Did someone ask for some drama?

The travel was pretty uneventful today. Started off by redoing the ghetto tape job:

Lets just say - there was NO flapping this leg of the trip. That sucker was sealed like no other gasket has been sealed with blue painters tape.

We checked Oklahoma off the list and entered the great state of Texas. We stopped for gas at what appeared to be a deserted Texaco station. There was this station, a handful of houses and nothing else. The pictures just don't do it justice.

They are not joking when they talk about how flat and desolate the country side is out here. You can't understand it until you see it, that's for sure. We did, however, see the 'Largest cross on the Western Hemisphere.' I think they're full of it because I am sure the one we saw in Indiana (Illinois? Ohio?) was larger...but who am I to argue?

I realize that you have no point of reference to know how large this thing is - but if you look to the left of it a little bit - there is a Wal Mart semi truck there. It was large. Trust me.

We stopped in Amarillo, Tx for lunch. Again, we made an effort to find a place that served the local fare so that we could say we experienced Texas to it's fullest....

In our defense, we were going to go to TEXAS Roadhouse Steakhouse, but it was closed until 4pm. (I felt like yelling in the window that according to us it was AFTER 4!! But no one wanted to hear it.)

Anyway - we arrived in Albuquerque, NM at 8pm local time and got our hotel. As we were pulling bags out I realized that Clara's carry on bag that she had in Oklahoma was no longer with us. Panic ensued. In this bag, along w/ every cell phone charger/nintendo DS charger/iPod charger that she owned was her CPAP machine. For someone with severe sleep apnea, this is bad news batman. The first thing we did was call the last hotel we were at and 'sorry ma'am, we haven't had anything turned in.' Well, guess we can count that bag as gone. So Clara spent the next 2 hours making phone calls to doctors, insurance companies, clinics, etc to find a machine. Hopefully by the time we reach Phoenix today they will have a fax w/ a prescription from her doctor and she can go purchase one cause you KNOW UPMC will not be paying for another one.

On top of all this - Dante has lost his flip flops. We think at the pool, but really, who knows. I told him that he's now SOL and will have to stay in the car all day and pee out the window when he has to go. I'm pretty sure he's actually excited about that possibility.

Time to hit the road. Catch you all in Phoenix! Stay tuned then for my open letter to LaQuinta Inns and Suites.