"I wan't to be a Texan 24 hours a day." -James Dean

I drove into El Paso in a dust storm. It got so bad, they were actually closing the highway right behind me. I also passed the place where a police blockade was diverting people from going the other way down the same stretch of I-10 that I had just traversed.

It could have been worse. I kept passing signage that said, "ZERO VISIBILITY POSSIBLE." That never quite happened.

It followed me all the way into El Paso and the sun never set. It just got dark.

Someone asked if I was having a good trip. I told them it was conflicting. Almost inconceivable. I'm feeling really good, see. But I'm also in Texas.

El Paso is ok, but I'm going to keep moving east. I've heard there are some interesting towns between here and San Antonio, so I'm going to go investigate.

This state is fucking RED. I'm swimming along the interstate with Jesus Fish and it's big fields of big cows all along the way. I ate breakfast near a big dude wearing big cowboy boots and talking on his (big) cell phone this morning. He kept talking about "The Corn," and at one point he said, "Well…were you able to get a look at any better horses?" 

If only I could make this shit up.

I think I hate it here. Or at least I have absolutely no way to contextualize West Texas in my mind. I mean, the girls are pretty and all, but I got better wi-fi in Cambodia.

I was once impelled to write a song called West Texas, in response to the Yearning For Zion Ranch, a closed religious community near Eldorado that was raided and all children taken into state custody when allegations of abuse were raised.

It may have been sensationalized a bit. The first articles I read suggested that their leader, Warren Jeffs, was deflowering young girls in the temple. I don't know the real story. He absolutely married a 12 year old girl.

So, I'm off to Eldorado. To drink of the land that impels a man to do something like that.

Best fishes,

Isaac