There and Back Again - A Road Trip to Dallas: Part 1

Cotton Valley, Texas

There is a thin line between "somewhere" and "nowhere", and we found out recently that much of America flirts with this distinction. Driving endlessly through the desert, passing towns like Seligman, Arizona or Clyde, Texas I began to wonder - where are we? And how much does it really matter?

Our good friends are in the midst of remodeling their townhouse, and asked my contractor hubby, Jordi, to come help with the bathroom. Always up for an adventure - and besides, a subsidized trip to the Southwest and a chance to see our friends was a good package deal - we packed up the car and headed east.
Leaving the smog and fog behind early on a Friday morning, we were almost to Arizona by the time the sun came up. The sunrise was beautiful, the desert was stunning, we could feel freedom in our blood and wide open spaces were making our hearts happy. And then of course, "Why is that cop behind me?" "Is he pulling me over??" Ah yes, welcome to Arizona, land of "Drop the Speed Limit  At The Border and Give Tickets to all the Suckers from California".
So that put a huge damper on the drive, and we couldn't wait to get out of Arizona, even though they apparently have some great fossils you can go see off the freeway (They accept credit cards).

Firework display in New Mexico

The cactus deserts of Arizona gave way to red dirt mesas, and we were in New Mexico.  Their unofficial motto is "it ain't new and ain't Mexico", and no one seemed to care too much about nitpicking speed. One travel stop (these 'travel stops' are like mini towns - gas, bathrooms, food, ceramics, clothes, you name it) had a room full of fireworks with a banner saying "FIREWORKS! Year 'Round Awesomeness". We decided we liked New Mexico. We were even planning on staying in a little city called Las Cruces, next to some mountains, but alas, our exit was blocked off by barricades and before we knew what was happening we were being whisked away down the freeway, with no other exits for miles. Since we refused to backtrack on this endless trip, we just kept going. I wailed a bit because by this time it was dinner time, and we had been driving since 5 a.m.. I desperately wanted to jump in a pool, eat and go to bed. But we were still driving!

What do you do while in El Paso?
Why, get yourself some double dipped
spicy hot wings in a train car!

We drove for about 45 minutes until we realized we were in El Paso, practically able to touch Mexico on the other side of the freeway. We searched our phone internet for a hotel that had an outdoor pool and free breakfast, which led us to the Hampton Inn.
After a refreshing swim, we asked the concierge for the best place to eat. She pointed us in the direction of some double dipped spicy hot wings in this cute, albeit tiny, train car. The wait took forever at this local hotspot, but it was fatteningly delicious!


The next morning we feasted on waffles and coffee before loading up the car again. In front of us was ten more hours of Texas before we would finally reach Dallas. The countryside was dry, with bushes and low hills. Even in March, it was already pretty hot.

If you've ever been on a long car trip, weird things start to happen. For instance, my thumb was actually SORE from using Jordi's phone. Approximately every 45 seconds, I would check the map to see how far we'd come. I'd zoom in to see the exits we were passing, and zoom out to make it look like we were making progress. Then I'd show him our progress, and he'd either groan or smile. Listen to another couple minutes of Bill Bryson on our book on tape, and then excitedly remember to refresh the page and check our progress. I'm pretty sure I dreamed about Google Maps that night. The blue arrow.....

America the vast and beautiful!

After many hours of listening to "The History of Almost Everything" in a British accent, which bordered between Torture and Better Than Nothing for me, but which Jordi quite enjoyed (and since he's the driver...) we fiiiiiinnnnaaaaallllllyyyyyy found ourselves on a freeway. I mean a freeway with many lanes and lots of cars. It was exhilarating. It wasn't long before we pulled up at my best friend's parent's house in a suburb of Dallas. After sweaty hugs, we showered and ate, before following Corrie and Jason back to their place in downtown Dallas. They had just gotten back from a trip to Europe, getting in at the airport only hours before we showed up. So we were all a sorry mess, and headed straight to bed.

In the morning I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in the middle of America's ninth largest city, and all I could hear were the birds chirping. Every so often a plane would fly over. Then I thought of our little apartment near the ocean (but nearer still to the freeway, PCH, a hardware store and three banks) and how ungodly loud it is - and it's not even in a city! Arrrgg! Anyways, that day was spent demolishing the bathroom, and my best friend and I helped our hubbies as best we could (mostly carrying trash out while giggling like annoying schoolgirls. The best thing about a best friend is how hilarious and cool you think eachother is, even when the whole rest of the world is rolling their eyes.) The next few days were spent hanging out in the city while the men toiled away in a little bathroom. Poor Jordi hadn't even seen anything of Dallas, while I was off having cappuccino's, going on walks and being driven around town.

All that said, the last day we were there we took care of some important stuff. We got to see the grassy knoll where Kennedy was shot, visit some fun restaurants and neighborhoods, and of course walk on the Katy Trail - a dirt nature path that winds through the city. We then had drinks at the Katy Trail Ice House - who's genius idea was it to put a bar on the running trail? It was so nice to see all the healthy young Texans run by as we sipped our beer. They have games like corn hole and darts you can play too, but we just sat on the picnic tables under the twinkly lights in the early evening on a Gorgeous spring day in Texas. We had amazing weather the whole time we were there. Kinda made us want to move there - nice people, adorable (and affordable) houses, cool city - what's not to like?? But the reason my bf and her hubby are moving is it gets crazy hot, and there is not much to do outside the city. No other towns, lakes, oceans or mountains to visit and explore - just Texas for days. We should know!

Katy Trail Ice House with Corrie and Jason