Saturday September 05, 2020 – Day Two of Driving

Started the day heading East on US Highway 70 through the every hyper diligent U.S. Border Patrol Check point where he asked where I was from, where I was going, why is there so much stuff in my car, do I know the person in the car behind, and am I a US citizen. Good grief. Turns out they asked DeAndra the same questions to see if our stories matched. Awe, the life experiences near the southern border where the constitution doesn’t matter (but I digress)

White Sands National Park

The purpose for this detour was to visit the White Sands National Park. Pretty interesting where the sand dunes and drifting sand is as white as snow. Reminded me driving during a Minnesota winter less the cold. White Sands National Park is about 275 square miles of desert creating the world’s largest gypsum dune field. The sands of White Sands National Park are formed from gypsum, a soft mineral often left behind when water bodes evaporate. Over time, the gypsum crystals deposited in the basin were subjected to freezing, thawing , and wind , and broke down into tiny grains. The rock formations were much softer than sandstone which I am familiar with from the Saint Croix valley separating Minnesota and Wisconsin. The rock here at White Sands would disintegrate into sand with just a medium amount of pressure, truly fragile.

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Route Change 1 of 2 – Need Gas 🙂

My original plan was to gas up near the motel where we stayed in Las Cruces but there was none immediately near by and we were about 3/4 tank full. I really thought there was at least one gas station between Las Cruces and White Sands….nope just the well armed friendly Border Patrol checkpoint and some empty military land (missile ranges mostly). I did vaguely remember when I was planning a motorcycle route this direction that the town north of the National Park had gasoline. Looked it up on google, yep 16 miles down the road. The Volt was down to 1/4 tank of fuel with the Kia Soul sitting at about half a tank (The Kia has a 9 gallon fuel tank where the Volt has an 8 gallon tank).

We stopped in Alamogordo to fuel up the vehicles and turned south on US Highway 54 to El Paso, Texas. Friends, there is absolutely nothing, I mean absolutely nothing out there between Alamogordo and El Paso.

We stopped at the Costco in El Paso right off Interstate 10, fueled up, freshened up a little in the Costco bathrooms and jumped back onto Interstate 10 heading east.

Volt Tire Problems East of El Paso, Texas – Route Change 2 of 2

Just outside of El Paso De’Andra calls me and informs me she has a tire low pressure warning alert on the console of the Volt. Well, this is not good I thought to myself. So, we pulled off the interstate (after going through another Border Patrol Checkpoint) in Sirra Blanca, Texas. This was an almost dead town with empty abandoned buildings lining both sides of the street to include an abandoned railroad station, movie theater and several other building that had all seen better days. It reminded of what a ghost town must look like right before becoming a ghost town.

I broke out 1 of 2 air compressors we had with us and filled the tire with air. It was down to 21 pounds of pressure, that’s not a good sign. It filled and was holding the air. Our plan at this time was to continue East on Interstate 10 and then have the tire looked at / replaced in San Antonio, Texas on route.

We left the depressing little town of Sierra Blanca, Texas (no offense to anyone with ties there) and proceeded East on I-10.

We made it down the road another 105 miles to the I-10 Valero Fuel Travel Stop (the only place out here) as the tire low pressure alert was back on the Volt.

I looked at the map and where we were in relation to Firestone in San Antonio, we were not going to make it before close. So, using google again, the closest Firestone was in Odessa, Texas, 108 miles from our current location.

We fueled up put more air in the tire. Discussed if we wanted to try fix a flat and I decided not too (I really hate that stuff but in hind sight maybe should have). We made it to Pecos, Texas where we had to put air in the tire again. It was loosing air at a much faster rate now and I could hear air escaping the tire now. We were now 78 miles from Odessa.

We had to stop yet again as the tire went down to 9 pounds of pressure, almost flat. The tire was leaking badly and we had pulled off where we thought was a service station and it was……probably 20 years ago. It was another standing relic of a business that once was (there is allot of those out here in West Texas). I put as much air in the tire as I could with the little compressor fighting against the tire leak and sent DeAndra down the road as I would catch up to her. She only made it about 2 miles down the road and the tire blew out and was waiting on the side of the road. We were 16 miles from Odessa, Texas…..almost made it.

Tow into Odessa, Texas and Good Mexican Food

I called AAA which we opted for the premiere level as I have used AAA often now with my motorcycle trips (would rather not be a frequent customer but hey, it’s good to have). Well, AAA said no problem, we will get a tow out to you in about 2-3 hours. What?? I was only 16 miles outside of town on the side of busy Interstate 20, not the best place to be. So we called a local tow company in Odessa that also does work for AAA and they said, no problem we are on our way. At this time Firestone would have been closed in 2 hours so yep, I was more than happy to hand over the credit card for a tow. Within 25 minutes we were unloading at Firestone. Big shout out to Neal Pool Rekers in Odesa, Texas for super fast and fair service, and all around good folks. He even recommend which restaurant to go to for Mexican food. So, while Firestone was replacing the tire (which was only about 6 months old) we went to Hacienda Vieja in Odessa, Texas about a block down the road from Firestone and had a really nice and spicy Mexican meal. By the time we were done eating, the car was ready. Instead of backtracking to the south again, we decided to change our route and proceed East stopping in Dallas, TX. and stay on Interstate 20. We drove an additional 351 miles to South Dallas, Texas to a Super 8 right off the freeway. Not as nice as the night before but clean and worth the money.