Road Trip. Day One.   12 hours on the road from San Antonio to Albuquerque  with  2 incidents of nearly Biblical proportions.   After all, Mercury is in retrograde.  First of all,  it's a barren road.   Even  much of what was once occupied is abandoned.  Without music, it would not have been possible. Between my IPad and my IPod I have over 7,000 songs.  For the first time half, I used Shuffle Songs. I enjoy the eclectic mix from classical to jazz, country to  rock, sound tracks to show tunes, oldies to modern, with the exception of rap.  Much as I've tried, I just don't like it.  Can't understand the words anyway, which the kids tell me is a good thing for the most part.  The 2nd half, I followed themes, or Albums, from Radiohead to Sinatra with a heavy dose of Hawaiian thrown in.  God, I miss Hawaiian music on the radio!  We do have a commercial free jazz station but I lost  that just outside of San  Antone.

After about 8 hours of pretty boring scenery, it got interesting.  At  first I thought it was a mountain but then I saw it was moving. A giant cloud of dust, fresh out of Lawrence of Arabia.  I've never been in a force like that.  Sandblasted, I had to pull over.  Like all things, I knew it would pass. And it did.  Ok.  That was an adventure which lead to another.

In Lubbock, I hit the biggest downpour I have ever driven in.  Couldn't even drive.  Had to pull over.  It was coming down in sheets and I found myself in the middle of a lightning storm.  In the very middle.  It was hitting around me on all sides. Close!  For the first time in my life, I actually felt a little fear of lightning, realizing, it could actually hit me.  Emergency vehicles passed.  I waited in the deluge for a half an hour, then decided to follow a big truck.  I couldn't see the lines in the road but could follow the lights ahead of me. Flooding was a problem but I do have a Subaru all wheel drive Forester.  That helped.  Still, didn't want to end up another statistic of a driver who didn't make the crossing.  I did make the crossing and am comfortably in my hotel room on Albuquerque.  On to Salt Lake City tomorrow.