Wild Winds of Texas

We ended the evening watching the sun go down.  

The final brilliant sky before dark falls.

The wind blew yesterday and into the night but when we got on the road about 8:30, it had quieted down.  Unfortunately, that did not last.  The south wind began to blow and Carol fought the battle to stay on the road.  Thankfully, he won!  We left western Texas and began to drive through Texas hill country.  It is very pretty.  Carol said he was glad to see some trees for a change.

I-10 was cut through some stone hills.  It was a nice change of scenery from the high desert in which we have been.

There were some rolling hills along with green trees.  Despite the strong south winds, we made good time and had to stop at a rest area to kill some time.  The Corps of Engineer campground in which we are staying has a strict policy of no check-ins before three.

Texas does a great job with its rest areas.  They even have lots of rest areas on two-lane roads.  We stopped at a couple of them I-20 and I-35.  They looked new.  They both had themes.  One was a rural theme and the restrooms were in silo-shaped tin buildings.  Inside the main area was old farm equipment and information on how farming was done in the early 1900's in this part of Texas  

Another rest area told about the oil discovery and following boom in Texas.  One of the things I learned was about Conrad Hilton, the hotel mogul.  Mr. Hilton came to Cisco, Texas with $5000 sewn into the inside of his jacket.  He planned to buy a bank but that deal fell through   He went across the street to a local hotel for the night.  While there he noticed that the rooms of the hotel would be rented two or three times a day.  Oil workers would come in, spend 6-7 hours sleeping and then return to work.  Another oil worker would rent the same room.  The lightbulb went on in his head about how this hotel could be a money maker.  He brought the hotel instead and from their, built his hotel empire.  Texas has found a way to get history into travelers.

We pulled into Cranes Mill Corps of Engineer Campground at 3:15.  We are set up in Site 2.  It is a great campground on Canyon Lake  We are actually under two trees!  The wind is still blowing but it feels good to sit under the trees with the wind blowing, keeping us cool.

Enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Once you start snapping pictures, it is hard to stop.  

Once the sunset, the full moon appeared in the eastern sky.  This picture does not do justice to the show it put on.  It was full and bright with a few wispy clouds covering it.  God did good tonight!