We were southern souls
On a western road
As the valleys climbed
Into mountains tall
And we wondered why
We were there at all
It was the Great Divide
And the mountains tall
My road to being a touring artist was a long one, and in fact, it’s still an ongoing one. As we watched the sky scrapers turn into strip malls, and the strip malls turn into hills, and the hill turn into plains, I felt a warm comfort wash over me. It may have been the lack of sleep; but the feeling of finally getting to where we wanted to be was a fantastic feeling.
As we got out of the city and the population waned, we really thought we’d reached the literal middle of nowhere. We were reminded that we weren’t there yet though, as we were promptly pulled over by Texas’s finest. Luckily he let us off with a warning. About 15 minutes later the speed limit changed to 80, which was something we hadn’t seen before.
Regarding the middle of nowhere, we had a sinking feeling that we were just beginning to see what nowhere looked like. As we closed in on Midland, Texas, we came upon thousands of windmills. When the windmills went away we were greeted by hundreds of oil pumpjacks. Midland is home to tall buildings, tumbleweeds, and lots of oil. Nearly every business on the highway has SOMETHING to do with the oil industry. We’ll be back in Midland tomorrow night, I’m interested to see what this town is like.
When we left Midland, it set in on us that we were about to leave civilization as we knew it. The omen was a lone sign, looming on the edge of the plains and the desert.
“El Paso 545 Miles”
We eased into a land where not even the jack pumps and tumbleweeds could survive. All we could see, was nothing. Shortly though, a looming mountain appeared in the distance, and we felt a bit of relief. We knew we were still miles away from El Paso, but seeing that lone mountain was like seeing a friend in a room full of people you don’t know. It was like turning on the TV in a dead and quiet room.
At the beginning of our trip, I suggested to Courageous that we get a twelve pack of water just in case. His response was, “nah, there will be gas stations.”
My response was “I guess you’re right,” after all, I’d never been anywhere that didn’t have them at every other exit. We were both wrong. Miles and miles of nothing. We took a quick detour down a side road to see how alone we were. We were on a curvy two lane highway with a speed limit of 70. We took a break and checked out the views, took some photos, and got back into the comfort of our car before the sun went down. The “town” we were in was called Kent, Texas. By some estimates, the population is about 45 people. There is a post office, and possibly a general store, although we saw neither. The nearest business other than that is a service station 18 miles away.
Just off the interstate, there was a run down gas station with the words “NO NUCLEAR WASTE AQUI!” spray painted on it.
In the 90’s a Vermont Senator ushered a bill through congress that would allow for him to send nuclear waste produced in Vermont, to be stored in the town of Sierra Blanca. The town of Kent is apparently going through a similar struggle today. Ironically, the building with the anti-nuclear was message on it looked like it was part of a recent nuclear apocalypse. I wish them the best.
35 miles down the highway, we stopped for gas and snacks in the town of Van Horn, TX. We chatted up the gentleman running the counter about what life was like in a seemingly still wild part of the west. He said it’s fine, but if he wants to catch a movie or buy a new pair of jeans, it’s a 240 mile round trip. Minimum. This depressed us, but it was also nice to know that El Paso was only 120 miles away. He said over the recent years he’s gotten very good at buying clothes on eBay. I don’t think he realizes that a lot of the modern world stopped buying clothes on eBay about 15 years ago.
At about 9:20 pm Mountain Time, we found ourselves back in civilization. We were running entirely on fumes at this point, but we were excited to be strangers in a strange place. Out in the distance we saw a giant looming red “X” sculpture. It dawned on us after looking at Google maps that we were looking over the border into one of the most dangerous cities in the world, Juarez, Mexico.
We saw the light of a star shining in the sky. It looked like it was floating, but it was on the side of the mountain. Before we knew it, we were out of our cars, basking in a cool desert breeze. We found a tiny Mexican hot dog stand, took the food back to our hotels, and stuffed our faces with the terribly awesome food (bacon wrapped hot dog topped with Asadera cheese, jalapeños, and avocados.) We laid down for some much needed rest.
I was awake by 5:45 AM.