Ft. Stockton, TX

I drove nearly 400 miles today and made it to Ft. Stockton, TX. I went cross-country on more 2-lane roads and also Hwy. 45, a toll road with speed limits of 80 mph!  No way!!  I’m pretty sure that’s faster than my guardian angels can fly, so I just padoodle along at my usual 60 mph. while towing.  The toll booths didn’t have any place to pay; apparently you either us a pass or else you get the bill in the mail! I guess that’s convenient, though the mail rate was quite a bit higher than the pass rate.

I’ve been having a problem with my clothing bin falling off the bench and ending up in a big jumble by the time I get where I’m going, so I stopped at a gas station halfway here, put up the camper and shoved the bin back where it belonged. It worked good; everything was in good order when I got here except….sob! I left my $75 aluminum folding step back at that gas station! I guess I just drove off without it. What an expensive pee break! I can’t believe I did that!  And I can’t blame it on bad luck this time; this was sheer stupidity.  I need that step too; Roxie doesn’t “see” the little built-in step so she leaps over it and usually ends up doing a face-plant. So I had to order another one today and have it sent to the post office in Bisbee; I’ll pick it up next week when I get there. Sigh.

We are parked overnight at a defunct RV park. I pulled up and put up the camper and then noticed a lot of really tiny but lethal-looking thorny things on the ground that are so sharp, they stuck into my rubber clogs! So I decided to move, as that would NOT be good for Roxie’s little feet! I accidentally stepped on an old dried-up twig that had 1″ thorns, and one went all the way through my clog and into my foot! OW! I don’t know what it was but I hope it wasn’t one of those cactus things that cause infections.  I moved over to where there aren’t any of those nasty things plus I carry Roxie over to the pavement to do her business.  Luckily she will go anywhere; in fact I think she prefers pavement to grass!

Here’s the big thorny thing that went through my shoe:  

I finally got my photo adapter to work, so now I can post pictures again! Here’s my campsite at Tinkle Park in Gary, TX:

And I bought a Christmas tree, isn’t it cute?! It’s about 6″ tall.    

So tomorrow, only 100 miles to Big Bend National Park! I’m excited to be able to stop driving every day and sit still for 3 days! Well I’ll still be driving around the park, but somehow that doesn’t seem as hard as dragging that camper around all day. We’re supposed to be getting an arctic blast and maybe even some snow/sleet! Oh joy.

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