Saturday - Driving Across Texas (5/3/14)

 Saturday.  We left the campground about 8:30 but by the time we fueled, got sodas, got oil at Napa, and got breakfast sandwiches it was 9:00 by the time we got underway.  We saw some domestic buffaloes this morning (at least we assumed they had been domesticated since they were fenced in), and throughout the day we saw quite a variety of domesticated animals -- lots of cattle, horses, goats, burros, and sheep.  In addition, we saw some deer or antelope behind a fence, so we don't know if they were wild or not, and a roadrunner crossed the road in front of us.

 Wildflowers. We saw lots and lots of wildflowers today.  We came upon fields of bluebonnets, and some other small patches for a little while, mostly east of Waco.

 The orange flowers that nestle with the bluebonnets are Indian paintbrush.

 We crossed the pretty Brazos river just as we came into Waco, but we drove right through that town without incident. We made a brief stop at a picnic area so Joe could wash the bugs off the windshield. I walked across the highway and took some pictures of the wildflowers. Not many bluebonnets but a lot of beautiful indian blanket flowers. 

 After lunch stop in Goldthbraite (a very slow lunch), we headed toward San Saba.  At lunch, there was an "inside sale" next door so I ran over there, and bought some books.  But I didn't need to run, it took forever to get our food.  We were there well over an hour.  We had parked across the street at a city park, and some of the trees there were wrapped in yarn.  I meant to ask the significance of that, but I forgot (although I had plenty of time to ask).

I'm thinking San Saba, Texas might be the pecan capital of the U. S.  There were lots of pecan companies, gift shops, packing sheds in town and lots of pecan groves on both sides of town.
 
We came upon a town in Texas named Rochelle.  I'm sure they meant to say "Rachelle," and I sent a picture to Rachelle to let her know she had a town named after her, they just mispelled it.

 We drove 438 miles today.  We ended up on I-10 at Ft. Stockton, Texas, at a really nice campground.  We got there about 7:00, got checked in, and went over to their cafe for a quick dinner.  I took over the wheel for about an hour during the afternoon but gave it back when we got to I-10, because I thought it would be full of trucks.  Amazingly, they had resurfaced it since we had last traveled it, and it was smooth, and not busy at all.

We are getting warmer temperatures now, so I can tell we are getting close to home.  It was in the 90s today.


 I meant to post this picture of the tobacco packages at the convenience store in Kentucky in an earlier blog, but couldn't get it to post.  So here it is.


Another thing I forgot in yesterday's blog was our debate as we drove across Louisiana about whether to turn North and head for West Monroe, Louisiana to check out the Duck Dynasty warehouse.  Joe really wanted to do that but finally talked himself out of the extra miles.  Maybe next time.

We still have lots of miles to go, so we don't know what day we will make it home.  But we are getting there!