Leaving Iraan, TX, we headed west with an eventual destination of El Paso. We found out that Jake’s old roommate had moved there recently, so, why not? And also, we have a zip-trip weekend to Colorado planned in mid-January, and Taylor Erdeski (the old roommate who is not actually old, but was his roommate a few years back) had a previous love affair with our Lucy cat (they lived together as roommates also), so we figured we could ditch Lucy off on Taylor Erdeski (she’s a full name kinda girl) for our weekend zip-trip to Colorado.
I don’t prefer to drive more than 5 hours at a stint, so that put us in Van Horn, TX if we followed I-10W. So, we ended up in Van Horn, TX. Another middle of not-much town in Texas.
And we scored another full-hook-up RV park on the cheap too. We paid for three days up front, with plans to roll out on Sunday or maybe Monday if we weren’t feeling it Sunday.
Texas was still cold when we pulled into Van Horn. I don’t think they are used to cold here. They forgot to turn off the fountain in the courtyard of Hotel El Capitan. It turned into an icicle.
It warmed up pretty quick after we arrived though. I wore shorts on a run for the first time in weeks! (I think I’m becoming a cold-weeny.)
I found a ‘running’ trail, which turned out to be more of a ‘garbage dump’ trail on what would turn out to be our only day in Van Horn. But even with the trail’s evident use as a garbage dump for the residents of Van Horn, it was still oddly beautiful. I think I’ve missed the desert.
We also decided to go taste the local delicacies at Chuy’s, and check out the John Madden Haul of Fame, because apparently we are now ‘football people’ (when did this happen?!) The food was fine (Mexican) and the shrine to John Madden was cute.
We were hoping to make a Jeep trip down to Marfa, TX the next day, which was a Saturday. The last time we visited Marfa we went on a weekday, and found out that most things in Marfa are closed on weekdays. So, we were pretty stoked to get down there and partake in the oddities there on a weekend (when things are reportedly open).
But, we ended up having to pack up and haul out towards El Paso, where there is an airport, early in the next morning instead. Jake was struck with a family emergency (things are okay-ish now), and he needed to get his tall, tan behind to Rochester, NY stat.
Which was a little crazy. And a little sucky.
But, it also makes me realize how lucky we are to be able to move our house on a whim get to where we need to be. To have that flexibility, and to have the funds to make that happen. We might not be rolling in the dough, but we realize we are lucky to live comfortably, although typically decently frugally, and have a padding for emergency situations. Because let me tell you – day of flights ain’t cheap. And did you know you can still walk up to the ticketing counter and buy a plane ticket? Well, you can – up to an hour before the flight takes off. And we thought we needed technology…
Anyways, we’re in El Paso now. Well, Lucy and I are in El Paso anyways. We’ve never been to El Paso.
We’ll let you know how El Paso is soon.