We lit out for Texas this morning after a hearty Cracker Barrel breakfast. Got to say the bacon at this one was better than yesterday’s. 

We headed toward Pecos, Odessa, Midland via the beautiful Franklin Mountains State Park and Castner Range. It’s a steep incline/decline at 5244ft (still only half the height of some of the mountains we’ve been on in Colorado and only just a couple hundred feet shorter than our highest mountain in Australia) but the roads are perfect.

Lots of inland travel and into Texas, traveling the 180 through Carlsbad Caverns National Park, back up to 5700ft through Guadalupe Mountains National Park and passed the Butterfield Trail Marker.

The Butterfield Overland Trail (or Oxbow Route) traversed through Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. It was pre Civil War mail and passenger stagecoach route operating between 1858 and 1861.

What a hell of a trip during that time over this sort of terrain in all sorts of weather!

Cross country slight trip into New Mexico and back into the Texas panhandle we are back in oil and gas land through Orla – a very productive area.

On to Pecos where we stopped again and caught the damaged historic railroad  depot, Judge Roy Bean’s, Jersey Lily and the gravesite of ‘gentleman gunfighter’ Clay Allison.

Keep heading East through oil fields of Barstow and on into Odessa.

Quick stop at the Indian store for Jack – picked up a poker chip – checked out the bikes.

From here we went to Midland again and this time got to visit the Bush Family Home. A State Historic site in Midland, Texas.

The original home was built in 1939 for Mildred Etheridge and features the original knotty pine walls and floors.

After a few moves around in 1948-1950 the Bush’s settled in Midland during his oil times prior to politics.

The Bush’s, George H. W and Barbara were associated with cancer research during and after their daughter Robin’s death due to Leukemia, with baseball which George W. had a love for also.

George W. had a love for baseball and Roy Rogers. He eventually had a part ownership in the Texas Rangers baseball team.

The house is still going under preservation and getting it back to period correct interior. There were so many fun ‘ancient’ things like the refrigerator, bakelite phone, uranium glass and more.

Thanks Chase for his exceptional guided tour!

A stay in Midland again before moving to Novice tomorrow.

Night!

Kat x