The Real NILBOG

Indio California... What a scary fucking place. Not the whole thing mind you- but the first part of town, where the first signs on I-10 tell you to get off for gas/food/lodging... Just on the other side of the casino paradise of Ocachoa.
We pulled off for gas/food... and ended up in a scary scary place. A Barrio- and not just any barrio- but the barrio from the 9th ring of hell. The poor luxury car we rode is was terrified, as the ass end kept bottoming out in protest of the huge dips in the intersections. We should have listened to the car.
After about 3 miles of Hell Street, we found a Del Taco, and seeing nothing else that resembled food on the horizon, we stopped. Other than us, and the weird looking dude with the George Hamilton tan and the Santa Claus beard, the place was empty inside... so we sat to eat Tacos and cheese burgers and enjoy a much needed leg stretch.
After our meal, I needed to find the bathroom, as naturally I would after a long stint on the road. Note to self: Any joint with the bathroom outside and accessible to the non-paying public is bad. I went out, opened the door- saw the jaws of hell spawned wide before me, and shut the door- deciding it was better to piss on myself than use the facilities.
So up the road for gas and potty we went. Finding an Arco, we pulled in, and Dad started to gas the car- I went in to find a bathroom- to be told by a short woman in a scary short order type of hole in the wall that it was broken... During this time, Kevin was getting the "You have 3 faces" look from the woman at the register because he wasn't psychic and assume that the machine for cashing in lottery tickets was also out of order. Gassing up completed we headed down the road looking for a toilet that didn't promise to eat me on contact with my ass cheeks, and found Gag-in-a-Bag. Compared to Del Taco, the bathroom was inside and didn't look like shit demons came crawling out of the walls... and I couldn't possibly hold it anymore.
After 10 or so minutes of me and the kids doing our thing, we returned to the car. Kevin looked pale... scared even- apparently the mens room looked like a chimp's cage- complete with shit flinging monkeys. Reminiscent of a B-class horror film, he said "drive... Drive... DRIVE!!!!" as we pulled out of the parking lot. He told us of the scary smelling and looking homeless guy who followed after him in the bathroom... the yucky things on the walls and ceilings.
The whole town was odd... had the not-quite-right feeling to it. That kind of place that makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck and gets your spidey sense tingling. Kevin was sure the town was going to open up and swallow us whole; as it seemed to not want to let us out. Even the twilight zone bridge over the train tracks- looked as if it was that big to hide the horrors on the other side within the town.
When we drove about 5 miles down I-10 we started kicking ourselves as we found the actual town of Indio sprawled out... full of strip malls and burger joints galore. More proof that the first place we went was some unnatural desert demon sprung there by the bowels of Satan himself to trap unwary travelers.
I was surely happy to come through the other side of the mountain pass into the wind fields, and the gorgeous mountains on either side... and back into the sight of God.