San Angelo, And How Not To Get There

Quite a surprise
What an ingenious device
Boredom encompasses my time
I don't know what I should do
-Les Claypool, Southbound Pachyderm

Today was an interesting day so far. First, I wake up early. This isn't in itself that unusual. But today I woke up early to go with my roommate to San Angelo. San Angelo is in the legendary state of Texas, which I'm always interested in seeing. My experience with Texas so far has been a gas station and the Dallas airport (changed planes there a couple times). So I was interested to see more of Texas, which, it turns out, is a good deal like Oklahoma- lots of ranch land. We were heading southwards, when all of a sudden the Ford Expedition we were in (not mine) began to wail like a banshee- fan belt, I thought. Then it stopped running. Not the fan belt, I thought- serpentine belt? So we wound up on the side of the road, where some helpful cows speculated on the situation and probable cause by mooing. While we appreciated the input, cows are not known for their mechanical prowess, so we took it with a grain of salt. We called a tow truck, as we had made it about 20 minutes south of Wichita Falls. So there we were, waiting for the truck to come, while I wandered around taking pictures of big spiders to send to my fiancee. Why I'm obsessed with spiders is a question I can't answer- they are pretty cool though, and tend to get big down south. Completely harmless, at least as far as I know. Generally best to leave them be, and observe from a distance. At any rate, cows and spiders aside, the tow truck came. We determined that it was not in fact any visible belt, (turned out to be a fuel pump problem) and continued along our way towards Lawton. While we went down the road, the tow truck had a double blowout on two of the back tires. This wasn't as bad as it sounds, as they were on the same side- the truck had dual tires on the back axle. I witnessed a feat of ingenuity- to remove the wheels, the truck driver just used the hydraulic lifting mechanism on the tow truck- it was one of the flat-bed types, which extend down and to the rear, and then back up to secure the towed vehicle. The tires were completely destroyed, and one rim was bent! It was a pretty incredible sight to see, even if it did mean once again we were stuck on the side of the road. The tires were retreads, which are not quite the demon everyone seems to think they are- the problem is, they need to remain inflated to the correct pressure, otherwise the retreads tend to separate from the tire. From the damage to the tires, it looked like they had been underinflated, causing some damage, but more importantly, meaning that the two tires rubbed against each other, creating friction, which means one of two things- either an explosive blowout, or a tire fire. So in some sense, we got off pretty easy on that one. It was just one more in a comedy of errors, it seems. But luckily, no one was hurt, and I learned a good deal about tow trucks, and how to put a tire on a rim, not that this really occurs on a regular basis during my job, or outside of it.
So back we went, after getting the tire replaced with another roadside assistance vehicle, and came back to Lawton. And that, as they say, was that.
Apart from that, we're still hashing out the living situation, and 'upgrading' the apartment to a two- bedroom. Moving up in the world, it seems. Actually, the place is getting a little cramped, even with the fact that the two of us don't really take up that much space. Still, a little extra space would be most welcome.