What is the problem with these women I’m traveling with? We are delving into the depths of hell, and they smile while my look of incredulity (not to be confused with uncertainty if my fart was wet) is signaling that something is wrong in this car we are currently in. I’ve said it before, and I should say it again: driving is no excuse to stop taking selfies in a moving vehicle, even if that selfie requires multiple takes and posing.

My original plan saw us leaving Phoenix at 9:30 for the road eastward that would bring us to Miami, Arizona, and the fine Mexican cuisine found at Guayo’s El Rey, specifically their carne asada, which is probably the best I’ve ever had. By leaving at 9:30, we’d arrive as they opened the doors at 11:00; well, we didn’t get out until shortly after 11:00 because I got stuck conversing with an old friend at the coffee shop into which we were dipping for 2 minutes in order to grab coffees for the road. It turned out that we were all finished with our coffees before we ever got underway.

Hey, what’s this hell you speak of? First things first, lunch was amazing, and with stomachs stuffed full, we were back out on Highway 60, driving east through heavy rain until we reached Highway 70 and continued towards Lordsburg, New Mexico. Somewhere out on the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation, the clouds started breaking up, and near Safford, Arizona, we were treated to dramatic skies and this small bit of rainbow.

Last night (or was it this morning?), we finally decided on our reading material for this road trip: Lord Of Dark Places by Hal Bennett. Mind you that Caroline and I are currently immersed in Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, but dropping Jessica right into the middle of that book (we’ve already finished Swann’s Way, which is Part 1 of 5) would be unfair to her as it takes some time to get into the flow of this tome of flowery prose, so we opted to start something else.

Something else is an appropriate description of Lord of Dark Places. I first heard of this book from YouTuber Cliff Sergeant, who publishes under the channel titled Better Than Food.

Lord of Dark Places opens rough and becomes jagged quickly. Glimmers of light are not to be found under the gloom as the horizon is filling with carnage and depravity. I am reluctant to share that we’d even read this or would be willing to mention the name of this gut-puncher, but the incredible writing pulls you forward like a log being dragged into a buzzsaw. While I’ve now given this nod to Lord of Dark Places, I find myself unable to share much more than the fact that we could barely travel more than a couple of minutes before the next stretch of rough, cringy road was encountered and, obviously, I’m not referring to the road on which we are driving east.

Here we are ten years after Jessica, and I passed through here on a day trip out of Phoenix at the very same truck in Duncan, Arizona, in which she sat as part of a short story that was included in a book we put together for her during a spring break.

We are near the state border with New Mexico and still fully entrenched and mesmerized with the book that continues to deliver body blows to our senses, though the aesthetics of what is unfolding couldn’t be more real.

Day is about to give way to night, and the delay from the poor weather earlier is impacting what time we thought we’d arrive in Socorro, but we should make it in time.

It’s 8:30 as we pull into a parking spot at the El Camino Family Restaurant in Socorro, New Mexico. While Jessica was just here with me back in August, Caroline hasn’t been here in years. It’s been said countless times before, but this New Mexican version of Denny’s is our favorite roadside stop for breakfast or dinner while we are visiting the western side of the state. Getting in at this time was nearly too late as the kitchen now stops taking orders at 9:15; sadly, prior to the pandemic, this place was open 24/7.

Today’s journey across the desert, while beautiful, was overshadowed by the power and depravity found in Lord of Dark Places and the places it brought us to. We won’t have a lot of time in the book on Christmas day as we have other plans that won’t see us on the road very much, but having gotten halfway through it, we should be able to finish it on the way home. As for my Steak Tampico here at El Camino? I’m never disappointed with the same thing I have every time we eat here.