West Texas Vacation – Day 4

February 15, 2016

It only took us four hours to get home from Temple, and that includes a stop at a Mexican restaurant, and a Buc-ees. I was originally going to cut over to Highway 6 and down through Bryan-College Station, but instead took Highway 36 out of Temple and went south through Caldwell, where we ate lunch, on to Brenham, and finally into Houston. The routing down 36 was intentional for a very important reason...It follows the BNSF Railroad all the way, and I saw a lot of trains moving. Anyone that knows me also knows that is important to me!

Our lunch in Caldwell at the Mexican restaurant was good, but the service was awful. Very slow, and just like last night at the steakhouse in Temple, they got the order wrong. How difficult can it be?

Throughout the trip we were looking for good places to stop and take pictures, and hit some stores as well, but there just wasn't anything to stop for. So we drove a total of 1213 miles in four days door-to-door, didn't get to visit the mountains because of lodging problems, a Supreme Court justice died 30 minutes away from us, and it was just a weird trip overall. Lawrence never complained about basically doing nothing for four days but sit in the backseat of the car keeping the dog company and being bored. I apologized a couple of times and he said it wasn't a problem. We'll do something nice soon.

The most important thing is we are all safe at home now. We have some laundry to do, pay a few bills, and relax a bit. I think I'll make spaghetti tonight!

Thanks for reading, and hopefully enjoying, my travel writings. I do it for me and my bad memory, but I hope you get a little something out of it as well.

What's next in the travel department? Well, looks like June and our annual trip to Minnesota, Lawrence's birthplace, and then in July I may be going on an alaskan cruise! We're still working on the details. I was also possibly going to Switzerland in August on a two-week tour of mountain railroads throughout the area, but I can't do both, so it looks like Alaska wins. I've always wanted to go there, and now may be my chance.

West Texas Vacation - Day 3

February 14, 2016

We drove a total of 358 miles today, and here are the details:

We got out of Ft. Stockton about 10:45am and headed east on I-10, soon taking the exit for Highway 385, which headed northeast. Once you get off of I-10 onto a small Texas highway, you quickly end up in the middle of nowhere. There are no houses, cattle, trees or grass...It was just us and dust.

We didn't have breakfast when we left thinking we would grab something up the road a bit. Turns out there was almost nothing up the road as we passed through a number of very small towns with a population of 13, and nothing was open. There were no diners, and no people or cars moving around. It almost seemed like each bungalow was a ghost town. It wasn't until we hit the small town of Big Lake and found an open Dairy Queen. I'm usually not a big fan of DQ food (desserts are another story), but by the time we got there, I was famished and that burger and fries were great!

I would like to note here that up to this point, we were traversing what is known as the Permian Basin of Texas, and it's very flat with no scenery, unless you consider a large amount of oil and natural gas wells scenery. They were everywhere, along with various oil and gas plants, trucking companies, holding tanks, pipe yards, and everything else it takes to run oil and gas fields. Another interesting fact is the amount of huge wind-turbine electricity generating towers. They are all over the high ridges, and lots and lots of large-capacity power lines running everywhere. If you need oil, natural gas or electricity, you'll find it here, but not much else.

Soon after we left Big Lake, the scenery started to change. I started noticing small cedar trees with no foliage on them, then bigger cedar trees with foliage, and then grass. After about an hour, we started to see land being tilled for planting of crops soon, and they were everywhere, especially as we approached San Angelo. Pulling into San Angelo brought us back to the reality that there are actually other human beings out there, and we hit traffic, saw open businesses, and the usual medium sized town tumult. Driving for a couple of hundred miles through the desert can cause you lo lose perspective.

Continuing eastbound out of San Angelo, we pulled into San Saba, where once again we stopped at the DQ, this time for a Blizzard. In the center of town we found an open mercantile shop and stopped in to look around. In the window of the business was a poster promoting a Downton Abbey tea party for their group to watch the show together. I made it a point to bring up to the very nice ladies inside the shop that I participate in the taping of the program after Downton Abbey called Manor of Speaking, of which they were also very familiar with. I teased them a little about what will happen in tonight's episode, but was careful not to give any major plot points away. The only thing I told them was that Mr. Carson gets what he deserves.

There weren't any other real stops after San Saba as we continued towards Lampasas, through Killeen, and eventually stopping in Temple at the La Quinta where we are all tucked in for the night. Across I-35 is a Texas Roadhouse, and the front desk clerk gave me a 10% off coupon for dinner. We're heading that way soon.

Tomorrow we will head east a little bit until we join Highway 36 southbound through College Station and on into Houston on Highway 290. We won't be in any hurry as it's only about 3 hours from here.

So, until tomorrow.....

West Texas Vacation - Day 2

February 13, 2016

Another day of travel ends weirdly. Of course.

Starting off this morning in Del Rio, we were awakened with chirping birds, cool temperatures, and a bright sunny day. We got all cleaned up, loaded the car and went next door to the pancake house for a late breakfast. Our waitress was from Thailand and felt it necessary to crack political jokes when we sat down. That was weird...but breakfast was good.

We headed west on Highway 90 and our first stop was at Seminole Canyon State Park. There wasn't much to see during our short hike with the dog. The indian petroglyphs along the canyon walls were too far away, so we turned around and headed back to the car, and promptly departed.

Our next stop was the awesome and beautiful Pecos River Bridge. We got a lot of great pictures and again proceeded west. We passed through Marathon, but not before stopping and taking pictures of the famous Gage Hotel. Beautiful place, and a wonderful restaurant.

Our next stop was Alpine, which was supposed to be our overnight spot, but as usual, that all changed. We wanted to stay there two nights and spend the next two days touring Big Bend National Park, seeing the Marfa lights, visit Ft. Davis, and go up to the McDonald Observatory, but all of the hotels in Alpine were either sold out or didn't allow dogs. We also checked other towns around the area, and they were all sold out as well. I'm guessing the night before Valentine's Day can be expected to fill up all the rooms. Also, while in Alpine, we learned that Justice Scalia died in Marfa, less then 30 minutes from where we were standing. It was really weird.

We ended up having to backtrack a bit and head north to Ft. Stockton and the La Quinta there. So much for hiking, photographing and enjoying my West Texas mountains. We'll get them next time.

Although we're somewhat disillusioned about not doing what we planned, I think being forced to take a different route may be to our advantage. We'll head out tomorrow towards San Angelo, over to Brady, Killeen, and on to Temple, where we might stay tomorrow night. A new route will hopefully force upon us new opportunities for photographs, antique shopping, and whatever else we can discover.

It looks like we'll get home a day early on Monday, and that's OK.

On a positive note, the La Quinta we're in tonight has dry carpet!

West Texas Vacation - Day 1
February 12, 2016

We weren't in any big hurry to leave, and I had a couple of errands to run like filling the car, going to the ATM, etc., but we did finally depart around 1PM and headed west on I-10. It was a beautiful, sunny, clear-sky day and about 80 degrees. Ah, winter in Texas.

I was driving, Lawrence was in the backseat with Desiree to keep her company, but she prefers to stay in her kennel the whole time. There's a story behind her staying in that kennel, and I'll talk about that later.

We got out of Houston before afternoon rush hour, but ended up hitting San Antonio right at 5pm and its version of rush hour. Although slow, it's not nearly as bad as Houston!

On the way we made our first stop at the rest area just west of Columbus and the Highway 71 exit that takes you to Austin. People and puppy potty breaks were in order, so we got out of the car, did the rest area waltz, and took care of business. In and out in 5 minutes.

As we approached Luling, everyone knows about the giant Buc-ees there, and it's almost an arrest-able offense to pass one, but surprisingly, we did. No beef jerky or Beaver Nuggets this time! We had lunch in Houston before we left, and we already stopped for potty breaks, so on to San Antonio we continued.

After working our way through rush hour, we diverted onto Highway 90 towards Hondo, Uvalde, and eventually Del Rio where we will stay the night. At this point we're in the 6pm hour and the sun is setting fast. It sounds cliche, but we were actually driving into the sunset, and it was beautiful. The further west you go, the more spectacular the sunsets become.

I started to get excited because not far past San Antonio you start seeing small rises on the horizon, and I don't mean just hills. They are what I affectionately call "The Foothills" of the West Texas mountains we will encounter tomorrow. They're not very tall, but they are taller than just the normal Hill Country hills, and everyone knows I love mountains, so to me they may well have been the Alps.

We stopped in Uvalde and Lawrence got a hot fudge sundae at Dairy Queen. Although difficult, I resisted. I also called ahead to the La Quinta in Del Rio and booked a room. It was surprisingly inexpensive, and of course, I was pleased to no end. I will come to regret and understand why it was so inexpensive later.

The speed limit on Highway 90 is 70, but in the dark I was doing 60, tops. I used to love driving at night, but age and wisdom have taught me to be fearful of two things whilst driving at night: Drunks and big critters. I'm not in such a big hurry to get my car screwed up by either.

We finally arrive in Del Rio about 7:30pm and locate the La Quinta. The front desk clerk was very nice and accommodating, give us our keys, and we proceeded to unload the car of all the suitcases, camera gear, dog stuff, etc. This is where the regret and understanding begins. I walk to the bathroom and immediately slip on the slick tile floor and almost busted my ass. The bottom of my shoes were soaked because all the carpet around the bathroom area, as well as along the back wall of our room, is absolutely soaked. It's water, but from where? It was also wet around the commode. I went to the front desk and they offered to put us in another room, but we had crap all over the room and didn't feel like packing it all up again, so we went back and put towels all over the place and will have to watch where we step for the rest of our stay. The clerk stated she would give me points towards my frequent stay account and apologized profusely. La Quinta is one of my favorite places to stay, but not this one. What a dump. I assure you I will be notifying their HQ about this place.

At this point, we head out looking for dinner, and Rudy's BBQ sounded great, and it was close by. They gave us a sample of their different meats, and the brisket and turkey were both amazing. I went with the turkey, and Lawrence had a pulled pork sandwich. The food was very good, and their prices are reasonable. I saved some turkey for the dog...It's her favorite. I try not to spoil her, but it's too late.

Oh, remember me talking about why she stays in her kennel? She used to love to stick her head out the window and sniff the air. A few months ago we were driving around and I accidentally rolled the rear window up and trapped her head in the window. She was traumatized, no doubt, and has refused to get anywhere near one of the windows since. Poor baby. We now call the car the "Puppy Eating Honda". She doesn't think it's funny.

Today we drove 357 miles, and it only took a little over 3/4 of a tank to get to Del Rio from Houston. That's about $16 in gas expense. I love my Honda.

As for tomorrow, we have no certain destination or schedule. I also have no idea where we will stay tomorrow night. Big Bend National Park? Marathon? Alpine? Marfa? We're on vacation, so wherever the road leads us, that will be our destination. It'll be a surprise.