Sat 29 Dec 2007
Day 109 Saturday
El Paso, Tx
I don’t quite know how they all managed to accumulate so much stuff but it was everywhere and we were supposed to be leaving at 11am. It said so on the door, check out at 11am or have a $25 fine charged to your credit card. I think they justified it by saying the house wasn’t ready at 2pm when we arrived and hence we could check out late. I’m not sure how they justified ignoring the big ‘no smoking’ sign on the door but they did. Typically the woman from the office came to see if we had checked out and collared me by the front door. I said I would hurry them along and we finally left at 12.30pm. It was a long drive back to El Paso but I missed the fact that we wouldn’t be heading back there but instead were going tubing. Short snow covered slope meet fat American on a rubber ring. Sounded like a $20 waste of money, one I didn’t even have to pay for myself but still I refused. The queue was horrendous and it was cold, I would rather sit in my warm car fixing little things. I took my steering column apart and found that the connection to the wheel buttons had popped out. 2 minutes work meant I could now use my cruise control again and most importantly, my horn! That saved me $30 at a Mexican car place I’m sure.
When I had gotten through dismantling my cup holder in a futile search for a missing memory car I went searching for the tubers. Seems they had gotten about 3 goes each after 2 hours of standing around, plus 30 minutes waiting to pay and sign the disclaimer forms. What a rip-off. Just go find some rubber rings and a small hill, why pay $20 to be frustrated. Hopefully now we could get going, but instead of hitting the road we went for something to eat. I thought the ‘Still Smokin’ BBQ’ place was sweetly ironic since that’s all the women in the group had done all week but it still didn’t help me find something to eat. The place was packed to the rafters with blackened meat and I simply smiled when they all asked me if I wasn’t getting something to eat. I just couldn’t be bothered to remind them for the umpteenth time I didn’t eat meat. At least we got the kids in the car for the trip back and could listen to some nice music again. I felt bad back in El Paso for all my negative thoughts when they presented me with a Ruidoso T-shirt for my patience on the ski fields. I had a great time overall, they were all warm and friendly, I just wish I understood more of what was going on and they wouldn’t all smoke so much :p
Now we were supposed to go back to Mexico for New Years but I was paranoid about the border and accidents. If I had a crash I would be in serious trouble and no matter how much they all tried to reassure me I didn’t know if my insurance was valid. I rang my emergency number but the guy was less than useless in answering my questions. If I didn’t go back to Mexico, what then? I didn’t have much choice so I reluctantly went back over the border and hoped nothing would happen. I was a fool for risking it the first time but I was hardly helping by doing it again. It was late, I was tired and hungry, besides, everyone wouldn’t fit inside just one car. At least I could set my cruise control on ‘really slow’ and keep my foot hovered over my brake now! :p
