The Long, Long, Long….Drive to Pecos Texas

Texas just seems to go on forever!  It was still cool this morning at 49 degrees as we hooked up the RV and left San Antonio at 9:30 AM.  Yep, it was a very long drive of seven hours, including a quick pit stop and another for gas and a sandwich to eat on the drive. At least we had some sun and blue sky today.  It got up to 65 degrees!  After the cold we have had recently, it was like a hot spell!  I-10 is just a straight shot west so it can become monotonous.  It isn’t what we would consider pretty in most areas but some are pretty in their own way simply because of the land formations.  It can be amazing and so different if you have never seen western Texas before.  And what is in west Texas?  A whole lot of nothing!!  Just vast open space. This is our third trip along I-10 in this part of Texas.  We drove it in 2000 and again in 2010.  Funny how I began to recognize some of the landmarks, but I can’t remember somebody’s name that I just met!  Most folks know I take pictures through the windshield while on the road.  So I began to say “I have a picture of that mesa!”  “I have a picture of that one and that one also from before!”  But, of course, I couldn’t resist taking another one today!  Below are a few pictures typical of west Texas.  It is mostly desert, shrubs, rock, mesas, and open flat land.    

  

   

This mesa is at a rest area and I took the same picture 3 years ago!  There also seemed to be lots of wind farms along the way because the cross winds are very strong in west Texas.  Plus there is always the old classic windmill icon of the west.  The silhouette of the cowboys is made of black iron and sits in the distance off the interstate.  (Psst..I have the same picture of that, too, I took 3 years ago!”)  

 

 

We drove past oil wells all over the place!  Hey, this is Texas oil and our own AMERICAN oil! I personally wish all our energy sources were our own.  The oil pumps were working hard and you could see pipes and oil storage areas all across the desert.  Looked that were digging some new oil wells as well. 

  

We were almost to Pecos when we saw a coyote along the side of the road like the one in this photo.  We are at the Escapee RV Park in Pecos for just one night.  We were so very disappointed in this place.  It s the worst Escapee park we have stayed in.  We have camped in the desert before but it wasn’t anything like this place. Not only is the place very run down and just dirt camping, but the sites are small and side by side. Meaning one RV pulls in one way and another RV pulls in the opposite way almost right next to it.  It hardly leaves room to let slides out on some rigs. It seems all the campgrounds in the area are full of oil workers.  Apparently the work is good so the workers are living part time in anything on wheels and following the work.  Good for them! But it does make for a sloppy, dirty, campground with old RV rigs and dirty work and oil trucks on the sites.  We chose to just boondock for 5$ and there is no one else around us.  Plus the campground is right next to the road with no fencing or means of security.  That made me nervous.  Ah, well, it is only one night…..