Hot & Windy - Not me, the weather

   

Wednesday,  May 23

     A total driving day in 30 mph winds with gusts to 40 (according to NPR) so it was a white knuckle kind of day.
     Left at 9, got lost getting to my "country road" route but Navigator helped me on my Droid.  Did that for about an hour and the wind was so strong that with no shoulders and narrow roads and not much to really see, I headed back to I-40.  While "in the country" I noticed:

• LOTS of grain - as far as the eye could see at points (how many acres would that be, David)
• flat, flat land with lots of wind turbines
• red soil

     I-40 was still white knuckley because the big trucks added to mother natures gusts but not that many trucks so can't complain.
     As I got close to TX, you could see the difference in the land - it became shrubby, dry, and not red and when I got out at the first rest area (ask Grace why I did this probably) - because the TX welcome center was 100 miles from the border:( - it was like a sauna - hot, dry and still wind to blow the door out of your hands.  The pioneers who settled here must have arrived in the fall.
     Reflections:

• A Large Shamrock Inn & Restaurant with a very purple roof just didn't seem right
• There's a chain of "Jesus Christ Travel Plazas" in E. TX panhandle. I didn't stop.  I didn't need filling up.
• Last nights and tonight's campground both have storm cellars - very reassuring still
• Rhoda's rocking and rolling in the wind as I sit in her with AC blasting and am comfortable.  I tried to type this in the storm cellar/game room on a nice big table but duh - it's a storm cellar - no internet connection

                                                            DATA:

mileage:  276
gas:  $69   @ $3.30
camp:  $32 (with an indoor pool - temp in the room - 86) at the Fort Amarillo RV Resort, TX
shopping:  $40 - Cheyenne Trading Post aka souvenir shop but it gave me a break from the wind
street name:  Groom  (must be from the Runaway Bride movie) or Honeyfarm Rd. - wonder why
temp:  96, windy, dry, sunny