Day 19 -April 22

We had agreed the night before to get out of Dodge as early as possible and get on the road. We are travelling the 84 west and before long we crossed into Texas. Unfortunately our planned route skirted north of Lufkin. As a ‘rule’ we try to drop into such noteworthy sites but in this case were concerned that it wouldn’t ‘measure’ up to our expectations (Esther that was for you).

The 84 is a nice road, two lane undivided with lots of trees. At home this would be considered a secondary road and would have a 80 kph speed. In Texas the maximum speed on this road is 70mph and in places 75 mph. Now unless I missed the news where Texas has gone metric is seems that so far things in Texas are bigger, even the speed limits. We haven’t seen speeds like this even on the interstates.

The scenery in the easterly part of Texas is not what I had expected, possibly I watched too much ‘Dallas’ as a child but as soon as I crossed the border I was expecting and endless string of Southforks. There certainly are many large farms along the road and quite a few stately homes but a lot more trees than I had expected to see. I am still having some troubles looking at the map and believing that we have come this far. We stopped mid morning for gas and a coffee break. Conveniently there was a propane pump next door so we were able to top off our propane tanks. Our consumption has been quite low to date with only the fridge, stove and oven having been used. It is the hot water heater and the space heater that are the big users but this was an opportunity that I didn’t want to pass.

Around 1:00 we stopped at a Confederate War memorial site and had a quick lunch of chicken sandwiches that Diane had prepared that morning from the leftovers of our barbecued chicken supper a couple of days ago.

As the day proceeded on the plant life began to change. The roadside flowers are a beautiful mix of purples, yellows and reds. They really are spectacular with large expanses of them on both sides of the road looking more like some watercolour piece than the shoulder of a road. We also started to see some new plants like cactus and palm trees that finally are making me feel that I am some place different.

Roadside colour

We continued on the 84 west making good time and passed through Waco. Waco has recently had a tragic explosion leading to the death of many first responders. As the 84 wound its way through The city there were displays of fire trucks, and Texas and American flags at two of the overpasses, with uniformed firefighters standing at the edge of the overpass. It was a sobering display. In combination with the Boston Marathon of last week we are in a country that is drawing deeply on its courage.

At one point the 84 was designated as the ‘George W. Bush Highway’. Not surprisingly there were no left turns allowed on that section of the road.

At Evant we turned south on the 281 and headed due south. We were heading for Fredericksburg for Tuesday and have a state park called Inks Lake in mind for the night. Without much trouble we found the park . Still a little shell shocked after the night before we were thrilled with this location, and our sites right beside a real lake with a lovely warm breeze.

Supper under the stars was the end to another great day.

Inks Lake