Day Two

Sunday didn't start too well; I was awoken by Josh telling me his mouth felt like coughing, which is Joshinese for imminent puking. And he delivered. Three or four times, in fact. We weren't quite sure what to do, but decided to go ahead as planned and just keep an eye out. Thankfully, the Lord answers prayers, and Josh was fine once we got outside.

We spent about an hour walking around ASU, or rather, the corner of it around which I spent my year there. The southwest corner of the campus contains my old dorm, the music buildings, the library, and the Memorial Union student community center. It's still a very very pretty campus and it was thrilling to walk around. I think I'll save for another entry the epiphanies I had about my time there. Either way, it was fun. And then, eastward!

The first major bit of interest in the desert hit us in Tucson. We got off the freeway looking for food and got caught in some nasty traffic that turned out to be caused by a bazillion motorcycles. I now know for sure what I guessed at the time: this was an annual toy drive sponsored by the local motorcycle group, who turn out to be the Sun Riders. According to their website, this event attracts up to 4,000 entrants each year. We got back up to the freeway as quick as we could and discovered that the surface street traffic was cuased by only some of those entrants. The rest were on the freeway, really slowing things up. And for one brief terrifying moment I was right behind the last motorcycle in the group. Got around that as quick as I could. I'm such a coward.

Anyway, after Tucson the Arizona desert gets really interesting and pretty, and then the Billboards begin. "What is... the Thing?" they say, for about 100 miles. If you're short on money, go into the billboard business and set up shop along the I-10 in Arizona. Those guys must be billionaires. I've never seen so many billboards in my life! By the way, we overcame all curiosty and denied ourselves the peace and joy of knowing what The Thing actually was. If you're curious, click here.

New Mexico, at least the stretch along the I-10, is just plain ugly and boring. It's like they drew the state line between the pretty part of the desert and the gross part, and New Mexico lost the coin toss. Two points of interest: a large rock which has been vandalized with the title "Fraggle Rock," which was of particular interest to us since the kids were just getting their first taste of the show itself when we drove past it, and of course the Continental Divide. Big whoop.

By and by we came to El Paso. Makes a pretty good impression at night, and we tripped onto a fantastic restaurant. Los Bandidos de Carlos & Mickey's is on Magruder just past Montana should you ever find yourself in El Paso. Think enormous Mexican casa, beautifully decorated and with live music (good live music!) and great service (each kid went home with three helium balloons). The food was decent, but the atmosphere was just fantastic. And at one point I was hit with one of those scent memory experiences. For a short time in fourth grade, I was "best friends" with a gal whose family was straight out of Mexico, and was introduced to some wonderful food in her home (Crema Mexicana anyone? Anyone? Well, try it sometime.) I smelled her house in that restaurant, and that makes it a great Mexican restaurant in my mind. And El Paso is where we spent the night. Bathed the kids, bathed ourselves, and rested. Ahhhhhhh. No internet in the hotel, though, which is why you're reading all this now. :)