Easter Weekend

Hope you all had a beautiful Easter weekend! Ours was very nice with great weather and beautiful scenery. We loaded in Stockton, CA on Thursday afternoon and headed south and then west towards Texas. Our delivery was just east of Austin, TX on Monday morning.

Instead of running I-40 again, we dropped south to I-10, passing through the Arizona desert. All the desert plants were in bloom or about to begin blooming.


We passed through Phoenix and Tuscon. On over in New Mexico we drove through Los Cruces where there were a few hot air balloons in the sky, though they were too high and too far for pictures. Then it was into Texas and through El Paso, on out into the wilds. Southwest Texas is another gorgeous area of the state, and by all appearances very sparsely populated.

Its very dry around El Paso, almost desert looking, but shortly after leaving the border behind, more vegetation appears, though not the lush green grasslands and forests of east Texas. We stopped in Fort Stockton, TX for dinner and slept there Saturday night.

Easter morning was absolutely beautiful, and the land was in bloom, colored in carpets of orange and deep blue and purple.

Before reaching San Antonio, we cut across country on US290 through Texas hill country. I didn't take pictures. I was too busy soaking in the view for myself. It was more beautiful country, and in the middle of it we passed through the home town of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Off track a little, but there is a book (and movie) called True Women by Janice Woods Windel . It is the story of two friends who grow up during the settling of Texas, during those violent years of fighting the Mexicans and Comanches for possession of Texas lands. I love this book. There is a sequel to it, that Mom found and bought me a few years ago. It is called Hill Country, and continues the story of their families. Lyndon B Johnson is a character in the later part of the book, and the setting is this area of Texas that we were driving through. I recommend both. They are entertaining, and also give a Texas history lesson through the story of these women's lives.

Back to present day Texas, we came out of the country and dropped in on Austin, where we stopped to do some grocery shopping and eat on the east side of town.

We stepped out of the truck at Walmart and it was like walking into a steam bath. Shocking, after being in the western states dry air for so long. It was only around 75 degrees, and not by any means as humid as it will be later this summer, but for us, it was sticky thick air, heavy to breathe, and I got sweaty for the first time this year. We were not enjoying the humidity at all!

Walmart was crowded and loud and had so many cultures and races represented that I lost count. It was overwhelming. I was also a little concerned when I saw that even the $9 movies were locked up behind glass! What was up with that. I suddenly had the feeling that despite appearances, we weren't in one of the choice areas of Austin. On the way into the store I got looks and kisses blown my way, and upon returning to the truck I learned that Malcolm had had company stop by to ask for money and a drive by looking to see if anyone was in the truck. We decided not to spend the night in Austin.

Instead we drove 10 miles down the road. Ten miles can make a big difference. We parked at a warehouse that was for lease that was conveniently behind a BBQ joint. Ate dinner and tried to sleep in a very muggy warm truck. We were feeling too cheap to run it for AC.

The next morning we finished the last 15 miles under cloudy skies and a cool breeze. We delivered our load of organic soybean meal to Coyote Creek Farm. I enjoyed a morning of watching these VERY happy cluckers while Malcolm unloaded the trailer.

I so look forward to having a little flock of my own one day!

Tuesday morning and we are sitting in Mount Pleasant, TX waiting our turn to load feather meal. Its back to California for us, and this time I don't mind. The weather in the rest of the country looks king of crummy weather wise, so I'm happy to stay down here in the dry, and out of the snow and rain.