Day Three: This isn’t a Prairie!

First off, I want to thank the state of Texas for having the wisdom to post an 80 MPH speed limit on hundreds of miles of open highway between El Paso and San Antonio. Hundreds of miles of desolate desert with only an occasional house/barn/trailer to be seen in the distance – and not a single Indian Casino! Today I kept thinking about those highway movies where a crazed trucker runs you off the road and drags you off to a barn where they tell you “Go ahead and scream – no one will hear you!” Well, you could scream, holler, shoot, blow things up, whatever you want – and no one would hear you in this part of the country!

Yesterday I mentioned how Rte 8 sends you along only a few hundred yards from the border with Mexico. Though I have been in El Paso on a couple occasions in the past, I never realized how it virtually joins directly to Juarez in Mexico. In fact, the shoulder of I-10 drops down to the edge of the Rio Grande which doesn’t appear to be much wider than 20 yards at that point. 

The area inland from El Paso seems to have been hit hard with limited travelers this past year also. Many of the exits only have 2 to 5 structures. Seems at least half of those are entirely boarded up.  A little frustrating when you want gas, see the sign at the exit, then find the gas station completely shut down. Same at the next exit, and the next. I made it to Ozona, TX, where they still had the signs up on the highway with gas, lodging and dining places listed. However, 3 out of 4 businesses listed on the signs had their names painted over. Hard times (no pun about “signs of…”).

My camping plans are not going well. Aside from several being closed due to budget cuts, I have learned this area is strongly focused on snowbirds in RVs. Many of the campgrounds closed at the end of April. The others I have seen appear to be little more than a gravel covered field where RVs park. I am in a hotel this evening which means my clothes are getting a good handwash!

Tomorrow I plan to make it past Houston, perhaps to Beaumont. We will see. There were severe storms north of that area today but I believe they are moving East instead of South.

Oh, another change in plans: I intended to avoid all chain food  companies. However, I have a strong weakness for vanilla cream donuts which don’t seem to exist in California at all! As such, I stopped at a Dunkin Donuts along the highway and enjoyed a cream filled donut and coffee. Then I downloaded an app to find more of their locations. This trip, unlike past ones, I don’t plan to go out of my way to visit a Dunkin Donuts, but I do see one right on my route in Beaumont. Guess that will be breakfast in a couple days!