Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Today we said good-bye to the horses, goats, and iguanas at our campsight as we were leaving Carlsbad on our way to Austin to visit our friends Ian and Kristi. However, today’s drive was only going to get us halfway there. The expected straight and happily boring drive ensued as we crossed more of west Texas. Man, that is some desolate country. I am just glad we didn’t make the drive at the height of the summer. As we left I managed to pick up yet another interesting gas station story. Well. Interesting to me. Mildly. It appears that we pulled up to the slowest pumping gas pump in the US, by far. It was so slow I should have taken a photo of the pump. I certainly had enough spare time to do so. Or perhaps I should have taken a video of its performance so you could see for yourself. It pumped gas at about the same rate you would fill a glass of water. It did, however, give me a chance to practice my ability to remain patient. How’s that for positive thinking? We did finally get the tank filled and we were on our way. As I recorded the amount of fuel required for this fill-up, I noticed that we must have experienced rather more terrible than normal fuel economy. Then, about 150 kms (94 miles) into our day, I noticed that the gas gauge had not moved and was still showing over Full. The gauge usually registers above “Full” for about 70 to 100 km (42 to 60 mikes) and then the needle starts to drop … fast. I figured that the gauge must be broken which was a bit of a bummer. But then I figured that it shouldn’t matter too much since I am very familiar by now with how far I can go on a tank of gas. So no big deal. Then a few kilometres down the road I noticed that the fuel gauge seemed to have moved ever so slightly. Then a few more kilometres shows it having moved some more. Then I thought perhaps the gauge got stuck at the top but has now worked itself free. But after a few more kilometres I realized what had likely happened. The gauge had been working fine the whole time. It was that flippin’ slow pump. It was so slow that the normal shut-off mechanism did not kick-in until the tank was almost overflowing. That also would explain why I ended up putting in more fuel than I had expected to. The fuel economy was not that bad on my last tank after all. But I must admit, this slow-pump-over-fill was going to pretty much put this tank of fuel into the gas mileage record books! Well, for a MoHo. On our way we past about the only landmark of note, which was miles and miles of wind farm. It was quite incredible to see all these wind turbines along the highway and off in the distance (click on the small pic to the left to see what I mean). Strangly enough, out of all of them I believe we only saw two actually moving. I have a feeling they don't run them unless the electricity is needed and it certainly wasn't a very "air conditiony" day when we drove by. We made it to our intended stop-off point, Ozona, by dinner and set up camp there. This place is essentially nothing but a Truck Stop and an RV park. Seriously. But the guy who owns this place must have a few bucks because he had a glass-walled building with a sign that said AUTO MUSEUM and it was filled with an amalgam of past race cars. He had Indy Cars, Nascar series, Craftsman Truck series, as well as an AC Cobra replica, a hot rod and even an original Ford GT 40! All of this on display in basically the middle of nowhere Texas … bizarre! And the other thing that cracked me up was the fact that this guy must have sponsored all these race cars as they all proudly displayed his “Circle Bar Truck Stop and RV Park, Ozona, TX” logo. Like somehow people watching these race cars are going to see this ad and say, “You know, maybe we should check out the RV park in Ozona.” Then again, I was staying there, wasn’t I? Had I seen one of these cars in the past and subliminally I was drawn to Ozona? The world may never know.

Today’s word:

amalgam \uh-MAL-guhm\, noun:
1. An alloy of mercury with another metal or metals; used especially (with silver) as a dental filling.
2. A mixture or compound of different things.