Day 3: Goodbyes

I woke up and saw the west Texas that I had been missing the entire time the day before. Bright beautiful blue skies awoke me as I hit to road after my very sparse continental breakfast.

I quickly made it to El Paso and decided to go to this giant Texas shop that I had seen along the way on billboards. Boots! Pottery! Saddles! Jewelry! The place seemed to have everything, so I did the tourist thing and stopped in and did some shopping. I didn’t get anything, but it was fun seeing all the Texas/cowboy paraphernalia.

I then grabbed some gas, breakfast tacos, and my first of 6 chai tea lattes for the day and got back in the car.

El Paso is only 20+ miles from the New Mexico border and as I drove closer to it I still didn’t feel anything about leaving Texas. No euphoric moment, no overwhelming feeling of anticipation or joy. Nothing that I had imagined many times over the coarse of 7 years of wanting to leave the state.

At the stateline I pulled over to take a picture for Facebook to mark my crossing and take one last look at my previous home state. I took two shots: one of the past and one moving forward. Then I got back in the car and put away the Texas map and pulled out the New Mexico one.

In a flash the tears were there and as quickly as then came they were over in a span of 30 seconds and I pulled back on the freeway. That was it. When I thought to myself, well that was fast. I concluded that perhaps it was the fact that I had been saying goodbye since I had known about the job back in September. I had left Houston on a high note; I had achieved my goal of what I considered ‘making it’ in my field. I had done the thermal analysis for each of the truss pieces and watched them be installed. I had done academic theoretical work and started a paper to be published on free-molecular heating. I had spent the last 2 years being mentored by a Technical Fellow and had done design work for the new Docking system that all future vehicles would use to dock to the ISS. I had a fun group of friends, a lovely apartment in the hot part of town, I had grown in my rock climbing skills, gotten to do several memorable trips outside the country, and I had earned my master’s at a top ten university. I had made it in Houston. There was nothing left to cry about at that moment.

There of course had been Gareth to deal with. When I told him the news about my promotion and relocation, he had been extremely surprised and countered that he too had gotten a job in Seattle. That of course turned out to be untrue. Which is for the best. I said goodbye to him personally and closed that part of my life before I left for Christmas. That was the hardest goodbye, to say farewell to who you love and the one person who had disappointed you the most.

After the border crossing I put Condie back on and continued to hear about her college experience, getting her PhD, her accent into politics and her exciting experience in the cold war under the Regan and Bush administrations. Texas faded into the background of the past. The book ended just about as I got to Socorro and my 3^rd chai tea latte.

The New Mexico slogan, “The Land of Enchantment”, is perfect for the dry dessert land than transitions from the high Mesas of Texas into the Rocky Mountains. The journey from Las Cruces to Taos, New Mexico is incredibly beautiful and one of my favorite drives. I felt lucky to get to do this stretch of highway one more time. I passed the gas station that sells locally made beautiful Native American pottery and makes a great green chili sauce in the adjoining café. The rally ‘scort enjoyed finally getting to spread its legs and get to drive its favorite speeds of above 85mph. The drive was fast as the weather kept up although the clouds and wind started to pick up. The escort actually drives better when loaded up. The weight keeps the car from being blown sideways from the high winds that characteristically blow across the high plains.

As I reached Albuquerque, I was excited for the final few hours of the drive since that was when you really start to see the mountains rise in the distance and it meant my first ski destination was close. The weather finally gave in and a light snow started to fall and coat the surrounding desert shrubs and cacti. Triina and I called each other every half hour for status updates since we were super excited to see each other. The snow really started to fall for the final 36 winding miles along the Rio Grande through the mountains to Taos. My single music CD (Vampire Weekend’s new album ‘Contra’) chilled it out comfortably as the rally ‘scort remembered its snow driving skills.

Triina, Matt (her bf), and I celebrated my arrival in town at Orlando’s, with a dinner of enchiladas and green chili; the perfect welcome to New Mexico meal.

Day 2: Before the Devil Knows You’re Gone

I was glad I had spent the additional night in Houston, as I awoke the next day feeling much more awake and ready for longest driving leg of my trip. Texas is enormous and it takes the greater part of any given day to get out of it, no matter where you are in the state and I was going essentially the width of the state; Houston to El Paso.

As I drove away from Houston, I thought I would feel something about leaving. In my mind I had pictured some sort of moment to happen as I watched the 4^th largest metropolis fade from view in my rearview mirror. There is however, no distinct ‘you are now officially out of Houston’ location. The vast sprawl of the city goes on and on and the outer suburbs are no longer separate entities, but simply a continuation of the city’s giant amoeba footprint.

That and my stomach was hungry and wanted something quick but not fast food. I found the perfect Panera Bread solution. They make these great ham and swiss puff-pastry-soufflés that are really delicious and pretty inexpensive (it’s a long 18 days, budgetary concerns) and my first Chai Tea Latte (one of many for the day).

By 9am I was back on the road and listening to the last broadcast of the Rod Ryan show on 94.5 the Buzz, my usual drive to work radio show and the last good music I would hear for a while.

Earlier in Dec, I had gotten a feeling that Murphy would show up on my trip and that I was going to get a speeding ticket (because, that would be just like Texas, to give me one more going away gift), so I got a radar detector to help prevent this. I had always joked that in Texas there were only two seasons, Hell and Canadian summer, and that clearly it was the devil himself who was in charge of keeping me in Houston for so long, (which is why I needed to get out of the state as fast as possible; before he realized I was gone). The self fulfilling prophecy occurred before I had even reached San Antonio (laser, nothing the radar detector could have done). The officer ironically looked exactly like he was from the movie, ‘Oh Brother Where Art Thou’ the head officer that had been after the main characters and was the devil symbolism in the movie. Clearly, I had not driven fast or quite enough for him to not realize I was leaving. The devil had gotten me one last time.

The bad weather and the poor time I was making on the road did nothing to dampen my spirits as I became completely engrossed in the story. If you have not heard of or read this book, I highly suggest you do. It is hands down the best personal narrative I had read since, ‘Three Cups of Tea’ by Greg Mortenson.After that point the driving became slower as the overcast clouds let out the rain they had been storing and my radio station faded. I had replaced the stereo because I knew there was no good music on the road. I even set aside a specific collection of CDs purposefully for the roadtrip, which of course the movers packed while I had been busy making sure they didn’t pack my roommates belongings in the other room. So I had nothing but a single CD. I stopped in San Antonio for lunch, books on CD, and another Chai Tea Latte.

A few months back, I had seen on the Daily Show, Condoleezza Rice promoting her book, “Extraordinary, Ordinary People”, the memoir of her life growing up with her parents. I am Not a republican, but I do like to hear stories of successful women and how they got to where they were. Whether you support her politics or not, she has had an amazing career. I made a mental note to keep her book in mind. At Borders, when I saw her audio book, I knew it was the one. 9 hours and 7 CDs. Perfect for a roadtrip.

West Texas passed by me as Condoleezza read to me about her experience in growing up in Birmingham, Alabama during the 60s. She talks of her middle class black community and her educator parents who were also involved in the church (her dad was a Presbyterian preacher). She talks of what it was like to have the Civil Rights movement in your backyard and how scary that time was. You also learn about her education, her extended family, her love of ice skating, and how she became a concert pianist. Ms Rice’s story is exactly as the title says, extraordinary.

I was almost sad when it was finally 8pm and I had to find a hotel in Van Horn, 100+ miles shy from my original end point of Las Cruces, NM. The weather had simply put me too far behind to make it out of Texas, but at least I had had good company with Condie.

Day 1: Everybody needs a hero

Murphy's Law clearly states that,

"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong."

This is especially rings true to anyone who has had any significant travel experience. . . . .

So the day before I am supposed to leave for the holidays (and incidentally, my final day of work in Houston), the 'check engine' light comes on in my ancient '99 Ford Escort (affectionately named, Mr. Toad or referred to as The Rally 'scort). I immediately suspect the loose positive connection on my car battery, since the day before I had been installing a new car stereo and didn't have the right tool to put it back on correctly. It was somewhat haphazardly placed back on and my intention was to get a much needed oil change and have the local grease monkeys tighten it for me.

I casually mentioned the offending warning light to the PTCS resident car-expert/co-worker Andres, just to see if that potentially could be the cause. Lucky for me that I did mention this important piece of information as Andres (who of course has the perfect tool) was able to do a computer scan diagnosis of my vehicle.

The results weren't pretty: 1 completely dead O2 sensor and an erratically behaving/soon to fail 2nd O2 sensor. Two dead O2 sensors = immediate roadside failure, which is something I was definitely hoping to avoid at all costs. This was in addition to the squeaky steering belt that I was hoping would be fine till some later TBD maintenance plan. The future start date of my road trip now looked to be in question as I tried to chew this piece of information and think about where/how I could get all this work done over the holidays (especially since the garage I had been going to turned out to have been doing shady, sloppy work, so I was not eager to patronize their business).

There was much distress in my mind until Andres becomes the hero of the trip even before it began! He offered to fix my car the day I fly back from Detroit after he gets back into town himself from McAllen, TX. This is not a small sacrifice as McAllen is 6+ hours away and he would still have to go to the store and pick up parts, etc at 6-7pm and then still work on the car for a few hours. A very long day indeed.

At that moment, I had a 'maybe I will miss texas' pang as I felt very lucky and fortunate that I had such a good friend who would be willing to help me out and make sure my car was going to make it on its long journey.

On the day of, true to his word, Andres had my car all patched up and ready to ride by 10pm. No large complications arose and he pointed out to me a few other items he noticed while working on Mr. Toad that would need attention sometime in the near future, but would not jeopardize the current trip. I was super grateful for all his help and I wondered where I would find another car guy once in Seattle who was as great as Andres?

Then Andres reminded me he was on IM at work and was still cool with dispensing advice (even though I was no longer his team member).

Since it was so late, and I had been exhausted by all my moving/school finals/holiday travel plans that I decided it was best to sleep one more night in Houston before I rode off into the sun set.

Day 1 Hero of the Day: Andres.

Farewell to Texas Epic Ski Tour

Everything in texas is big. The steaks are big, the people are big, the wide open ranges are big. As I hang up my cowboy boots for the last time in this state, I've decided that clearly, my exit should be big as well. So in true texas form, I'd like to invite all y'all to my (Big) Farewell to Texas Epic Ski Tour.

I am looking for friends, romans, and countrymen to join me in my cross-country epic quest to say farewell to the places that sustained me during my 7 years of painful, snow-less exile in texas; Taos and Telluride. And rejoice in my triumphant yet humble return to the land of the living in Seattle via Park City, Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee, and Big Sky.

The Plan. . . . . .

Dec 27/28 - Days 1-2: Drive from houston and Taos Ski Valley (~16 hours or less. Since I am escaping texas, I will be driving as fast as possible before the devil knows I am gone)

Dec 29/30/31 - Day 3-5: Ski Taos (my beloved adopted 'hometown' ski hill as well as my sister Triina's new workplace)

Jan 1 - Day 6: Drive to Telluride (~6 hours not including a stop at the hot spring or an ice climb in Ouray!) and pick a special guest skier

Jan 2 - Day 7: Ski in Telluride and Celebrate New Year's Eve (Telluride is a place I fell in love with when I did a ski trip with Gareth, its Triina's former stomping grounds, and home to several chill people. Found a place to crash in town and new powder skis to pick-up)

Jan 3 - Day 8: Drive to Salt Lake City/Park City (~7.5 hour drive, road trippy day with stops at scenic and kitchy tourist wonders)

Jan 4 - Day 9: Ski at TBD-Alta? ski area in Salt Lake City/Park City (Start the new year with something new. I've never been here, any suggestions?)

Jan 5 - Day 10: Ski at TBD-Snowbird? ski area in Salt Lake City/Park City (A different suggestion?)

Jan 6 - Day 11: Ski at TBD-Snowbird? ski area in Salt Lake City/Park City (A different suggestion?

Jan 7 - Day 12: Drive to Jackson Hole (~5 hours + hot springs? 'Cause you know I love me some hot springs!)

Jan 8 - Day 13: Ski Jackson Hole!!! (I have been waiting my whole life to come here!!!! Ever since I first vacationed there in the summer with my family when I was like 12 it was my dream to come back and ski. . . . .)

Jan 9 - Day 14: Ski Jackson Hole!!! Clearly this place is so awesome that you need a second day!

Jan 10 - Day 15: Drive to Grand Targhee and Ski (~1 hour drive to G.T., I think we can make it. . . . )

Jan 11 - Day 16: Drive to Big Sky and Ski (~3.5 hour drive to MT, we may actually drive here the night before so we can just sleep in)

Jan 12 - Day 17: Drive to Seattle (take a left from the mountains, drive straight on till Seattle ~12 hours)

Jan 13 - Day 18: Contingency day (Because at NASA we're nerds and every good plan needs one extra day just because. Ex: What if it snows and we need an extra day to ski?)

If you 'd like to do the entire road trip or just show up for a part of it, that's cool. I can either meet you at a resort or pick you up/drop you off in Albuquerque, Telluride, Grand Junction, Salt Lake City, Jackson Hole, or Seattle (clearly only on the days that its on my way).

This is more than just a ski trip. Its a celebration of life, new beginnings, and freedom to rip it up. (At some point we may need to fight for our right to party, but that all depends on how old school we decided to kick it)

It's going to be a heck of a ride, so saddle up companeros!

~Anne