i believe in a thing called thing

To comfort myself for missing the cheesy re-enactment of the Gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone, I asked Isaac if we could stop at a roadside "attraction" called "The Thing," advertised on billboards 90 miles each way on the 10, much like South of the Border on I-95. She said "Only if it's under two dollars." She said it in her car voice but I can understand her.

Fortunately, "The Thing" costs one dollar, so we stopped. Basically you go into this gas station gift shop, pay your dollar, go in through a door in the back, and walk on a sidewalk, painted with yellow feet, that leads through a series of three warehouses, where there was the MOST RANDOM COLLECTION OF WEIRD STUFF THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN. Some highlights, for your viewing pleasure...

A Rolls-Royce in which Adolph Hitler supposedly rode, though "it can't be proved":


Life-size wooden carvings depicting various torture methods:


A really dirty bedroom set with a mannequin of a Native American man:


And... the "Thing":


If you were really observant, you may have noticed something, which is that the "Thing" is not so much a "Thing" as it is a "Dead Person."

I left with these wonderful images in my head and headed to El Paso, where I stopped at a hotel, crawled into bed, and tried to convince Isaac to let me sleep the entire next day. She said no, emphatically, which was good, because that day I saw some of the most spectacular natural beauty of my life.