Transcontinental Travel Tips ( Part 4 )

Posted on March 14, 2015 under Storytelling with no comments yet

Carefree Highway

( Peter MacDonald photo )

 

 

Tip # 11: Try to keep your gas tank topped up at all times

This seems like a no brainer but it is especially important when crossing the desert.  Most people who take long excursions will gas up every couple of hours or so when they stop for coffee or a bite to eat.

We pulled out of Austin and headed west for El Paso.  Passing through the small town of Stonewall, Texas, we noticed a lot of signage with the names of former President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird Johnson prominently featured.  A quick “Wiki check” and we discovered that Stonewall is famous for two things: peaches and the home of the late President.  I remarked to Pete that I can still vividly recall the swearing in ceremony for President Johnson aboard Air Force One shortly after the assassination of JFK in Dallas in 1963.

The price of gas was all over the map in the southern U.S.  In most places, gas was competitive and cheap.  We had stopped for a bite in Ozona and, seeing that gas prices there were on the high side, we decided to soldier on knowing that gas stations can be found every 50 kilometers or so.  Except in Texas … in the desert.

You’ll have to check out the full story about how we ran perilously low on gas and nearly found ourselves stranded in a two person town in the middle of nowhere (“ No Fuelling Around “).

After averting this misadventure we made our way to El Paso which borders New Mexico and Mexico.  Our last gas stop of the day was in a small town that had been at the epicentre of an ice storm a few days earlier.  The I-10 had to be closed for two full days and they recorded close to 175 accidents (many of them serious) in the span of a few kilometers.

Tip # 12:  Don’t touch the cactus plants

Duh.  We didn’t actually knowingly place our hands on any cactus plants but if you’re not very careful, you can walk by one of them and later find sharp, spiky objects lodged in your jeans.

The first thing you notice after the majestic mountains when you enter New Mexico is a very distinct smell.  Cows.  Lots and lots of cows.  Thousands and thousands of bovines.  It looked and smelled like a major feedlot and rendering plant.  I’m not a member of PETA but it certainly made me think about where my hamburger meat comes from.

We stopped and spent several hours in Saguaro National Park in Arizona, admiring the dizzying array of cactus plants.  To get back on the Interstate we had to drive right through downtown Tucson.  A lot of Canadian snowbirds (the human variety) winter in Tucson and I can see why.  The city appears immaculate and the climate is perfect, according to the locals.  But where do they get the water to keep everything looking lush and green in such an arid climate?  It won’t surprise me if someday soon water becomes a bigger cross-border export than oil for Canada.  Move over Keystone XL pipeline.

We reached a fork in the road and chose the I-8 instead of continuing on to Phoenix.  “I took the one less travelled by, and that has made all the difference.” – Robert Frost

Tip # 13: Accept Randomness

The world has become smaller.  You never know who you are going to bump into … electronically or in person.  Sometimes it’s downright bizarre and unsettling when a set of coincidences coalesce and you find yourself talking with someone in the most unlikely of places.  It’s difficult to explain randomness.  I’m not even going to try.  I accept it.

I have never been to Yuma, Arizona.  And I don’t know anyone who lives there … or so I thought.  Our trip across the desert found us spending the night in Yuma, which is right on the border of California and Mexico.  It was our most expensive hotel stay to date but well worth it.

Early the next morning I opened my e-mail as was my routine.  I was surprised to find a note from someone who had been following our travels.  I had never met this person before but oddly enough, had written a story about her and her husband last year.  (See page 85 in my second book for the story “Taken For a Ride”).  She mentioned that she lived in Yuma, Arizona and if we happened to be passing through; maybe we could look her up.  An hour later, I was sitting at a McDonald’s having coffee with Eleanor and Richard.

Not only did we have a great chat and several laughs but they also gave us several great tourist tips.

Tip # 14: Safest border crossing to Mexico – Los Algodones (near Yuma, Arizona)

Before our trip began we had agreed on several things.  One of those was that we would not travel to Mexico.  Several of the crossings are downright dangerous and, quite frankly, neither of us had the urge to go anyway.  The chance meeting at McDonald’s changed all that as our friends recommended this border crossing, only 8 miles away.

We left our vehicle in a large parking lot with high fences and higher security.  We clutched our passports like winning lottery tickets and walked across the border.  No checking going in to Mexico.   Need some dental work done?  Laser eye surgery?  Heart repair?  Apparently in this small Mexican town you can get all of these procedures done 80% cheaper than in the U.S.  Needless to say this is a very popular spot.  Virtually every business in town, other than street vendors and restaurants, was health care related and you couldn’t walk ten feet without someone trying to hustle you in for a quick fix.

We had lunch, purchased a few gifts (including a bottle of tequila) and made our way back to our car, all in the space of two hours.

( To be continued )