Crossing Texas

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We knew we were in for a long drive today (455 miles) so we had a few cache stops planned. We drove across some really desolate spots in Texas. One of the most fun things about this day was the 80 MPH speed limit.

In the afternoon, we went through a lot of thunderstorms which was really interesting in the desert. The rain seemed to bring out the tarantulas - Gabe kept seeing them cross the road. Once, i was brave and got out of the car to take a picture. But based upon the number we saw on the road, there must have been thousands of them out there.

At some point, we stopped to use the facilities at Wal-Mart in the middle of no where. It was a interesting discovery for us that they had a lot of movies for $5. And then Rece discovered that they had the X files seasons for under $20 each. Since I'd just priced them on overstock.com at $35 each, it was a great deal. We each got a set and are looking foward to watching them with the kids.

When we got to Carlsbad, we checked into our hotel - a fantastic, brand new Holiday Inn Express. We learned there though that everything except fast food closed early (it was about 8:00 by then) so we headed out to get dinner right away. We's passed a WalMart so we went back there to get the cables we needed to connect the laptop to the TV so we could watch an X file DVD. While there, on a whim, I looked for a Wii Fit - and they had one! There aren't any in the state of California, I think. I found them on the internet for about $300 and since they retail for $85, I wasn't going to pay that. But I got the one left in Carlsbad!

Score!

We picked up the cables, BBQ dinner and headed back to the hotel where we got all cozy and watched a couple of episodes of the X Files.

It was somewhere in here that Sam wanted to know what the uvual does. Research indicates that it helps produce some consonent sounds in some languages, can be used to induce the gag reflex and plays a role in snoring. Not bad for a tiny flap of skin.

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Photos

Water in the desert
We were on the constant alert for flash floods.

Gabe and Sam caching
Gabe wore shorts!

why did the tarantula cross the road.
Yuck.