One or More Things I Did Today (New Mexico Is Hot Edition)

And Let It Be Known, that on July 20th, in the year of 2 thousands and 11, I was up to this:

• Hey, I'm still in Albuquerque.
• At Jason's advice, I stake out a spot at this place and tap in to the wireless.
• I spend about 4 hours doing this.
• Maybe more.
• Around lunch, Jason rolls by and we have lunch.
  
• I'll be honest with you - this wasn't the most eventful day in the history of WIDWINW.
• That being said, check out this tidbit: it was so hot in Albuquerque that day, that when I finally left and returned to my car, my deodorant had liquefied.
  
• Not melted. Liquefied*. I could have bathed in the stuff. Effectively, it was now body wash.
• Now that? That is hot.
• The rest of the day involved a bit of driving. Down south to the west Texas town of El Paso. Thankfully for the quality of this blog, the road between these two cities is rife with brilliantly unusual signs.

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"El Paso 13, Beaumont 852" - A mileage sign on the New Mexico / Texas border. Those were the only two places listed.

Eat More Ice Cream! Drink More Milk! - Command printed on the side of a mammoth dairy plant surrounded by what amounted to feedlots. Is that ice cream and milk what I'm smelling? Sign me up!

Worst President Ever - Sign that slipped into West Texas from an alternative universe where George W. Bush was never born. The O in "worst" was the iconic Obama "O".

Bush Cheney '04** - Likely put up to remind the "worst president ever" sign which universe we're inhabiting. Or the extension of that sign. Or "kudos for not giving up the ghost!". Hard to say.

• As I passed one of the mandatory border patrol checks*** that stopped traffic heading the opposite direction, traffic heading my direction was treated to what looked like a fleet of paparazzi at a red carpet press spot - tons of what appeared to be cameras and lights greeting motorists. I felt like the Jonas Brothers****! Or, more accurately, like a less masculine version of the Jonas Brothers.
• And what I found most interesting of my day, the first time I'd crossed the border in return to Texas in years: the feeling of home. Even though the distinguishing characteristics between the north and south sides of Highway 10 were few to none, even though I had no loved ones and precious few contacts in that part of the state, even though the land looked nothing like Austin - even with all that, the feeling of coming home was palpable and undeniable. Looks like I'm a Texas at heart.

• Picture of the Day: N/A.

As they say, "It was a Day".

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*The latest addition to the "trial and error with spell-check" club.
**Yep. Someone has some valuable billboard space there.
***The legality of which I'd love to hear specifics on. I'm not one to beat the Constitution Tambourine much, but really, these mandatory interviews miles from the border seem hard to swallow.
****Would this have been funnier if I swapped Justin Bieber for the Jonas Brothers? What? It's a played joke either way? Nah.