On the way, I read historical markers, marking schools that were no longer there, and telling the story of 60 black union soldiers who drank horse blood and horse urine after defeating the Comanche Indians and warding off settlement raids and finding themselves 5 days from the nearest settlement where they could get water. All but four of them made it out alive, awarding them a historical marker for their "creative endurance".
The two cities are about 20 miles away from each other, so I prepared to work in both cities for at least a month, while I caught up on my bills and put some money back for further travelling.
When I got there, I was surprised at the amount of dust there was in the air. It was dry. The area had little to no rainfall. But, the communities inside the city were interesting. Some of them were beautiful, with rock lawns, rather than grass.
I thought, "It must be nice not to have to mow your yard!"
There were some neighborhoods that had lots of trees, but you could tell that they were all transplanted. And, I was surprised that there were so many in that area! There were all different kinds of trees there, and they seemed to be thriving, so I did some research to find out where the water was coming from.
I found out that Midland and Odessa had a lot of groundwater, but that after the oil boom, the water became contaminated, so now they get their water from the Colorado River Authority.
The locals said they hated it. It tasted bad, and they couldn't even cook with it.
When I would tell them where I was from, they would ask me why I chose to come there, of all places. It was an invitation to tell my story.
There was a bar there called "Fair to Midland" which warranted a story about how that phrase came to be from one of my customers, who said it was because back in the day, if you asked someone how they were doing, they would say "fair to midling." It came from the fact that Midland used to be a cotton town before the oil rigs came, and the midling grade was the highest grade of cotton there was.
I drove people to the airport there, and noted that it was called "The Midland Air and Space port", but there were no space ships there.
And, I saw the Armadillo Hotel. That place was HUGE!
The money was really good there. Much better than I expected. I stayed busy, and most of my uber trips were 15 mile trips, which made for a good earning at the end of the day!
There were about fifteen truck stops in the area - more truck stops than in any area I had been through so far.
At night, I would sleep at the truck stops, and I would shower at the nearest Planet Fitness in the mornings, if I couldn't afford the truck stop showers. I hated using the Planet Fitnesses there, because the water pressure was low, and the shower turned cold everytime someone flushed a toilet.
After about a week, one Saturday morning I went to fill my car up with gas. It was about 9:00 a.m.. When I got to the gas pump to start my car, I turned the key and there was nothing. No click. No turning over of engine. Just nothing.
My stomach sank.
I googled some local shops, praying someone was open on a Saturday. I found one, but they would close at noon, and I had to tow my own vehicle there.
I googled some towing companies. Most of them wanted $250 for the tow, plus mileage. I only had about $300 saved up.
I finally found one that would do it for a $100 flat fee.
It was 10:30 a.m. by the time I made it to the shop.
They stayed working on my car until 2 PM, trying find out what was wrong with it, knowing that I was living in my car and couldn't afford a room.
I took the opportunity to tell them my story while I worked, and it was my story that saved me!
The shop owner stopped me and said, "You said you just had your transmission worked on?". He went to the back for about 20 minutes and came back and said, "Your car is ready to go." and handed me a small clamp. He explained, "When they fixed your transmission, this clamp hooks the transmission to the block. It broke, and instead of replacing the clamp, they soldered it on. So, when the engine got hot, it broke again, and that is why you couldn't start your car!"
It cost me $352 to have that fixed. I was overdrawn in my checking account again, and I had bills to pay. But, now that my car was fixed, I was confident I could catch up again.
I drove around the Midland and Odessa area catching up on my bills after that.
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