Las Cruces

Hello,

So, Em and I have been down here in New Mexico for a few days. And we already got internet hooked up, so we're pretty stoked (plus digital cable). But yesterday she was surfing the web and came to this site, and said, "geez it's been a while since you posted." So, today I got up and decided, after surfing the web a little myself, seeing that nothing's really happening on facebook, or anything, that I would give everyone an update.

We made it here in two long days. Left Sunday the 2nd and made it here on the 4th...kind of...

See we drove no faster than 60mph (not counting a few hill), because the tow-trailer we had couldn't go any faster without exploding. But after a post-wedding celebration with the Fix family, we got up at 6am and left Yakima, and we drove from there, into Oregon, through the dry part, into Idaho, past Boise, and we stopped in Twin Falls.

First of all I was stoked to stop because my favorite Built to Spill song has the same title, but we also stopped cause we were hungry and needed a good meal. We ended up hanging out for a while, taking pictures, and walking around. The bridge into the town is amazing, and there's this little paradise below the cliff, where the river goes, and there were people parachuting off the bridge, and the sun was setting. It was amazing!

So, we finally got back on the road and I drove into the darkness of Idaho, which turned into Utah, which had some amazingly smooth roads, that once we hit SLC, were crap, one lane freeways, construction, bumps...i spent a lot of time cursing to myself and woke up Dan and Em. Then after the city we were supposed to take highway six (a shortcut), but as we got on it there were these weird windmills and curvy roads and darkness, so we opted to stay on the main freeway (we probably lost an hour or so, but that's better than running out of gas where there are no towns). I switched over driving at like 3 in the morning or something and Dan took over, wanting to get us out of Utah and into Colorado. We finally did. It took forever.

When the sun started rising, trying to peek its head over the mountains we stopped at Denny's had some "build your own" Grand Slam and took off again. This part of Utah was amazing. There were rock formations, huge outlooks...oh...then after hours of that (it started getting old, kind of), we reached the town of Moab. This is somewhere you all should go. It's crazy cool, old, and seems to be a freaking hot spot. Em and I want to go. And we probably will someday soon...

We got gas on in a town that (I can't remember the name) was repaving every single road in town. It sucked, but we made it out, and about an hour later we were in colorado, which fields and farms and was a change from Utah, even though they were basically in the same place. I don't know if I got a lot of pictures of Colorado...I'll check.

Colorado was OK. It was nice at first, then got hilly and the roads got shitty, and it took forever to get into New Mexico. There's a place just off the main road called four corners where you can stand in four states. Cool. We didn't have time to we jetted passed at 55mph.

New Mexico (the sign said Navajo country), was dust and straightness forever, with some mountains in the distance. At this point we were just trying to get through the state down to Las Cruces so we could get our keys and sleep in our apartment. But the longer we drove, the more we knew we wouldn't. Then after hours and hours, Albuquerque came and went. It was sunset, and the city seemed cool, and there was a lot of water (rivers and stuff) and green tress and bushes. It was a nice change for a bit. At the truck stop, we got some drinks and food and met a cashier who had moved back from Portland. He said, "I like it here. The sunsets are the best." I was thinking, OK, but Bellingham's got the best sunsets...so, we'll see. (The sunsets here are unreal...I don't know. I'm still partial to B'ham's sky...we'll see...we'll see...)

We kept moving and made it to Truth and Consequences, NM (Yes that's a city) to get gas. Stop. Rewind. Albuquerque we had over a half tank, and an hour out of Truth and Con. we had a quarter, then twenty minutes out we were empty and started freaking out. So, we started coasting down hills and trying to take that momentum up hills. We made it, with not sputtering or anything, pulled into a Chevron or something, filled up, and started to drive, then the truck sputtered to a start.

Long story short it wouldn't start. We had to get a motel. The mechanic who came out said we had a messed up fuel pump. A wrecker-truck driver towed the truck to our new apt. and I had to go and sleep in the rental truck till Em and Dan woke up, and drove the car down {yes we unloaded the car from the trailer).

And here we are.

I'll try to post a lot more than as of late. You can check out pictures at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=2186026&id=25903020&page=5

Love you,
Joshua