Day 7: Austin to El Paso

Today we drove from Austin to El Paso....or I should say today TOMMY drove from Austin to El Paso. (He deserved credit for this very long day of wheel-time!) We awoke early and headed west on 290, a smaller highway that passed through many quaint towns like Fredericksburg, Texas. We stopped in at several places and found some of the best postcards yet, while meeting some very friendly folks. We had breakfast at an organic store in literally the middle of nowheresville. I have no idea how this place stays in business, since tumbleweeds don't spend money. It was good coffee and whole wheat danishes. The whole wheat part made us feel about 2 percent less guilty about our breakfast choice.

We enjoyed the Texas landscape today....the many, many cows standing next to cacti, the big sky (complimented by a HUGE rainbow at one point), and the Franklin mountain range toward the end of the day. We particularly enjoyed looking out for unique "Texan things" to photograph, such as the enormous gateways to the ranches or roadside tributes to the state itself (including a huge Texas made out of different types of wood). Unfortunately, it seemed that everytime we saw one of these interesting elements, the sky opened into a torrential downpour. Perhaps a sign from above that these peculiarities had to be seen in person to be appreciated, and Maggie should not waste the megabites on her camera trying to capture their character on digital film.

We stopped for lunch at....guess where......? YES! Subway. This Subway may have ended all visits to Subway. When we entered, there was a very, very scary man sitting right next to the counter who looked to be about a thousand years old by reading the leathery wrinkles of his skin and lack of teeth. On the other hand, he was quite obese, which made him seem more like 999 years old. However, It only took a millisecond for Tommy and Maggie's combined clinical intuition to parse out that this man was not actually that old, but mental illness had aged him beyond his chronological years. There was a certain glint to his eye that seemed...well...wrong. Very wrong. Psychopath wrong. Now, Tommy and Maggie both have great sensitivity for people with mental illness. Don't get us wrong. But sometimes, when you are in a dark Subway smelling of cold cuts in the middle of NOWHERE and it is pouring down rain outside and you look to your left and see a man such as this staring you down....your clinical intuition also tells you when to run. Far, far away. We took our cold cuts and ran. Tommy astutely noted that this man could best be described as what may have lay beneath the mask of "Leatherface" in the movie that shares a name with our current location.

We arrived unscathed in El Paso in the late afternoon. We decided to stay the night here at another La Quinta. We went out for some more Tex Mex (Mom, I got my sopaipillas) and then went to see "Stardust" at the local movie theatre. Now we are in our La Quinta room, folding laundry which Tommy very graciously completed downstairs. We were excited that despite the heavy rain, our "HAWAII OR BUST" sign has remained intact.

Tomorrow--Santa Fe!

Pictures:
1. Rainbow!
2. Landscape
3. More landscape
3. Thank you Dad, this is making all the difference...