My Funny Valentine

Monster burritos for breakfast at the counter of the old Hitching Post Cafe before we headed down TX 166 toward Valentine. I decided to wait to gas up until then. Big mistake. The 2 lane road through the desert was posted 70 miles per hour and the only vehicle we saw was a tractor. Flat straight roads with majestic mountains looming in the distance. 36 miles later we stopped on the railroad tracks and looked up and down the line into infinity.


Valentine, population 187, is Big Bend's tiniest town. No doctor, no groceries, no gas, but they do have a post office where we stopped to mail a card to Jack and Polly. We're thinking of you guys... I asked the Post Mistress where I could buy gas. She said "Not here... 40 miles north in Van Horn. Hope you make it..." Me too. The drive was desolate and beautiful, the high mountains of the state of Chihuahua in Mexico just across the Rio Grande. Build a fence along this border to control illegal immigration? Ridiculous. We passed through the town of Lobo without knowing it.

We gassed up with a gallon to spare. When you know better, you do better. I'll do better next time. Onto I 10. The terrain became scrubby as we approached El Paso. We went through a border patrol check point. It approached without warning and the red pickup in front of us driven by a young male about went off the road throwing things out the window. They just waved us through and on the other side I could see him cussing his lost pharmaceuticals/herbs. There were more border patrol vehicles, helicopters flying over the river, trucks staked out on hills with binoculars. Serious business. The Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, just across the bridge, is the epicenter of the Mexican drug war. Terrible atrocities. But the only real danger on this side of the river was the traffic. We were glad to have the big, ugly city behind us and we passed into New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.

The 10 miles of dairy herds/slaughter houses along the highway reeked to high heaven. We stopped holding our breath at La Cruces. The road sign said."Zero Visibility Possible". Wind and sand. Take the paint right off your car. We talked about swinging down NM 146 to drive through Hachita, one of Moon's stops, but Winn Dixie (the Garmin) was telling us that we would reach Lynne and John by sundown if we trucked on. So on we pressed on through Apache Pass, Fort Boise, past Cochise and groves of pecans. The landscape suddenly dropped into a huge boulder field in Dragoon, similar to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. Wish we had time to stop. Next time. Past Davis Mountain (popular name out here...), through beautiful Tucson ( sorry Sheryl and Ralph... deadlines), the Gila River Indian Reservation, Toltec, Picacho Peak and finally into Phoenix.

The sun was setting and the full moon was rising as we pulled into John and Lynne's beautiful adobe home in Scottsdale. The dogs went crazy, barking and jumping up on them. Don't tell me dogs forget... The beer was cold and the smoked salmon delicious as we sat on the floor and enjoyed company. Good friends. Good times. Good night...