Somewhere in Texas

I woke with two thoughts: I don't know the name of this town and I'm on 380 heading west.

Driving into the darkness, the headlights illuminated the white and yellow lines of this two-lane road. The clouds had broken overnight, and a glitter of stars filled the dark Texas sky. The moon, a mere crescent, hung low in the eastern sky.

In the distance red dots of light flashed on and off. A field of windmills. Actually....three fields of windmills. The windmills connect to a system the causes them to blink in unison, but across the wide swath of darkness, three separate groupings flashed to their own timed system.

About an hour past the windmills, the sun came up and revealed fields of cotton that went on for miles and miles and miles. An occasional town, dirt field, or oil rig would break up the acres of cotton. The cotton fields stretched along this highway for at least 80 miles.

Some of the fields were thick with cotton plants, bursting white. Other fields were sparse. For miles and miles, cotton fluff lined the edges of the highway. Some fields contained already-harvested cotton wrapped in large pink bales.

Soon after crossing into New Mexico, I found a place for Buena to run. I also needed to get out of the vehicle, so I found ab area where I could pull over, take some pictures, and organize the van.

We were both happy travelers after a little bit of sunshine and play.

Next stop: Roswell, the place with the aliens and an historic missile range. One things for sure--this town plays up to the UFO theme and draws in the tourists. Crowds of people milled about the downtown area.

The clouds returned as I headed west out of Roswell...still on 380! From Greenville, Texas, to San Antonio, New Mexico! The highway is almost 700 miles long!

I did get to see another bucket list area along the way: the desert near Carrizo, New Mexico. If you look at the area on Google Earth, you'll see a large swath of black from volcanic activity. It is the malpais from ancient volcanic activity. What's neat about this area is that the south end of this mountain range features pure white sands.

At the interstate, I headed north on 25. I'm tired and ready to be home in the Godspeed. The plan was to drive until I got tired, but around Grants, New Mexico, wet, slushy snow hurled toward my windshield in cascades. I pulled off the interstate and found a Walmart. That's where I'm parked now. It's about 35-degrees, so it's going to be one of those nights where I'm up and down starting the engine and turning it off. I hope my next car has a remote engine start. It would make nights like this easier! :)