I have driven across the country 7 times (this time makes 8) and each time, I try to change my attitude about Texas.  Inevitably, something happens to thwart me.  Texas is such a wide state that it is automatically irritating (having nothing to do with the terrain or the people, of course).  

 

Today, after Belle, wonderful watchdog that she is, alerted us to every occupant of the Best Value hotel in Ozona, Texas leaving the premises, starting at 5 in the morning ... we decided to give up on the idea of sleeping and get on the road early.  7:15 a.m. and we are out the door, everyone and everything packed in the weary Subaru.  Shortly after driving onto Interstate 10, headed east, I fall asleep in a contorted position, modified to take advantage of the props made by head rest and door handle; fortunately (understatement), I am not driving.  I did stay awake long enough to watch a stunning sunrise practically burst off the horizon, almost as a bomb, but beautiful to be its antithesis.   Somewhere, my half-conscious repositioning of body to enable continued sleeping fails miserably and I open my eyes just west of Fredericksburg, Texas.  

 

Cruising down the main streets, we are surprised to see an enticing array of German cuisine, mainstream restaurant fare, pastries, coffees, sausages, and etc....  in the middle of Texas.  Rather than indulge in any of these tasty calorie bombs, we stop at the 10-minute Quality Lube and receive the quickest oil change I have every seen in all my days of car ownership.  I had barely walked the weary dogs around the building before the Subaru drove out the other side of the garage, oil changed, and ready to go.  Before leaving this  interesting town, we experimented by purchasing a couple of kalache ... a pastry that looks like a bagel with a storage facility where the hole usually is... the storage space hosts any number of yummy additives, from cream cheese to apples to tasty german sausage.  We, of course, didn’t need to be indulging in such a calorie bomb to put us right back to sleep, so instead of forgoing the yummy pastry, we merely complemented it with another cup of coffee.  Not bad, at all, for an unexpected town in the middle of Texas.

 

We headed toward Austin, conservatively refraining from stopping at the wineries, the Peach Palace, and the Jerky tasting room, only to hit an annoying spurt of traffic, freeways under construction, and sad to say, an imitation of the San Francisco Bay Area.  It seemed oddly placed, out here in the middle of Texas, but we are more intent on simply getting out of the traffic than any deeper thoughts about the large-scale economic displacement of Bay Area businesses.   To offset our experience of Austin, we visit one of its State Parks, Mckinley Falls, pay our $8 to enter, and hop out of the Subaru, with great visions of an invigorating hike.  The first parts looked good, flat rock laid out like a football field before us.  But the sign warning us of high levels of fecal coliform in the river were off-putting, overshadowed only by the dark brown torrent of water over lower McKinley falls that landed in a calmer body of water, best described as a cesspool.

 

And so, my opinion of Texas remains mixed, but I’ll stay optimistic for the return trip to Seattle this coming March.  After a traffic jam in Houston, we head toward the thunderheads of the westernmost edge of a serious weather front, stopping just short of the rain in Winnie, Texas for the night.  It is always a joy to simply STOP driving these past few days, as a new type of weariness is overtaking the chaotic exhaustion that was our days before we left Seattle.

 

We watch Gerald Ford’s funeral on television tonight; what a comfort to watch a eulogy reflective of an honest and forthright Christian who was able to move high up on the political ladder and do good at the very top of the ladder!  We both wondered why George W. Bush wasn’t in attendance.  But we digress from the positive.  Gerald Ford’s nightly prayer for the last 30 years ... Proverbs 3:5-6 -- Trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths.  

 

Hmm... what an appropriate Proverb to inspire our motley crew on the eve of our last night of travelling.  As I struggle with how to shuffle my priorities, knowing full well this Gulf Coast adventure would do little to assist in my advancement at the UW, I was reminded of the real priorities  ... the Real Priorities ... they overlapped with what the University of Washington desired of me, but were not one and the same, by any means.  

 

It’s always amazing to me how calm life becomes when we turn in the right direction and suddenly find ourselves listening only to God.