Texas in Two Days

A bit of an overlap with the previous post but before we got caught up in the flat tire drama we ventured downtown and found a local hole in the wall cafe for breakfast. After eating I went for a leak and was amused by the sign above the toilet:

The place is called “Hot Springs” but there are no natural pools you can jump into, these are for display only and there are some fancy spa’s in town that add layers of “spa treatments” over the basic steaming water. OK, we get there message and decide to go diamond hunting instead.

While in Denver a friend of Susan’s suggested we visit this state park and find a diamond to pay for the RV. $8 per person for the privilege to dig in the mud and maybe find a dull diamond. Well at least we did it, I came up with two crystals and a piece of glass. Cross it off the list but don’t expect us back soon!

There was a nice campground there, these state park places are so much better than some of the private ones where one is packed together like sardines. Even had a laundromat for us to wash our muddy clothes. Next day, Saturday, we headed west into Texas.

I was a long way from home and decided that there was no reason to stop in Texas so we barreled in and the first goal was to get past the Dallas Fort Worth metropolis.  Since it was a Saturday we decided to go straight through rather than detour around, pretty much paid off as we negotiated the urban traffic but eventually got spat out the other side.

Goal was to get to Abilene and park in the Walmart parking lot. For those not familiar with this American RV’ing tradition Walmart is a large shopping center chain and often allow RV’s & Trucks to park in their mega parking lots overnight.  We arrived as it was getting dark and went inside to find the manager. Young kid named Justin asked where we had parked, we said behind the other RV out there and he said OK. We’re in! and set off to buy some wine before heading back to the RV. Only downside was that one trucker decided to idle his rig all night but other than that it was cozy in our new home.

Before getting back on the road we wanted to fill up our propane tank and found some at the local KOA campground. After getting our fill Rose asked the guy if we could stay a while to eat & rest. He immediately invited us inside to partake in their Christmas tree celebrations. He had spent time Southern California and was happy to exchange stories. He happened to be the forth person we had met that had ties to California. Firstly Malcolm, then the car rental guy who spent time in Pacific Palisades and then the kid, Colton, who repaired our flat. He seemed to want to relive the 60’s in Venice and now the KOA guy – man its fun to travel!

East Texas is like the TV series Dallas, kinda nice. Then as you head west it becomes cotton fields interspersed with oil wells and flat, flat flat.

We cross into New Mexico and guess what – it looks just like West Texas! Close to Carlsbad we see some hills and have hopefully broken free of that vast space behind us.