Purgatory Lunches and Walmart Bull Rides {Road Trip to Texas Part 1}

On July 4th, one of my very best friends (and future co-worker!), Jen, flew to Denver.  

My official move date to San Antonio is July 31st, but I will be in Maui for a week before that (tough life, I know).  I'll fly directly from Maui to Texas, so that left me in a bit of a predicament about when and how to get my car down to San Antonio.  

Jen graciously offered to fly to Denver and drive back to San Antonio with me!  We decided to take our time and spend three days driving - with a lot of planned pit stops along the way.

Here we are about to embark on our journey....

We started the trip off right with some Randy Rogers Band and donut holes...

Since I was driving, Jen was in charge of finding a lunch spot.  We figured we could make it to Trinidad by lunchtime, so with the help of Trip Advisor, we settled on Purgatoire on Elm.  It was located in an old train station and rated the best restaurant in Trinidad, so we knew we were in for a treat!

I was a little concerned that there were only two other cars in the parking lot at the peak of lunchtime... but it had to be good... right?!  Trip Advisor wouldn't lie to us.

I continued to question the place when I saw this in the doorway.

And the decor was a bit questionable....

What ensued was NOT the best lunch in Trinidad.  In fact, it was about the worst lunch I've ever had!! I think Jen summed it up best when she said, "I've never wanted to leave anywhere more than I wanted to leave that restaurant."  You can be on the lookout for her Trip Advisor review coming soon.

We got the heck out of there, and made our way south to New Mexico....

Not far past the state line, the skies began looking ominous...

When we were nearing Las Vegas (New Mexico, that is...), the clouds opened up and it POURED!!!  Like, seriously scary hard rain.

Despite the rain, I was able to get us safely to Las Vegas.  We made a pit stop for a Dairy Queen ice cream cone and gas....

.... along with a stop at Walmart for a car phone charger AND a ride on this friendly bull.  You really never know what you'll find at Walmart, huh?

After living out my rodeo dreams, we got back on the road.

We were THISCLOSE to Santa Fe where a four star hotel (thanks Priceline!!) awaited us.

And. We. Couldn't.  Wait.