1000 miles from nowhere

I have a story to tell you.  When Red and I were driving to Nahma from Mohawk in Keweenah we were talking away and enjoying the ride when, as we turned in off the main road, I noticed the red light was on my gas gauge indicating I was driving on the reserve tank and nearly out of gas.  Not knowing how long the red light had been on, or how much gas was in the reserve tank, I faced a decision of turning back or going on to Nahma and since it was only 7 miles more down the road I decided to proceed.  Wrong decision.  Have you ever heard of a town that has no gas station?  I hadn't.  I have now.  We got into Nahma, population 55, and were told to go back to the main road.  Now I am driving a hybrid but at that time I had not yet read the owner's manuals and so had no idea how either to see what my estimated remaining cruising range was or to set the car so that the battery ONLY was powering it.

We made it to the gas station.  I read the manuals later that night.

So, now I know how to see how far I can drive at any time before running out of gas, and I know how to set the car so that it will drive without using gas.  But I NEVER figured I could drive 100 miles and not find a gas station which is what happened to me yesterday.

I filled my tank in Santa Fe on Monday.  I have a range of about 350 miles.  I was driving about 270 miles to Kenton.  No problems, right?  Wrong.  First, when I left the house in Santa Fe I double checked that I had everything packed.  I am completely aware of Freud's warning that when you don't want to leave a place it is likely you'll leave something behind forcing you to return.  I triple checked that I had everything.  Still I told Ester to forward anything she might find that I left to NYC and I'd pick it up later.  Never did I expect to get a call about 45 minutes after I left from Sterling telling me they found my purse - my PURSE with my ID, my cash, my credit cards, etc. - in the kitchen.  So I turned around as soon as I could and drove back to the house, got my purse, and went off a second time.  I lost about 1.5 hours and more significantly, used about 120 miles worth of gas...

Now my destination was Kenton, OK and a B&B called Black Mesa.  This is the panhandle of Oklahoma, the highest section of the state at just under 5000 feet, and a place so deserted there are still dinosaur footprints petrified in the hard clay soil.  Honestly.  On another trip from Texas to Green Valley I drove through West Texas along the roads where I am sure they filmed No Country for Old Men and I thought that was deserted. Hey, that was a metropolis compared to the Black Mesa area of OK.  So, when I noticed I was a bit below half a tank of gas I began to look for gas stations.  NOTHING.  for 100 miles NOTHING.  My GPS failed me again in that it could not direct me.  By checking my estimate range I knew I could get to the B&B with about a gallon of gas remaining so I decided to come straight here and then get detailed directions for gas rather than risk taking wrong roads and wasting gas.  Turns out I will have to drive to Boise City, about 30 miles from here this morning, to fill the tank.  I will coast in on fumes, I'm sure.

So what does Black Mesa look like and what about the B&B out in nowhere? It is gorgeous.

the Black Mesa at sunset is gold

full bath outhouse

This B&B is near the state park, there are 2 huge dogs, 2 tiny kittens and a horse all loose and roaming around.  There is a stream for swimming.  I have no cellphone availability.  There is no TV reception.  Amazingly there is wireless Internet tho the signal strength is very low here in my cottage and I cannot send outgoing emails.  Tramp explores at will, wandering with the dogs,chasing the kittens.   I am in a detached "cottage" with the bathroom in a second detached "house" so that I go outside (which I did at 3:00am) to use the facilities.  It was 96 degrees when I got here yesterday.  It must have been 75 when I went out at 3:00AM.    There is air conditioning in my cottage and an overhead fan moving cool, soft air.

view of Black Mesa from my cottage

My camera cannot capture the beauty of the mesas.  This is an area, like Big Bend Park, that I know Red would love.  The bluffs and badlands are unlike other parts of the US where I've been.  I would love to spend more time here (tho I hope if I do sometime it's not because I am out of gas on a road with no one around for miles and miles!).  But it is time to get up, have some breakfast and pack the car.

Cross your fingers for me that we make it to Boise City!  Oops, uncross them.  I just had breakfast and the innkeeper put in 2.5 gallons of gas for me.  He keeps lots of extra here - from experience.  He's says he's walked long distances too many times!!!