Dining on the road home

Truth or Consequences, NM

                                    

Last time I was here it was 2002 and I slept in my car in a gas station parking lot because it was 4:30 in the morning and I didn't want to pay full price for a motel.  This time it was raining really hard, which sucked, because I wanted to go to Elephant Butte Lake.

Truth or Consequences, NM is a tiny, sleepy little town with some amazing hot springs and great natural beauty surrounding it.  It's so sleepy, in fact, that the police station keeps banker's hours...

              
There's a joke there somewhere, about police and consequences, but I'm too road-weary to come up with it right now.  Help me out here, people.

If you have any sense, next time you're in Truth or Consequences you will stop here and get yourself a Green Chile Philly:

                

                                        

As you may have guessed, a Green Chile Philly is a philly cheesesteak with green chiles on it.  Yes, Kilfeather.  I know. A REAL philly cheesesteak would never have chiles, green or otherwise.  Stop it.  Just shut up, OK?  It's good.  It's really fucking good.  Hint: put some of that coleslaw on the sandwich.  You won't regret it.

I very nearly got stuck in Truth or Consequences as a result of the Happy Belly Deli.  Those who know me, even just a little bit, know how much I love tiny, bizarre towns in the middle of nowhere with interesting people to talk to.  The Happy Belly Deli is the sort of place where old-timers come to shoot the shit and read the paper.

              

Somehow or another, I got to talking with two of the old-timers about cars and women.  Long story, don't ask.  It took all my willpower to break away and hit the road.  That was a conversation I could see going late into the evening, and I had places to be...