The Road

To be honest, I'm actually finally ready to get to L.A. - and how fitting, because we'll be there today.



Yesterday was a great drive. We took the scenic route to get from Truth or Consequences back to I-10... after exploring Truth or Consequences more extensively, of course. How could we not? The town is named after a TV show. And it's adorable. Flat out. Adorable.

We went to a very small gourmet chocolate shop, Coco Re'al, (Melissa is studying food science and her masters thesis is on chocolate so we took it as part o
f her research) and I asked the young woman who recently opened the shop (really great stuff in there, by the way) if she loved living in New Mexico and she thought about it and said, "Yeah, I do. I mean, you just have to believe in it, you know?" No, I don't know. But that's the most amazing response I've ever heard to such a simple question. You just have to believe in it? Like... as in.. it's magic? Yes! Hello, state motto.

Jeff also found me a SWEET trucker hat in T or C (the town's nickname). I have a nickname for my car: the silver bullet. And he found me a hat with that inscription. Love at first sight.

We were all very sad when we drove over the state line into Arizona. I mean, yay for Arizona and all.. but we really couldn't get over New Mexico. We had to pull over a few times, as we were hugging the cliffs that wound around through the Black Mountain range, to see the views. They were breathtaking, as you might expect. And as you might be able to tell from the photos. I'd go back in a heartbeat. I almost want to go back right now, but I'd probably never leave and that might not go over well with a whole lot of people.



I'm kind of too tired to talk about Arizona - but I was really excited to see those tall cacti. We haven't really explored it so I wouldn't have that much to say anyway. We stopped in Tucson but for the first time we hadn't scheduled a hotel ahead of time, and because it was still early in the day, we decided to push it to Phoenix for the night. It's only a 6 hour drive from Phoenix to Los Angeles, so we'll have some time to take some more scenic routes today.

The one thing I WILL say about Phoenix is that it wasn't easy to find a place to eat, even with the internet on our side. Finally we just opted for a place closest to our hotel and it was called the Purple Turtle Sports Bar. Ok. We almost missed it when we drove by because it's part of a strip mall - and it has no windows - and the doors are painted the same color as their surrounding walls, with a hand painted "Purple Turtle" on them - and there were only pick up trucks parked outside. So. Sketchy only just begins to describe it. And after slight hesitation, we decided to just do it. Jeff went in first to check it out and came back with a wicked smile. "It's like the type of western bar in a movie where a huge bar fight breaks out and someone gets whacked with a pool cue. And there's a Mexican guy in there wearing a crown. We have to do this." He was right. We had to. So we did. Oddly enough, the trucker hat gave me a newfound sense of security. To make everything better - it was Karaoke night. Perfection! But as it turns out all of the people were really just good people and not sketchy at all. They couldn't have cared less that we were the only white kids in the bar. No bar fights to be had. Just a bunch of people with tough day jobs getting together to enjoy pool, drinks, and karaoke. It was delightful. So that was our impression of Phoenix.

Today it's the Arizona desert... and Los Angeles.