abandoned vehicles.....including the blue ford truck that i was somewhat convinced would start up at any time and knock me into my own puddle.

not quite the way i plan on going out, i assure you.

19 november 2006, 1 pm, mile 630ish (not counting side trips): after a disappointing side trip to fritch, texas, where we’d hoped to get the alibates flint quarries and lake meredith recreational area stamps and struck out miserably (i can honestly say this is the first time i missed stamps because the facilities are open by reservation only), i was somewhat consoled when we passed cadillac ranch while heading west on I-40. naturally, i managed to talk daddy into turning around, and i’m pleased to report that i now have multiple photos of both myself and the gnomes with the ten cadillacs upended in the middle of a field.

i’m not sure who exactly got the bright idea to start spray painting the cadillacs, but there were several cans of paint available for the artistically inclined. my original plan was to do a high-quality rendition of bodhi, but all i could up with was a can of green paint, so i settled for painting his name on the hood of the westernmost caddy. naturally, i’m pinning the crime on him- after all, he’s the one holding the can in the picture i took.