BIG TEXAS WINDS & OLD WESTERN TOWNS

COTTON BALES

Nice Texas sunrise but it didn't last long as high winds brought in a solid cloud cover. We were on the road by 7:30 & it immediately became apparent that the strong cross winds from the north were going to make for an interesting driving day. The weather front also brought in much colder 50 degree temperatures which in turn caused a wind chill factor probably in the mid 40's.. Wednesday we were basking in 80F temps & to-day I was back into my winter clothes. Despite the cold gray morning the drive was nice as we ambled through quaint little towns like Aspermont, Clairemont, Post, & Tahoka. They are old & truly authentic western towns with old buildings, old streets, & old memories. Tumbleweeds blowing across the roadways, old pick-up trucks with even older pick-up truck drivers. Big cowboy hats on real cowboys. The once bustling towns are pages out of history. Signs of hard times are apparent from the time you drive into the town, down the bumpity main street, & out the other end. Empty store windows stair blankly out onto the street & there doesn't appear to be many people around. Just the blowing dust & the tumbleweed. Once cozy & elegant homes now in various stages of disrepair & abandonment. Couldn't help but think of John Steinbeck's book, The Grapes of Wrath. I'm sure many of those people left from these very houses & the only thing remaining of those people & their memories are these old boarded up & tumble down buildings. The old timers are long gone but their houses are still here.

Same thing applies to the rural countryside. Many old abandoned homesteads with timeworn windmills still creaking in the Texas wind. Rusting farm machinery & remnants of a life few of us younger folks will ever understand. We don't see this sort of thing back home in our pristine & tidy Ontario but it is a part of the old west that has drawn us here for the past 5 years. It is part of our adventure as well as it will someday be a part of our memory.

Stopped in the town of Post at a McDonald's for a coffee & internet update. Checked our emails & I was able to catch the blog up & add a few photos. Thought I had solved the bicycle carrier problem the day before but upon leaving McDonalds we noticed the bikes were at an odd angle again. Off came the bikes, more adjustments, swearing, a few more adjustments, a lot more swearing, re-mounted the bikes, more finagling & more bad words. Finally, enough was enough & off we went. Oh how I miss my big comfy chair & simple home life on days like this. UPDATING THE BLOG THURSDAY MORNING IN POST, TEXAS
We reached the town of Brownfield about 1 o'clock. Kelly had checked our, Free Campground Book Western Edition, & it told us the Coleman County Park at the south end of town had electricity, water, flush toilets, etc. What it didn't tell us was that there is also HIGH SPEED INTERNET HERE:)))) Wow, what a bonus find, & it's all free. The Haskell RV Park was free for one night but this park is free for five nights.
14 RV sites here at Coleman with a big walking area, pool, basketball, & track sports complex. A tad noisy with the highway close by but what the heck......free is free:))

Kelly called her Mom & Dad in Spencerport using our computer & Skype phone network. What a great thing this Skype stuff is. What a great thing this whole technology era is. And to think that when I was a small boy we didn't even have running water in the house. KELLY TALKING TO HER MOM & DAD ON SKYPE
Looks like the weather is going to be cold & windy to-morrow again so we just may hang out here in Brownfield for a day or too. The rush to get to the west is over. Time to relaaaaaaaaaaaaax:)) BEDTIME FOR THE BONZOS
Just added the first photo album for the new trip. Will add a few more photos to this album over the next few days & will then start the next album. Maybe from the White Sands Missile Range near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/