HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!! We drove to Sante Fe today, and the landscape is starting to grow on me, I think. Grass as yellow as the dirt that patches it, mountains fading away into the sky, small green shrubs that somehow resist the heat. The road stretches on relentlessly, with not a curve in sight. Every now and then we pass through a small, rusting town with four motels and not much else. I wouldn't be surprised if no one bothered to even put these towns on the ma...

Yesterday we had a long drive from Del Rio to Carlsbad, with scenery that barely changed. We passed lots of oil pumps - welcome to Texas! Also passed through a town called Loving, and Alex and I had a giggle reading messages about Loving on the noticeboard in the petrol station. We have yet to see a real-live-cowboy, but I'm pretty sure we saw a real-live-texan while we were reading those messages. He lumbered out of the bathroom and I caught Alex's eye and had t...