Miles to go

We stopped over the night in a New Orleans Walmart. The first we went to was no longer and was simply a huge fenced off area and car park which was starting to become overgrown. The Walmart was probably the shiftiest we’ve stopped at but we didn’t come across any troubles.

The next morning we drove into the city and after a quick run in with the law for running a stop sign, driving the wrong way down a street and cutting across oncoming traffic we parked up and threw a couple of hours worth in the meter. The area we went to is meant to be full of the Jazz vibe and cool but it seems to have descended into a purely tourist area. Anything you’d expect to be is New Orleans was there but it seemed fake, put on for the sake of visitors and not at all genuine. The live music we strolled past wasn’t all that talented and I think was just there to make a quick buck. I presume/ hope it all changes come night fall and the ‘real’ New Orleans’ comes out.

It seemed every third or fourth shop was a souvenir stop and we walked past scores of open doors full of t-shirts and cheap voodoo trinkets even when walking a couple of blocks away from the main strip. We went to the French Market too which also seems to have descended into a tourist trap with bracelets and slogan t-shirts on nearly every stall. There is a definite divide between this area and the outskirts where almost everybody was hit by the Hurricane Katrina devastation. Many houses were burnt out or trashed and not many were inhabited or new builds. They are really struggling to pull themselves back up.

On leaving New Orleans we hit the road and a long 500 + stint took us into Texas where we stopped at a Flying J’s truck stop for the night. The next morning we were off again and after a bit we pulled off the main road to stop at a Whataburger which we were seeing more of in Texas and thought we’d check it out. We were in Sweetwater a small Texan town which is everything you’d expect it to be after watching television and films for years. We were met with a genuine welcome and the service was great. The burgers were nicer than your average McDonalds or Burger King and with better value.

After this we headed further on our way to New Mexico. The GPS took onto the longest straightest road we’ve hit so far. It was single lane as well and because there’s not too much around they don’t line the roads with any trees. We drove through hundreds of miles of open land with a view to the horizon in all directions. At one point we drove past a wind farm which they’ve really invested a lot in, there must have been thousands in the miles it took us to drive through the area. They also had rusting cars off the side of the road and we drove through oil fields with the nodding donkeys scattered throughout it. The views really were something; they have so much space out here. A lot of the crops and in huge circles unlike the square type ones we get in England. They are watered and I presume planted and harvested by a long scaffold type contraption which spins around it’s point in the centre of the ring. You can see all the rings on the satellite images.

Mirages stretch out in front of you on the roads and you often can’t see what’s coming up on the horizon because of the hazy heat waves. We went through ‘Plains’ not far from the boarder for New Mexico which is very well named with nothing for miles but oil fields and more nothing. I just happened to stop at a ‘Historic Mile Marker’ not far into New Mexico to see what one was and to swap drivers and there just happened to be a Geocache there when we checked. We are also now in another new time zone to its time to change or watches back an hour again.




We’re cleaning the windscreen every time we get gas but it’s not long before it’s covered in guts again. We’re now in Roswell hoping to spend the night in another Walmart. Currently we’re in a McDonalds enjoying a burger and the complimentary wifi. It's pretty cool here, it's not very often you get a themed McDonalds especially a UFO one.Keep your fingers crossed we don’t get abducted tonight. I finished my book the other day. A really good read with its dark content and light hearted humour. They’ve vowed never to write together again and I don’t think it’s really going to happen now. I’ve started my new book and am already half way through courtesy of the massive drives we’ve been doing and sitting in the likes of Starbucks waiting to use wifi.




J.