day 51: las cruces to san diego

making our way to the west coast we decided to drive straight from new mexico and acquire a hotel room in san diego since the drive was over 12 hours.  leaving las cruces the driving conditions were almost unbearable, there was a 30mpg swirling head wind and sideways rain.  we proceeded as steadily as possible and around tuscon it cleared to blue skies.  the geography along the southwestern border was surreal and around every bend was something new for our untraveled eyes.    

did not photograph well, but there were a series of brilliant rainbows around picacho mountain as we left las cruces.

first rest stop once in california, the imperial sand dunes.

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day 48: austin to las cruces, nm

we drove from austin to las cruces new mexico and met up with my parents at the beautiful home of family friends, javier and ophelia.  the drive was long, 10+ hours, but the scenic views were spectacular... we are really seeing something different now.  along this drive you skirt the border of mexico and it got a bit exciting.  on one occasion we were prompted to pull over by some random pick-up truck, we believed it to be a robbery attempt.  as well we witnessed a border patrol high speed chase!

once in las cruces we had a couple days of quality food and family time.  ophelia is a master of mexican cuisine and she showed us much love, in return i made them dinner to return the favor.  we played some highly competitive dominos and we did some sightseeing; visiting my parents old home and the giant roadrunner built from recycled materials.

it was a blessing to see you mom and simp!  thank you javier and ophelia for the wonderful hospitality.

simpson, rosemary, kristen, andrew, javier and ophelia.

the brilliant view from the backyard of javier and ophelia's home.

cheffin' up some chicken marsala, corn risotto roasted carrot ribbons and broccoli rabe, sportin' ophelia's apron.

recycled roadrunner.

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Cashmere's log - day 44

Yummmmm... texas smells like barbeque! And apparently everything is big in texas so people have stopped calling me a "big boy." The mosquitos biting mom and me when we arrived in galveston sure were big. And the sand burrs stuck in my paws were big too. And the distance between our camper and the bathhouse was really big so one night mom had to drive drive there in fear of not making it..

Then it started raining and the wind started blowing and it was soooo loud I could only sleep 23 vs 24 hours that day. I was exhausted. I thought briefly that dad got his wish of living on a house boat as the next day the camper was surrounded by so much water I thought it was going to sail away. But mom and I do not like boats so we would have have to take the car and go home... where is that again?

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day 42-47 texas at large

day 42: new orleans to galveston, texas.  i-10 through baton rouge was hell, it took a hour to travel 3 miles.  then finally once in galveston the rain came.  i lived close to galveston when i was young and getting into town brought back a flood of memories.  galveston looked a bit worse for wear after being devastated with storms last year.  ironically we really did not get to explore much since it rained for 48 hours straight.

galveston island state park campground under water.

stopped through the old familiar home town of my family.

day 44:  galveston to port aransas.  getting tired of the being wet, we pushed on to port aransas down the coast from galveston.  in port aransas the rain stopped, but then it got cold the temperature dropped 15 degrees.  port-a is a cool town... the beach is hard packed and the municipality considers the beach a roadway and also you can have a campfire anywhere and camp on the beach for free.  we drove 20 miles of the beach down to padre island.

 

the surf was flat and the "men in grey suits" were gigantic.

day 46:  port aransas to austin.  this is the unfortunate day that we have left the coastline to cross the country.  we arrived late to austin, got a cheap hotel room and headed out on the town.  we got some good food and some hot music at lambert's, an unscale bbq joint in downtown austin.  in the morning i ended up in bad shape, either some food poisoning or i was dosed by someone at the bar.... i spend the next 10 hours with my head in the toilet.  we had to stay an extra night just so i could recover properly.

checked out a set by "brownout!" a blazin' hot latin funk band... they dudes kicked ass.  they serve as the back up band for prince.  

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