Day 2 Phoenix-El Paso

Loving my rented Passat,  Its roomy, peppy and I could ended up with an old school Impala Classic. yikes!  Without power to my cell phone and back up Garmin unit, I’m stuck.  Not wanting to get lost, I go a T-mobile store near the hotel to see if they could test my charger.  The salesperson say’s I could buy one and if it didn’t work they would refund my money.  Huh?.   Wisdom prevailed and a young lady took a charger out of her car and tested in my VW.  Its the VW.

Back to Skyharbor and they had another Passat with Nevada plates.   This car had more mileage and one of the tires seemed out of balance. Interstate 10 and  El Paso, Texas was the goal   The Passat shined, the gas tank promised 685 miles. yey.  The radio was top 40. I am in the desert.   Still tired from the day before but excited about the road and the adventure ahead .

Those Famous Chicken Fingers from last night  were haunting me and not in a good way.

Interstate 10 east of Phoenix is filled with new developments on both sides of I-10. Big Box Stores and new car dealerships and huge movie theaters.   As the cities gave way to desert, the speed limit increased to 75mph,  with cruise control set to 80, its on!

Not much to see, few rest stops in Arizona and my Pandora was going in and out. My radio choices were few, sports talk or more top 40 .I briefly considered suicide after hearing  Adele’s “Hello” for the 100th time.

New Mexico’s landscape was much like Arizona’s  Tree’s were rare.  However for the traveler,New Mexico offered nicer  more rest stops.

Lunch was a Dairy Queen Special.Cheeseburger, fries, drink and a hot fudge sundae all for five dollars.

That was a mistake.

The road was growing long and tedious.  The downside of this radio is it didn’t have Sirrus .  So I called all my friends to keep me company.   After the eighth call, the jig was up. “You must be on the road-its the only time you call-Mike told me you were going to Kansas or somewhere”  As the roadway was entering a mountainous area, I lost my cell.

I was tired and El Paso, seemed like forever.  Nightfall came, there were few cars on the road.  My stomach was brewing something bad ,it was making these sounds.  Stomach, fatigue and no reservations anywhere.

In the distance I could see lights, Las Cruces New Mexico yes…there were many motel along the freeway, but I was close to El Paso, so I kept going, so did my stomach, gurgling and bubbling with an occasional pop.   I thought about stopping to get some Pepto, but bed was a priority.  There are hundred of businesses along I-10 in El Paso, shopping centers, restaurants, and motels.  Hotwire gave me plenty of low cost options, but I wasn’t in the mood to hunt for a mega bargain, the big man needed rest.

I pulled into a random Motel 6.  68.71 including tax.   I am a big man, so even with my questionable stomach I thought I should get food just in case I needed a bite.  At 10.51pm my options were fried and more fried fast food. So I opted for a pack of  Tums and a large bottle of water.

The exterior of the Motel 6 was worn and tired.  Some of the room numbers were missing from the doors.   There were many work crews and people talking outside and drinking beer.   Inside wasn’t bad, vinyl wood floors, a small fridge and microwave.  The bed was a slab, not a place for sensitive backs.   I turned on Bravo and I don’t remember anything after that.

CityFella

Tomorrow Part 3: A perfect road to drop off a body

 

 

 

CityFella