It was sometime around 7 when Michelle and I got ready for the big road trip. We knew it would be a long day, we just didn't know exactly how long it would be. On our way out of Albuquerque, we got some breakfast and went shopping for some road food. The Wal-Marts out there have beer, wine and hard liquor. It is bizarre! We were back on the road not too long after shopping and started our way down to Mexico.

Yes. Mexico.

The one country I said I'd never visit. (other countries like Israel, China, and Cuba included caveats like "the end of communism" or "whenever they stop blowing shit up")

Mexico has a reputation for kidnapping tourists, corruption among law enforcement and politicians and impovershed theives. Michelle and I figured that surely there was more to see in Mexico than the bad stuff. There are many beautiful things to see in Mexico... right? Surely we could give it the benefit of the doubt.

We crossed the border at El Paso, Texas and almost immediately, I was on edge. People were approaching the cars for everything- all kinds of vendors selling lollipops, newspapers, jewelry, and (my favorite) bobblehead horse dolls. People would walk up to the car and start squeegie'ing the windows...anything for money. And, trapped in the traffic pouring in to the country, there was nothing we could do about it. It had me going crazy.

We drove around a bit before deciding that if we were going to get lost which wouldn't matter too much in the states, we didn't understand the road signs and didn't have a map to get back, so we drove on the major road and took it all the way to the airport area in Cuidado Juarez.

I found a (surprise!) Mexican restaurant that looked Mom-and-Pop'ish without looking too run-down. It turned out to be a gem. Our waiter, Oscar, started us out with fresh-made chips and salsa (oh, and pork rinds. Paul, try 'em with salsa. they're good.) and recommended some entrees. Oscar spoke English, and was brought to us when we walked in- they said "hola" and out of instinct, Michelle said "hello." heh :) I guess they knew they had a couple of gringos to deal with. Good thing though, because Oscar helped us pick some really yummy stuff that was nice and spicy too.

After dinner, a mariachi band came through to serenade a table near us. Michelle got some footage on her phone's cam. check it out. Oscar told us all about his experiences in America (he snuck over a while back) and how he loved riding the open roads on his Harley that he bought after working construction by day and washing dishes by night. It sounded like a rough life, but it sounds like he had a good time doing it. He was smiling as he told us about his 44 magnum and the pleasure of driving his Harley. He went on and on about how we have so much freedom, and what a great thing it was to have opportunities.

Oscar was right. It's what I love the most about my country. But hearing it from someone who had a taste of it once and now feels trapped again really makes it sink in. It gave me pause. I want to make sure that I am taking the fullest advantage of the freedoms that we have as Americans. I want to live the best life I can and be as productive as possible. It means even more to me to know that life here is a gift that many wish for. And even in a time where we (Americans) feel that everyone hates us, it's important to realize that there are plenty more people who aspire to one day see Los Estados Unitos. Oscar really had it right. We do have opportunity. He then got us complimentary shots of Jose Cuervo, which we downed. I'm starting to become a big fan of Jose Cuervo and margaritas. Oscar just encouraged me. :) Michelle and I were finally ready for the check. Her eyes got huge when the total was 186.45 Of course, this was in Pesos, which didnt' amount to a whole lot. We tipped well (I'm sure 20% is something like a dream for service workers in countries other than America) I wanted to head back over the border to ease the tension, but as it turned out, the Cuervo did a good job for that.

It took a while to get back to the area where the border was, but we couldn't find it. I ended up following a semi truck, which wasn't the best idea. I ended up getting us lost. Michelle was very patient as I drove around Mexico and in the process, drove myself crazy. The roads were all-dirt and bumpy. No. REALLY bumpy. I had to pee so badly. There was nowhere that seemed safe to go, so I kept on driving around, looking for access back to the city near the border. We eventually saw a glimmer of traffic, and that was always a good sign. The wait to the U.S. coming into Mexico looked like it would take hours. It ended up taking about 45 minutes, but we did get to sit through more vendor harassment. We made it across the border and back into the U.S. after getting a funky reaction from the border patrolman- he didn't seem to understand that we just came to Mexico for lunch.

We drove through El Paso and started back up to Las Cruces, New Mexico. I was hoping I could show Michelle the White Sands National Park, so we high-tailed it out towards Alamogordo. The sun was going down quickly, and by the time I arrived at the park, the sun was long gone. I opted to plow past the CLOSED signage and into the park to show Michelle the dunes. The oncoming car flashed its red and blue lights and I pulled over. We had to turn around right away.

The officer gave me a very stern tongue lashing about a ticket but didn't end up giving me one. We turned around and headed back to Albuquerque. The trip home was long. It started raining hard and didn't let up very much all the way home. We pulled into a hotel near the airport and hit the hay. I had plans underway for the next morning at 5am.

The call came in after sleeping about 3 hours that my plans had unraveled. It was still raining in Albuquerque. My surprise for Sunday morning, a hot air balloon ride over the city, had shattered. It sucked. They say that going to Albuquerque without hot air ballooning is like going to Paris and never seeing the Eiffel Tower. I was really bummed, and when I let Michelle in on the surprise, she was bummed too. It would have been a lot of fun.

With the news so early on, I went back to bed. I eventually got up and we started out to Santa Fe to see what it was all about.

I'll save you some time. It's about art. It's all about art.

Santa Fe, New Mexico is full of shops, galleries, and museums about art. We had a free visit to Georgia O'Keefe's museum, and got to see her originals up close and personal. It was a nice town, but everything was overpriced. The clock was running and we had to get Michelle back to the airport, so we headed South back to Albuquerque. After a quick bite, I dropped Michelle off at the airport and headed to downtown Albuquerque.

The sun was just coming out, which was good news for Michelle's flight, and good for me too, since I was ready to hit the road and go exploring. I had seriously NO plans for Sunday, so I started by going downtown. It's a quick lil' city, respective to others I've seen in the US, and I was on my way East to Oklahoma. ... and then I turned around.

I parked the car in a parking lot and cleaned it out, switching stuff I had moved back up to the passenger seat and got the rest of the car cleaned up and ready for part two: the ride home. That's when I took out my map. What was I missing in New Mexico before I left?

I got back in the car and headed back North, beyond Santa Fe and into the mountains of Los Alamos. This was the famous site where Fatman and Little Boy were created, the two deadly nuclear weapons used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. I didn't know what they had to offer to tourists, since the famous Lab was still in use, so I found a hotel and made a night out of getting Chinese food and watching the season premier of Deadwood.

Monday was my big travel day. The object was to get from Los Alamos to Oklahoma City. Quite a trek. I made only one major stop- to go boot shopping. I found a great pair that I wanted, but they didn't have it in my size. (more on this later)

When I got to Oklahoma City, I went boot shopping once again. They didn't carry the boot I wanted either, but mentioned that the mother store was up in Wichita. I stopped into downtown Oklahoma City to visit the Memorial of the infamous Oklahoma City bombing.

The memorial was beautiful. I was very moved by its peacefulness, and that those who died were honored so well. The memorial also included praise of workers who came far and wide to help clear out the destruction. The memorial was laid out with two grand wall faces, one labelled 9:01 (a minute before the bombing, when the city was at peace) and the other, across a reflecting pool was labelled 9:03 (when the world was forever changed). To the left of the reflection pool was an arrangement of illuminated chairs, representing the empty seats made vacant by each victim. The victims' names were engraved on the chairs and the smaller chairs represented the children - 19 in all- who were also killed.

I got some dinner outside the city limits. I wasn't very tired, so instead of staying the night in the city, I went North another few hours to Wichita, Kansas. This is where I had officially decided that the ride home was going to be a very long ride home, going North to North Dakota, into Minnesota and Wisconsin before making it back to Virginia. Wichita was the first night where I slept en route to that first location. I rested well. It would be another really long day of driving tomorrow.