TEXAS DETOUR

After leaving Sweetwater TX just west of Fort Worth, the ABS light came on and we found that we were also without cruise control, turn signals and brake lights and flashers. So Gary pulled off the road to call Coachnet, our road side service. After finding that there was not an immediate emergency since the ABS light was not blinking, we decided to travel on to Lubbock TX where the closest Workhorse dealer was located. (The dealer was BIGHAM and they were great). We stopped in Walmart to wait for Monday when the dealer would be open. However, all was not a loss as this move put us much closer to a great nephew of Audrey's who we had not felt that we had the time to see since they were about a hundred miles from our route west. So Audrey gave Matt a call and we made arrangements to meet him and his new bride, Jessica, at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. However, we did not end the day with breakfast, but they came to our motorhome that was in travel mode with all slides in and had a few hours to visit. It was great visit and time well spent!! Matt had moved from Indiana where he had worked for a farmer, to north Texas to take a job on a ranch. Matt and Jessica, we wish you well and hope to visit with you again one of these days!! Matt had given us some museum ideas for Monday while we would be waiting for the work on the motorhome to be completed. So we drove around Lubbock checking out the sights as we hunted for the museums. We first stopped at the American Wind and Power Center to find that they were closed on Mondays. However, the gate was open so we drove in and took pictures of what was outside on the grounds. It was neat to see the windmills up close as they seem to be used so much more in the west! , as well as the many variations from past history. We also stopped at the Silent Wings History Museum only to find that it was also closed on Mondays. But that was as far as we got at this museum! So we drove on to Level-land west of Lubbock to see if we could find a pastor who had relocated from the Blythe Baptist Church in Brunswick GA to north Texas. Gary had kept in touch with him after we left Brunswick, so he knew where Jessie had relocated. Gary made contact with him and he and his wife met us and we visited for at least forty-five minutes. Had a good visit and we look forward to seeing them again. They were both native Texans and that is probably why they relocated there. We really liked to hear him preach! Such a sweet couple! After we got back to Lubbock to pick up the motorhome, we were pleased to find that there was not a problem with the brakes. It turned out that a broken light on the tow dolly had caused a short in the motorhome. So when all of that was fixed and they also took care of a recall item, we hit the road again. We stopped in Brownsfield at a regular Walmart to park for the night and I noticed they had a real small sign that said "no parking for semi trucks or large vehicles". So we pulled across the street to a Phillips and Stripes where they had a real level and clean lot. We filled up with gas and found that it was good parking and we did not even have to put down jacks to use one of the bedroom slides. So we were happy and hit the road about 6:45 the next morning. While driving through north Texas and eastern New Mexico we saw many cotton fields and were in awe of the size of the 'bales' that they had left in the fields. Before it was picked, from a distance the fields looked like they were covered with snow.

This was the ranch house near these cotton fields,

and the machine that they use to compact the cotton and form the bales. I am not sure what the equipment looks like that actually does the picking. I did get a chance to get a picture of the plant up close. I also noticed that the cotton plants seem so much shorter than what you see in the southeast. Matthew says that the shorter plant grows much more cotton on each plant.

Here you see the fields after they have been picked bare!! Some fields have straight rows as you see them from the road and some are planted in a circle. Jessica said that when she flew to Indiana with Matt last year, she noticed from the air the circular fields in the west compared to the straight planted fields in Indiana. But I did notice that some in Texas were straight also. The circular ones were planted that way because of the irrigation equipment sweeping in a circle.

Leaving Brownfield so early it was just beginning to get light out. We saw many red lights blinking off in the distance over the fields and wondered what they were. As it got lighter out, we saw that they were lights atop the windmills. Many fields were full of them!!

This day of travel ended relatively early in Alamogordo, New Mexico. So we took the time to get all set up for a stay of at least a week and then called Gary's cousin. I will share Alamogordo with you in upcoming Blogs as there is much to see there.

Have a great Holiday season coming up!! God Bless.