The road back to Mexico
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
Ski Apache
Day 105
Ruidoso, New Mexico
Only 4 of us were brave enough to head out that morning but I had already bought my lift pass the previous afternoon so I really didn’t have a choice. I tried to tell someone that they could do with a lesson but I wasn’t getting through, maybe it was my lack of Spanish skills. We got up to the slope and it was snowing now, usually a good sign but I wasn’t equipped for cold. I passed out the hot hand packets and hope my charges would make it through the day, it was -5 and I was with 3 Mexicans! I would be lucky if they didn’t all die of exposure. I decided the best policy was to keep them moving, so set them off on the very very green run we had been doing the previous day. They did it with no problems but then I saw the queue for the lifts. I left them queuing and skied back UP the slope and got there faster than them. There were only 4 lifts open, all the top runs were closed and the gondola would only take sightseers up. What the hell was I doing here?? I scoped lift 4 and it seemed to be quieter with a ride to a long green run. That was the plan, I got them moving up to lift and we waited and waited. When we finally got to the front I took Stephi up as she hadn’t been on a lift before, and we somehow made it off without falling over before seeing Dani come up and not get off before jumping off at 2 meters! I nearly had a heart attack. I then saw Raphi come up and fall over before he left the chair! Then I looked down the run and saw this green was so blue you could use it to hide the Blue Man Group! With 3 beginners!
I thought it was too late to put them back on the chair and if I had know how long it would have taken me to get down I probably would insisted they put them on the lift but once we got started it was too late. I told Raphi to snow plough over to the main run and he said ‘what’s a snow plough?’. I then realised he had only been a couple of times when he was 6! I have no idea what he was doing the day before but Dani and Stephi managed to get over to the run and start going down, but Raphi didn’t even know how to stop. Everytime he moved he turned, went backwards and then fell over. If he got any speed up he would probably kill himself, or worse, someone else. I had argued for proper lessons the previous day but my concerns fell on deaf ears. I was the only skier but obviously I didn’t know what I was talking about… The slope was far too steep to get down safely but the girls were slowly moving down, I had to concentrate on Raphi. I made him hold my pole and tried to get him to slide down on the sides of his skis. It seemed to take forever… I would have skied down in 2 minutes but it took more than 30 minutes of falls and frustration.
When I was done I pointed them at the easy slope and went off to find a proper green, but first I stood in the line for the other blue run, I needed to work out some of the stress of anchoring a beginner down a blue run so no one would get hurt. Only 4 lifts open and the place was packed. They had a line for single skiers but far too many lifts were going up with only 1 person and there were no ropes to divide the skiers. After the ease and speed of skiing in Canada I was sorely disappointed by the American experience. I didn’t understand why so few lifts were open! At least the ticket price was reduced but I didn’t think I got any kind of value for money for the day. I wanted to be skiing and keeping warm but instead I was waiting for an inefficient lift. I found a nicer green for the others and directed them onto it, now with the slope being less scary I was able to give them some tips and advise, but I’m not sure an Englishman instructing 3 Mexicans was the best plan. :p
The slopes were full of Texans but there was non of the chat I enjoyed while skiing in Whistler. Going up on a long lift and talking to the people I was sitting with was always great but I didn’t get any of that in Ruidoso. I guess I wasn’t having a very good day :p It didn’t take too long for Stephi and Raphi to give up and go to find some warmth while Dani and I did a last run but I was tired of waiting for 30 minutes in line for 2 minutes fun. One days skiing gave me about 7 runs down which was hardly sufficient and left a bad taste in my mouth for American Skiing but at least I had some time back on the slopes, possibly my only chance this trip, although I suspect there is some good skiing in South America. I certainly hoped so.
Up to the ski fields/3 lifts open/no gondola/another lesson/blue not a green run
Mexican Christmas
Day 104 : Juarez Mexico
It was Christmas Eve, my favourite time of the year…. Not. Its not that I hate Christmas but I think that its been perverted by capitalism. I’m not a Christian but I’m expected to celebrate it non the less. Sure there should be a time in the year for families to come together and give out gifts but why should it be the day that Jesus was supposedly born for non-Christians. Atheists should swap out Halloween and Christmas, give out gifts at he end of October to each other and dress up as zombies in December. Seems like much more fun. After completing so many miles the previous day we only had a short hop ahead of us into El Paso. The sun was shining as it always does and we followed the signs for the highway. Just on the intersection there was a guy with a cowboy hat, a guitar case and a big smile holding out his thumb. Getting Daniella’s opinion first we pulled over to pick up the hiker…..
What a Grand 100th day!
Today marked the hundredth day of my trip and was also the day I would finally get to see the Grand Canyon which always appears near the top of all the spectacular travel lists in the world. We even managed to get up reasonably early since we would be driving and walking around all day. The sun shone but there was a chill in the air which would only get deeper. We scoffed our bran flakes in the room and went off to discover the next great American State park. Daniella really isn’t a very good navigator, I had put in a random road for the town by the park village and was following those directions and we passed the turning for the south rim without me seeing it. Dani did say something but then waited for another 50 miles before mentioning that we had probably gone past the turning. The random road was the highway that leads to the village and I had obviously messed up but she should have more forcefully told me I had passed the junction. Oh well, cursing our dual doziness we had to turn around and head back. More time wasted we could be spending in the canyon though. At the junction we stopped for coffee and m&m’s. As I’m getting in the car a woman pulls up and tells me that the coffee I had just bought isn’t very good and I should be buying it from the coffee place just around the corner. Apparently they make it with ground water. Great. Thanks for telling me I wasted my $1.20! Like I’m now going to tip it away and go buy some more…..
99:Tuba City, Az:Shiprock, 4 Corners, Monument Valley, getting covered in shite…
This part of New Mexico was pure desert, mostly flat when we started out in the morning but we could see a massive rocky mountain looming on the highway as we drove towards it. Checking the map identified it as Shiprock and it looked like a mass of sails towering into the sky. I will have to Google it sometime, but my guess it the remains of a volcano. The state park where the 4 States meet was close by now and we were happy to learn we wouldn’t have to pay the normal $3 entry fee as it was a holiday. Why anyone would want to go there and pay to have their picture taken surrounded by a circle of souvenir shops… I don’t know. 90% of the stalls were closed though so we grabbed our pictures and got the hell out of there. The Grand Canyon was getting close now just another day away and the scenery became more rugged and dramatic. Shiprock was a just a taste of monument valley further up the road. I should look at the map a bit more I guess but that wasn’t my job any more. We drove slowly through a huge valley of dramatic rocks erupting from the red dust, flecked with snow that hadn’t quite melted.
87:Austin, Tx:Killed by cheap lager….
Ah, the bliss of a bed that isn’t wrapped in plastic like the one at the hostel. Josh had gone out early leaving me his phone number and his key. I hope he checked my references :p I took a shower, read for a bit and then found out where he was a drove up to join him. He was in some cool co-op supermarket/café near the University and on the drive up I decided I not only liked Austin, I could possibly live there. Would just have to get past the whole stupid American work ethic and I could be quite happy. Maybe I should see the place in the searing summer first though. It’s a major, MAJOR University town so the place is packed with students and the cool places they love to hang out in. It was a breath of fresh air after driving through the hick towns of the south and I got myself a Tempeh Burrito and coffee and we sat in the sunshine checking the local free paper for bands to see.
85:Dinosaur Valley:65 Million years ago…
Fool that I was I didn’t put the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the door but it was still very annoying when they repeatedly tried to get in to clean. It was nice to have a proper comfy bed for a change but I had more miles to do. By completing the U I was nearly halfway through my task and despite the 300 miles journey of the day before I checked the GPS and found if I had driven straight across the top of the U on the I-20 I could have done it in just over an hour, 70 miles. I filled her up and got some coffee, which is admittedly growing on me since I started using my own milk instead of that cancer fat juice they give you to put in it. Today Dallas? I roared down the I20 and when I finally got a glimpse of the skyscrapers rising like monoliths in the scrubland ahead I changed my mind. I had a loop of the O to do now and would be back in Dallas when that was done so it could wait. Maybe until the weekend.
80:Louisiana:Living it up in the Big Easy
I guess the slight advantage of it being so cold while camping is that it certainly encourages me to get my ass out of bed. It was 6 degrees, so not too bad, and I was wearing plenty of clothes which certainly took the edge off it. I was starting to hum a bit since my last shower wasn’t since Tuesday and there wasn’t a shower in the Parkway campground but I was planning on making a hostel in New Orleans tonight. I cooked up some oatmeal and finished up my left-overs from the night before and carried on South West through the Parkway. I was looking for somewhere to grab a cup of coffee on the way but I would be waiting a long time for it. We were in the midst of a high pressure system so the sky was clear and the heater in my car soon got the chill out of my feet. Best to make the most of it since there was rain forecast for the weekend.