NEW MEXICO & EL PASO

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For two full days/nights the weather nearly got the better of us. With 60 mph winds blowing our van from side to side the morning we left Arizona and headed towards Texas, all we had to do was look up at the grey unfriendly clouds and realise that a bit of trouble was ahead of us.

At one point I found myself on one side of the roof and Kieran on the other, pulled up in the middle of the Arizona desert with no other cars, towns, or people in sight, trying to tie down the awning from the side of our van that had come loose from the rough winds. What made it worse was the almost empty gas tank staring us in the face with yet another 50 miles to go to the next town. It felt like a do or die situation in which I will not deny my state of panic at the time, however I never doubt Kieran and I when we are stuck between a rock and a hard place. In the end, we learned two things - fill up on gas when you can and always carry some spare rope. 

As a small glimmer of light we did come across a small fireworks store just off the highway, where we may have made some purchases. We rewarded ourselves a night away from our little van and time away from the demanding wind as the interstate closed down due to sandstorms. Kieran disappeared to Walmart across the road and came back and surprised me with flowers and strawberries. Then and there I knew the sun would come back out to play tomorrow.

It seems as though patience always pays off in the end. After the two days of bearing the horrible wind, the sunshine had forced its way through the clouds.  It was so nice to see the skies turn blue again. By now we had arrived in El Paso. We spent a whole day driving around the mission trail stopping to see some old Spanish churches that lived there. They all reminded me of the Twin Pines Chapel used in the Kill Bill 2 movie. Whenever we went in to one of the churches there would always be someone in there to tell us an insight on when/how it was built and the stories that each of them held.

Between El Paso and Alpine we drove for so many hours I felt our van grow tired and weary the more miles we drove and so were we. Though there is no other feeling like that moment of arriving into a new town, a town you know you will be in for quite a while.