As Ch'nel slept in I went downstairs for the free hotel breakfast that was required at all hotels we stayed at. As I snacked on my orange juice, bagel and prepackaged Cheerios a couple from Kansas sat down at my table. We discussed how lovely Colorado was, our road trip in general and Kansas. The couple told me of the rolling green hills and happy lifestyle that everyone there gets to live. Maybe Kansas wouldn't be that bad? Perhaps we should head that way. I mentioned that I might be heading that way later in the day and the woman looked appalled. "Oh honey, I love living in Kansas but I would never want to visit. Go to New Mexico!" Well then, apologies to Kansas but it looks like we had a trip to New Mexico to plan.
Ch'nel came downstairs and I mentioned to her that we should probably go to New Mexico rather than Kansas. Ch'nel looked confused and asked when did we ever plan on going to Kansas? Well then.
With a fairly long ride to Santa Fe ahead of us we had to hit the road. There were some things I was hoping to see in Colorado Springs but ultimately it was just a bump in the road for us, a memory and reminder to come back later. We hit the road and headed due south. The mountains got smaller and the greenery became less and less. While the scenery was still good, it was a low key drive. Two hours out of Colorado Springs we heard the stomach dropping thump thump thump of a flat tire. We pulled over to the shoulder to take a look...yep, definitely flat.
Learning to change a tire was on our "to-do" list before leaving....it never happened. While we pondered giving it a crack ourselves we decided to call AAA instead. While preparing for AAA we set to work unloading our entire trunk onto the side of the Colorado interstate so that we could get the spare tire out of the back. Camping stove, sleeping bags, pieces of Crazy Horse Memorial, all laying on the side of the road. We could have just set up camp there for the night.
After about 15 minutes a highway aide vehicle pulled over to the shoulder and had our tire changed in no time. As he screwed on the spare we gave the old tire a looksie. The thing wasn't just punctured, it was destroyed. The interior looked like and animal had gotten stuck inside and clawed his way out. Any hope of a simple repair and return to the road were gone. Once the spare was on we turned around at the next exit and drove to the nearest tire store.
This doesn't look nearly as impressive as I remember it.
On our way to the tire store I got a phone call from AAA. "We're on the side of the highway and you're not here, are you ok?" DAMN YOU AAA INTERCEPTERS! I think the guy that helped us was just a good samaritan because he got nothing out of it, but I swear there's now a note in my AAA file "Never waits for AAA. Do not help this woman".
At the tire store we once again unloaded our car to put the spare back in. Our tire was replaced and we were quickly back on the road. Less than a block down the road we realized something was wrong. A grinding sound came from spot where the tire had just been replaced like the tire was rubbing against the frame. We pulled over and realized that the new tire was totally bigger than the other three tires. We went back to the store to get a new tire and were told that it was just an optical illusion. Huh? No, I said, the tire does not fit, the car does not move properly. "It's all in your head". What? "Look at how close the frame is to the tire, it is the wrong size, may we please have the right size?" "The tire is fine, you just have too much stuff in your car". Then the English speaking nephew (son, friend, next door neighbor, let's just go with nephew) came by and said "yea, that tires too big, get them a new one". Well then. Thank you.
We were back on the road and heading for New Mexico. I don't have much to write about this trip because it was one of the few that I fell asleep on. I think that was the most surprising element of the trip. I imagined before we left that when the other was driving the other would be sleeping. However the silence that results when one person is sleeping makes the ride almost unbearable. There were quick naps that led to nice stretches of silence but I'm pretty certain I was out for a good portion of the ride to New Mexico. Hopefully Chiz was able to amuse herself.
I woke up as we pulled into a Taos gas station to get, well, gas. We explored the town for a bit, famous for their adobe buildings, but ultimately ended up continuing on. I had almost forgotten just how dark it got in the desert until night closed in around us as we drove on. After what seemed like forever we pulled into Santa Fe and checked into the La Quinta.
After racing to our room to watch the latest episode of Glee we raced each other to the laundry room. Ch'nel won. I went down to the front desk to get quarters and found that Chiz had cleaned the guy out. You win this round, travel partner. I was able to get a load off in the laundry room but still had a bunch of clothes that I was dying to wash. I decided to go with the spirit of the road trip and do my laundry in the bathtub. With my bar of soap I scrubbed the grime out of my socks and t-shirts. I squeezed them out and hung them up in the bathroom to dry. I flicked on the heat lamp and shut the door. It was up to the laundry gods now.
I woke up in the morning to find mildly damp socks and crispy t-shirts. A quick drying with the hairdryer worked like a charm and I was able to pack up my laundry. Overall I'd give my system a 6/10. It got the job done, but should only be used as a last resort. After a breakfast of peanut butter and banana pancakes we were off on another marathon car ride. A 10 hour journey across the Texas panhandle and Oklahoma. Waiting at the end for us was our boy Cole and his University of Oklahoma gang. We had no idea what was in store for us, but we were anxious to find out.
No comments:
Post a Comment