Day 4 of the Great Road Trip

I woke up at 1:30 AM to the sensation of something crawling on me. I finally found the origin of that sensation. A huge tick. I promptly got out of bed and flushed the sucker down the toilet.

After that, I could not fall back to sleep. So I laid in my bed until 3:00 AM, when I got up and did the usual morning routine that I had done for the past few days.

Before setting out onto I-40, I stopped at the gas station that was right next door to the Blue Ribbon to top off my gas tank. And by 4:15 AM I was on the road.

There were hardly any cars on the road that early Sunday morning. I only passed 9 cars in the first 2 hours of driving.

There was a lot of construction on that section of I-40. Because of all that construction the road was very narrow. As such, I was extremely grateful to have been driving my small 2-door coupe instead of a big-ass RV. How would I have ever gotten a long and wide RV through all those narrow spaces?

As I approached Oklahoma City, my GSP wanted to take me to Lubbock via Dallas. No way in hell way I going to be driving through Dallas. I didn't care if it was Sunday morning with light traffic; I heard enough about the crazy drivers and road rage there.

So I planned to stay on I-40 and continue all the way to Amarillo and then shoot down Route 27 into Lubbock.

There was a lot of construction going on on I-40 in Oklahoma City, and that got a little bit confusing with the GSP. I wound up going off the road. And in my finding my way back onto I-40 I added at least an extra 20 minutes to my arrival time.

I made my second gas stop in Elk City, Oklahoma, where I paid $24 to gas up. It was here where I discovered that I-40 ran along side of the historic Route 66. How bloody cool!

So did I get my "kicks on Route 66?"

Maybe not so much kicks as being awestruck by the land.

Oklahoma was flat for the most part. It was one of those states that people said would be boring to drive through because of all that flatness. But I loved that wide open space. It was so different from what I had been used to, and I loved it so much that I did not think that I could ever feel comfortable with claustrophobic New England again. Compared to the wide expanse of Oklahoma, New England seemed practically suffocating.

During my drive through Oklahoma I saw a couple of dead armadillos on the road, along with a dead coyote and a pit bull of all things. And I saw what appeared to be a coiled rattlesnake off by the side of the road, next to some tall vegetation.

There was also a dog happily trotting along I-40 on the other side. Probably a dog from one of the ranches. I hoped that the dog would remain safe on the road.

Continuing along, I drove through an area that was a wind farm. Boy! Were those wind turbines huge!

Oklahoma is Indian country. There were signs that would read: "Entering Cherokee Nation," "Leaving Cherokee Nation," Entering Cheyenne-Arapaho Nation," "Leaving Cheyenne-Arapaho Nation." Each of those Indian nations covered a large territory, a territory as large as some New England states.

And for the longest time, Oklahoma also appeared to be "Cannot-Pee-Here Nation." There was no a rest stop in sight. What was my poor, gradually filling bladder supposed to do?

Fortunately a rest stop finally appeared just before Oklahoma came to an end. And a good thing, too, because I was to find out later that there were going to be no rest stops through Texas, at least not on the roads that I traveled.

A little after that rest stop, I crossed over into Texas. At that point, my GSP instructed me to take US-83 instead of continuing with my original plans to continue on to Amarillo.

This time I decided to listen to the GPS. Amarillo was still a bit over 100 miles away, and I was concerned that would add even more minutes onto my arrival time.

Well US-83 was a Texas highway. But it was like no other highway I've ever seen.

For a state highway, it was a narrow 2-lane road that had 2 skinny breakdown lanes on either side. Route 6 in Massachusetts was much wider than US-83. And a road like that in Massachusetts would have had a speed limit no great than 35 miles per hour. Yet here, the speed limit on this tiny, narrow road was 70 miles per hour.

But I didn't know that when I first got on that road.

Where I exited from I-40, I got dumped in the middle of this tiny hick town called "Shamrock." The speed limit there was low ~ 30 mph right in the center of town.

Oh great, I thought. I was going to have 3 hours of driving at inexorably slow speeds. But in less than 2 minutes of driving, the speed limit climbed to 35 mph, then 45, then 55, then 60, then 65, and finally a whopping 70 mph.

Oh. . .

. . . my. . .

. . . God!

I couldn't believe that I was allowed to go that fast on that tiny road. It seemed almost criminal. Not only that, it was way too fast to be able to enjoy and appreciate the scenery.

In addition, it was a bit scary and nerve-wracking to be going that fast on such a small road.

The road was also deserted. It was like those stereotypical roads that you see in the movies ~ long, deserted, and not a single car in sight. It was one of those roads where you could drive for hours and not see a single car.

I only had one car pass me. And that was nerve-wracking.

It was shortly after I got onto US-83 and was already freaking out by having to go that fast on such a narrow road.

I saw way off ~ in my rear view mirror ~ a vehicle. And I fervently prayed that it was not traveling faster than I was. I prayed that it would stay where it was and not come riding up my ass, especially since I discovered that Texas drivers like to drive fast.

The vehicle ~ an SUV towing a car on a trailer behind it ~ was approaching closer. And unfortunately I had no way to safely pull over to let the car pass.

However, the driver was following the Texas Department of Transportation's admonition to "Drive Friendly - The Texas Way." Rather than riding my bumper, the vehicle maintained a respectful ~ and friendly ~ distance behind me. And once we were passed the road construction and a passing lane opened up, the SUV passed me and quickly disappeared over the horizon.

For the most part, the road was straight ~ one of the straightest roads I've ever seen. There were a few gentle curves and none of the tortuous, tight, twisty, and turny curves that are so common in New England. As I was on a slight rise, I could see that same road as a tiny sliver disappearing way out over the horizon.

Simply amazing.

The whole area was pretty remote. Way out in the middle of nowhere.

All around me were farms, ranches, and just plain wild terrain.

I was in awe over all this grand beauty, and I alternated between being awestruck and by still being scared and tense from having to drive that fast.

I thought that I would love to explore that land. However, I also realized that exploring this land involved a greater risk than just tramping through a New England forest. For one thing, there were venomous rattlesnakes.

Although I did see other vehicles occasionally traveling in the other direction, I encountered no vehicles traveling in my direction other than the SUV that passed me. It took a bit over 2 hours of driving before I passed my first car, and by then I was already getting close to the Lubbock city limit.

Occasionally the road would have a picnic stop along the side of it. I thought that was a good idea. And very often I would see signs indicating historical markers. Apparently Texans are big into historical markers.

Eventually the GPS put me on another road ~ US-62 ~ which was just as narrow and fast as US-83. By now I was starting to feel more comfortable with traveling this sort of road.

Because of the remoteness of these Texas highways, gas stations were far and few in between, anywhere from 20 to 60 miles apart from each other. And there certainly weren't any McDonald's to be found.

And because gas stations were that far apart, I thought that it would be a good idea to stop at the next gas station that I approached so that I would not have to enter Lubbock on a low tank of gas.

The next gas station that I approached was in a town called "Matador." And Matador actually had a "real" gas station ~ a Shell gas station. There was another gas station across the street, one of those local back water gas stations that was probably 10 cents cheaper than the Shell station. But the Shell station was on the same side that I was traveling, and that was where I was going to stop to gas up.

Matador was about 80 miles from Lubbock, about a hour or so drive away.

As I got closer to Lubbock, especially around Lorenzo and Idalou, I passed my first car. There were more cars on the road traveling in the same direction. At that point, there were road signs pointing to Lubbock.

Lubbock was truly out in the middle of nowhere.

With cities and towns in New England, particularly in the southern part of New England, residential and business areas continue to sprawl out way beyond the the city limits. Not so with Lubbock. Even a 5-minute drive outside the city limits puts you out way in the middle of desolation where there are plenty of great places to dump a dead body.

Eventually US-62 led me to the city limits and to Loop 289, a highway by-pass that circles around the city.

I got on the Loop and followed the directions that were repeated to me by the GPS. There was a bit of confusion when the GPS told me to get off the highway and turn left. I followed the directions to the letter and go into the leftmost lane on the exit ramp. That lane, however, was a turnaround lane to get me back on the Loop.

So I had to familiarize myself once more with the Loop. This time I got into the proper lane when I got off. And within a couple of short minutes I made it to The Fountains, the apartment complex where our new home was located.

However, once I got into the apartment complex through the main gates, I had some trouble finding our apartment because The Fountains was the size of a small village. I had to call Ariana on her cell so that she could go stand at the corner and flag me down.

When I finally pulled into a parking space, Ariana greeted me with a big hug before I could even get out of the car. Neil was there to greet me as was Ariana's boyfriend Joe. She and Joe helped unload the car while Neil carried the kitten in the cat carrier back to the apartment.

(We really could not have Neil doing any of the unloading because he was still healing from his heart surgery and the fractured upper back from the fall that he suffered shortly after he was discharged from the hospital.)

When I stepped into the apartment, I was in for a shock. I knew that it was going to be small, but I had no idea of just how small 880 square feet was.

Even though we left a lot behind in Mattapoisett, the furniture and packed boxes that we have the movers loaded on the truck were still a lot. And when I saw the size of our new place, I became very concerned that it would be barely able to hold all the stuff that was coming on the moving truck.

A lot will have to be moved into storage. And we'll probably need a larger storage unit than the one that Neil has now.

And how will the moving van get into the apartment complex? Not only is it a tight fit, there is major road construction going on just outside The Fountains. A semi could not even turn right from the Loop to get onto the road that would take it to our place.

Oh well, I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we get there.

I was hungry from my travels. So I had Ariana take me somewhere where I could get a bite to eat. (Neil and Joe weren't hungry, so they did not come along.)

Ariana took me to a Chinese buffet that had more stuff than the Chinese buffets back where I used to live. But things are done a little bit differently in Chinese buffets in Texas. For one thing, they don't serve a pot of tea with your meal. If you want tea, it's of the iced variety. (Texans are big on iced tea.)

Ariana wasn't too hungry, so she ate very little. But I ate my fill as I was hungry from all my travels. And we got a take-out box for Neil so that he could have something to enjoy when he got hungry later on in the day.

When we got back, I "made my bed," which was a sheet on the floor with a couple of sections of thick wool blanketing underneath that I folded in order to create some cushioning between the floor and my back. I put 2 pillows down for my head and 2 pillows to go under my knees so that the small of my back would not get sore while I slept.

The movers weren't going to arrive until somewhere between the 1st and 10th of September, so I had to accept the fact that I was going to have to sleep on the floor. In fact, Neil was the only one who was going to sleep in any kind of comfort. Because of the healing that his body still needed to do, he got to sleep on the one and only air mattress.

After preparing my sleeping area, I spent the rest of the making making the obligatory phone calls, which were fewer in number because I no longer had to call Neil and Ariana, and decompressing from my trip.

I also took Emi outside a few times and walked around The Fountain's grounds for her to go do her bathroom duty and to familiarize myself with the place that was going to be my home, at least for 6 months, which was the minimum length of time that the lease allowed.

It felt very surreal being there. And I wondered how long would it take before this place would start to feel like home to me.