From The Roadrunner To The {ugly} Plains of West Texas

The roadrunner made for a beautiful picture against the orange morning sky. But we got busy readying everything for departure. After a short ride down to the city we had another 42miles into El Paso TX. 

The city is huge and ugly and the I-10 is full of vehicles in every lane. Of course, we remembered the distinct smell of cow manure from the roadside dairy farms, yet it was almost too much to bear. 

To the west one gets a good look into Ciudad Juarez with its thousands of small fancy-coloured houses. A stark contrast to the industrialized American side.

We once stayed in El Paso for a whole week and I left promising myself never to spend another day there. Just when you approach the city from the north, you can see a yellow-brownish smog hanging over it. Disgusting!

We just went with the flow of traffic and finally got through Van Horn, a small town to the south of El Paso. 

Once reaching Pecos the unending plains of West Texas spread out before us. These days they are dotted with installations of the oil industry. 

This countryside is the most boring I know of in America. The I-20 runs mostly straight east and I must say we were lucky enough to being pushed along by a tailwind. 

With the mid afternoon rolling around (we lost another hr. to CDT) we were developing some thoughts of where to put our heads for the night. After checking out one of the Texas parking areas, which was entirely polluted with broken glass and garbage, we went on for another couple of miles and found a Walmart in Big Springs.

Funny enough they have a sign in the parking lot prohibiting overnight parking, but when I called I got the OK from the store. Always good to know! 

We might get out of Texas tomorrow entering Louisiana, but that will depend on a number of road and traffic conditions.