Speeds Over 35 MPH

Fort Stockton, TX - July 7th

Room 114

 If nothing else, ODB is an obsessive planner. Long ago he started plotting the MMPAA 12 course. Then he divided the route into one-day segments to fit his allotted four weeks of vacation. Then he looked at motels that might be reasonable at the stopping point for each day. Then he logged the address of all these motels into his GPS. Then he wondered why She Who Directs Transit Operations opined that he spent an inordinate amount of time fussing with his trip instead of tending to say, his domestic partner.

 So today we pull into Fort Stockton, Texas. ODB is feeling smug that he doesn’t have to hunt for a motel as it's hotter’en hell this afternoon in Fort Stockton, Texas. The GPS says it’s just ahead on the right. We arrive to find a recently plowed vacant lot on the right. GPS assures us that this is the correct address.

 Plan B.

 Pull under a gas station awning to get in the shade. Use phone and GSP to find a list of local motels. For reasons known only to him, ODB thinks the Comanche Motel might be a likely prospect. It’s not.

However, in the same (seedy) neighborhood is the Executive (ha ha ha) Inn. It wasn’t the painted fuchsia doors that caught his eye. No, it was the proximity of the parking just a few feet from the painted fuchsia doors. And at $42 plus tax, perfect! After checking for train tracks, he booked room 114.

The trip here from Bernalillo was unbelievably . . . um, efficient. Before getting into that, did you know Bernalillo was pronounced Burn-ah-leo? I didn’t think so.

 Okay. Back to the fast, I mean efficient, the efficient trip across New Mexico and about 100 miles of Texas. We left Burn-ah-leo at 04:55. Clear skies meant we had some moonlight. Also, the lights of pre-dawn Albuquerque made it easy to navigate the three, four, and five lanes of mostly empty freeway.

 By the way, the ramp from southbound I-25 to eastbound I-40 is a ride for which they could charge admission. Especially with a rider who apparently missed the sign that said, “CAUTION! SPEEDS OVER 35 MPH MAY RESULT IN POOPED IN PANTS”

 ODB took us into that thing at a brisk 70 MPH (5 over the previously posted 65). The ramp is a huge flyover affair that has both elevation change and tight radius issues to contend with. It was all ODB could do to keep me off the outside wall. If he wasn’t wide awake on I-25 South, he darn sure was by the time we arrived on I-40 East.

 We spent most of our day on the US Hwy 285.The posted speed limit in New Mexico is 75. There, it’s a divided four-lane. In Texas, they keep the same speed limit, but the road shrinks to a regular two-lane highway. Traffic was sparse in both states.

 We saw a series of ancient billboards for White City (Really!), including the one pictured above. We passed through one ghost town, one near-ghost town, and one may-soon-be-ghost town. Those would be Encino (photo), Vaughn, and Loving, NM.

 You can be proud that ODB resisted the temptation to set a World Land Speed Record on the longest, straightest, and emptiest straightaway he has ever seen. (See below) Instead, he kept my spedo pegged between five and ten over – all day long. I know, I know. That’s still speeding. For some reason, he’s not happy unless he’s coloring outside the lines. But hey, staying at five to ten over is an improvement, so let’s hand it to the old boy.

(Google Map Update)