day two.

i am now a very seasoned traveler. we are 14 hours closer to our destination, and i am getting more and more excited/pumped/stoked to live in Louisiana. luckily we woke up this morning and our hotel room hadn't been broken into, and all of the valuables were still in my car. we left around 5:30am and bid farewell to my least favorite city on planet earth (sorry tucson, but you were bad). of course we got our morning diet coke, and by 6:18am we stopped to get our second. the open road of new mexico was what we drove all morning. empty, desert scrub for the first 300 odd miles. i was behind the wheel, trying to soak in the scenery and not crash all at the same time. there is a haunting quality to the desert, which is scary and also a little captivating (way more of the former than the latter), and i can totally see why people fall in love with the desert. my mom crashed about an hour into the drive, so i was driving to the soothing sounds of a John Grisham novel. A terrible novel to be sure, but it sure kept me company on the lonely road.

we just kept driving, and driving, and driving and finally we hit the first big city of the day, Las Cruces. I thought it was a lovely city, lots of trees, some cool architecture, and a lot of farmland. just a couple minutes down the road was El Paso, Texas. i was beyond excited to see traces of civilization that i recognized i.e. a target. don't worry, we stopped at it. el paso is big, and not as pretty as you would think. the city sprawls out in all directions, and is in a little valley of sorts. we grabbed a healthy brunch of grilled cheeses, onion rings, and diet coke at the local sonic and got back on the 10. driving more into the heart of el paso, i was surprised to see what looked like a shanty town on the right hand side of the freeway. come to figure out that the shanty town (which was shockingly built onto hills and drastically different than the rest of el paso) was actually Juarez, Mexico. i had never before in my life seen such a stark contrast between the haves and have nots. again, a humbling experience. if i've learned anything on this trip thus far, it is that i have been abundantly blessed. please remind me to not complain ever again.

after el paso, you experience the real texas. this means empty land stretching out flat for miles and miles. and of course, a border patrol check to see if we were US citizens. when i rolled down my window for the officer, he kind of mumbled when he asked if we were citizens and i could not understand him, so i shook my head and frantically looked to my mom for back up. luckily her hearing is in tact and she informed the good officer that we were indeed citizens. but seriously texas is EMPTY. EMPTY. uneventful driving, more john grisham, and little thinking on my part (due to the audio book, obviously).

we stopped at the Dairy Queen in Van Horn, Texas where we used the restroom (when we were leaving the bathroom my mom was like, "Alexandra, use your shirt to open the door" because she didn't want to touch the nastified door. rude.) and got the most disgusting cookie dough blizzard which proceeded to melt all over my precious car. another stop we made was in Fort Stockton, where it was 110 degrees and incredibly depressing. we managed to make it all the way to a little past Ozona, where i had to go to the bathroom yet again in an even sketchier gas station. but it was at this point that the drive began to be beautiful. green trees dominate the landscape, interspersed with flowing grass meadows. pretty sure it was my heaven. i could picture myself with a big farmhouse (complete with barn, but probably no animals) and a big family just perched on one of the green rolling hills. the green continued and made our drive incredibly pleasant. and around 13 1/2 hours later, we reached the San Antonio city limits. and, i am OBSESSED with this city. although we are still on the outskirts, we've already enjoyed the greenery, a delicious local restaurant (where we asked for butter and got a plate full of 3 huge scoops of it. my mom proceeded to take a picture and say, texas size butter, oh yeah. my mom is so cute:), and relative safety. the humidity is killer, it feels like im at the beach and i just got out of the ocean and im going to be honest, its a disgusting, clammy feeling. but, i still love it! i love that our waiter said "ya'll" to us, and i love that this city feels familiar and i have never been here before. we are now at our hotel, and im dying for a shower and to lay down.

reflecting on today, im happy that i drove 14 hours across this country. im falling in love with america, as cheesy as it sounds. i love where i've been, what i get to see, and the people we get to meet. i am privileged to go on this road trip with my mom. i dont remember being this happy in a long time. my love for travel and experiencing the new is all coming back to me. the further east i go, the more adventurous i become. im ready for my jump into southern culture, for my fulfilling job, and for new experiences. heres to hoping everyone gets to feel the contentment i feel now at some point in their lives...

p.s. i forgot to pack my toothbrush. surprise surprise.

p.p.s. pictures will be uploaded tomorrow, and my oh my are they terrible. ive never looked nastier in my entire life:)