Bill & Teresa's Excellent Adventure: 1) On the Road Again!

     Seems like when you have grown children who live out of town, much less out of state, there are two choices when it comes to visiting/seeing them. Number One is, you pay for them to come to you. Or Number Two, you pay to go see them. There's obviously a third option but it's not applicable, at least on my side of our blended family.
     Teresa and I, at least for now, are pretty much handcuffed in the Number Two category. So, we are off again. This time, we're on the road to the west coast, specifically the San Diego area, to see son Jack and new daughter-in-law Allison. They moved west after their June wedding in Nashville.

Jack & Allison/Nashville, TN

     The long story short is: We're here! We drove from Snyder, America to San Diego, specifically Oceanside. It took us three, almost full days of driving which means we had a scrapbook full of stories before we ever saw the ocean.

     There are lots of ways to tell a story, but I'm mostly a linear thinker. Subsequently, I'm going to start at the beginning. And like most of our adventures, the beginning  for T and me usually includes something new, something weird, something we wouldn't do again and a couple of new friends or at least Facebook friends.


     Day One: We left Snyder mid-morning Monday bound for Alamogordo, NM. We intentionally broke up our multi-day drive into six-seven hour drive time increments. Many years ago, we'd drive 13-15 hours straight to see kids in Tennessee or Arizona (T's daughter's family.) We don't do that anymore.
     About the only thing we found interesting or fun driving to "Alamo," as the locals call it, was the Delaware Basin stretching between Lovington and Artesia, NM. The area's smothered in oil wells as far as the eye can see... Pumpjacks GALORE!! The scene looked like something out of a movie. I spoke to my cousin, who's a NM realtor. He told me that most of the many, many wells are on state land. He added that the black gold is killing or injuring many people because the tanker truck drivers are crashing into innocent drivers at an alarming pace. That dangerous fact explained the uncanny number of roadside billboards advertising attorneys with slogans like: "Injured in a truck crash? Call attorney John Doe."
     "Alamo" was completely forgettable except for a very slow elevator and a really weird guy at the nearby restaurant. But the weird guy's are own fault. We said we'd never do it, but we did. We sat at the bar. Within minutes and for the next hour, we regretted it.
     This guy came in through a side door and suddenly appeared seated next to us. We were newly on the road and excited. So, we/I struck up a conversation. Before we/I knew it, this now completely creepy guy became the 'close-talker' we couldn't shake. Of course, we could've picked up our plates and moved. We didn't. Our new motto is: Never sit at the bar! Or as T will say, "Don't make eye contact and Bill, you don't have to talk to everyone!"
     Next stop, the town too tough to die,,, Tombstone, AZ. Great in so many ways. Really great, but I'm pretty sure dying on the vine.

Bill Robertson