June 15-16

 Saturday was a great day with family. We missed seeing Emery and her family, but they are having a great time on their England Ireland Scotland tour. The morning was gone before we knew it and all we had done was visit. Saturday afternoon we drove into Arlington to see the Pompeii exhibit. It was a bit smaller than we had expected but it was very well done. 

After we finished up at the museum my granddaughter Allyson suggested we go into Fort Worth for lunch. The social butterfly of the family knew a dozen different places and exactly how to get there. We settled on Panther City BarBQ. It was a a scrumptious late lunch/early dinner. 

Back to Weatherford for a short nap and more visiting. The late dinner we had planned was cancelled because everyone was still stuffed. Our time on the patio with the cicadas singing and fireflies twinkling and red wine in the glass was as good as it gets. We are so very lucky! 

Sunday morning came all too early. Panchi and Russell were off to church and Stanley and I were off to burn up more Texas road. 

Between Weatherford and Amarillo we saw lots of dairy cows, cows and calves, steers, a few long horns, several tiny Texas towns, a slew of mesquite, and some barren ground that seemed to be without purpose. And wind! Lots of wind!

We are now in a comfortable motel. We had salad for dinner and we are ready to read a while and call it a day. ¡Buenas noches!

June 14

 

Friday morning we took advantage of the cushy hotel I had gotten us for our first night. We didn’t get on the road until about 11:00. Traffic between Shreveport and Dallas was about what we expected. Awful! Amazing how many little towns there are in Texas. They were once wide spots in the road and now they are tiny spots off to the side of the road. 

This was our first time driving to Panchi’s home from the east. We were surprised how far from Ft Worth it is. But we finally arrived. It’s always a joy to see Panchi. We quickly fell into our ritual of catching up. Preparing and eating dinner didn’t slow us down a bit, but the meal was delicious. Russell grilled squash steaks and cod with lemon. Panchi made salad and there were two kinds of dessert. I can’t speak to the strawberry cake but the banana pudding was awesome. 

After more chat we called it a day about 10:30. 

Headed West!

The next day, May 6, Stanley and I got in the car and headed west.  

Stopping every 40 or 50 miles for the required short walk made the trip a little longer than usual, but we enjoyed the stops – especially the one just before Brackettville (vermilion fly catchers were giving the babies lessons in bug catching) and the one at High Pecos Bridge – always a treat!

Amistad Lake Report:  The lake is still almost full in spite of the drought conditions that prevail across Texas.  Interesting, huh?  After being caught with full reservoirs during the big flood last year, perhaps our Mexican friends have learned that it’s best to keep the water flowing.  Actually, I have no idea why the lake still has so much water, but it does.  

Just west of Sanderson, storm clouds started brewing up.  It was fairly dramatic!  Black clouds rolled on and off the horizon and obviously somebody was going to get some rain.  

Turned out to be us!  We got drenched!  For several miles we drove through pounding rain and machine-gun-fire hail. . . and then, as quickly as it came it was over.  Blue skies, picnic clouds – even a rainbow that I wasn’t quite quick enough to capture.   

When we arrived in Alpine, it was as dry as a bleached bone.  Our only evidence of the rain was a very clean car.

Panchi took the next day off to play tour guide for us.  We spent Saturday morning browsing through some of Alpine’s funky little shops.

By noon, we knew the train was going to be late and by the time lunch was over we realized it was going to be very late.  We needed a plan. 

Stanley, Panchi, and I drove to Ft. Davis to see the fire damage.  All that blackened earth made for a very sad sight, but it will quickly recover if there is just a little rain.  Knowing about all the animals that were destroyed by the smoke and fire was the very saddest part.

We toured around Ft. Davis for a bit and then drove back to Alpine.   After determining that the train was just minutes away, Panchi dropped us off at the depot and took the car back to her house where it will live until we return.  All in all, I was pretty happy with the late train.  It made for some quality time with Panchi which doesn't happen nearly often enough!

On the train, we settled into our little compartment as if we had only been away a few days rather than months.  I do love a good train ride!