Today was a "rest" day, and time to hang out with our hosts, Kat and Jim. They fixed us a lovely breakfast, even thinking to buy us vegetarian sausage!
Then we were treated to a driving tour of Albuquerque, including the Ballon Fiesta Park (Kat and Jim crew the festival - their favorite aspect is chasing after the ballons to help them land), the lovingly restored Kimo Theater, Central Ave (the historical Route 66) and Old Town.
We had a delicious late lunch/early dinner at Hot Tamale. I had delicious Chiles Rellenos, and fresh sopapillas. Yummy! Our waitress reminded me of Deb in Napoleon Dynamite. Sweet and enthusiastic, yet awkward at points. She also had the same face.
After a brief rest, we took the "world's longest aerial tramway" to Sandia Peak at 10,378'. The 15 minute tram ride was quite stunning, and the view of the sunset from the top was gorgeous. After, we enjoyed drinks and dessert at the High Finance Restaurant (more truth in advertising). On the way down, we enjoyed the lit up city. As the Jayhawks say, "The lights of the city look so good, almost like somebody thought they would."
To make our American journey complete, Karl and I experienced Walmart for the first time in our lives tonight. We bought coolant and a gallon of water for our crossing of Arizona tomorrow. Our host Jim is a big Walmart fan; Kat elected to stay in the car.
Now I'm trying to get all the photos uploaded to the computer and finish all my blogs given that we've got good wireless connection here. We're going to try and hit the road by 7am tomorrow, so I want to go to bed really soon.
I haven't described Kat and Jim's wild and fabulous house yet, nor their African Grey bird, Smoky. Perhaps that's better left for a pictorial!
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Ft. Worth, TX to Albuquerque, NM
On Tuesday we set out for our 10 hour drive, 287 N to 40 W. Knowing that we'd need to be well fortified, we stopped by Central Market for coffee and a smoothie.
One of the first things we passed through was the LBJ National Grasslands. I thought this would be interesting to see, but I couldn't spot it from the highway. Much of this part of west Texas, heading towards Amarillo, is ranchland. We spotted our first cowboy, and many cows.
I don't know how far you can see in these parts, but to quote The Who, "I can see for miles and miles." One of the things that breaks up the horizon is the many freight trains going by. I had no idea that Karl was so into freight trains. I took this picture for him:
287 went on and on and Amarillo felt as far away as Buffalo does when you're driving through upstate New York. We passed through many towns where the highway slowed down, and in the bigger ones there was even a stoplight or two. Each of these towns had an old-fashioned main street. One had a hotel called "It'll do." I guess it's good to have truth in advertising! As in the rest of Texas, we passed more porn shops and nudie bars than Jesus billboards. I guess if you're repressed in one arena, it's going to explode in another - excuse the pun!
As we finally neared the New Mexico border, the landscape slowly started to change. Mesas appeared.
40 parallels the old Route 66 for much of the way. When we got off the highway to get gas, we took this picture:
New Mexico was really a treat for sore eyes. These clouds looked painted on:
We continued down the alphabet, with a soundtrack of Liz Phair, Lou Reed, Mojo Nixon, Parliament, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Prince, and Public Enemy.
We arrived in Albuquerque around 6:30, and stopped by our friends' Kat and Jim's place to drop off our stuff before going to dinner with other friends, Joan and Sami.
Joan and Sami have a lovely house with a beautiful oasis of a backyard, with a goldfish pond, hummingbirds, and their cat Squeak, dog Yoyo, and bird Carly. All of the animals seem to get along, some more enthusiastically than others.
After a lovely dinner of mushroom lasagne, we started to crash, so we returned to Jim and Kat's red room for the night.
One of the first things we passed through was the LBJ National Grasslands. I thought this would be interesting to see, but I couldn't spot it from the highway. Much of this part of west Texas, heading towards Amarillo, is ranchland. We spotted our first cowboy, and many cows.
I don't know how far you can see in these parts, but to quote The Who, "I can see for miles and miles." One of the things that breaks up the horizon is the many freight trains going by. I had no idea that Karl was so into freight trains. I took this picture for him:
287 went on and on and Amarillo felt as far away as Buffalo does when you're driving through upstate New York. We passed through many towns where the highway slowed down, and in the bigger ones there was even a stoplight or two. Each of these towns had an old-fashioned main street. One had a hotel called "It'll do." I guess it's good to have truth in advertising! As in the rest of Texas, we passed more porn shops and nudie bars than Jesus billboards. I guess if you're repressed in one arena, it's going to explode in another - excuse the pun!
As we finally neared the New Mexico border, the landscape slowly started to change. Mesas appeared.
40 parallels the old Route 66 for much of the way. When we got off the highway to get gas, we took this picture:
New Mexico was really a treat for sore eyes. These clouds looked painted on:
We continued down the alphabet, with a soundtrack of Liz Phair, Lou Reed, Mojo Nixon, Parliament, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Prince, and Public Enemy.
We arrived in Albuquerque around 6:30, and stopped by our friends' Kat and Jim's place to drop off our stuff before going to dinner with other friends, Joan and Sami.
Joan and Sami have a lovely house with a beautiful oasis of a backyard, with a goldfish pond, hummingbirds, and their cat Squeak, dog Yoyo, and bird Carly. All of the animals seem to get along, some more enthusiastically than others.
After a lovely dinner of mushroom lasagne, we started to crash, so we returned to Jim and Kat's red room for the night.
Austin, TX to Ft. Worth, TX
We awoke this morning to our host, Tomas, frantically searching for his keys. He finally found his spare car key, and made his way late to work. Meanwhile, as we packed up our car, we discovered his keys on the floor of our front seat - we felt so bad!
Both Tomas and Tory work organizing day laborers and ensuring that they get paid through filing wage claims. They have many outrageous stories of what day laborers go through. Tomas has been working with day laborers who are in New Orleans doing the most dangerous demolition and clearing of toxic materials.
We spent the morning taking care of some logistics for our move, such as making arrangements to have our cats flown out to us (much more involved than we imagined) and getting our electricity and gas turned on in our new apartment. Tomas' wife, Maureen, is a vet tech, and gave us good information.
Then we headed over to Dave and Tory's again. Tory stayed home with Elle, while David took us to El Chile for a yummy lunch accompanied by a 9-11 conspiracy theory discussion. I admit it, I initiated the conversation! I really wanted to hear David's responses to a few questions.
Even though he's on parental leave, David had a meeting at UT, so we headed over there so he could meet with some graduate students who he's organizing. He left Karl and me to wander around the LBJ library and museum. My favorite campaign button was "I'm a Beatle fan. In case of emergency, cast my vote for LBJ." I guess it must have made sense in context. David's meeting was a non-event, so we hurried through the rest of the display, and out to the car. David drove us through downtown Austin, and pointed out the state house and main quad of UT, both of which were purposefully built facing south to honor the Confederacy!
I learned an interesting thing from our native Texas friends: the "Don't Mess With Texas" slogan actually originated as an anti-littering campaign. There was a commercial which featured Stevie Ray Vaughn evidently! I like that slogan much better now!
We wish we had more time to check out Austin: the music scene, the bats coming from under the bridge... guess we'll just have to visit again! We were impressed with the local MTV type station that played cool alternative videos as well as local music.
Finally it was time for us to head north to Ft. Worth on 35. We said goodbye to our good friends and hit the road, but not before stopping at a great coffee shop, Ruta Maya.
Our soundtrack for the 3 hour drive, now based on the alphabetical method, was Le Tigre, L7, and LCD Soundsystem.
Along the way, we passed through Temple, which is where my childhood best friend moved when her family left Elkhart, IN.
More Jesus billboards along the way:
God Bless America: Pray... HE listens!
One nation under me. -God
And a good baby one:
What? You weren't expecting me? ADOPTION: 2 million couples wait.
One, I'd like to see a source for the 2 million number, and 2, they should qualify that statement with *for white babies only*.
We found our friend Sean's apartment in Ft. Worth just fine. He tried to take us to the legendary vegetarian restaurant, the Spiral Diner, but unfortunately it was closed on Mondays. So instead we picked up snacks at Central Market, a very nice Whole Foods type store, and went back to Sean's apartment to hang out. Sean played us his friend Thor's music, and then some Magnetic Fields.
Somehow the discussion turned to fascism, and Karl looked up the definition on Wikipedia, all 10 pages of it.
I took advantage of Sean's music collection to rip some CDs, including some which I had on cassette like The Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Sessions and Kate Bush's The Sensual World.
I was honored that Sean's shy kitty let me pet him before bed!
Both Tomas and Tory work organizing day laborers and ensuring that they get paid through filing wage claims. They have many outrageous stories of what day laborers go through. Tomas has been working with day laborers who are in New Orleans doing the most dangerous demolition and clearing of toxic materials.
We spent the morning taking care of some logistics for our move, such as making arrangements to have our cats flown out to us (much more involved than we imagined) and getting our electricity and gas turned on in our new apartment. Tomas' wife, Maureen, is a vet tech, and gave us good information.
Then we headed over to Dave and Tory's again. Tory stayed home with Elle, while David took us to El Chile for a yummy lunch accompanied by a 9-11 conspiracy theory discussion. I admit it, I initiated the conversation! I really wanted to hear David's responses to a few questions.
Even though he's on parental leave, David had a meeting at UT, so we headed over there so he could meet with some graduate students who he's organizing. He left Karl and me to wander around the LBJ library and museum. My favorite campaign button was "I'm a Beatle fan. In case of emergency, cast my vote for LBJ." I guess it must have made sense in context. David's meeting was a non-event, so we hurried through the rest of the display, and out to the car. David drove us through downtown Austin, and pointed out the state house and main quad of UT, both of which were purposefully built facing south to honor the Confederacy!
I learned an interesting thing from our native Texas friends: the "Don't Mess With Texas" slogan actually originated as an anti-littering campaign. There was a commercial which featured Stevie Ray Vaughn evidently! I like that slogan much better now!
We wish we had more time to check out Austin: the music scene, the bats coming from under the bridge... guess we'll just have to visit again! We were impressed with the local MTV type station that played cool alternative videos as well as local music.
Finally it was time for us to head north to Ft. Worth on 35. We said goodbye to our good friends and hit the road, but not before stopping at a great coffee shop, Ruta Maya.
Our soundtrack for the 3 hour drive, now based on the alphabetical method, was Le Tigre, L7, and LCD Soundsystem.
Along the way, we passed through Temple, which is where my childhood best friend moved when her family left Elkhart, IN.
More Jesus billboards along the way:
God Bless America: Pray... HE listens!
One nation under me. -God
And a good baby one:
What? You weren't expecting me? ADOPTION: 2 million couples wait.
One, I'd like to see a source for the 2 million number, and 2, they should qualify that statement with *for white babies only*.
We found our friend Sean's apartment in Ft. Worth just fine. He tried to take us to the legendary vegetarian restaurant, the Spiral Diner, but unfortunately it was closed on Mondays. So instead we picked up snacks at Central Market, a very nice Whole Foods type store, and went back to Sean's apartment to hang out. Sean played us his friend Thor's music, and then some Magnetic Fields.
Somehow the discussion turned to fascism, and Karl looked up the definition on Wikipedia, all 10 pages of it.
I took advantage of Sean's music collection to rip some CDs, including some which I had on cassette like The Cowboy Junkies' The Trinity Sessions and Kate Bush's The Sensual World.
I was honored that Sean's shy kitty let me pet him before bed!
Houston, TX to Austin, TX
OK, so I'm really behind on these posts, mostly due to uneven internet access. We're actually in Albuquerque now, but I will go back and fill in how we got here.
Sunday morning in Houston we were awoken by people mowing their lawns. Evidently it's part of the agreement of living here - you have to keep up your yard work. We got a slow start, but eventually got to NTB for an oil change. While we were waiting for the car to be ready, Charlie and Linda took us to Denny's for breakfast. Charlie and Linda, and the guy at NTB, were all very confused about us not having air conditioning in the car. "So you need more freon?" No - we don't have AC. "So, it broke and you never fixed it?" Nope, just don't have AC. It was really unheard of for them. Of course in Houston, we saw why it was necessary!
After bidding Charlie and Linda au revoir, we headed to Austin. This was the day we needed AC, if there was any! By the time we arrived, I was completely soaked in sweat. Yuck.
Along the short (~3 hours) drive, we saw many billboards for planned communities such as the ones our friends live in (Sienna Plantation). We saw signs for The Colony, and The Settlement at Patriot Ranch. (In the Dallas/Ft. Worth area there are actual cities called White Settlement and The Colony.) For people coming from the Northeast, it's quite surprising to see such blatant use of racist terms for new subdivisions and cities. It is that people don't see the context, or that they are willfully indentifying with a Confederate past?
We passed through LaGrange, where my German host sister spent a year as an exchange student. Germans love Texas!
Having exhausted our supply of Texas bands, we listened to Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, and Interpol.
Vultures continue to be ever-present.
We arrived at our friends David and Tory's place around 7pm. They just had a baby girl, Ellison Leticia (Elle for short) on the 16th. We had dinner with them, our old sleeping buddy Sarah (that's a story from another road trip), our hosts Tomas and Maureen, and Sarah's friends Gina and Ross. After much bitching about old jobs, and many a political discussion, we decided to turn in.
Sunday morning in Houston we were awoken by people mowing their lawns. Evidently it's part of the agreement of living here - you have to keep up your yard work. We got a slow start, but eventually got to NTB for an oil change. While we were waiting for the car to be ready, Charlie and Linda took us to Denny's for breakfast. Charlie and Linda, and the guy at NTB, were all very confused about us not having air conditioning in the car. "So you need more freon?" No - we don't have AC. "So, it broke and you never fixed it?" Nope, just don't have AC. It was really unheard of for them. Of course in Houston, we saw why it was necessary!
After bidding Charlie and Linda au revoir, we headed to Austin. This was the day we needed AC, if there was any! By the time we arrived, I was completely soaked in sweat. Yuck.
Along the short (~3 hours) drive, we saw many billboards for planned communities such as the ones our friends live in (Sienna Plantation). We saw signs for The Colony, and The Settlement at Patriot Ranch. (In the Dallas/Ft. Worth area there are actual cities called White Settlement and The Colony.) For people coming from the Northeast, it's quite surprising to see such blatant use of racist terms for new subdivisions and cities. It is that people don't see the context, or that they are willfully indentifying with a Confederate past?
We passed through LaGrange, where my German host sister spent a year as an exchange student. Germans love Texas!
Having exhausted our supply of Texas bands, we listened to Franz Ferdinand, Hot Hot Heat, and Interpol.
Vultures continue to be ever-present.
We arrived at our friends David and Tory's place around 7pm. They just had a baby girl, Ellison Leticia (Elle for short) on the 16th. We had dinner with them, our old sleeping buddy Sarah (that's a story from another road trip), our hosts Tomas and Maureen, and Sarah's friends Gina and Ross. After much bitching about old jobs, and many a political discussion, we decided to turn in.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Memphis, TN to Houston, TX
We started the day yesterdat at Sun Studios, the "birthplace of Rock and Roll". It was very cool to learn the history of the recording studio and label where greats such as B.B. King, Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, and of course Elvis got their start. Our tour guide Amy was very cute, and had an accent you could listen to forever!
There were so many more things we wanted to see in Memphis, including the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, to Stax Records, aka Soulsville. I guess we'll just have to go back to Memphis sometime.
We got on the road around 11:30 for our long drive to Houston. 55 south down through Mississippi and into Louisiana, then 12 west through Baton Rouge, to 10 west all the way to Houston.
Reflecting our trip to Sun, our soundtrack started with lots of Johnny Cash, from the greatest hits and the concert at Folsom prison, to American IV The Man Comes Around. Then we listed to Elmore James, King of the Slide Guitar, for a little Delta blues (and a strong indication of where Led Zepelin got all those riffs from.) By that time we were in Louisiana, so we listened to Lucinda Williams sing about all the cities we were driving through, such as Jackson, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, etc. Other bands included The Gossip, Led Zep, and as we moved into Texas, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, and Steve Earle.
All day we went in and out of rain squalls. With the Katrina disaster just one year ago this week, it weighed on our minds as we drove though the states which were devastated by both nature and the government.
A cool part of our drive was the elevated highway through the Atchafalaya Basin, an area of marshes and swamps just west of Baton Rouge. Again, an area I'd love to explore more in the future.
Overall, we found this part of the south verdant and lush. We spotted vultures and cranes alternately. I'm sure alligators lurked in the swamps just out of our sight.
We were greeted in Texas with billboards advertising Jesus and babies. Welcome to Texas!
As our 10 hour drive neared an end, we were treated to a John Ford-esque sunset.
We are staying with Charlie (one of Karl's oldest friends) and his wife Linda. When we arrived, they had not yet gotten back from their baby shower (due in ~ 2 months), so we showed ourselves into their huge home - twice the size of our old condo in JP and almost half the price. So this is why people live in Texas!
This morning we need to get an oil change - yep we've driven that far already! Then off to Austin later this afternoon.
I'm having problems uploading the photos again, so look for those in a separate post.
There were so many more things we wanted to see in Memphis, including the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, to Stax Records, aka Soulsville. I guess we'll just have to go back to Memphis sometime.
We got on the road around 11:30 for our long drive to Houston. 55 south down through Mississippi and into Louisiana, then 12 west through Baton Rouge, to 10 west all the way to Houston.
Reflecting our trip to Sun, our soundtrack started with lots of Johnny Cash, from the greatest hits and the concert at Folsom prison, to American IV The Man Comes Around. Then we listed to Elmore James, King of the Slide Guitar, for a little Delta blues (and a strong indication of where Led Zepelin got all those riffs from.) By that time we were in Louisiana, so we listened to Lucinda Williams sing about all the cities we were driving through, such as Jackson, Baton Rouge, Lake Charles, etc. Other bands included The Gossip, Led Zep, and as we moved into Texas, ZZ Top, Janis Joplin, and Steve Earle.
All day we went in and out of rain squalls. With the Katrina disaster just one year ago this week, it weighed on our minds as we drove though the states which were devastated by both nature and the government.
A cool part of our drive was the elevated highway through the Atchafalaya Basin, an area of marshes and swamps just west of Baton Rouge. Again, an area I'd love to explore more in the future.
Overall, we found this part of the south verdant and lush. We spotted vultures and cranes alternately. I'm sure alligators lurked in the swamps just out of our sight.
We were greeted in Texas with billboards advertising Jesus and babies. Welcome to Texas!
As our 10 hour drive neared an end, we were treated to a John Ford-esque sunset.
We are staying with Charlie (one of Karl's oldest friends) and his wife Linda. When we arrived, they had not yet gotten back from their baby shower (due in ~ 2 months), so we showed ourselves into their huge home - twice the size of our old condo in JP and almost half the price. So this is why people live in Texas!
This morning we need to get an oil change - yep we've driven that far already! Then off to Austin later this afternoon.
I'm having problems uploading the photos again, so look for those in a separate post.
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