Cowing Around: Grand American Tour Day 06: Drive to El Paso

Another "What a day!"

Driving out of Austin takes me to the rural Texas. Actually, there isn't much of Texas that isn't rural. When I was driving towards Austin from the east, it's mostly brown with dry grass and sparse trees. The land is somewhat hilly but not very intense. Driving out of Austin through the west side is very different. The terrain climbs and dips very much and the vegetation is a lot more lush.

So this morning, I spent all of it driving through local roads to meet I-10. From town to town, it is interesting to see the change in landscape (however minute the change may be) and the neighborhood. I stopped many times for various reasons. Check the car, use the rest room, but engine oil, pump gas or just to take a photo. Every gas station I enter, the staffs are pretty friendly. For an odd Asian to walk into a Texan small town gas station is like a strange cow boy enters the saloon. Except, I ain't comin' in for a drink.

Even as agricultural industry takes the dominant place here, other supportive business thrive too. Interestingly, one of these being the iron works business. Every town has one or two iron works factory, and these are not some big factory that pumps out mass produced cookie cutter designs, but small workshops that craft custom-made decorations and ornaments for the farmer's ranch. Of which, some iron workshops are more creative and radical then others. There was even a sculpture park of iron pieces, waiting for the right eye to appreciate them.

Along the way are also many abandoned businesses. Gas stations, grocery stores as well as feed supplies are most of what are left behind. I don't know where they've all gone. Perhaps taken over by bigger gas station chains, Walmarts and Ace Hardware.

50% of the cars on the road are pick up trucks.

75% of the pick up trucks are massive with steel front guard rails and armored bumpers for some real business.

LONG HORNS!!!!!

So it wasn't until lunch time when I finally reached the I-10 intersection. Wow, there's really nothing out there! 80 mph as the speed limit, it was open road all the way. Along the highway, there are exits and entrance ramps constantly, but they go no where! I mean, there's not a single soul, building or sign of human civilization around the exits. So I don't know what they are for.

Then I was just being too cautious and though, oh a gas station! So I pulled off the road onto the ramp only to realized that it was an abandoned gas station. At the same time, there was nothing out there.... nothing, except I drove onto something.

As I was coming down the ramp, I ran over a branch. A seemly harmless branch. Something felt weird, my car handles differently. So I got out of the car and..... really? A flat tire?

I checked my cell phone. Really? No signal?

Alright, time to prove myself as the worthy F1 pit crew. 3 secs per tire!

I put on my fishing hat, my cycling gloves (thanks to Scott to jinx me by reminding me to bring my gloves in case I need to swap a wheel) and got the jack out of the trunk. Then I emptied my trunk in order to get the spare out. After jacking my car up, I put the wrench on and...... alright, first nut is loose. Then second....... not breaking! This is when I learned new things today. When the wheel is freed and you are trying to loosen the nut, the wheel will tend to spin along. You have to position the nut that you are working on at the bottom, because this way, the direction of rotation of the nut isn't in line with the direction in which the wheel spins. You still have to hold onto the wheel, but it's much easier.

In the mean time, two cars came by, looked at me, and left.......

2, 3, 4, 5! Nuts loosen! Now time to put on the spare. The rest was easy. The only think I was worried about is just how far do I need to go to find a auto repair shop?

The cellphone was useless, but the GPS was the savior of the day. 15 miles. That's easy enough!

So off I went into this little town of 1500 people called Iraan. Yes, no spelling mistake, no joke about Iran being a part of Texas either.

This is a really small town. I am not sure what all the trucking in these rural area is all about. Is it some kind of mineral industry? Quarry industry? Oil? I really don't know, but there were all these chemical container trucks all over the place, and I think small towns like Iraan survives on them.

There is a school, but I didn't see kids. The streets are wide, probably for the trucks, and there it was. The auto repair shop!

The shop seems busy with people coming in and out. I walked in ( again, like a cow boy walking into a saloon) and said," Can you help me fix my flat tire"? Sure! Almost immediately, we are like a family. This wasn't like your typical chain car repair place where you have a greet and wait area and you are prohibited from entering the working area. I unloaded my punctured wheel and carried it into the shop and basically hang out there, talked to the guy and the boss, like all the other customers who come and go. In no time, the tire was fixed. I put everything back into the car and off I went. Total delay time? About an hour. Experience? Forever!

So today I felt like I've earned a medal. I've been upgraded to master road tripper for successful neutralizing flat tire situation in the middle of no where, especially in the desert.

Then it was the rest of the drive, all 300miles of it. It was strange that once I crossed the time zone ( CT to MT), the landscape changed suddenly from barren desert dirt and sparse vegetation to a much more lush and hilly terrain. The farms that followed are less about ranching but more about plantations. I am not sure what is being grown, but it's not about livestock anymore.

The landscape is also like a mini grand canyon in the sense that there are peaks that have been eroded away, and I could see the tail end of the Rockies. Approaching El Paso, I see more and more Border Patrol activities with patrolling cars and check points. I don't think they would think my tiny car can traffic any human bodies.

So I am in El Paso. It's blowing warm air, but at least it's dry. Of all things, I had Vietnamese noodles for dinner. It's like the meal that has been awaiting for a long time. Not the best Vietnamese soup noodle, but good for the soul nonetheless.