I woke up at 7. I got on my workout clothes and headed down stairs. I need my shoes though, so I headed to the car, where I saw what looked like a small dog in a camp wagon.
As the wagon approached the hotel I saw that it wasn’t a dog. It was a pig. A pig in a pink harness. I named it Margot. Probably not it’s name, but it seemed fitting. Margot is originally from Sugarlands, TX but had been living in Midland for the last 6 months, and probably would be there for 6 more. Doing, what else, chasing black gold with mommy and daddy.
I saw a handful of men in suits and button ups heading out just before 9am. I imagined that they were the engineers and managers on the jobs, and they were heading out for their 9-5 on the oil fields. It’s weird that a black goop, deep under the earth’s surface could have such an effect on the trajectory of these people’s lives. They must think it’s much stranger that doing spoken word poetry at colleges could have such an effect on our lives as well.
The rain was hypnotic. We left the hotel at noon sharp. Halfway through the drive, we put on old 90’s reruns of LoveLine with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew. It’s a great way to pass the time, they are two great talents to learn from, and more importantly, it’s great to be reminded of what life is like for 18-22 year olds. It’s a blast having laughs at old episodes on the road, it keeps us entertained, it’s a bit of a time capsule, and it’s therapeutic for us as well.
We got to the hotel at 5. They didn’t have our reservation, luckily, Jeanetta from Amarillo College was very helpful and got us fixed right up. (more on her later).
Amarillo felt like a strange town. Everything seemed situated very tightly around the interstate. I had my eyes on one thing, The Big Texan Steak Ranch.
“Soon….” I thought.
We grabbed some pizza from a little place called 575 and called it an early night. I went on a late night swim to clear my head. Ironically I ended up filling my ears with water in the process.