Westward Ho- Day 5

Mean Daddy

It has been such a long trip and I’ve been so weary, I realize I’ve left out some interesting things.  Here are a few things I’ve remembered about San Antonio and Texas.

The speed limits in Texas are pretty interesting.  There is a day time limit and a night time limit.  I’ve never seen that anywhere.  In many places there is a higher limit for cars than trucks.  When we entered Texas, there was this big sign with numerous limits that I couldn’t read as we drive by at 60+ mph.

For a state that is politically conservative, there are so many stinkin’ laws.  “Obey warning signs, it’s the law.”  “Keep right except to pass” even though there are 2 lanes.  It is an odd sort of thing for me.

Texas Hold ’em has a hold new meaning due to the small number of rest areas we saw.  I don’t think there were any between Houston and San Antonio.  They had plenty of picnic areas (no restrooms) but few rest areas.   But the rest areas they did have had free wireless internet.  Yeah, a head scratcher.

The birds in San Antonio has the strangest calls.  I thought I was in a jungle, not a city.  Or some strange 3rd world city.  Freaky.

The McDonald’s we went to in San Antonio was pretty strange.  It was an inner city location, but the decor was “hunting lodge”.  But you realized it was inner city when the sign noted a fee for extra condiments, and you needed them to unlock the bathroom door for you.  Yet, there was a huge flat screen TV on the way.  No on by the way which just added to the oddity of the whole thing.

Okay, on to day 5 of our trip.  Once again it was a dreary morning in San Antonio.  We slept in again (we have been quite tired), and enjoyed breakfast before loading up and heading out before 10.  On the way out to town we stopped at the Bible Study Fellowship International Headquarters.  Sadly, the tour was at 1 pm and we really couldn’t hang around that long.  We had a long way to go.  But we got to enjoy the view of some nice wildflowers they had on the property.  On a tangent, BSF is now committing itself to translating their materials to expand their use through the world.  This is long overdue, and I’m glad they are jumping on the band wagon.  First is Chinese, and then the plan is Spanish.  You see how important this is when you realize how few studies are being offered in South America.

Gone were the rolling hills

About 30 minutes outside of San Antonio (which sprawls to the north and west) the landscape began to change significantly.  There was less green, and more scrub brush.  It began to transition, a long transition, to desert with bluffs surrounding the highway.  There was essentially a whole lot of nothing on the way to Ft. Stockton.  I mean nothing, zip, zilch, nada.  The landscape was beautiful, yet wearisome.   We pulled off on an exit, thinking there was a gas station for a potty break.  It was long closed, so we hung out near a sheep farm to eat leftovers, having to relieve ourselves on the side of the road.  We think we forgot Eli’s shoes at this desolate stop.  Such is life in the middle of nowhere.

But I had cell coverage!

Around mid-afternoon we rolled into the teeming metropolis of Ft. Stockton.  We located our hotel to discover that the doors were external.  There were no halls for us to hang out in while the kids slept.  And a big tour bus was unloading.  This did not bode well for our stay.  We had passed a newer looking Hampton Inn and decided to check it out.  I hadn’t called because they tend to be a bit pricey.  But they did have adjoining rooms.  The kids could sleep in one while we stayed up in the other.  Perfect.  Not wild on the price, but peace of mind is worth something.

We took a stroll to get some ants out of the kids pants.  We enjoyed some of the xeriscaping, and hope to find plants those pretty when we have to xeriscape our backyard.  It was quite windy.  Windy City South kind of windy.  But the sun was warm (welcome to the desert, Cavman).  Soon we were ready for dinner.  Off to K Bob’s Steakhouse.  Yes, it is called K Bob’s and it is a chain.  My steak was actually really tasty.  The kids’ meals were huge, tasty and cheap.  $3.99 kind of cheap but with large portions of meat (fried steak and chicken strips), steamed broccoli, and a mound of fries.  They couldn’t finish the meat, so we brought that and some leftover broccoli back with us for lunch on the road.

But Ft. Stockton is about more than K Bob’s.  They had a Texas-sized Ace Hardware.  This store had signs for a mattress sale.  I’ve never seen that at an Ace store.  They also had a Radio Shack inside, which is a shame since Radio Shack is more expensive than for similar Ace products.  It is also the home of the world’s largest roadrunner.  We didn’t see that.  We didn’t find the actual fort either.  Nor did we find the home that was ordered from the Montgomery Ward catalog in the 1920’s, though we looked.  But we did find a Dairy Queen that looked about 50 years old.  We got dessert there, and while CavWife was inside I watched the roof of the Exxon station sway wildly in the wind.

That was Ft. Stockton.