It's the End of the World...and this trip

After six weeks on the road we are horses headed for the barn. From Sedona to Tampa, Florida and a few zig zags along the way, we've racked up close to 6,000 miles. And we're writing this from our last stop in Deming, New Mexico, still on the lookout for the damned Deming dwarf.

Daisy's had enough of it. She slips onto Paul's lap, turns her butt up to the camera, hides her head and just wants it to be over. Frickin' computer software just malfunctioned and erased the picture of Daisy.

 By the way, we filled up at the only gas station on a long stretch of I-10 in Texas and paid $4.20 a gallon. Thank you very damn much. But we can go almost 200 miles on a nearly 100-dollar tank of gas.

Stayed the night before last at a spot just off I-10 in west Texas at Balmorhea State Park. It's a nice, clean, quiet place to spend a night or two. It reopened on April 28th after having been closed due to wildfires licking at its gates.

If you can read, teabaggers, you'll pick up some history about this place. It was formed by natural springs and cienegas (hispo speak for "wetlands"). Wildlife is naturally drawn to the water. However, most of the animals are birds and they draw birdwatchers, who are a pretty weird lot in our opinion. Oh man. They wear safari gear, have skinny legs and carry oversized binoculars, bird books and give you the evil eye if you make any noise. Even a peep, so to speak. They never smile.

 I wonder how birdwatchers and teabaggers would get along. Heck, they're both weird as hell and teabaggers like to scream and shout. That would piss off the birdwatchers and maybe that could be the end of both.

A cienega (above).

Balmorhea's claim to fame is this huge freshwater pool. Most of the water is exchanged naturally every day--more than a million gallons is forced to the surface from an underground aquifer and then flows to the nearby wetlands. You can swim in here but you'll be nipped by tiny fish. It's a weird activity but at least it's not bird-watching.

We spent our last night here in Deming on I-10 with a railroad line right across the highway. Every half hour a freight train would roll through and every thirty seconds an 18-wheeler would fill in the noise gap. In short, we had little sleep but it doesn't matter. We are headed to the quiet comfort of the barn this evening.

April and early May have been important news months. Killer tornadoes, Texas wildfires, an overexposed royal wedding, the Donald nonsense, the beatification of Pope John Paul II, and the killing of Osama Bin Laden. But all of that pales if the sign above proves true. Throughout our trip we saw lots of these billboards. Even a fleet of RVs has been plastered with this message. Of course, down along the Bible belt people believe this crap. That the rapture begins on May 21st and later, on October 21, God plans to blow up the world and even the universe killing everyone and everything. Not real clear what God is so angry about but suppose the teabaggers will blame it all on Obama and Clinton and Madeline Albright.

We are not joking about these signs. Google "May 21 the rapture" and you'll see that these nut cases are damn serious about this. Of course, they're also saying that if you send cash, check or money order you will be one of the select few to escape the rapture. Good Lord, whoever is behind these signs ain't ever gonna make it through them pearly gates. However, on the other hand if they're right, see ya in hell!!!  But we're undaunted and pulling up stakes in Deming and headed for home. See ya here or in the hereafter.

Daisy, Corita and Paul