Leaving the verdant Austin area, we head off on Hwy 290 west towards El Paso. Past Johnson City and through the Texas Hill Country. Peaches, fantastic metal sculpture, longhorn cattle, empty highway. Gas prices are high - almost the same as California's SF Bay Area! The trees gradually become smaller, the hills dryer and we merged on to Hwy 10. Yuccas finally came into view and we could see storms off in the west, the highway was wet in spots. We stopped for gas in utilitarian Fort Stockton - see the pictures in the blog gallery below - HIGHER prices than San Jose, California! And this where oil wells pumped across the landscape. Ironically, a vast windmill farm lined the mountain to our north, about two miles away - they extended for miles. We finally stopped in Van Horn for the night. LOTS of inexpensive motels, and good food. We had dinner at Chuy's restaurant where we found that John Madden stops on his travels. The San Francisco Giants' Bary Bonds was batting in pursuit of the home run record on the big screen TV. It is that kind of casual, friendly place. Barry hit a double. Good food, great prices. mmmmmmm
While we moved into our motel room, he [Bonds] hit the record homer - some of the TV hoopla will be on our next video. I'll remember this one - sort of like "where was I when the '89 Loma Prieta Quake hit?" Long freight trains rumbled by across the road. Tomorrow breakfast in El Paso and on to Tucson/Pheonix.
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