Road Tripping

Headed out of Texas on a hope and a prayer. 3 full functioning adults, one semi-incapitated and slightly ill one, 4 young kids one of which is just over a year. Our goal: Make it to New Mexico before we lose our sanity and without having to leave someone on the side of the road.

7:15 AM: "Let's stop at Chick-Fil-A or McDonald's for breakfast"... <-- Really people? Really? I was that close to just pulling the car over on the side of the road right then and telling them to go on without me.  Right then is when I realized this was the wrong road tripping crowd. This wasn't going to be a let's stop and have fun run, this was a we got kids in the car so let's get there group. No biggie, I can adjust. Some...

8:00 AM: After searching the internet for a place to eat in Wichita Falls and talking the women out of McFil-A, we stopped in at the Burrito Shop. The line was long there and the place was tiny. The burritos were filling and tasty. Not the greatest burrito but an above average one. The tortillas were thick and had a chewyniess to them.  They offered three types of meats: shredded beef, bacon, and sausage. You can get them straight up or combo which means beans, cheese, and potatoes. I would definitely combo it up. A solid 3 out of 5 if I was judging.

Had our first casualty in the tear war at the Burrito Shop amazingly with the eldest having broken down. Seems like she's saddened that her little brother didn't let her help him with his food and straws anymore. I had to pull her into the back room and tell her that he's getting older and that she sometimes needs to let him manage for himself. She was crying about it and I couldn't help but smile because the poor kid just loves mothering the little ones.

 9:30 AM or about that time we were back up on the road again.  Had ol' Alan Jackson on the radio and feeling still fresh and looking forward to the only really thought out stop on our trip which was to Big Texan. With every passing sign showing the the 72 ounce steak you could get for free if only you could stomach it, my anticipation grew. The screaming kids, the yelling, the unrelentless ridiculing of the women and their "jokes" all just rolled off my back like water off a duck and we pulled up to our next destination.


12:30 PM:

Sitting there looking at the menu I started to think what happened to this place. The prices have gone up from the prices of my youth. I mean I remember coming here over a dozen years ago and the prices were reasonable and the food was really good even though it was a touristy designation.  Ah well, I'll just order off the lunch menu which was available even on the weekends and enjoy a nice steak...

Nevermind on the steak... this will be the lowlight of my road trip. The steaks there were just terrible. The seasonings were tasty still and not over done and where you could still taste the beef. The steak was cooked right to my order specifications and had a nice char on the outside of it. The problem was the beef itself. It was just gristled meat. Not a marbled or fatty steak but a gristlted steak where the fat was chewy.  My friend had to cut out more than half his steak to eat it. Everyone ordered a strip cut which should mean to me a nice leaner piece of meat with the fat on the outside of the steak not inside it. This wasn't the case. It was heartbreaking. I can forgive one steak being that way but all 4 steaks at our table were in this manner. The manager came by to ask us how things were and my friend told him about the gristled steak and the manager apologized for it but didn't offer to make it right. He just said sometimes the butcher, which is in house, ends up with these cuts. I'm sorry, these cuts should be made into chuck and not served but that's just my opinion if you are in the steak feeding business.

Sorry for the rant but it still bothers me to have recommended a place to eat and it be less than great. It put me in a fowl mood and I just wanted my alloted nap time in the car after that. 

2:15 PM: I rushed my picture taking group and headed to the car and laid my head down and passed out. I was in an out for the next couple of hours hoping that it was just a bad dream but my dissapointed stomach was the constant reminder it wasn't.

2:45 PM: Woke up abruptly from my nap with the urge to water some plants.

3:00 PM: Stopped the car to help water some plants on the side of the road. It's time like this that I do enjoy being a man.

4:15 PM: Made a pit stop in Tucumcari and since I was sleeping, I didn't have a say and where we stopped. When I woke, guess where we were. That's right McDonalds. I know, I don't get it either. Whatever. Rested and back at the helm, we made our way to Alburquergue having thoughts of green chile and New Mexican styled fare on my mind. It has always amazed me that my wife who is a New Mexico native and grew up less than three hours from Alburquerque doesn't have a clue as what places are good to eat there.  So we ended up Yelp-ing a place to eat and they picked Frontier Resturant.

6:30 PM:

After going inside, we found out that we entered our second resturant on this road trip that the famed Adam Richmond has eaten at. Yes, the Man Vs. Food guy that conqured the Amarillo 72 ouncer has a burger named after him here too. It sounded mighty tasty but I opted for a carne abdovada burrito, which is my favorite thing New Mexico has to offer, and a greene chile burger, which was great after that dissapointing steak.  My wife had the Frontier burrito which was pretty dang good. It was really affordable and tasty.  It's not the best I've had in that city but it is a great one for a family.

7:45 PM: We head out from the restuarant and a little worn from the trip I tried to take the same closed road in three various spots. That egged on relentless badgering from the rest of the car of course. It was well deserved for sure.

8:15 PM: Traffic Jam...

8:30 PM: Filled the tank for the final stretch and my favorite part of this trip with a lot of beautiful scenery. 

Sometime after 8:30 PM: Natives in the car are getting restless. All sense of time is slowly fading away. "Are we there yet" quickly became the mantra for the entire car. The beautiful scenary faded to the blackness of night and my once excited disposition of the road trip slowly faded away with them. My only thought, "get there...quick."

Bright lights on the horizon which I used to view as we are getting close in my glass half full days have now been replaced with a digsuted thought that we had close to an hour left...

What Mrs. GPS lady? Only 12 miles left? Why yes, that is great news.

Michelle: "Tom turn here instead."

Me: "But the GPS lady said up there."

Michelle: "It's the same thing."

GPS lady: "12.2 miles now...don't listen to her. She's evil."

Me: "You just added 2 tenths of a mile to my trip."

Michelle: "Oh my goodness, 2 tenths of a mile."

Me to myself: "That is the differnce between you making it there in one piece and me running this car into the side wall of that upcoming house lady."

Michelle reroutes me a few more times against my GPS lady's recommended route to show our friends around and stuff. Each additional tenths of a mile and added turn making me wonder how much a divorce attorney might cost during this downturn economy. Surely it would be cheaper right?

11:00 PM Texas time: Finally, I remembered where I was, and I made sure to get there as fast as I could without any more help from Michelle and when my feet hit the pavement all I could think about is get the stuff in the house and chill out.... That's when the kids exploded and for the next hour a filled the once quiet sanctuty of Michelle's parents house with screams of joy, pounding running feet and chaos. Poor couped up kids.

12:30 AM Texas time: Kids finally down and out. Most of the road crew were off to bed and I was free to relax.

1:45 AM Texas time: Finally relaxed and rested and laid down for a good well deserved night's sleep.

6:35 AM New Mexico time: Vinh comes into the bedroom wide awake...