We made it to Houston. Good thing is we did laundry! Bad thing is we watched the election results. Until around 11:00. Each of us awoke in the wee hours (see what I did there?) and checked the progress, then went back to sleep covered by pillows. And Ice Cream, and bourbon, and mashed potatoes, and puppies, and baby goats wearing pajamas, etc. Just kidding.

In the morning we went to the Menil Collection, then a Flavin installation,

then headed to Fredericksburg. Night descended during the drive, and we couldn’t see all of the vineyards we were passing on the way to Fredericksburg. I’d no idea that Texas had a ‘wine country’. But why not? Second surprise.

We stopped in Austin for a break. I had thought of Austin as a town more like Fredericksburg, not one with skyscrapers. I hadn’t considered that it is the capital of Texas. Even so, it is an easy town to navigate. Our parking angel stopped us in front of the tiki bar, so in we went. It was tall and rather wide. I’m used to East Coast bars (well, not used to them as though I frequent bars. I don’t, except when my mom makes me haha), so a bar that has the volume of this one is strange to me. The bartender told us that they were going to change to a sports bar, which I thought was a shame, but if they aren’t making money…We might have had a drink at the last tiki bar in Austin.

In Fredericksburg, we checked in to a surprisingly hip motel. #3. I checked my phone map for prospective dinner possibilities, and settled on Cultures cuz the reviews were good. And correct! The food was great. I’d no idea that parts of Texas were settled by Germans. Surprise # 4. There were many German restaurants on Main st. Ours was not particularly German, but had a nice Wurst section on the menu. My Eastern European genes got excited. I had an excellent local beer, too, with my Opa sausage. AND there was live music, a guy and a guitar and a percussion machine and his voice. What a great combo. He did covers, but with a low key, melodic presentation.

I was afraid the trip across Texas would be mind numbingly flat. That happened when I went across the panhandle on Rte. 40 years ago. But this was not bad. Surprise #5. At first it was hills with stunted trees and a very dry landscape.

The creeks had no water. The grasses were yellow or white or green or shades of rust, and beautiful.

The creeks had no water. The grasses were yellow or white or green or shades of rust, and beautiful.

Then the hills got bigger, the vistas longer, the sky widened. We left ‘hill country’ and moved into ‘Big Bend country’, with fewer trees, more cactus and agave.

The road a small ribbon through the rocks and scrub. I saw an actual roadrunner, and realized this would indeed be the country that Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner would chase each other across, running off the end of the mesa before he realized there was no ground beneath him. Kinda like how the democrats feel right now.

we turned off of Rte 10 to head south to Marfa, and I realized I’d better gas up. I had 30 miles of gas left, but 82 to go. When we left Fredericksburg, I could’ve sworn we had enough gas to make it all the way, but I guess we used more than the trip computer thought we would. So we backtracked to Fort Stockton and filled up. There was no gas til Alpine, so I’m super glad we did. It was one lonely road. We made it to Marfa, checked in, and went to see the town!

More later, I’m having trouble uploading photos. Might be the hotel Wi-Fi.