The Windmill Posts

Hit 5,500 miles the day after hitting 5,000 miles. So it begins!

I’m working hard to avoid the interstate highways because I get too competitive. State highways are interesting, often lonely, and pass through interesting little towns and areas. Before I left the interstate for some lovely and lonely state highways, I went through El Paso. At some point I considered crossing into Mexico just to put that on the list, but driving over seemed a hassle, and walking over seemed a sweaty hassle. And as my Uncle mused, it just isn’t a good time to be messing around with a border. So I have added Mexico as a “I saw that” rather than a “I went there” – maybe I’ll get a full set for the whole North America collection! You never know!

On the state highway I don’t think I passed anyone, which means there were very few people on it with me. We covered some massive desert area, the floor going on up to the mountains which grew further and further away. Eventually it was just a horizon of desert. Interesting cacti, but cartoon and cliched. Beautiful open blue sky as the wind whipped my hair into a quiff.

I was crossing to what looked like mountains, but in front of them was an ocean liner on blue water. I knew it couldn’t be, but it seemed a bit strong to be a mirage, and I hadn’t taken enough allergy medicine for it to have been a hallucination. As I got closer I figured the ship was a collection of wind farms, and the blue water were solar farms. Add to these the old oil wells which were pumping away (and being smelly!), and we had the complete collection of energy makers. There seemed to be large companies owning huge swaths of land and resources, so there were occasional corporate compounds, but few individual homes. Except in the small towns, of course. But it was still desolate enough to be a lot of adventure.

At one point I saw an animal crossing the road ahead, and I slowed down hard. Comping to a stop in the middle of the road I had an intense staring competition with a mountain lion! It was pretty unimpressed with me, but I thought it was majestic. At some point I did think maybe sitting in a convertible with the top down made me an accessible snack, so I rolled on. It was an amazing experience. Three miles later I thought maybe I should have taken a picture.

Finally, one of my tasks or todo items for the trip was “stars in the desert vibes” – and I realized while I still have a lot of Texas to go, it’s not all desert, so I drove out to a picnic area by a little river, turned out all the lights, and enjoyed the stars. This one is for you, Delaney:

Deets

• License Plates: AK
• States: NM, TX
• Countries seen: US, MX
• Departed: 8:27 am MST, 54 degrees
• Original ETA 4:09 pm CST
• Arrival: 4:30 pm CST
• Warmest/Coldest: Death Valley 90°, Wallace ID 22°
• Weather: High temp today: 87, bright clear skies
• Music: Roadtrip playlist, Nine Inch Nails albums, Crystal Method albums, David Bowie albums

Observations

• Bowie albums I can sing to completely: Let’s Dance, Tonight, parts of Black Star
• I love it when a state has a distinctive color or pattern to their license plates. New Mexico has some bright yellow plates going on, easy to spot and dismiss. They also have a little cactus on the left, regardless of the pattern or color/customization. Makes license plate spotting so much easier! Oddly, Washington state and California are easy, with white and the state name in red (right?) on top. Not as easy as Texas though. Black on white, state title on top and a nice star right in the middle.
• The states I still need for license plate bingo are MI, KY, and a lot of New England. Not for long!
• I am now in the central time zone, home sweet home. I’ll go live in eastern time zone in a couple days, for a long time.
• Saw a train so long it had two engines in the middle!
• Texas is really fucking flat
• Not apologizing for the increasingly common use of profanity in this blog
• It’s Monday, a weekday. Which means construction is in full bloom.
• Top down most of the day and my allergies are killing me. Blowing pollen laden wind up my nose at 85 miles an hour will do that to you. Worth it.

Pictures