February 21 – “Heading west, youngsters”

And finally we hit the road.  (Sorry I am a day behind in my posts, but they will all get put up eventually).  And what were we met with but a wild racing donut box blowing across the plowed-under fields of … stuff.  The wind was crazy.  22 mph.  We looked, but couldn’t find Chip and Joanna’s house.  We did see some holy sites early on. 

Highway to Heaven Biker Church and Boots n Saddles Cowboy Church.  Something for everyone.

We drove through Hills County, the Goat Capital of America.  No goats.  Changed counties and saw a huge herd of … goats.  One stretch of road was nothing but pecan companies everywhere.  Check out Pecans.com.  We went right by that one. 

We departed from our scheduled route (no surprise there), and pulled in to take some pics at Presidio de San Saba and then Fort McKavett.  At the Presidio I glanced in the rear view mirror and did a double-take.  There as big as a horse was … an alpaca.

After several hours on the back roads, we finally hit I10 and the 80 mph speed limit.  Chris took over driving.  No, that doesn’t mean anything.

We saw a big old road runner in Fort Stockton.  Like as big as a house big.

We went through Alpine, Texas, variously touted as the Home of Rodeos, Fiestas, and Duck Races.  Oh, and the Texas Cowboy poetry gathering.  And Sul Ross University.

We saw one authentic tumbleweed.

The Animal Report:  what critters did we see?  Longhorns.  And some plain old cows.  Horses and a donkey.  Sheep.  Hawks.  Big hawks.  Several deer.  A coyote crossed the road right in front of us.  Why?  To get to the other side, I guess.  Always thought they traveled in packs.  Maybe he was the scout.

Roadkill pizza ingredients were a bit more varied and full:

First off was a cat.  A plain old cat.  Where, oh, where is the fun in that?

But what followed?  A sheep.  Lots and lots of deer.  Opossums.  A beaver.  Skunks.  Boars.  Armadillos.  Raccoons.  Coyotes.  A jack rabbit.  Numerous other unidentifiable remains. 

In Fort Davis (Our ultimate goal) we couldn’t find a normal chain hotel so we cautiously checked into what we were certain was a haunted one, built in the 1800’s.  Everything was … old.  And creaky.  And creepy.  It was great.  We ate at their bistro.  We shared a trout.  Not bad for fresh water, but I have had much better.  Much, much better. 

Psalms 34:2-3 says, “My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.  Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.”

Father, thank you for the miles and miles of not much of anything that you created.  It was awesome.  Amen.