I went off on a rant there didn’t I? We really are focusing on this trip to Baja now. The whales are an excuse to get out on a road trip and I think my tales of Mexican fun have planted the seed of romance in Jenifer’s brain. I have to find out about passports and car insurance.
Jen and I got our passport paperwork underway even though there is supposed to be some sort of agreement where U.S. citizens can legally drive all the way down into Baja. Some leftover tourist thing from the golden days when big fucking Hollywood money would drive down the coast to Cabo. The picture in my passport is really crazy looking, my hair is sticking up everywhere and my eyeballs are all bugged out. I’m guessing we’re bound to be searched for drugs if anybody looks at them too closely. I borrowed a mummy bag from Jenifer’s cornucopia of parental camping gear to sleep in since I can’t seem to find mine around anywhere.
We’ve got a pocket full of money, a full tank of gas, even a half pack of cigarettes, so our restless spirits are headed to a welcome warmer climate. Both of us are worn out from trying to hump it through the end of semester blues, we’re gearing up for a strong finish and this month or so of holidays will be a real soul quencher. I this will be the first X-Mas where I won’t be going home and I won’t have to be involved in that whole formal ‘spend the day with the family’ thing. I’m stoked, Jenifer and I already opened most of our presents early with the blessing of our families but getting the all clear to go play is the best gift I think I could have received. Even though my parents are not in a position to deny my freedom any longer, the most expensive present I got was something my parents didn’t even know they had given. Freedom.
Jenifer gave my parents a vase fired by her father at my family’s formal present opening party, or ‘present presentation’ I guess. My mom really liked it a lot, thinking it was very thoughtful and touching even though I knew it was an easy and casual gift for Jenifer to give. It made me feel like a stupid bastard for not getting her parents anything, although I have no fucking idea what to get them. I suspect that one day her father’s pottery might be valuable in the same way that people value Van Gogh’s painted madness. Perhaps I should bring up cutting off appendages with him in one of our conversations. I’m a bastard I guess.
I can tell that my sister has accepted the changing of the guard finally and that she really likes Jenifer a lot. Maybe Alecia has identified with an older sister figure during the few times we’ve eaten in Dallas with my family over the past few months or maybe its because Jenifer talks to her like a person. I’ve been watching, noticing their interaction and I respect Jenifer for being so good hearted towards Alecia. This has made me love both of them even more so I’ve been trying to treat my sister more like an adult myself. Alecia’s been having trouble in high school and I remember how much shit I had to eat during that time of my life when I lived at home even though I was an honor student. So I want to be a positive force in her life instead of just another parent.
So anyway, we’re off to escape the drudgery of life by immersion into a world of risk and American road travel. I have my mandatory modest bag of pot (don’t leave home without it), my best girl (I like the way they said that in the 20’s, my BEST girl) and her little Ford Escort that we’ll be sleeping in a lot of the time to make this trip more economically feasible. This…will be…the…ultimate…vaca-tion!! Jenifer’s full of unbridled energy and anticipation con muy porquito coca for the long flat relatively boring drive from Dallas to El Paso.
I think it’s a part of the country that’s pretty ugly. Pretty & ugly? Maybe ugly is too harsh because the land does have a certain raw beauty crafted from untouched desolation and emptiness. The endless miles of straight highway that put your body in a restful state with the perfectly timed rhythm of the road and the cruise control working together. I always enjoy letting my mind wander and envelop my self in the monotony of driving. It’s an addictive love affair I admit, and it’s so crazy to be with someone who understands that. My conversations with Jenifer have been bonding and intimately personal. I find myself telling her things that I don’t necessarily want to share without fear of reproach or misunderstanding. It’s as if the words just spill from me out onto the dashboard like I’m lying back on a psychiatrists couch. Road therapy.
The music we’ve brought is great, just smoking a joint and listening to the Rolling Stones can put me in a state of ecstasy. I’m a little miffed because Jenifer won’t let me drive her car, which is like saying she doesn’t trust me enough yet with something she’s deeply attached to. It’ll make me frustrated and she’s going to be really irritable if she drives the entire two days to San Diego by herself. I really don’t want tension to spoil any part of this due to my bitching but I might say something soon. I’m trying to just sit here writing, letting myself be content to enjoy the journey and Jenifer’s company, confident she’ll let me take the wheel sooner or later. It’s a manly power thing to be the driver for God’s sake!
Miss Suzy had a Steamboat, the Steamboat had a bell, Miss Suzy went to heaven but the Steamboat went to Hell. Miss Suzy had a Steamboat, the Steamboat had a bell, Miss Suzy went to heaven but the Steamboat went to Hell. Miss Suzy had a Steamboat, the Steamboat had a bell, Miss Suzy went to heaven but the.
Viva LA Mexico! Viva Juarez!
We arrived in El Paso early this morning, parked the car on the U.S. side and walked across the bridge into Juarez. Jenifer’s first taste of Mexico. I’ve romanticized her with my outlandish tales of border town life, assuring her it’s a slice of corrupted heaven on Earth.
I haven’t been to Juarez since Ernie and I drove his VW bus out here for our old dorm buddy Darrell’s wedding. We drove across the border that time and ended up getting lost on the way back from the dog track. You would think it would be easy to head North and just sort of run into the United States right? So we drove around until we found a Mexican Kentucky Fried Chicken where nobody spoke a lick of English. I was really lit by this time so I don’t remember how we made it back to the border but we ended up getting harassed by the border patrol because they found a pipe with some resin residue in it that Evan (another dorm friend) hid in the van under a pile of his stinky underwear. Ernie was freaking out because he was on probation at the time and wasn’t supposed to leave Denton County, much less the country, and I was feeling pretty nauseous. After making us sweat for 2-3 hours, they finally just made Evan break his stupid pipe and let us go with a slap on the wrist. Despite all that shit, and despite all the people who ate guacamole at the track getting a severe case of Montezuma’s revenge, I still left Mexico with an idyllic impression of the mighty town of Juarez in my mind.
When Jenifer and I got there this morning, it must have been about 8AM and the markets and vendors don’t start hawking their wares until about 10 or so when the throngs of tourists start filtering over. So Jenifer and I walked hand in hand taking in some free culture and polluted atmosphere for a while, ignoring the stares of the bleary eyed shopkeepers. I think she was a little unimpressed, maybe expecting sombrero clad people living in huts outside of El Segundo or some such, but I bought some beer to commemorate the good times I’ve had before. Corona with lime and salt in the hustling bustling morning marketplace sunshine is one of God’s little gifts to man. Beer is not just for breakfast anymore. Honestly though, even though I couldn’t put a whole lot of enthusiasm into a good drinking binge that early in the morning but I made a nice effort. We split before the markets really started swinging, before the begging children with Chiclets surfaced and before the fruit vendors were even cutting pieces of fruit off unusually shaped melons and shoving them into the mouths of passerby. Ah Mexico! We’ll be going through Tijuana on our way to Baja and I expect it to be about the same. Maybe better.