It took us a whole 8 hours just to get out of the state of Texas. Now, the halfway point between Arlington and LA along I20 is Deming, NM. That is a whole 105 miles outside El Paso. So yeah, Texas is friggin HUGE. As I said, we took the I40 route to get here so that's a more northern route. We went through the mountains and there was a lot of really cool scenery. We stopped in Gallup, NM for the night. That hotel was okay. It had a microwave and a fridge and a TV. It didn't have an air conditioner but the area is relatively cool. We did have a fan, though.
I noticed one major difference between the states other than elevation and terrain. That would be the "don't drink and drive" campaign. Arizona wins the award for the most hilarious one for sure. Both Texas and New Mexico use the "Drive sober or get pulled over" campaign. California uses the "Driving sober saves lives, including yours" route. Arizona, however, decided that they would go with "Drive hammered and get nailed." That made me laugh. It's a great campaign. I like it.
On the way to the hotel in LA I noticed that the people here in California drive a lot crazier than the people in Texas and that is saying something, let me tell you. People in Texas are crazy assholes and the people out here in California are about 10 times worse. I had so many people nearly scrape the side of my car because they were extremely impatient to get around me. One guy flashed his brights at me because I wasn't going as fast as he would have liked. He then nearly took off my back bumper to change lanes and nearly took off my front bumper to get in front of me.
The highlight of this time was when this motorcycle came roaring through traffic, weaving in and out of cars and going about 20 to 25 miles per hour over the speed limit. So we're going along and a little bit later here comes CHiPs. It was a patrol car not a motorcycle though. He's going along and we see the lights up ahead and he's gotten pretty far ahead of us. I'm sure he was going very fast. A little bit later we see people slowing down and we slow down and see the CHP officer on the side of the road and who does he have pulled over? That's right, motorcycle asshole. My mom, daughter, and I all cheered and I would have clapped if I hadn't been driving. Stuff like that never happens in Arlington. At least not that I have seen. And I have seen motorcyclists doing stupider stuff than this guy did.
So whoever you are CHP officer that was on I605 S around 930pm PDT I want to say thank you. And I certainly appreciate you.
We got to the hotel and checked in and my daughter and I came to check out the room and we had been given a suite. Four beds, two bathrooms. A microwave, a fridge. Two TVs. It's pretty epic. And the place has a pool and a jacuzzi. I am very glad this is where we're spending two nights. Woot.
I'll have another post in a few days when we get back to Texas from LA. As I said, we're taking the I20 route so it's going to be different and could be fun.
Along the way I have collected stickers for my car. I just need an Arizona sticker, that I couldn't find at any of the stops we made, and I will have the full set. Woot!
