I learned a lot of new things while traveling in West Texas. First of all the scenery this time around was green not brown. A few years ago we traveled west Texas and saw nothing but brown and white. It was in January, and the terrain was void of any green. The white came from a raging blizzard that caused us to turn back. We spent a leisurely day touring the Buddy Holly museum in Lubbock.
This time, though, the grasses were green, the trees had leaves on them, and generally the weather was mild, a cloud cover made it cooler. The speed limit on Interstate-10 is eighty mph (128 kmph) at this point. I began noticing mile markers with six-hundred numbers on them. I quickly estimated the distance across the state at this latitude is over a thousand miles (1600 kilometers). I set my speed control for seventy-five, but kept getting passed by Texans in a hurry. The most popular vehicle passing me was a Ford F250 with diesel power, and dual rear tires. All of them had a huge grill guard on the front. I thought about that for a minute and it finally sunk in. If you hit an animal at eighty you pretty much destroy your sixty thousand dollar truck. The grill guard may serve to splatter the animal and not the truck. Judging by the speed of the traffic, most people have not been affected by the cost of gas or diesel fuel at $3.50 per gallon. My Avalon Deathstar was getting 35.4 mpg on this stretch of road. Gosh, if I had used Obama’s advice and inflated my tires a bit more, I might have had to empty my tank every couple of hundred miles.
Here are a couple of impressions from that stretch of road.
West Texas Family Sedan
West Texas Pick Up Truck
I’ll bet you never thought of it that way!
Related articles
- Texas Testing 85mph Speed Limit (drudge.com)
Filed under: Biography, Cartoons, Memories, Travel | Tagged: Associated Press, Buddy Holly, Ford F-Series, Ford F250, Fuel Economy, Grill Guard, Lubbock, Lubbock Texas, Obama, San Antonio, Speed limit, Texas, West Texas |
I think that the traffic is just as fast in Illinois or Florida, especially the big TRUCKS.
The traffic in Illinois moves slow compared to other parts of the country, and I do know what you are talking about.
Since I live in the Deep South Texas during the winter I just had to comment on your story. I like it. West Texas is exactly like you describe. I have been there a few times. You know, there is an alternate to I-10. Some beautiful traveling was along the Rio Grande from Terlingua to Presidio on TX 170. I really wanted to bike it, but time restraints prevented me from doing that.
West Texas “Family Sedan” is not just West Texas. It is the entire state! Just like guns are a part of life in Texas. Did you stop to see the Marfa lights between Marfa and Alpine?