traveller – World's Ways

The trip continues

Very little to report today, because I’ve been backtracking my route. I’m now just a little east of where I was a couple of days back before losing my nerve. I’m in a place called Gallup, where I’m sat tight for the remainder of the day because it’s blowing a windstorm outside. Yet I’m getting close to the national forests I wanted to check out, so very soon I’ll be able to remain in one location for some time.

The only entertainment of the day was successfully passing the Continental Divide. So, whilst this morning when I relieved myself it flowed off to contaminate the Atlantic, this evening it’ll contaminate the Pacific. Ain’t that cool?

Texas

Well, I’m certain Amarillo has its attractions, but Texas definitely has an issue with looks. A pack of unsightly enterprises rough and tumble} with each other next to the Interstate 40, and it made me so claustrophobic I simply drove right past without braking. Texans might have the largest this and the largest that, yet someone ought to inform the city coordinators that dimensions isn’t really as essential| as they seem to think it is — it’s the things you do with it that really matters.

The wretched truck and I are exhausted. I really did not intend to drive until now however it got truly windy, so aside from a brief trek on the Sandia Hills all I could possibly do was continue. So currently I’m in New Mexico, in a small city called Grants, west of Albuquerque. I got here mid-afternoon, so I invested the remainder of the day simply relaxing as well as having a swim and a health spa. The hotel sits at 6,500 feet, so going for a swim takes your breath away in the wispy air. However elevation benefits my state of mind. Tomorrow morning I’ll attempt t have a run.

A long way to go

They claim Outer Space is massive, yet those same astronomers have clearly never seen Louisiana.

Today I’ve been piling on the miles (over 400 of them) to get away from the Deep South and its memories and temptations, and make some progress to reach the Rocky Mountains. The majority of the distance was in Louisiana, instead of New York, but now I’m tucked up for the evening in Baton Rouge, a town near New Orleans.

Aside from a bit of shopping for fundamentals, I’ve not done anything today other than drive along while eating. I have now worked my way up ‘Louisiana’s’ boot and if there was anything worth seeing then I missed it, yet that’s not unexpected given how much ground I have covered today. Plus it’s a terribly long way in between decent stopping points.

Swamps have actually slowly turned to pasture, and also downtrodden black individuals have gradually been replaced by downtrodden Mexicans, but never fear, it’s the same old McDonalds and Walmart.

Preparing for the road

With limited space in my Jeep Cherokee, it is difficult to decide what to take for a 6-month road trip! I’m having particular trouble deciding what tools to take for impromtu car repair. Tire inflator is coming obviously, but then it needs the air compressor with it and one that works even if I’m in the middle of nowhere. Now it might seem a bit much to drag along an air compressor but then again I’m able to use air impact wrench (for the tires) as well as inflating all those bits and pieces of camping equipment. My current one is way too big, old and noisy, so I’m going to had to shell out something more practical. There are a lot to choose from but it has got to be pretty compact and able to run off a car battery so I’m leaning toward getting the Porter Cable CMB15.