Ben and Sue Day 44

Day 44, Saturday, October 20, 2007

I feel a bit sad today because I had a peice of paper with a lot of notes on it -- things I was planning to write about today but lost the peice of paper.  I will try to remember as much  as I can.

. . . Once again the day was taken up with driving across Texas.  Ben and I kept saying this is our least enjoyable part of the trip.  The United Republic of Texas:  -- very big -- very barren land/forsaken -- 80 to 120 miles between cities -- biggest and most delicious French fries I have ever seen/eaten -- perhaps 5/6 inches long.  What they call mountains in Texas we call foothills in Washington.  Thousands and thousands of acres of sagebrush, cacti, barren land -- probably has not changed much since America was first founded.  It is easy to understand why so many of the lonely prarie cowboy songs were about Texas!

. . . It was  getting about time to eat dinner when  I saw a sign "Tayor 12 miles, Van Horn, 81 miles.  In mentining it to Ben we decided we better stop in 12 miles at Tayor.  Think again.  We showld have known right off it wasn't going to be a good place to eat.  There was a huge sign on the road that told about the restaurant and truck stop -- but a huge square had been cut right out of it.  So we took the exit and saw a red barn shaped building with a restaurant sign.  I said "Oh, this looks like a good place to eat" and no sooner had I said it then I noticed the closed sign on the door and also that the back of the building was falling down.  Then we saw a Texaco sign and  twe would get some fruit and crackers to hold us over.  Think again.  We turned the corner to the Texaco station and it looked as though it had been bombed.  All the glass blown out -- most of the building burned.  Since we did not see any other signs of life or signs telling us where we might find life () I think it is fair to say that the town of Tayor Texas if officially DEAD!

. . . In the morning we drove past perhaps five miles of windmills generating electrical power.  Also drove past miles and miles of cotton fields.  At one point Ben was able to pull over and I picked (gleaned  ) a tiny bit of cotton from the field.  It was very soft and had seeds inside it. 

Whether this afternoon was 98 degrees with clear and cloudless skies.