Awake for another hotel breakfast and then we hit the road. Today we left New Mexico and entered Texas, a huge state that takes a long time to drive across.
The truth is you can drive and drive and drive and still be in Texas. One of the constant is it is very hot at this time of year. So we had a good nine hours worth of driving soaking in the landscape and marveling at how big Texas is.
One of the thing that was so striking was moving from the very dry and arid landscape in eastern New Mexico and western Texas, and eventually moving into stunningly green grass and trees. We went through many small towns-some that were really struggling and some that looked really like good going concerns.
When we have the long stretches of driving, Patti is often looking for something to play on the car stereo. We spent much of the morning listening to the cast album from "A Beautiful Noise" by Neil Diamond. We had seen that show on Broadway and could totally picture the scenes as we were driving and singing along. We also listened to a little public radio news, and Patti is also working on a novel by one of her favorite authors.
After seeing so many trains loaded with containers, it was a surprise to see a single train with only boxcars. We also began seeing herds of windmills marching across the landscape.
We arrived at Austin around dinner time. We were hot, tired, hungry, and needed to fill up with gas. The delightful desk clerk at our hotel had easy recommendations for a local Taqueria with some good authentic Mexican food and a nearby gas station. We’re so appreciative of the kindness of strangers when we’re in a new place.
The main reason to come here was it is the home of the presidential library for Lyndon Baines Johnson, or LBJ. We would be visiting that tomorrow.
After dinner, we hauled our stuff into the hotel room. We’re starting to get into our rhythm of which things we take in and which things we leave out in the car. Dick moves immediately into working on pictures for a blog, while Patti finishes the first draft of the blog writing. A few more hotel nights and then we’re going be glad to stay with Patti‘s sister in Dallas.
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