I only had about $400 put back, so I had to utilize my overdraft privilege in my checking account in order to pay for the repairs, and they had to come down from the price, only fixing the part of the system that was causing most of the problems, and leaving the back drum alone. Still, it overdrew my account and I knew I wasn't going to be able to make my next bill, which was the biggest bill I had to pay - and the most important one, to me. Without that account, I would be dead in the water if I needed to take out another loan.
So, I got the repairs, and then went back to Texarkana. It was an eight hour drive.
I saw the DK oil refinery in Big Spring along the way. I ate BBQ. I enjoyed the drive as much as I could, adding new cities to the list of cities visited along the way.
When I got to Texarkana, I reborrowed some money from another loan account and refinanced that account so I could bring my account back into the green and pay a bill or two. It was worth it, even though my bills went up $10 per month.
Then I drove back to the Midland and Odessa area to resume my adventures.
The money was good there; but, I started thinking the grass might be greener in a more populated city, and where there is more people, the money had to be better, right?
I decided to go see El Paso.
It was about a four and a half hour trip from Midland to El Paso, and it was mostly desert. The drive was long, and mostly boring. I stopped in Van Horn to eat along the way.
By the time I got to Sierra Blanca (named for the white poppies that grow on the mountain, making it look white), I could see the outlines of the mountain ranges before me.
It was beautiful. It was as if God painted a canvass to show to only me, even though I knew that wasn't the case.
As the mountains got bigger in the distance, I reflected on how blessed I was. God had chose me to travel and tell people my story, and along the way, I got to see His great masterpieces. I got to see places I had never been, sites I had never seen before, eat foods I had never tried before at restaurants I'd never eaten at before. I got to talk to people from all over the world in my car.
I began to praise God and thank Him from bringing me there, at that place, at that time. Ninety five percent of the people I knew had never experienced all I had experienced on this adventure, and yet it was ME that God chose to show this to.
The closer I got to El Paso, the more majestic and beautiful the mountains looked before me. I got tears in my eyes as I sang praises to God.
Was it worth it to have gone through all I had gone through during the past year? At this point, my answer was a resounding YES! I would forever sing Lauren Diagle's "Trust in You"!
Then, I got to El Paso. I turned the Uber app on and the first trip I made was to a casino. I said to the passenger, "I didn't think it was legal to gamble in Texas!"
He said, "Oh, you aren't going to be in Texas. You will be two minutes inside of New Mexico, right on the line."
Amazing!
That night I stayed at a Pilot truck stock in Anthony, New Mexico, overlooking the great city of El Paso, Texas. I saw the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen in my life!
I drove around in the El Paso city for about four days. The Uber and Lyft apps kept trying to send me to the Port of Entry at the Jaurez border to Mexico. I did not want to go out of the country. My cancellation rate was going up in my app, and my acceptance rate was going down.
Then, one day I was sent to the military base at Fort Bliss. I found myself in a little turn-around, and I couldn't back out to go the other way, so I just had to drive through. I was sent through a checkpoint at the base, and explained that I was an Uber driver and it was my first time here.
The military police took my license and looked at it, walked around my vehicle, asked me a bunch of questions, then escorted me off the base before finally giving me my license back and advised me to go get a pass before I come back.
It was very intimidating, even though I knew they were just doing their job.
I wasn't making but two thirds of the money I made in the Midland and Odessa area, and the people there were rude and had no patience for a driver who had never been there before. I got my first safety report while I was there because the Uber navigation waited until I was right at a turn to tell me. I was blessed not to have caused a wreck, and it would have been totally my fault, and it added to my unease of working there.
When I am in Texarkana, my home town, I argue with Uber navigation all day long and it acts like it is its idea when we finally get there; but, when I am in a city I don't know, I have to listen to either it or the customer, because I have no idea where I am, much less where I am going.
I got to see some interesting things while I was there, though. The city was largely clean, but there were still a few street corners where homeless stood with their signs begging for help. I came across one guy holding a sign that said, "Need $ for more Cocaine." and in the bottom corner he had written "(Just exercising my 1st Amendment rights. IYKYK"
I thought that was hilarious, and even got him to pose for a picture:
El Paso had been beautiful. It was a city sitting on a mountain, and anywhere you looked in the city, you could see the whole city! But, as I said, the money wasn't that good, and my ratings were fluctuating to the negative, so I decided to back to the Midland and Odessa area.
Besides, Trump had just been re-elected as president, and I wanted to be there when the "big BOOM" happened in those oil towns. It's not every day you get to see history in the making.
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