It's the beginning of my second week here and all is well. I start work next week so I still have some time to get acclaimated to my surroundings. As far as the heat is concerned, it's hot here but it's a dry hot. Back home it was a humid hot and that was worse. So I do what everybody does here, don't stay in the direct sun if you don't have to and stay hydrated. The norm seems to be that everybody carries water in their car if they have to be out for a while. It's been between 104 and 109 since I've been here. The evenings are really nice and I sit on the patio a lot in the evenings. The mornings are also nice. I've been getting up between 6 and 7 in the mornings and sitting out on the patio and having my morning tea, it's usually in the 80's and breezy. I also have been taking a dip in the pool in the evening. I thought the water would be nice and warm because of the heat but not so...the water was ice cold. Duane put the cover on the pool to warm it up so when I went back in on the weekend it was nice and warm.
But it was really a nice trip out. We left Chattanooga crossed through Georgia and back into Tennessee, Arkansas and Oklahoma. The first day we drove to Oklahoma City and stopped for the night, it is about the halfway mark. Oklahoma was interesting, first of all they had the cheapest gas being as low as 3.55. We passed some small oil wells that were operational but they looked like they were in someones front yard. but what really took my breath away were the windmills. They were awesome!!! There were a few miles of them in various places on I-40. They are hugeeeee!!! They are very graceful looking, white towering wind turbines. They each looked to be 15 or 20 stories high. Oklahoma apparently uses a lot of wind power. It seems to be a very resourceful energy alternative.
But New Mexico....The Land of Enchantment is totally breathtaking. The land is totally mezmerizing!!!! It is so beautiful. New Mexico was our longest state and it had the most beautiful landscapes I have ever seen and when you think you have seen the most beautiful spot up pops another area. Duane and I just hawed and hummed all the way across New Mexico. But there is one draw back to that state.......there are not many stops!!! We never let the tank get less than halfway because the stops were so far apart. Cell towers......nope....unless you come to a little town and you have to use it fast because once you pass the tower you lose the signal again. That day we went got out of Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and stopped short of Flagstaff, Arizona for the night. When we started out the next morning we were less than 300 miles from Vegas which was a breeze compared to 2-11 hour days. The ride through Arizona was beautiful also but not like Mexico. We went across a mountain range coming out of Mexico and 2 coming out of Arizona. We took Hwy 93 into Nevada and had to go up and around across Hoover Dam which the state lines of Arizona and Nevada are on the middle of the bridge. it being a tourist area it took a while to get through there. But once we got through we were home. The map we had was right on, it took about 28 hours driving time.
Duane has been helping me learn the area and how to get to work. We live at the foot of Sunrise Mountain and I have to go all the way across to the other side to work. it's about 20 miles. It would take me 25 minutes if I took the Interstate but I really don't want to deal with that now because of the construction they are doing on it. If I take the city streets it will take me about 40 minutes and for now I can do that. This will not be our permanant place but for now it's good but Duane asked where I would want to live and I told him on the north side which will be closer to my job and his customers also.
Well, I've gotta go for now. I will talk to you later.
Angel45
