11.3.2002

I wake up every half-hour starting at 3:11 AM. At 6:15 I decide to get up. We load the car, check out, and eat breakfast while waiting to meet Germany for the first time. At 7:30 AM a tall woman enters the hotel lobby with an expectant look on her face. I get up to greet her, and meet Germany for the first time. I am impressed with her punctuality. We leave the hotel and set out to meet her in-laws. As we head to her car saying our farewells they hand her a can of mace to use on me. When I try to kill her. In the desert. Leaving her bones to dry in the sun.

We leave Dallas around 10 AM.

At 1:30 PM we hit a long, flat stretch of highway. Red dust conceals the terrain, blown up by a strong wind that sends tumbleweeds rolling across the highway in front of us as we speed along. We wonder: would Viggo want one?

3:47 PM finds us still in dusty flat country. The tumbleweeds become more sporadic. We need gas, and hope to see a station soon.

At 4 PM we stop in Monahans, which seems to be a town built around a gas station. I make the mistake of opening my mouth outside, and instantly taste the gritty dust that fills the air and coats my car. A good natured man in a neck brace tells us both separately that no, it is not always like this. I wonder how settlements in the area have lasted, with such uninviting conditions being a not uncommon occurrence. We put extra water in the trunk and head out.

4:30 – Germany notes the lack of police in this part of the state. Texas officials need not take note.

5:30 – Texas suddenly becomes interesting. We emerge from the dust to see the Guadeloupe Mountains rising up around us.

We enter the El Paso area around 7 PM, and stop to eat. Soon after resuming our journey we enter New Mexico. No one ever told me what the New Mexico sky is like at night. I grew up on the plains, and am used to seeing stars at night, but I’ve never seen the sky like that. As I look up I think that I see stars I have never seen before, and they all seem close enough to touch.

We stop in Deming, New Mexico, for the night. It is about 11 PM local time.