Texas
We pulled into a gas station in the
beginning of Houston. As I got out of the car I was approached by an
extremely scrawny addict who looked like he hadn’t eaten in days,
and he begged me for some money. I shrugged him off, and entered the
store to purchase the gas. Once entering the store I received the
full picture of where I had just entered. This woman who looks like a
prostitute comes out of a room labeled the amusement room, and asks
the clerk for quarters. I purchase the gas, but the clerk is nervous
to take my credit card. He was probably nervous because everyone
there uses stolen cards.
I returned to the car, and told Tani
not to leave my side because this area is obviously dangerous. While
filling the tank another man approached and asked me for money
because his dog, his dad, and he were recently evicted from their
home. I told him to wait until I was done filling and I would see
what I can do, but I was not really going to help. I think he was
just another addict.
We finished filling the car, and went
in to go to the bathroom. The toilets were nasty and overflowing. On
the way from the bathroom I saw the amusement room, and decided to
peak in to see what it was. The room was lined with slot machines.
Men and woman filled the room just pouring their quarters into the
machines. This was a massive gambling addiction at its best.
While walking back to the car to leave,
a woman with unnaturally red hair pulled into the gas station with
her young son. While her husband, or baby-daddy, filled the tank she
rooted her son on as he busted some dance moves in the middle of the
gas station, in the middle of the night, and in the middle of the
worst neighborhood in Houston. At which point Mr. Nobel came and
awarded her the Nobel Parenting Prize for the best parent in the
world. Not.
We reached our friend, Barel Maayan’s,
apartment at around midnight. Barel lives with three other roommates,
and all of them are in the same exact situation as us.
They are working and touring the US
form Israel. We had a couple of beers with them on the balcony, and
talked. After around an hour we all went to sleep. Barel placed an
air mattress on the floor for us, so Tani slept on the mattress and I
slept on the couch.
We woke up early the next morning, in
contrast to what we had been doing in New Orleans. We decided to
visit the NASA space station in Houston. It was pretty interesting,
but uneventful. Just about the only really cool thing was that this
was the Houston from “Houston, we’ve got a problem.” Also
seeing their training facilities was pretty nice.
After NASA we set off for Dallas. We
stayed at a hostel in Irving, Texas right in between Fort Worth and
Dallas. We decided to stay at the hostel, because Yishai the traveler
we had met in New Orleans said it was a way to make our trip more
exciting and to meet new people.
In the hostel we met two nice British
med students who had a flight layover in Dallas on their way to
Guatemala. Upon hearing that they want to see the city but don’t
have a way to get around we offered them to join us for the next day.
The next morning we set up the car. It
was like playing Tetris, because we have so much equipment. We
squeezed the two girls into the back where they sat with their bags
on top of them. We drove down to the Fort Worth Stockyards because we
have seen a bunch of cities already, and this was our chance at a
real cowboy experience. The Stockyards were not nearly as active and
engaging as we had hoped, but it was still fun. The girls probably
think Americans are crazy as this was their first visit in the
States. We saw longhorn cows, and horses. We smelled weird spices at
a spice shop, which had spices like beer powder that smells like
beer. The store next door had flavored crickets and scorpions for
sale.
After the cattle drive we drove the
girls down to the train station, so they can make it to their flight.
From there we drove down to Austin and
tried to find another hostel as the first was a very good experience
for us. After getting lost around one hundred times in Austin we
finally found a hostel that had a vacancy. After receiving our beds
we realized that the clerk had made a terrible mistake and double
booked our beds. So we continued our drive to a campsite at the Emma
Long City Park.
The next morning we drove to the
Hamilton Pool spring which was rated as one of America’s Top Tens.
It was very nice, but not nearly as beautiful as expected. After two
hours we left.
We drove down to San Antonio to see the
Alamo. On the way I read the history of the Alamo out loud to Tani as
he drove. The Alamo is very small, but the history behind it is
extensive. Tani didn’t relate to the Alamo as much as I did, but I
believe that is because I read the history and understood what it
meant, while Tani had to drive.
It was a place where at first they
fought for freedom, and then they tried to surrender. The Mexicans
under Santa Anna’s rule were told to give no quarter, so they
refused to accept the surrender. In the end the battle was not only
about freedom. It was a battle for life and friends. It was what
separated heroes from cowards. When Sam Houston’s troops screamed
“Remember the Alamo” it meant remember how they fought like
heroes when given no quarter.
That night we stayed in a campsite in
Kerrville, Texas. We fished until dark, and continued in the morning.
The smartass fish ate all of our bait, and were never caught on the
hook.
At around noon we continued our drive
to New Mexico. Western Texas is a desert like in the movies. Its
climate is much like Israel’s, and a lot more bearable than the
humid South. We made sure to stay properly hydrated, so we wouldn’t
pass out. We drove for hours without seeing any humans that day.
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| The Alamo |
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New Mexico
The next morning we continued to Taos
Pueblo. Taos Pueblo is an ancient Native American Village in the
mountains of New Mexico. The village has been through much since the
time it was discovered by the Spanish Conquistadors. It is worth it
to visit, but it is far away from everything.
After calling the Chabad of Taos, and
finding out that the synagogue is only open one Sabbath a month, we
decided to stay in Espanola, New Mexico. We stayed at the Motel Six
for the Sabbath.
Early on Sunday morning we awoke, and
began our five hour drive to the Petrified Forest National Preserve
in Arizona. On the way we decided to drive through Albuquerque just
to see it. The city was much smaller than I expected, with almost no
tall buildings.
We stopped at a gas station to refuel.
While inside the clerk saw that my shirt had Hebrew writing on it,
and asked if we were from abroad. We told him we were form Israel,
and he became extremely interested. He told us that he is from
Massachusetts, and drove over six years ago to visit his brother in
the air force stationed in Albuquerque. He fell in love with New
Mexico and never left. He then began to ask about Israel and its
security issues. When we told him that Israel has no allies in the
region he said (word for word), “That must make some real badass
Israelis, you guys must be hardcore as shit!”
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| Taos Publo |
Texas is the second most populated
state in the USA after California. Most of the population lives in
eastern Texas, and you can feel that fact because of its six or seven
lane highways which are heavily trafficked. Eastern Texas is also
like the rest of the
South with forests and lakes, while western Texas is more of a sub-savannah region, with very little towns and people. In western Texas the street signs are riddled with bullet holes.
South with forests and lakes, while western Texas is more of a sub-savannah region, with very little towns and people. In western Texas the street signs are riddled with bullet holes.
Texas’ architecture gives it a feel
of its Mexican past and American present. When we entered Texas I
felt as if we had crossed the border into another country.
New Mexico is properly named. When you
enter into New Mexico it feels like Mexico with an American twist. If
you don’t speak Spanish there is not much for you there, even the
Native Americans here speak Spanish. There are many Native American
Reservations in New Mexico. As understood where there’s Indians
there are casinos. New Mexico is full of huge casinos at every place
possible, but unlike Louisiana these casinos look like respectable
resorts.
New Mexico is filled with open fields
and beautiful mountain ranges. Sadly it looks like a state with much
unused potential. Its mountains may not be forested or green, but
their beauty can give the Shenandoah of Virginia a run for its money.
I highly recommend touring both states.
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