It runs coast to coast from Jacksonville Florida to Santa Monica California, 2460.3 miles. In Florida they call it the Pearl Harbor Memorial Highway, as they do in part of Arizona, or State Road 8. In Alabama, a short stretch in Mobile is named the George Wallace Memorial Tunnel; Louisiana, the Afchafalaya Swamp Freeway, the Pontchartrain Expressway and the Stephen Ambrose Memorial Highway (a beloved historian from Univ of New Orleans). New Mexico calls it the 10. Arizona changes names 6 times; Pearl Harbor Memorial, Papago Freeway, Maricopa Freeway, Pima Freeway, Casa Grande Highway and the Tucson-Benson Highway. And into California where the road names include the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Highway, the Santa Monica Freeway, the Rosa Parks Freeway, the San Bernadino Freeway and, our favorite, the Sonny Bono Memorial Freeway.
In Texas the name is Eastex Express in Beaumont and the Katy Freeway near Houston, but in west Texas they just call it "Is this road EVER going to end?" Actually the sign says it the Texas Pecos Trail. Low junipers, incredible sedimentary rock faces, big sky and long vistas. Magnificent. The signs along the road; "Drive Friendly", Best Western- 90 miles, anti-litering signs; "Drive Clean Across Texas" and "Don't Mess with Texas".
We pulled off for gas and food in Sonora. Lunch at the La Mexicana Taco Grill and unlike in Maine, more than just the name and the food were Mexican... everything was. Goooood tacos and smokin hot salsa.
The windmills appeared on the ridge of the northern mesa at mile marker 305 and continued uninterrupted to mile marker 283... 23 miles of huge, gleaming white, turning technology. Back East we can't comprehend such a thing at least not on this scale. The environmentalists would scream about sight pollution, the Audubon Society about bird injuries, the NIMBY neighbors would throw a fit. Construction would be halted by law suits for decades. But out here it seemed so right, so smart, to be harvesting power from the wind. Driving "The 10" is a humbling lesson in space and time. Everyone should get out of the woods and take the ride at least once. Awe inspiring.
We headed south in Fort Stockton, down through Pecos County, through Brewster County and into the town of Marathon. We saw 3 trucks along the 40 mile stretch through the high destert. Friends from Saint Simons Island in Georgia had recommended a bar at the Gauge Hotel. Good call Mimi and Jay. Loved the massive, albino buffalo head on the wall. And the beer was cold too.
We struck out for Alpine in Presidio County down TX 90 to find a place to hunker down for the night. Pickings were slim and at the Alpine Motor Inn, Connie vetoed the room due to incredible filth and disrepair. The headboard was ripped off the wall and the windows had such a thick layer of dust over them that the sunlight that was able to enter the room cast a gray hue. She said the marque which read " Fi' em S ed i e Y HY" was a dead give away.
So we headed 35 miles up TX 118 to Fort Davis, one of two towns in Jeff Davis County. Connie insisted that the name Davis was a good sign (my mom's family name) and, as usual, her intuition was smack on. The sun was setting and the colors morphed to golds and ambers 10 miles across the planes.
The Limpia Hotel is a delightful little old Texas establishment with lots of history. Don, the desk manager, offered us a Monday night special and we immediately decided to spend a few days exploring this enchanted land.
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