Today was a travel day, as we said Goodbye to Big Bend and Hello to San Antonio and tried not to disturb the motel time forgot lest we too be caught in the same time eddy. In order to do that we had to drive a long way, the longest drive of the trip, but between an 80 MPH speed limit (your actual speed may vary, mine was closer to 85) and a near total lack of traffic the time distance equation solved faster than ever before and probably ever after as well – until we get those flying cars we were promised as kids. Let me say that the only thing west Texas is full of is nothing. Mile after mile of absolutely nothing. I thought the Northeast was full of trees last road trip, RTAWE of blessed memory – but the Southwest has even more creosote bushes. You have to take care to not run out of not just gas, but food and water as well. We drove over a hundred miles on I 10 from Fort Stockton to Ozona without passing any services at all.
While our return to civilization has brought 5G, high speed stable WiFi, a plethora of dining choices, grocery stores that cover acres, and most importantly laundromats (first thing we did after going to the Airbnb was to do laundry), it also brings traffic, humidity, and a general harshing of our mellow. Big Bend National Park and people in Terlingua kept emphasizing how crowded the park was, but compared to most of the other National Parks we’ve been to it was not crowded; I have to wonder how they would react to how crowded a normal city like San Antonio is.
Tomorrow begins the original trip we planned – five days in San Antonio. And guess what, they have a National Park here in town. Hot diggity dog!
