RETURN TO PINEWILD 2

But first, this is our darling daughter Kim’s birthday...

Leaving the Pinal Mountains:

So now, TEXAS!

On our last cross-country tour after we had reached Texas, Frosty made the comment “Only 900 miles to go!” I said, “To get home?” His answer: “No, to get out of Texas.” And so it felt... and that was after having driven 500 miles.

At the portal to Texas, the first to welcome us was the U.S. Border Patrol. "Are you U.S. citizens?"—"Yes. Are you?" Hmmmm...

El Paso

We didn't take time to stop to explore El Paso, but I want to include a couple of pictures of the fascinating-looking town:

Photos from Google

(Now I wish we had stopped!)

As far as eye/I can see...

Some road signs that surprised me. Ice in Texas?

Yes, even a deer crossing was a (pleasant) surprise. "...where the deer and the antelope play..." But no buffalo. 

Definitely oil country! Wow, either old or working oil wells and tanks all along the way.

Photo from Google

And, of course refineries everywhere!

Photo from Google

Engineer-husband recognized some gas turbine power plants. 

So many trucks on the road! Our SUV seemed to shrink, mile by mile.

More fun signs, especially the "Unwelcome, Liberals." And loved the new, heretofore unseen speed limit of 80. Eighty!

(I have to confess that the "Liberals" sign is actually on I-40, but it conveys the spirit of Texas too well not to include it here.)

Photo from Google

Pecos

A segway back to my childhood, right here, in the middle of Texas country! One of my brother's favorite cartoons was Pecos Bill (though the Finns pronounced it 'Pesos Bill'—c=s), and I followed some of the adventures, as well. But here is Bill's town!

Before anybody thinks that the road was all industry, let me include a couple of pictures of the beautiful color that lined the freeway:

Here comes Midland!

Midland is known for oil and gas industry. However, most of us may think of it as the hometown of the Bush family. Both George W. Bush and George H. W. Bush, aside from being U.S. presidents, made a living and professional resumes withing Midland's oil and gas business.

Then there's this:

So, of course, when we encountered a long delay soon after Midland that caused the traffic to stop for nearly an hour, we expected some sad traffic accident. We have no information what exactly was going on, but it was a scary sight. Examining the pictures I snapped as we were finally moving by seems to indicate that it was not a traffic accident that caused the dealy (as we first assumed), but the loading of a large liquids container truck on to a long towing platform with the help of three cranes.

Texas is all about power generation, and here's the old turned into new: windmills.

When we live in Spain, I became instantly enamoured with the old windmills. I described  them as “crippled spiders” up on the hills on La Mancha.

On this trip, one could quickly get fill of them, not the historic, romantic molinas of Spain, but these giant white stuctures around the landscape here. One (this one) might say that they destroy the scenery...

Very fittingly, we drove through Sweetwater... Yes, that is a windmill wing, but as far as I can tell, the place has nothing to do with windmills manufacture and such. (The "fittingly" referred to the windmill wing only.)

After a long day of driving, we finally arrived at Abilene.