Day 13-June 7, 2016-The Western Half of Texas
Drove 258 miles in 4-3/4 hours to Van Horn, TX.
Got up to 91, sunny and clear.
We were the last to leave the campground this morning and we thought 9:30 was early (for us). We’re now halfway through Texas and this is the half with the wide open spaces, the exits on I-10 are 20-30 miles apart and there’s nothing at the exits anyway. We’ve left “Hill Country” for the “Texas Mountain Trail”. Saw signs like “Watch For Water On Road”, “Road May Flood”, “Strong Cross Winds”, Watch For Blowing Dust”. More mountainous, and sometimes the mountain was cut through for I-10. Not much else on the road, very dry and dusty. Rocky terrain with cactus and more scrub. No animals, except for the nearly 2-pound roach that Harry saw on the ceiling of the truck. Had to pull over and shoo him out. We started a book on tape, a James Patterson, so far, so good. The only big town we drove through was Fort Stockton, then stopped at a roadside scenic pull out for lunch. Stopped in Van Horn for the night. One main road, all the gas stations have closed up, no grocery store, just a few Mom and Pop places. Campground has a big cur of a dog named Taz, who just wants to laze around in front of the fan. Teddi, the woman who owns the place, told us she has a lot of “pipeliners” living here. There’s a natural gas pipeline being installed from Pecos to Mexico City and the companies send the men here in droves so housing is hard to find. She turned two men away while we were talking. She put them on a waiting list and has more 20 sites almost finished and ready to use, just waiting for the electric. In the meantime, all these men have generators in the rear of their trucks because they have to find someplace to stay every night. Not enough hotels or campsites around. But it’s got everything we need including Wifi. All the years we’ve been doing this I’ve never used an oven until today. Usually only use the stove top and microwave. I made some egg frittatas with leftover broccoli, bacon and cheese and the oven worked great. We’re only going to stay overnight and then off tomorrow to finally get out of Texas.