<– Day 15 – Sun. Apr. 26th: Parks and Wind | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 17 – Tue. Apr. 28th: Dr. Peppers & Texas Rangers –>

That’s us sitting on a giant metal skull at the Frontier Texas Museum. Above us are Buffalo that pivot like weather vanes.

On Monday morning we awoke planning to reach Waco, but we got side tracked by an errant attempt to locate a Best Buy so Ann could buy a lens cap. I won’t go into the machinations of locating one, even when trying to use both of our ‘smart’ phones, or how we eventually (and accidentally) stumbled upon one and how we were so surprised that my wife did an all-too-quick u-turn in the street, dumping a rather sizable container of ice-cold water into my lap. No, you don’t want to hear all that!

And, I’m really sure that after you read this sad tale, and after you learn what it took to get the lens cap, and when you understand just how wet my underwear and shorts were, you’ll acknowledge the personal sacrifice I made in the cause of the lens cap, and only then can you appreciate that three hours after we bought the lens cap I accidentally dropped it onto the ground — it broke, into several pieces … uggghh!!!

Instead of that long, sad tale, I will give my impressions of Monday morning in Odessa. There were many men around our motel dressed in heavy one-piece work outfits. They all worked for energy companies with bland, forgettable names. All drove white trucks packed with tools in the back and with catchers on the front that could move an entire herd of cows. On Sunday evening, they had all looked tired from a long day; most were gone by Monday morning, but not before eating up all the available breakfast that our motel served that morning. They did manage to save me a piece of sausage.

We were out of the motel room by 9am. As we drove through Odessa, my view was filled with industrial buildings, piping equipment and oil rigs. The equipment suggested people here worked hard. My other impression was that land is cheap, or at least was cheap. All the endless industrial companies we passed on Monday morning on our way to nearby Midland seemed unconcerned with how they organized their stuff. Stacking didn’t seem to be a concern, as everything was horizontal. Space was cheap, stacking wasn’t necessary. Those were the thoughts that bounced around my head as we drove to the Petroleum Museum.

Near the entrance to the Petroleum Museum.

We arrived at the Permian Basin Petroleum Museum just after it opened. When we entered the building we were told that the entire history portion of the museum was undergoing an $18 million dollar remodel. Obviously that wouldn’t do us any good, but they did have a few exhibits — gems, paintings, and race cars — that we could view. Since we were there, we wandered around and looked at those for a short time. However, I really wished we could have see the main oil history exhibit.

Me pretending to drive one of the race cars. I didn’t fit very well, especially not on the driver’s side! I hope they didn’t mind me removing the steering wheel . . . .

The mineral exhibit was interesting, but shamefully I know very little about them (where are my ancestors when I need them??).

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<– Day 14 –  Sat. Apr. 25th: Saddleblankets to Prada | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 16 – Mon. Apr. 27th: Frontier Texas –>

An overlook at Big Bend National Park (looking west)

Today we drove and drove.

The first part of the trip took us south toward the Mexico border at Presidio, Texas. Along the way, we encountered ‘Elephant Rock’, which we felt lived up to its name.

Called Elephant Rock for an obvious reason.

Eventually we reached Presidio, a dusty dry border town. I am not entirely sure what the appeal is for living in that area; it looks like plenty of shops and stores were out of business.

Ruins of an old house in Presidio

Ruins of old building in Presidio

Ruins of old truck in Presidio

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<– Day 13 –  Fri. Apr. 24th: We Made it to Texas | TRIP OVERVIEW | Day 15 – Sun. Apr. 26th: Parks and Wind –>

Oh yeah, I can work it!

Our goal for Saturday was to visit multiple odd-ball places in El Paso, then head to the Guadalupe Mountains, before dropping to the town of Alpine. The key to this plan was an early start and an aggressive stop-and-see plan at the oddball locations. However, Texas had other plans for us.

It started 30 seconds from our West El Paso motel. On our way to see Pancho Villa’s finger — yes, downtown at Dave’s Pawnshop is something that resembles Villa’s trigger finger that is for sale, only $9500 — we hit traffic. Since we only had four miles to go, I figured it couldn’t take us too long, right? Wrong. Without any other route options, we were forced to endure stop and go traffic as four lanes dropped to three, three lanes dropped to two, and two lanes dropped to one. One hour later(!!!), we finally made passed the blockage — workers were hanging signs on an overpass. Who knew? We didn’t, at least not in time.

By the time we reached the finger (Ann’s idea) I might have been a little surly. But, it was fun to visit the shop on El Paso Street, a mini-Tijuana that looked like it might be fun to stroll up and down when we didn’t have camera and computer equipment locked in our jeep. So, we passed on exploring the area further, but Ann did get her chance to photograph Pancho’s finger:

After getting the finger, we left for another old relic, a 1919 refurbished gas station with non-functioning pumps. Local resident Rod Davenport restored the gas station. Other local residents were so pleased with the result they turned the surrounding area into a small park. It was a neat little place.

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