Texas

We arrived at Dallas around 5 in the afternoon. We were close to the border hours before that but decided to stop and experience some Dairy Queen, a first for both of us. The woman at the store was extra kind to us, first-timers and mixed in chocolate chip, cookie dough ice cream with a ton of fudge and a banana. It was delicious. I’m afraid we’re going to have to stop at many DQs from now on. We then went on some farm roads to find cows. We stopped to talk to many cows. The first two times they got scared and walked away but the third set seemed curious, especially the calves, so we hug out there for a while.

We went to Jake’s friend Ivan’s house in Dallas and spent the night with them. Like our friends in Missouri, they too have a big and beautiful house. They grilled us some food and we chatted. The next day we drove to downtown Dallas and had yummy Mexican food. There are many huge, mirrored buildings in Dallas. My favorite was the enormous Pizza Hut building. It must be their headquarters because I can’t imagine why Pizza Hut would need that big a building.

We then got on the road to Carlsbad Caverns, NM. We took I-20 and I drove the entire way. Around 8pm, we decided to stop at the last big town on route: Big Spring, Texas. There were only two still-functioning hotels. We picked one and spent the night. Dinner was from Schlotzky’s Deli which we were awfully surprised to see in the remote corner of Texas.

In the morning, we checked all of our car’s fluids since the next part of the trip will be through some hot climates, and got on the road. We found a dealer in Santa Fe, where we plan to be in a day or two, so we can get on the road. Big Spring supposedly is a big oil town so there is a huge refinery. There is also a huge landfill. We’re now on a small road with nothing but grass ranches on both sides. This supposedly takes us right to Carlsbad.

With its red clay, rundown and deserted stores, magnificent cacti, and delicious food we enjoyed Texas quite a bit.