Day 12: Driving through Western Texas

Texas is huge. When we entered Texas from Louisiana, the sign said 880 miles to El Paso, Texas. We have been in Texas for almost a week and will finally be getting close to exiting it from the other end!

We had breakfast and packed up the RV in preparation for our longest drive so far...6 hours to Van Horn in western Texas. We gased up the RV knowing there would be long stretches of nothing. It was Clint's turn to drive and there was nothing to really look at except road signs. One of our favorites was the 80MPH speed limit sign. Clint was disappointed because Hungry couldn't drive that fast! We actually saw a car that got pulled over. How fast was it going?

Unlike Louisiana, Theresa noticed there were no warning signs that there would not be any service stations for a certain number of miles. What would you do if you ran out of gas? Well, we found out as we saw people walking with gas cans or abandoned cars on the side of the road. Yikes! We felt bad for them and even joked about picking them up. Then we saw a sign saying, "State prison near. Do not pick up hitchhikers." Prison-break!

We did stop at South Llano River State Park for what we thought would be a quick lunch. At the park, Ariadne discovered compost toilets/pit toilets or what she refers to as "toilets that don't flush and have no bottoms." We had to explain to her that the waste just goes straight to the ground. Then she got a little scared that she might fall in since there was no bottom. We reassured her that she wouldn't fall in, but she insisted she'd rather use the RV toilet. Smart girl!

The park also had a flowing river that many people were enjoying swimming/wading in. We never thought Ariadne would actually want to get in, but she did. She wanted us to put on her swimsuit, but we haven't done laundry in a while, so no clean suits. Theresa told Ariadne to just go in thinking she'd just get her ankles wet which Clint said was not a good idea and we needed to leave or it would be dark upon arrival at Van Horn. Well, she insisted we go with her and help her climb over some rocks like the other kids. A few hours later, we leave with a soaked Ariadne and Clint having to drive in the dark.

We arrived at Van Horn RV park to a very low lit campground. It was so dark when Clint turned a corner, the back of the RV clipped a post. With flashlights we hooked up our electricity and water and went to bed. Lesson learned...no more driving in the dark (but we did have fun in the river!).