10/22/2014
Sleeping next to an old train station would be pretty cool if loud trains didn’t chug by during the night. The iron horses are so much louder when there aren’t competing sounds. Crystal and I were so exhausted from the previous day, there wasn’t much that could rouse us from slumber.
Dewdrops practically formed on my eyelashes on the grey overcast morning of day 53. A hot green tea with honey got me moving. The drink is packed with antioxidants and I like the way it tastes. I nudged Crystal to take to the streets with me. The abandoned shops lined both sides of the main strip with ghosts of a time past haunting every corner. We walked into an old shop which sold stones and gems. The lady there said the town was dead. It had been dead for thirty some years since the interstate freeway was built. I was informed by the shop owner that the main inhabitants of the town were javelina and deer. Little did I know, the old train station was a popular javelina habitat.
The day’s path was supposed to provide a rather uneventful march. But really, has one day without obstacles passed yet? You could say I had the body on cruise control from mile one to mile eighteen. The only interesting thing to happen on that stretch were the two charred rectangular patches to my left and right. Upon closer look the patches were burnt grass and avocado. The visual was accompanied by a thick pungent scent that led me to deduce a large truck of avocados had been overturned and caught fire on their way to market.
Around mile twenty-two my intuition began to tingle. It was a gut feeling that I should have taken the route that undoubtedly led to town. Of course it meant running alongside grinding metal beasts travelling at 80mph. I had already viewed safety bumpers that resembled accordions and I didn’t have the desire to be scrunched.
By mile twenty-five my back road took me to a dead end. When I switched directions the road took me to someone’s private property. I had already jumped a couple of barbed wire fences on this journey, what was one more? The mangled wire already had a huge gap from many past visitors. I comfortably crossed over the barrier and I could see the side of the interstate. As I closed in on the interstate, vegetation began to pepper the road. Then out of nowhere I hit a little pond. I cleared away some tall weeds only to get blocked by another barbed wire fence enshrined with dense thorny plants. Going backwards added several miles to the fiasco but for some reason the experience charged my legs and I felt stronger than I did at the start of the day.
Before checking into the Hampton Inn Van Horn, we chose to have dinner at Chuy’s Restaurant. Apparently this place wasn’t a hidden gem. It was a place that was very popular. I had the chance to enjoy a dish that doesn’t often come in a vegetarian option. The veggie tacos were wrapped in freshly fried flour tortillas and the rice was light and soft with a hint of seasoning. The tacos had that light crunch that goes perfectly with the cold crispy lettuce. John Madden dines in the restaurant once a year. They have a chair with his name on it as well as lots of football memorabilia embellishing the place. John Madden’s favorite dish probably isn’t vegetarian but I’m sure it must be tasty.
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