We bid adieu to Texas early this morning for the four hour drive on to Albuquerque. In order to maximize work hours today we took off before sunrise and it's like Texas wanted say a grand good bye to us.
Jeff has been completely enthralled with all of the windmills in Texas. They started popping up on our drive north from Austin on Sunday and the farther west we've gone the more prevalent they've become. The west Texas plains are littered with them and Jeff has been captivated.
As soon as we got out of Amarillo this morning we started seeing thousands of little red lights flashing in the skyline. I thought Jeff was going to come out of his seat. Fortunately, he remained seated as he exclaimed, "it's the windmills!!!!" Miles and miles and flashing red lights.
I got some pics as the sun rose of them that I'll post in the gallery. There must be millions of windmills in Texas. And they are HUGE. I'll also post a picture of one of the bases that we saw being transported yesterday. You can't really appreciate their scale when they're out in a field, but when you see the components it's rather shocking.
The traffic laws in Texas are vastly different. What would be a stop sign for us is a yield sign in many instances in Texas. Interstate speed limits are often 75 and 80 mph. I was not expecting that. And Jeff wants you all to know that it's not uncommon to go 3 wide on a two lane road at 70 mph. Many of the two lane roads we were on had really wide shoulders, allowing, the slower person to pull off to the right so they can be overtaken. Took us a bit to adjust to that.
Considering the vast size of Texas, it came as no surprise that the terrain from the hill country to the plains was so incredibly different, but it was really interesting to see it first hand. There were countless times on our drive where we came around a bend and it seemed like there was entirely different view than what we had just seen.
Yesterday, on our way to Lubbock for a meeting, we had our first real indicator of the scale of the landscape. Driving along the interstate, we could se an entire train, from engine to caboose, that must have been a mile long. And it was a small portion of what all our eyes could behold. Land as far as the eye could se in all directions.
As we've driven into New Mexico this morning, I can't help but think how this road trip should be a coming of age ritual for all Americans. That being said, I can't imagine doing it in just a few days. We're keenly aware of the immense blessing we've been given to be able to do this in this fashion.
We don't have to choose a handful of stops to explore and this raised view from the RV is making the drives extra special. Never, in a million years, did I ever expect to do this, nor did I ever really want to. I don't know why God has been so kind to us and given us this opportunity but I'm feeling extremely humbled by it this morning.