Into the real west

---

Sorry to be so delayed at posting this, but connections have been unavailable --




First of all, let me apologize for the abbreviated nature of my previous post. Our cell signal was very poor at the Goose Island Park, and so I had ridden my bike to a spot by the beach where reception was better. I had not tried before to post to the blog from my phone, and my first attempt to do so was not successful, to the extent that I lost the last two thirds or so of what I had written. Where it went, I have no idea, just lost in the ozone – again.







This loss is particularly acute because those few paragraphs contained the best travel writing I have ever done – perhaps that anyone has ever done. In there I had also outlined a plan for comprehensive world peace. Another section covered a design for a simple but effective cold-fusion reactor that could be built in your own back yard, with common hand tools. Finally, I had also (after a hundred thousand years of human thought) revealed the meaning of life. Now I can't remember any of it – what a pity!







But enough of that....







We wanted to leave for the long drive west early on Friday morning, but we also wanted to avoid the commute traffic around Corpus Christi. I spent some time Thursday evening plotting an end-around using our Texas Delorme gazetteer. We shoved off at about 7:00, and the route worked fine. In a half hour we were into the billiard table flat agricultural fields of the coastal plains. Dark gray soil, fallow now, as far as you can see on either side of the road. That rolled on by for an hour or so, and then, quite suddenly, we entered the mesquite wastelands of south central Texas. This is also an area of recent oil development, and that accounted for almost all the road traffic we saw. There were flatbed trailers loaded with all matter of mysterious equipment. Pumps, valves, and stuff that I had no idea about. One truck had an enormous spool of what we first thought was heavy cable, but when we got a better look, it turned out to be a coil of steel pipe – maybe 2” in diameter. They don't sell that at Home Depot.







The towns were few and far between, each one with a high water tower proudly proclaiming the name of their school sports teams. The Coyote's, the Wildcats, etc. – our favorite was “The Cotton Pickers”. As we traveled north and west, the land grew more hills, got drier, and hotter. Soon we began to see prickely pear cactus here and there. The outside thermometer in the truck kept climbing, upper 70's, then 80, 84 for a long time, until just outside Carriso Springs, it topped out at 88F. It was in this town that we rejoined the same route that I had followed 6 years ago on the Von Bondo trip. We headed west to Eagle Pass (this time without getting a flat) then north to Del Rio. All these town are currently recording record temps, the previous day it had been an astounding 92 in Del Rio. Typical winter temperatures here should be between 50 and 70, this is extraordinary.







We resupplied at the last WalMart we'll see in a while, and then headed on to our reserved campsite at Seminole Canyon State Historical Park. This is our first “primitive” campsite, with no water or shore power. We love the site, and it has a great view, but we have not been able to get any wifi signal here, even though they said it was available throughout the park. That's a problem because there is also zero cell service here, but I guess we'll survive.







The other day we were surprised to speak with a fellow who turned out to be from Belleville, Ontario – that's only maybe 60 miles from home, just west of Kingston. Tonight though, we learned that the folks next to us were from Malorytown Ont, that's not more than 5 miles (as the international crow flies) from PBF – amazing!







Tomorrow we plan to take the guided tour down into the canyon here to see the many archaeological sites and petroglyps down there. Sadly, the public is not allowed there without supervision, to preserve the site from the inevitable knuckle-draggers who would surely damage things. Humans – bah!

---

Comments

[Suzy Megan]

Come to Colorado
Head Northwest and visit us in Colorado! Our door is always open!