Run Like the Wind
ON THE ROAD AGAIN, Day 25:
Big Spring, TX to Longview, TX
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With almost 500 miles to reach Louisiana, we didn't really harbor much hope that we'd make it out of Texas today. Yes, we could have, but we'd be doing nothing but driving, and what's the fun in that?
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East of Colorado City this morning, we left oil country and entered wind land. Fields of pumpjacks were replaced with dozens of turbines dotting the landscape. Since the state is so synonymous with the oil industry, we were surprised to learn that Texas is also the country's leading producer of wind power.
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| Lipan's popular furniture emporium |
Stopping from time to time to search for letterboxes, we moseyed across the state. Near the town of Lipan, we paused at the very busy Texas Hill Country Furniture store with its self-proclaimed "world's largest cedar rocking chair." (Probably not too many challenges to that one) Though we didn't find the letterbox hidden there, we did take advantage of their "outhouse" facilities, in which we were pleased to find modern plumbing.
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| How fast is safe on a two-lane road? |
Drivers in Texas continue to befuddle us with their apparent need for speed. On two-lane Farm to Market roads with many intersections, the speed limit is 75 miles per hour. Yet many Texas drivers are exceeding it. And the 60 mph limit in potentially congested areas of Dallas-Fort Worth was laughable on a Saturday. When we tried to follow the prescribed speed, the hounds of hell Texas were nipping viciously at our back bumper.
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With the sun plummeting toward the horizon, we skipped some letterboxes on our agenda and plowed on to Longview, arriving just before sunset. With less than 50 miles to the Louisiana border, we certainly should escape the Texas speed zone tomorrow, as we move closer to Georgia and home.
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SATURDAY, 30 NOVEMBER 2013
