So I left New Orleans and spent the night just west of Houston Texas. Texas was bare dry nothingness for 1,200 miles.
I was going 85 mph in the wilderness between San Antonio and Fort Stockton when my tire exploded. Not just a flat. It sounded like a shotgun blast. Huge shreds of tire went peeling away down the road behind my car. I was able to slow down and pull over. A quick tire change and I was on my way.
I drove till I saw an exit. Several miles off the freeway I reached a small town that was in the worst shape of any town I saw on my trip. Paint was peeling, everything was rusty, tumble weeds littered the streets. The local supermarket parking lot actually had overturned shopping carts that had began to drift over with sand.
Walking around in the local grocery I overheard two old women talking. "all kind a strangers in town now-i-days", "yep, surenuff, its that highway's been bringin' em in 's wat it is." I didn't turn around to look but something tells me they were looking at me.
I purchased a new spare tire and headed north along highway 285 to Carlsbad New Mexico.
