Our Texas trip, Part 3 of 3

[Mr Kleb]

Day 15: After our late night at McDonald Observatory we slept in until all of 8:30. We had breakfast then drove to the Chihuahuan Desert Research Institute (CDRI), located a few miles outside Fort Davis. The CDRI was founded in (I think) the 1980s by two professors who sought to fill a gap in research into the flora and fauna of the Chihuahuan Desert, which covers much of the southwestern US and northwestern Mexico. We easily and effortlessly enjoyed browsing the garden trails for nearly three hours.

Faye stands next to a yucca.


The claret cup was gorgeous!


Cholla or walking stick cactus.


Don't fall into this!


A Big Bend Silverleaf.


The greenhouse housed many varieties of cacti found in other areas of the desert, some of which are threatened or endangered.




McDonald Observatory, on Mount Locke about 13 miles away as the crow flies and where we had been completely socked in the night before.


After returning to the tourist court for lunch we took the 74 mile loop drive around the Davis Mountains.






Dinner was a sandwich - most excellent and stuffed full with salami, cheese, and lots of fixins.

The next morning, Day 16, we had to leave the mountains and begin heading home.

Home, Jeeves.


We don't have too many photos of the trip home so I won't spend too much time on it. Our next stop was Abilene TX after driving on I-10; Faye was none to thrilled with the 80 mph speed limit. There is some pretty desolate country around Pecos, Odessa, and Midland. We stopped at a rest area which had on display nose art off of a WWII B-29 bomber. B-29s had been based a few miles away. This rest area salso had several tornado shelters.

Most of Day 17 was taken up by the drive through southwest and central Oklahome to Tulsa, to spend a few nights with people who have a colliex named Shane.


He and Achilles hit it off.


On Day 20 we pushed on to Champaign IL, 10 hours and 570 miles closer to home. On our last day it snowed most of the way from Champaign to Detroit; at times it threatened to become heavy enough to slow us down. We did make it home after about 450 miles and eight hours.

*Contented sigh.* All four of us were very happy to sleep in our own beds, with our own pillows.
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A few notes.

We mostly stayed in La Quinta hotels. They are pet friendly, reasonably priced, have free wi-fi, are clean, and have a continental breakfast. While some were better appointed than others we have no complaints with any. Faye found our Fredericksburg cottage through VRBO and I found the Fort Davis tourist court by an internet search. We confirmed pet policies with those places' management.

We believe Achilles and Stella did fine in the car. After the first day they generally curled up. We bought a pillow to put up against the car door.




Or would come up for a look around before laying back down.


Having a bed from home probably helped Stella settle in at all the new and strange places.


Achilles was less concerned about the newness of it all.


We have talked about buying a secondhand minivan for our Next Big Trip and outfitting it with a bed, the idea being to free us from hotels. We have a fair amount of research to do.

Having a cooler freed us from being forced to eat crappy fast food or overpriced restaurant food.

Though we didn't need the extra gallon of water I insisted on packing, I felt better having it.

We did fine without a GPS. We would likely take our crank weather radio on our next trip; while bad weather thankfully didn't threaten it would be good to know what's up.

Each night before we moved on I used our iPad to find one or more vets near our destination . . . just in case.

Next time we would skip Galveston and add more time in west Texas. I think Faye loved the mountains.

[barry581]

Sounds like you four had a really great trip!! Thanks for the pics!!!!

[POPTOP]

Long trip and a beautiful one. While I can appreciate the cactus, I'm not particularly a fan. Geez, I even killed the living stone cactus.

So glad you all are home safe and sound and enjoyed the experience. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[Mr Kleb]

barry581, happy to share. I may inflict more photos on y'all in the coming days.

Fran, you're welcome. It was good to go away, and good to come home.

[ckfalz]

Awesome trip. You've probably seen more of Texas than most residents. I've been in all 254 counties in Texas and still have much to see and explore.

[smartrock]

Thanks for sharing the photos of your trip. For those of us who haven't been there, it's an enticement, seeing places we've not experienced. Looks like Stella and Achilles would do well almost anyplace as long as they're with you.

And as for cactuses, I have one that I got when I was in college maybe 40 years ago! It's the one plant I haven't managed to neglect to death!

[Bamps]

Thanks for sharing. Looks like an incredible trip!

[Mr Kleb]

ckfalz, thanks! The only region I haven't yet visited is the Panhandle. And I'm waaaaaay short of visiting all 254 counties.

smartrock, thank you. Getting out of the routine is refreshing and helps me appreciate my home a little more. Wow, a 40 year old cactus, that's remarkable!

Thank you Bamps. It was by far the longest trip, road or other, I have ever taken. Even my move to Canada took less time.

[Scoutpout]

what an epic journey! and your dogs look like they have no problems travelling at all, a big relief, makes getting out and seeing things sooo much simpler. I don't envie that drive back home though...."are we there yet?" thanks for sharing!

[Mr Kleb]

Yep it was a great trip. We were pretty sure Achilles and Stella would be good travellers. They certainly were during my move up here.


The last day was indeed a long one; not so much the length of the day as the 'are we there yet?' feeling.
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It's almost surreal to consider that only four weeks ago we were in Fredericksburg. Sigh . . .