El Paso, TX

Ay chihuahua. We really picked a great time to travel - our drive to New Orleans went just fine, and the second leg of the trip, NOLA > Austin, TX took place during the worst weather Texas has seen in ten years.

We made it to Austin and stayed with Christa's friends, but the following morning brought crappy news - I-10, the only reasonable Southern East-West route was closed due to ice and snow on the road. After considering our options - stay in Austin until the weather clears? Drive up to Dallas and take I-20? - we made a slow, icy journey down to San Antonio, hoping that the interstate would be open by the time we met it there.

No dice. It was as closed as ever, and the TexDOT wouldn't venture a guess as to when it might open. "We advise travelers to stay off the roads entirely." Yes yes, but... No way. We gotta go.

So we took unplowed "hill country" roads up to Johnson City (the birthplace of a president!), Fredericksburg, and, near the end of the day, Junction, TX - right on the highway, but oh so far from it. This moved us a full 140 miles in a DAY - ouch.

Come Thursday morning, things started looking up. I drew back the curtains of our Days Inn room to see a freight truck moving west on I-10 - yay! Our yayness was shortlived, though, when we heard that the 10 was only open up to the very next exit - gah! With few options left, we drove down to the ramp and joined the crowd of semis and cars waiting for an OK from the cops. It was a sunny morning, if chilly at just above freezing. After about an hour, we were motioned to proceed - yay again!

Some nine hours later we're in El Paso, where we nearly get in line to cross the US-Mexico border after a wrong turn (it seems that there are two Mesa Streets in the city - yo, wtf? City planning never played Sim City?) Now we're in yet another Days Inn, online for the first time since Monday. The weather is cold but it doesn't impede driving. Tomorrow, San Diego. Type at you later, amigos.