If sadness were to have a physical manifestation it might be the Travelodge in Amarillo, TX. Surrounding I-40 are all the new motels: Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, Hilton, etc, and then there's the Travelodge, which might once have been a place of granduer. Not anymore. Amarillo is a stock town that time has passed by with barely a wave. I'm not saying it's a bad place; rather it's like Memphis or Birmingham. What was once a place of industry has fallen on hard times. You get the gist.
So today was a long day of driving. I left the Knights Inn, where I was ripped off in multiple ways, in Flagstaff at about 8:30 PST and made my way East. The drive back through Arizona and New Mexico was as equally pleasing as the first drive through it. I think, maybe, I'd like to live in New Mexico. I'll let the thought fester for a while and see what bubbles out.
I drove through three time zones and now find myself back on CST.
This is the end of my motel stays, which have progressively gotten better and then deteriorated. The Travelodge is better than the Knights Inn, so maybe my luck is improving. Tomorrow's another long driving day to Conway, AR and then I'm going to visit C. Bard in Memphis on Thursday.
I'd like to offer some sort of insight into today, but it was a day spent mainly thinking about leaving Alabama soon. I'm really restless and would sorely like to do something else, but my work visa ties me to UA and by extension Tuscaloosa. It's a strange feeling knowing I want to leave. I said to a few people before I left that I'd take this 2-3 week trip and then I'd know the answer about whether I was going to stay. I've half answered that question, but I might not be able to leave. That's one answer. The other thing is getting the feeling to leave. It's easy to be in a comfort zone in Tuscaloosa but I've grown weary of it and UA. But for me knowing, having the desire, is strange. I don't know what I'll do with it. Maybe I'll suppress it or maybe I'll find something else?
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