Day 8: West Text to East Louisiana

     I hardly ever sleep more than 6 hours at this point in my life. I used to be able to sleep 7 or 8 hours a night until I turned 35, then I stopped sleeping so well. However, last night, in West Texas, I slept 12 hours! I pulled my car over somewhere in the middle of nowhere, about a quarter of a mile off the interstate in the Texas desert at about 8pm at night because I was so exhausted and slept 12 hours straight! I'm not sure if it was the desert isolation or what. My body felt pretty well rested, but my mind was pretty groggy.

       I climbed into the driver's seat of my trusty Prius and drove about an hour to a town called Ozona TX that seemed like it would have good cell phone reception for doing some online work. I did some writing in my journal then went for a run around the park and did my work out. It was pretty humid. Something had happened between Las Cruces and  Ozona that made the air more humid? 

      It's strange working out when I'm on the road. I have to find random places to jog that may seem awkward to locals. I have to find a place to do my pull ups that may seem awkward to locals. Sometimes the only place I can find to do pull ups is on a swing set where children are playing and I wonder if the parents think I'm weird? I do my yoga poses while people walk by wondering why I'd ever do yoga in such a place. Whatever, the work out must occur. I am determined to stay as fit as possible while I am on this planet. 

     My parents have both always worked out regularly my whole life. My mom would jog for miles. My dad was an amateur boxer and he would work out even after a night of heavy drinking and he was hung over. It amazes me how much the people around you influence you as a child, through osmosis. I like to think of the example of speech. For most children, no one has to sit down and teach  them how to talk, they just learn it through osmosis, complete with accent and all. Think of all the other things children learn through osmosis, good and bad. I'm glad my parents provided this good example to me as a child. Even after a night of partying you can find me working out the next morning, even when I'm on the road in a strange city in the West Texas with all the cowboys in their pick up trucks roaring around me, scowling at the stranger with California license plates. 

      At about 1130am I hit the road. About 30 minutes later I stopped and ate lunch at a Subway in a town called Sonora. I try and eat as healthy as possible when on the road by bringing my own food, but I keep forgetting to get food at the grocery store. Instead I get sparkling water and potato chips without getting any deli meat and sprouts and salsa and other healthy road food. Oh well. I'm on the road. I'm going to eat some junk. 

     The landscape changed from open barren desert to lush green trees as I drove across Texas towards Louisiana. I grew up in Virginia, so I am familiar with lush tree landscapes, but I prefer the barren desert. I think it's because of it's simplicity. The lush green landscapes are more chaotic to me. However, it's almost impossible to find a place to pee when I'm in the barren desert landscapes because there is almost nowhere to hide, so that's frustrating. 

     The drive was pretty easy until I hit San Antonio, where the traffic became heavy as all the construction sites began. Traffic was a crawl for 45 minutes at a time all the way from San Antonio to Louisiana. I decided to treat myself to donut from Dunkin Donuts onne I arrived in Louisiana. When I exited my air conditioned car the humidity hit me. It instantly took me back to summers in Virginia. My skin felt like sticky like a I had warm soda spilled all over me. The air smelled like stagnant water. "And this is why I live in Southern California" I said to myself. I hope that doesn't sound arrogant. God bless anyone who calls Louisiana home or any place that gets this humid. Sometimes I wish I would have never gone out West when I was 18 and discovered the dry air because it has spoiled me. 

     I pulled over to a truck stop and went to sleep at about 10pm.    

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