After a torrential rain storm last night and getting in after midnight we were both a little tired this morning. We have a long, flat ride ahead of us as we travel from Denison, TX to Lubbock, TX.
In fact, I was incredibly tired after a few hours of driving and had a hard time paying attention while I drove. The road is mostly unremarkable through this part of the country and it’s easy to let the monotony take over and get very distracted. I finally had to stop at a small rest stop somewhere on route 82 outside of Lubbock just to regroup. We are only about an hour away from our destination.
The wind is blowing very stiff across the plains as various thunderstorms roll through the area. It’s still stormy in Texas today as you can see above. I didn’t hear anyone complaining about the rain.
We really weren’t going very far so our thought was that we would find a hotel, ask them where their favorite place to eat was and then ask the waiter if they could go one place in Lubbock where would that place be.
So we go to the Arbor Inn & Suites which would turn out to be one of our favorite places to stay this trip. I don’t normally write reviews but I did write one for them. So far, it was the most comfortable, well run, quiet places we stayed. The Internet was fast and reliable and we were able to wash our clothes for free.
We asked the people at the desk where we should eat which they recommended a TexMex place named Abuelo’s Mexican Restaurant.
The service at Abuelo’s was excellent. We wanted to sit outside and listen to a band while we eat but it turns out they don’t serve the restaurant food out there. The band was also really loud so we headed in to sit in a booth.
For some reason lately Mexican food just seem like too much, no matter how much I eat. Tonight being no exception they deliver this huge plate of food after eating too many chips. I did my best to clean my plate but only got about half of it down.
While we were there we asked our waiter where we should go before the sun went down. More specifically, if he only had 1-2 hours where would he go? He said to head out to the twin lakes of Buffalo Springs and Ransom Canyon.
It is totally out in the boonies from Lubbock which is already out in the boonies itself. Ironically we tried to stay at a place near here named the Harvey House that is situated in an old converted train station and museum just south of Lubbock. They didn’t have any rooms for the night so we couldn’t stay there.
We ended up going to Ransom Canyon and driving around the lake. It’s an ungated community with beautiful houses on or near the lake. But there wasn’t much there and it didn’t seem to be a place for the public to hang out. Which is why I wondered why the waiter would send us out here. Who knows.
Both lakes are situation in a canyon and have interesting topology in an otherwise unremarkable local.
On the way to Ransom Canyon I saw these big electric generators situated at the location of a coal fired electrical plant. In order to take photos of them I had to essentially climb a fence to get it out of the way of the camera.
All of the wind turbines were spinning presumably making electricity. I hadn’t really mentioned wind power but it’s very noticeable how much of a commitment various states, schools and businesses are making with this technology. They have dotted the landscape as we’ve driven on all these back roads up to now.
After taking the pictures we headed back to the hotel, finished washing our clothes, watching a bit of a movie while I worked on this blog then got ready for tomorrow.
We’ve decided to go to Big Bend National Park tomorrow. It’s been a while since I’ve been there and Gloria has never been. I’ve never stayed there over night so this should be interesting. They don’t really have an “address” and I can’t remember how to get there. We’ll sort that out in the morning or on the drive.
Gloria is starting to heal. Thank goodness for the help of those doctors to get her skin feeling good again.
Day 5 is complete. I’ve just about stopped thinking about all my responsibilities.