December 07, 2003

Lonewacko drives from Fort Stockton Texas to Carlsbad New Mexico

A couple weeks ago I drove to Carlsbad, NM starting from Fort Stockton, TX. Fort Stockton is a dumpy, disheveled hole which isn't that bad a place to spend a night, except it doesn't have a Wendy's nor a Hardee's/Carl's Jr. I had a bit of a problem at the Wal*Mart there, and, if not for the fact that it's the only Wal*Mart for untold miles, I'd suggest you avoid shopping there.

On my way to Alpine, I had stocked up in the FS Wal*Mart, spending in excess of $28. At the time I was wearing my backpack, and no one said a word about it as I was spending my hard-earned blogging dinero.

A couple days later I went back, and I was told by the "greeter" and her supervisor that I couldn't wear my backpack in the store. They seemed to like my money good enough before. In protest of this ever-changing policy, I immediately went out to my car and returned as much of the stuff as I could. I even went back with a second load later.

On the way to Carlsbad, I drove through Pecos, which is about 20% larger than Fort Stockton and about 30% more run-down. I saw a few places with smashed windows, and I hadn't seen anything like that in Fort Stockton. The girl who was trying to sell Avon products was cute, but her and her high-heeled tennis shoes were a bit too young and it looked like she was driving a family van, so I didn't even make an attempt when I met her outside Pecos' museum. I didn't have a second thought about it when I accidently met her again at a gas stations blocks from there. I had gone to the gas station by chance. While getting into my car outside the closed museum, I had seen a cop car go by. Then, a half a minute later, what looked like an unmarked cop car went the same way. Thinking something was up, I followed the unmarked car, but I lost it somewhere near the freeway. So, turn to someone else for the Pecos crime blotter.

Overall, Pecos looks like a good place to just drive through. On my way to doing that, I decided to stop at the local McDonalds. The girl at the drive through had a cold and, after thinking about it for a bit, I decided to go inside and return it. The men's room was out of soap, so I was forced to use some of my precious hand sanitizer.

There was no "McDonald's" under the large double-arches outside, just a big empty space. Perhaps it had been stolen or had fallen off.

Standing beside the counter was my old friend Ronald McDonald. However, he looked a bit different from his usual trademarked self. Specifically, the styrofoam figurine had strange white lines and pockmarks on his orange suit. Upon closer inspection, it turned out not to be a new design. It looked like Ronald had been run over or otherwise abraded.

Posted to BloggingAcrossAmerica at December 7, 2003 09:59 PM

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