15 February

With an early rising at 5:45, I was down to have breakfast at 6:15. Very few motels offer any sort of breakfast, but those in the Comfort Inn chain have a buffet breakfast in the lobby each morning. Most of the items are too sweet for me and for my taste, but I get toast and put my Vegemite on it. This morning I also had eggs (as patties) and sausage (also as patties) – I find this method of breakfast very different. I certainly could not have waffles and syrup for breakfast, and (hot) tea is not on the menu – and never with milk, even if it can be found (such as on the trains).
I was up and away by 6:45 and went for a quick run down I-10. The Interstates have the advantage of quick travel, but being remote from facilities until an exit. The rest stops are the only exception and I arrived at one about 8. Here I found it more like Australia – quite a few vehicles pulled over and occupants asleep. However they are far more civilised with the vending machines, caretaker, flush toilets and electric hand dryers. I was surprised in a way not to see showers available (but I didn’t look too closely). The weather was very cool – not much above freezing.
I saw a sign indicating a scenic side loop to a Fort Lancaster. As I am a tourist and want to find things as well as see what I already know of, I decided to detour. After a rather long and uninteresting side drive, and beside a bridge construction of a few hundred metres long on a rather quite road, I found Fort Lancaster. Going in (entrance fee $2, a pleasant surprise after a few others), I met one of the guides there (there are three part-timers). He is a part-time rancher as well, and holds degrees in history and civilisations. After a comparison of indigenous populations in the US and Australia, and a side discussion on camels, we got onto the fort. I was able to glean quite a bit about it, so the walk out in the ruins was complementary to what I had been told. I saw the displays, then discussed farming and comparisons of farming on similar areas in the US and Australia. He was able to see the joke in the story of the twins who won Tattslotto: the one in town retired, bought a Rolls, travelled the world and bought a house in Toorak; the one on the land decided he could afford to farm another five years! The reserve there had over a hundred thousand visitors a year before the Interstate came in – and more of that later – and has very few now, but numbers are building back up slowly.
He was able to give me some points on how to travel to see the Rio Grande on my way to San Antonio. I headed off and down through Dryden – now effectively a ghost town. His town, Sanderson, had suffered a real decline in population due to floods killing some and the railway closing down its depot. It is now starting to grow back.
I called in at Langtry – initially at the store on the highway, which was being run by the father while the son was on holidays. I got postcards there and a reminder by other customers there to visit Florida! Then it was into the real town (population 15) and the Judge Roy Bean Museum. The Museum was free, had a huge amount of information and very informative and helpful staff, and had Judge Roy Bean memorabilia on display. It also had free wireless Internet access – so I couldn’t resist and sent out an email! In line with many other times, I was able to help some others who were going to visit Carlsbad Caverns and they were able to help me with routes along the river. Being a small town I could find the post office (closed) and the letter receiver (next to the post office), so I sent a postcard to Cori, a colleague at Niddrie from Texas, and to my former class (I will have to check to see when it gets there). I got a map and the information on it tallied exactly with that from the guide at Fort Lancaster, so I set off to see the Pecos River (impressive), its junction with the Rio Grande (not as grand as I thought, but there is a drought here too) and then the Amistad Dam. This is on the Rio Grande and is a co-operative venture between the US and Mexico. I drove out to the US border point and then walked to the actual border – on the dam. I stood with one foot in Mexico and one in the US.
Then I went into Del Rio and filled the car – I was able to use my card okay and actually filled the tank (for once!). I also repaired the fuel filler cover (I had to do the footwell trim before – bad press for Alamo, who obviously don’t check the cars) and then went to WalMart SuperCentre to do some shopping. I forgot to get DVDs, which I need as I’m running out of room on the laptop hard drive. It was big, but not as huge as I had been led to believe.
I headed out and then got pulled up at another Border Patrol checkpoint. Their K9 operative gave a bored yawn as I pulled up, so the officer told me to go on. Before I got to San Antonio, it became dark so I had to slow to 65 mph (the night-time speed limit in Texas). In San Antonio, road works were on so I couldn’t follow the SatNav directions, but eventually found the motel anyway. This one, the second-cheapest I have had, has a complete kitchen, including stove, microwave, toaster and fridge as well as cutlery, crockery and pans.
I unpacked, did the photos, wrote this blog and am now ready to collapse as I’ve been on the road for over twelve and half hours today – it showed, as after getting the motel cards, I walked to the wrong side of the car – happens when I go on auto pilot.
I’m in San Antonio, ready to see the Alamo tomorrow, do the River Walk and look around. But now, to sleep.