Taking the weekend off, yet unable to escape

All day today, I've been trying to complete another blog entry. Now, way past sunset it's still not done. I suspect I'm struggling because I sense it's more of the same ol' harping so characteristic of this website.

So I thought I'd try something a little lighter with this. And I was off to a good start when CBS's "60 Minutes" came on and distracted me once more. It was about the missing billions in Iraq. Another segment about the returning GI's terribly wounded in Iraq. I won't comment herein of the mixed emotions I experienced watching those. So now I'll resume my "blog-lite" effort, praying to close the day with some minimal success of my intentions.
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So yesterday, being a beautiful winter day here in the Southwest, I thought my wife and I would take a drive into southern New Mexico. With our government off for the weekend and vice president Cheney here, in Texas, hunting and shooting at anything that moved, it seemed like even more reason to leave the state.

In ways I haven't even connected in my mind yet, our 40 mile jaunt up to Las Cruces, NM seemed driven by cosmic forces over which we had no control. "We'll look at hybrid cars while there," I said to my wife as if I needed justification beyond procuring a 'growler' of beer from the excellent brewpub there.

At a subconscious level, I suspect president Bush chiding us, "We're addicted to oil," may have had something to do with us looking at vehicles with 76 horsepower, in total opposition to the advertising trend for cars with more and more horses under their hoods with less and less oil to drive them.

After talking to our first seemingly clueless salesman, who knew far less than I had gleaned about his vehicles from the internet, my wife and I returned to a restaurant parking lot we had passed on the way to that Toyota dealer.

Apparently, a local British sports car club was lunching at a local diner. While they nourished themselves much as my wife and I, they definitely conveyed themselves far differently as evidenced by their vehicles they left in the parking lot. As a result, I have chosen to impart here, a couple of the impressive vehicles we saw during our excursion.

Well, we're obviously having cable connection problems. Unable to upload more pictures, I guess I'll just finish this entry w/o them. After looking at a parking lot of old Jags, MG's and Austin Healeys, we returned to another car lot. To a Honda dealer. This time we were greeted by a young salesman to whom we took a real liking. As we learned during our stay there, he had recently returned from Iraq, from Al Anbar province close to the Syrian border.

This further contributed to the thought that none of this trip was really a weekend escape from the politics and issues of the day. After test driving a compact Honda and some discussion of the politics of the war, we bade our salesman farewell. He had confided his reserve unit is scheduled to reactivate much later this year for redeployment once more to Iraq. We wished him well, saying we hoped--should we decide to trade vehicles--he'd be here when we did. He thanked us, assuring us he hopes the same.

Off we went to the brewpub for lunch. On the way out, we ordered a 1/2 gallon of Octoberfest Ale and, being mid-February, we nervously drove home hoping we wouldn't be stopped by the authorities for possessing beer out of season. But hey, unlike Cheney, this day we hadn't shot anybody. But somewhat sympathetic for the vice president, we hoped whoever he shot wasn't out of season.