Day 13 - July 31, 2014 - Albuquerque, Nm. to Lubbock, Tx.
Well, we had quite the eventful night last night. Those clouds that looked like the poison clouds from the Hunger games. Yes, they were just as bad. This was what it sounded like in our tent.
Around 1am the skies opened up and it started pouring, lightning and thundering. By 2am I was seriously worried about the amount of lighting and how close it was. Probably about 2 miles away according to weather bug. Thankfully we were staying dry even though the wind was trying its best to remove the tarp from over the tent. Joanne texted me to say we might want to think about coming inside the RV. But honestly at that point there was no way I was climbing out of that tent. La Sara being La Sara slept through almost the entire thing. Except for the one time she rolled over, looked at me and just said "Gahahaha" and rolled over and went back to sleep. Probably a better mentality, she got way more sleep than I did. After the storm let up around 230 of course I knew I had to pee and of course the restrooms were a quarter of a mile away. So out of the tent I went. I checked the tarp before going, solid as a rock. I started my trek to the bathrooms down the street. As I was walking and about halfway there a van drove down the street. When it got to the far end I realized it was turning around to come back. RADAR ALERT. I ran in to the bushes in front of the United Methodist Church to hide myself because this was just plain weird. So after the van drove by again, I said to myself. CPB ( Clandestine Pee Break ) and I admit, just used the bushes in front of the church and high tailed it back to the tent. Creepo, you aren't getting this girl.
It was relatively quiet by this point so I got another hour and a half of sleep before the alarms were going off to wake up to head back to Sandia MINI for breakfast. We efficiently packed up the tent, stopped for our morning Starbuck, and found our way back to one the the best MINI dealers in the Country in my opinion. They had a great spread laid out for us again, all kinds of spicy southwestern burritos. I was hurting from the lack of sleep, but today was going to be a good day.
We departed Sandia MINI with a full police blockade allowing us to go through red lights to get on to the highway. It was great, they were just waving us through right on to our route. Out to the countryside we drove, hundreds of MINIs on a caravan to Roswell! Unfortunately it was a very boring drive, flat and sparse.
But the MINI USA photographers made it interesting as always with their fearless tactics.
We arrived at what MINI told us was the last gas for 100 miles so almost all the MINIs stopped. You can imagine what chaos this was. Tons of MINIs all vying for 2 pumps and upset because the highest test they had was 86 octane. I'M SORRY TYCOON, it's only half a tank. The worst part was the one bathroom part. It was a good half an hour wait to get to use the facilities.
Back on the road we all flew to Roswell to see the International UFO Museum and Research Center. I'm sure you can imagine what this is all about. It was a bit corny, but fun and fast.
We met Kyle and a few other motorers for lunch at the Big D's Downtown Dive. Wow, all I can say is wow. The food was fantastic, so good so that I didn't even take a picture of it. But we did grab one on the way out.
Only a few hours from Lubbock we all high tailed it out of town. On yet another super straight road we set the cruise for 80 and just motored. Unfortunately this wasn't fast enough for some people, including a Family Dollar tractor trailer who ran us off the road while trying to pass another tractor trailer. I'm trying to get a video from another MINI who caught the same truck doing the same exact thing on his gopro. It is scarey, let me tell you. This guy should not be on the road.
*Update, thanks to Darren Keeley for the use of the video. I'm pretty sure he is the "MINI Eh" car that you can see in my pictures for tomorrow. This is his video of the crazy Family Dollar truck that was running us off the road.*
We made it safely to the Texas border and were greeted by members of MetroPlex MINI. They gave us a big Texas welcome.
We easily made it in to Lubbock and pulled in to the campground right behind Joanne. Bill had already beat us there earlier by taking the more direct route with the RV. Sara and I set up camp, minus the tarp since the forecast was for a beautiful evening. After pitching the tent and getting everything squared away we went and found the statue of Buddy Holly, probably the most famous person ever from Lubbock. Kyle texted and told us some of the group were meeting at the Caboose cafe for dinner in an hour so we went to scope it out. We walked in and walked back out. Um, not for us. So I found a place that had good reviews on Trip Advisor, The Crafthouse Gastropub. We arrived there and knew we had found the right place for dinner. This will probably go down as the best meal of the trip. Kyle and the crew ended up there as well when they saw the Caboose. I sat and blogged as we ate. It was probably the best green curry dish I have ever tasted and the dessert pie was SINFUL!! It was a graham crust with a layer of dulce de leche then bananas and a thick whipped cream topping. AMAZING.
Off to bed after a quiet night, we were solo tonight, no MINI party. Oh, and no rain in the forecast!! Windows to the tent open, yay!!
Goodnight.
Well, we had quite the eventful night last night. Those clouds that looked like the poison clouds from the Hunger games. Yes, they were just as bad. This was what it sounded like in our tent.
Around 1am the skies opened up and it started pouring, lightning and thundering. By 2am I was seriously worried about the amount of lighting and how close it was. Probably about 2 miles away according to weather bug. Thankfully we were staying dry even though the wind was trying its best to remove the tarp from over the tent. Joanne texted me to say we might want to think about coming inside the RV. But honestly at that point there was no way I was climbing out of that tent. La Sara being La Sara slept through almost the entire thing. Except for the one time she rolled over, looked at me and just said "Gahahaha" and rolled over and went back to sleep. Probably a better mentality, she got way more sleep than I did. After the storm let up around 230 of course I knew I had to pee and of course the restrooms were a quarter of a mile away. So out of the tent I went. I checked the tarp before going, solid as a rock. I started my trek to the bathrooms down the street. As I was walking and about halfway there a van drove down the street. When it got to the far end I realized it was turning around to come back. RADAR ALERT. I ran in to the bushes in front of the United Methodist Church to hide myself because this was just plain weird. So after the van drove by again, I said to myself. CPB ( Clandestine Pee Break ) and I admit, just used the bushes in front of the church and high tailed it back to the tent. Creepo, you aren't getting this girl.
It was relatively quiet by this point so I got another hour and a half of sleep before the alarms were going off to wake up to head back to Sandia MINI for breakfast. We efficiently packed up the tent, stopped for our morning Starbuck, and found our way back to one the the best MINI dealers in the Country in my opinion. They had a great spread laid out for us again, all kinds of spicy southwestern burritos. I was hurting from the lack of sleep, but today was going to be a good day.
But the MINI USA photographers made it interesting as always with their fearless tactics.
Back on the road we all flew to Roswell to see the International UFO Museum and Research Center. I'm sure you can imagine what this is all about. It was a bit corny, but fun and fast.
We met Kyle and a few other motorers for lunch at the Big D's Downtown Dive. Wow, all I can say is wow. The food was fantastic, so good so that I didn't even take a picture of it. But we did grab one on the way out.
*Update, thanks to Darren Keeley for the use of the video. I'm pretty sure he is the "MINI Eh" car that you can see in my pictures for tomorrow. This is his video of the crazy Family Dollar truck that was running us off the road.*
We made it safely to the Texas border and were greeted by members of MetroPlex MINI. They gave us a big Texas welcome.
Off to bed after a quiet night, we were solo tonight, no MINI party. Oh, and no rain in the forecast!! Windows to the tent open, yay!!
Goodnight.
I'm really enjoying your adventures. I will miss Sara but I know you'll keep on having fun and we'll see you in Cleveland
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