I wanted to do a mileage update tonight but forgot to check while I was in the car.  Now there are 6 guys outside the door getting blasted!  Good thing Ruby made friends with them already...she begged them for ice....and got some...ice and new friends.  We covered some ground today and finally made it to TEXAS!   Ozona Texas (an appropriate stop considering some of the things I've done in my youth) I think that it's name is it's only redeeming quality.

The front desk clerk at last nights motel didn't tell me the truth, there are aliens in Roswell!

Can anybody tell me what the connection between this picture and one of the stops we made yesterday?

I really feel sorry for a lot of these towns that we have come thru the last few days....Pecos for one was obviously a pretty thriving town at one point.  I wonder why things like this happen to some towns and not others...luck? Bad timing?  People not paying attention to what's going on around them?   I wonder if these same principals apply to people as well...you know..do they blame everyone else for the headwinds in their lives.
I took this picture because frankly it was the prettiest thing in this otherwise dreary historical cowboy town,  Pecos Bill, real or fictional?  I'm kinda thinking he was a Bugs Bunny character.

We stopped here at Ft. Stockton (we picked up the 10 here)  because Ruby needed a break.   We had gone about 4 hours straight and the Rubes needed a leg stretch among other things.  I think I'm liking Texas more and more...no state tax..80 mile an hour speed limits.  Many people had told me how boring West Texas was, I really have to disagree...the wildflowers are beatiful as are the millions of butterfly's that are servicing them while hoping to get lucky, I felt bad about killing them and even tried to dodge a few of the larger flocks (are they called flocks?)   I mean I haven't been with a woman for a while but unlike the butterflys I'm not going to stand in front of a car going 85 mph to get laid!

Ruby checking out the 1st really lousy motel we've stayed in.  If it looks like she's holding her breath she probably is.  The only way a dog could stay here was if we took a smoking room...I didn't know they still had smoking rooms and at this moment wish this one didn't exist..my sinuses are burning!

In Corona Del Mar we really don't have fly's so Ruby has never really seen any before stopping here in Ozona.  There were about 10 buzzing inside the curtan and the instinctve hunting dog came out in her as she spent 15 minutes swatting at them against the window.
Tomorrow our trip takes a dramatic shift..we will arrive at my good friends Greg and Barb's house in Austin.  They are transplants from Venice,Ca. and have an acre and a half-fenced!  Ruby is going to love it after being locked up in the car for extended periods.  She really needs some exercise..so do I we, both are putting on weight .
We are going to spend a couple of days in Austin.  I've heard nothing but good things and would like to see for myself!