Odessa to Temple Texas (Day 15 Travels)

Late afternoon, yesterday, we decided we were not comfortable spending the night in Odessa at the Pilot Travel Center. So, after a break to eat an early dinner and time to write my blog, we got back on the road toward this afternoon’s destination – Turkey Roost Campground near Temple, Texas.

We ended up driving for almost 2 hours when we found a rest area along Highway 87. There was a large shelter house that shielded Joe from the wind as he sat reading on his iPad and talking with a friend on the phone. I enjoyed a virtual event on Facebook “Unlocking the Next Level You” in the car.  We were able to catch about 7 hours of sleep and got started on the road by 8:00 am this morning.

Today has been a beautiful drive along Highways 87 south, 84 east, and 183 south. Joe and I both were happy to see rolling hills covered with pecan and oak trees (they stood out) and wildflowers.  We saw cows, sheep, and goat ranches along the route. And windmill farms appeared! I caught an early windmill farm before we hit the green areas. Later we would see a small billboard that read “Ban Windmills.”

                                              (Note: This is not a photo I took - it's a free photo)

We had breakfast at Roxie’s Diner in San Angelo this morning. I snapped a few pictures of the décor. This restaurant is rated with 4.4 stars on Google reviews. Joe had a 3-egg veggie omelet, and I had a combination plate that had bacon, 2 eggs, hash browns, a small pancake and biscuits and gravy. Joe ate the pancake and part of the biscuits and gravy. We noted that the eggs must be very small in Texas (the state where we are inundated with bigger). Joe was fine though as he says he always figures he’ll end up eating at least 1/3 of my breakfast.

We sat at the table with decoupaged photos of the Beatles. The bottle of ketchup on the table was huge! I left without informing them that said bottle of ketchup was probably responsible for the blotch of ketchup on the wall to the left of where Joe was sitting. It was there when we came in. I am fussy about cleanliness in restaurants. A holdover from my early waitressing career at Lester’s Diner in Bryan, Ohio. In the early 1970’s if business was slow, we had to wash all the fake plants and the walls.

Check in time at the campground this afternoon is 3:00 pm. We got into Temple about 1:00pm and are hanging out at the Temple Public Library. We are in the children’s section. The librarian said it can get a bit noisy. I am enjoying watching all these small book lovers with their stacks of books. One little guy sat for 20 minutes or so reading his books. His eyeglasses take up a big part of his face. He is so darned cute; I took a photo of Joe reading on his mobile phone. He, too, wears glasses and is so darned cute!

What I am looking forward to most at the campground today: a shower!!!! We are not running marathons, simply driving, yet three days is my limit before bathing. Joe claims I don’t stink, and I can’t smell him. Sadly, at our age this could be a defense mechanism intended to protect us from each other. 

Some may be aware that as part of the trip experience, I am working on being present in the moment and learning to go with the flow. During our Texas travels, I have had ample opportunities to work on this. I use Waze as our primary navigation service. It has not let me down in the past – I learned to not ignore the app when it routes us differently than I would when looking at route choices. Joe’s preference is physical maps. However, he has not offered to buy maps for each location (Yes, I know AAA has maps; however, we no longer use AAA because we have the same services [sans maps] through our Subaru road service). Anyway, Waze does a good job. However, we are not familiar with Texas road signs and all too often we have to guess that we are on the right street/road or we do u turns or we get re-routed.

Sometimes, I may make sounds that are clearly long-suffering sighs… we have talked about how I am not upset with him – I am upset with Waze. I let him know I am working on not reacting in a negative manner – I am trying to let go of the need for control and perfection.

While driving we sometimes will listen to podcasts. Most of the podcasts are about unsolved murders. Today I discovered that Joe only uses the audible Waze instructions (and I am duplicating the instructions in between Waze’s audible instruction) even though the screen gives visual instructions as well.

This morning after missing a turn:

Me: [long sigh]

Joe: You sound like you are angry at me!

Me: No, I rely on the visual clues. To me it is easier to glance at the screen (pointing to the far-right corner that shows which way to turn and the street name).”

Joe: I am busy watching the road.

Me: You could bury me out here and nobody would ever know. I’d prefer a divorce though.”

He chose to ignore me, but he got this quirky grin on his face.

I added. “You could write my blog for the rest of the trip, and it would give you a head start on getting away with it.”

Instead at our next stop to change drivers he bought me some Ibuprofen, opened my snack for me, and opened my iced tea bottle. The man is a saint.