We left I-10 about 150 miles east of El Paso and headed NE to Abilene on I-20. A weather option was to stay south on I-10, but we stuck with our original plan and headed slightly north. From Abilene, we will go east on I-20 though Dallas to Shreveport, LA where we hope to stay at the Barksdale AFB FAMCAMP RV Park tommorow night.
The desert gradually gave way to the high plains (cowboy country) with different ground cover and slightly rolling hills. The road however was mostly straight and there were definitly fewer trucks. You know you are "out there" when the GPS display is little more than a straight purple road line down the middle of the screen with nothing on either side of the road worth displaying. We have also seen a surprising number of giant wind turbines along the way, both along I-10 and I-20. Equally surprising, most of them were not turning when we drove by.
We also went through "Big Oil" country in the Midland/Odessea area of the Permian Basin - a large geoglogical area in west Texas rich in petroleum resources. There were lots of oil wells pumping and many new wells being drilled. Despite a lot of oil explotation in the early 20th Century, the oil industry looks alive and well in this area. The region also has the reputation of being home to some of the best and most passionate high school football programs in the State of Texas, and the setting for the book and the subsequent TV series, "Friday Night Lights". And, we didn't see any Obama bumper stickers on the back of pick-up trucks as we drove through the area.
We are staying tonight at a KOA Campground in Abilene. It is a nice campground just off the highway. We made good time and arrived around 4:00 PM CST. Depending on the Dallas traffic, we should be in the Shreveport area around the same time tommorow.
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