Monday, November 3, 2014

Grumpy Bulldog Does America Epilogue

I think by now I've covered almost every square inch of New Mexico.  Or at least it feels that way.  I left the dump in Roswell by 9 and stopped to get gas and then breakfast at McDonald's.  I don't know if the motel was still serving breakfast but I wouldn't have trusted it.

Then like when I went from Tucumcari to Roswell it was a lot of rural highways.  Making it even better it was raining most of the time.  And hey, more mountains!  Hooray.  I stopped at some truck stop to piss and bought a Rocky Road candy bar.  It's mostly marshmallow covered in chocolate with some nuts inbetween.  It was OK but not really worth $1.29.

The highway went up through Alamogordo and then to White Sands.  I stopped at the White Sands Memorial but didn't feel like actually getting out of the car.  So I just took pictures of some of the dunes.  Gee, I hope when I turn off the light I don't start to glow.

Then I went past the White Sands Missile Range.  There's actually a sign in Alamogordo that says if the lights are blinking you have to stop for an hour, presumably because they're blowing shit up on the range and don't want a stray missile to vaporize your car.

The road wound through a mountain, then down into Las Cruces.  I stopped for lunch at a Chinese place, which only had one waitress working and was being slowly flooded.  I had to use the bathroom and while I was in there, twice someone tried to open the door.  They didn't bother to knock, they just yanked on the handle twice.  The second time I called out, "Why don't you knock?"  I mean really, if the bathroom door is closed and it doesn't open on the first try, why don't you knock on the fucking door instead of trying to open it again?

Anyway, once I got on I-10 it started raining harder for a while.  It was weird in that it was raining harder and yet getting brighter.  Finally it stopped raining and I could go the rest of the way to Lordsburg.  Which really Lordsburg is a couple of motels, a gas station, a McDonald's and that's about it.  Which is fine with me as I'm just staying overnight.  The outside of the Best Western here is like one of those old motor courts, but they refurbished it inside, so it's not bad.  The toilet is actually anchored to the floor and doesn't make a horrible noise after flushing, which is a step up.

I hadn't taken a shower in a few days because the shower at that dump in Roswell was disgusting.  So that was about the first thing I did here.  Eventually when the sun was going down I went out by the fence here to take some pictures.  Then I stepped back from a curb and tripped over a rut.  I scraped up my right leg a little bit, though not too bad.  I was more worried about the camera (although I have a backup) but it's still working.

Still I went to the Dollar General in town here and bought a box of larger bandages that can fit better than the little tiny ones I had in my bag.  And I got a tape measure to take a half-assed measurement to order a suit.

I ordered a suit from JC Penney because it was cheaper than other sites and I could have it sent to a store in Tempe to pick up--which was the closest to Scottsdale apparently.  BTW, they sent me an email today saying I didn't get that job.  That's like when a publisher sends you an email six months later saying they aren't going to publish your book.  It's like, well duh, I kinda already figured that one out.

I got dinner at McDonald's.  I only had $7 in cash so I got a 2 cheeseburger combo, which is the cheapest.  For some reason they gave me 3 cheeseburgers, so bonus.  Plus I won a medium fry from one of the Monopoly pieces.  Woo hoo.  I have a little over $2 in cash, which I suppose with my free medium fry can buy me lunch tomorrow.

Here are the pictures:




































































































































Tomorrow is just going back up I-10 to Phoenix, which means more mountains and stuff.  Huzzah.

7 comments:

Tony Laplume said...

Wait, epilogue and you're not done driving yet? I don't believe you know the meaning of the word "inconceivable," my friend...

Cindy said...

The picture of the train is my favorite. I buy a lot of things online, but not clothes. Too risky. But good luck with your purchase.

Andrew Leon said...

So where are you going now? Or did I miss that in the stuff I haven't caught up on, yet?

Maurice Mitchell said...

Sucks about the job, but you scored a free burger! Score! That sunset is amazing.

David P. King said...

It's posts like this that make me want to get in my car and drive. Explore roads I've never been on. Most of my writing inspiration as come looking through car windows. :)

Briane said...

I'm with Andrew. I didn't realize this was over.

This is like the Grumpy Bulldog version of that Hunter Thompson book I didn't read and whose name I can't remember. Or "On The Road" with Jack Kerouac, which I also didn't read. Or "Ulysses," which I read part of. You get the point.

Rusty Carl said...

I hope you aren't done. That would be sad. Also, I don't think you've really been In a state until you've shit in it. So you've conquered New Mexico for sure. Well done.

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