Texas- Oregon, June 2008
My home-way-from-home-away-from-home, South Padre Island.
A patient at the SPI sea-turtle refuge. The island is a popular nesting place for several varieties of sea turtles, who swim up from the coast of southern Mexico. Some get attacked by sharks, others are mangled by boat propellers. After they recover, they are released whenever possible.
I didn't want to leave Kerrville. Ever. The Guadalupe river is crystal clear, and bathwater-warm. I decided to move here. Seriously.
Abandonded warehouse in Pecos, Texas, the saddest little town in the west.
Mainstreet in Pecos Texas. The creation of the interstate finished off what was left of small towns after the railroad died. All of the businesses listed in my four-year-old Texas guidebook were long gone by the time we got there. It's a contemporary ghost town.
Four Corners is more interesting as an un-varnished slice of American life than it is as a monument. A Navajo girl in a death-metal T-shirt sold us a piece of over-cooked fry bread, then went back to playing solitaire. We watched sunbewildered mid-westerners buying commemorative shot glasses and plastic tomahawks from Hopi vendors for a while, then got in the car and left.
Every time I drive through Utah I am astounded by both the incredible natural beauty of the landscape, and the incredible inanity (this may not be an actual word...) of the people who inhabit it.
No one can say the Mormons aren't resourceful.
The pictures, much like my enthusiasm, and my budget, and all edible food, ran out somewhere around Idaho. We decided that Idaho shoul changed its motto to "The Decomposing Barn State!", and Eastern Oregon should seceed, and then call itself the "At Least It's Not Idaho!" state.
All in all, a great trip. It's good to be back.