Day 2- Our first long day

Planned departure time = 7AM

Actual departure time = 8AM

Mileage today = 621

Most paid for gas = $4.19/gallon in Fort Stockton (gouge the traveler), Tx

Anyone who knows us has probably been the beneficiary of our "lateness". We always make an attempt to be timely but sometimes it just doesn't work out. I had a friend in college named Homer who was late to everything; we used to joke around constantly as we waited for him that he was on "Homer-time". I asked him once about it and he said "I had a bad accident as a freshman mid-shipman at the Naval Academy and was in the hospital for a year recovering. During that year, I realized there were really two important things in life, God & family; everything else can wait." Well, we are often late to meeting family, but we try our hardest. We have resolved ourselves on this trip to not stress about schedules, agendas, or whatever. We have some planned events and we'll do our best to see a lot, but not at the sacrifice of our time together.

We pulled out and made great time. Jennifer's mom made fried chicken, butter sandwiches, and had some fruit for our lunch so we didn't have to stop (not that there really is any place good to stop and eat in West Texas). Aside from a couple of restroom breaks and one stop for gas, we had the pedal down and made it into Las Cruces around 5PM local time. See some pics below of our journey across Texas today.

This is how the boys were when I woke them up. They can't even stay still when they're sleeping! Note :Tate is completely flipped around with his feet underneath the pillows.

Any visit to Nana and Pa's house usually involves a feast. This morning was no different. We gobbled up breakfast casserole, cereal, fresh peaches, pigs in blankets, and cinnamon rolls. Braden holds the record for cinnamon roles at 5 while Tate pounded down 2 whole bananas. Thanks to Nana & Pa for hosting us and getting us started on the right foot.

Again, we're off..............

Abby is ready to go. She loves her brothers. Don't worry, she didn't ride like this, we were stopped getting gas. She rode the entire 10 hours properly strapped in to her car seat...................yea right.........
Downtown Fredericksburg, Tx. This is the heart of the Texas Hill Country. Turning right here takes you to Enchanted Rock State Natural Area where the Odom family has camped many times (mostly before moving to Houston).

We had a pretty "spirited" drawing contest this morning. I think there was even a tear shed when the judge (me) had to pick a winner during one of the heats. After that we played Brainquest (trivia questions from three different age appropriate sets of questions that mom brought along). Braden became the recognized scholar when he answered an astrology question from Dawson's set of 4th grade level questions. Heck, I didn't even know the answer. Everyone got a prize.

Three guesses as to what these boys are doing.............no, they are not cleaning the inside of the doors after puking from being car-sick.

If you've never seen it, this is West Texas. We saw this terrain for about 6 hours today. It's beautiful open country with mountains all around. It gets old after a while........

Finally, we leave Texas.

The front desk recommended we go to La Posta in Old Towne Mesilla for dinner. It was only about a mile from our hotel. There is a huge cage full of parrots in the waiting area. We could not get them to talk. The "New Mexican" style food was fantastic. I highly recommend this place to anyone traveling to Las Cruces.

Trivia Factoids about Mesilla:

At one time it was the largest settlement between San Antonio & San Diego. The restaurant is located in an adobe building built in the 1840s.

Billy the Kid was convicted and sentenced to hang here in about 1871.