I woke up to slushy snow outside. I had to make a doubletake. Snow? Here? In March? But it's not the first time. Driving back to Texas after Thanksgiving last year Van Horn got three inches of snow that stuck to the ground for a few hours, and interstate traffic on I-10 was slo-mo all the way to Fort Stockton.
The clouds were dark grey at 8am. This should be an interesting day! I've got my hikers back on, a clean set of jeans and my new Big Bend long-sleeve t-shirt. My black fleece never got far away from me. My sun-burned arms from Terlingua can now recover better.
I stayed in town a while for coffee,talking briefly to an elderly couple from Carefree, AZ (north of Scottsdale) who are on their way to San Antonio. The wife couldn't wait to see the Riverwalk. The husband had been there forty years ago but the riverwalk was nothing back than. I hope they like what they see. As in most things, one's enjoyment of things is largely dependent on what is expected. The wife apparently had expected more of West Texas than what she had seen so far.
"There isn't much intelligent life around here" she commented, pointing her thumb downward in that international No-Good symbol. She may not like Fort Stockton then either, their next major stop before they hit Texas Hill Country and later San Antonio. If they were to travel the backroads they may find more beauty and be less disappointed. People in towns are more willing to open up to travelers, too.
I drove Hwy90 back to Valetine to see mountain peaks dusted in white. The clouds were the darkest to the south, which makes me wonder how my friends down in Big Bend made it overnight. The winds howled. Tumbleweed rolled across the road. Birds fluffed themselves up to stay warm. At 10:45am it was still below 40F and the wind made it feel cooler.
It's going to be an interesting hike in the Hueco Tanks region.
Van Horn is a small ranching town off I-10 with a listed population of 2400. There isn't much in town besides hotels for interstate drivers stuck between El Paso, 120 miles further west, and Fort Stockton, 100 miles further east. There are more hotels here than any other business. There are more abandoned buildings in town, it seems, than homes. The Clark Hotel is finally being renovated into a useable hotel again. The one decent restaurant in town is Chuy's, a favorite even for sports announcer John Madden. "Since 1959" says its sign outside. The owners recently painted the adobe brick around the restaurant a lime green, which reflected brightly in the morning sun as I drove by.
The storm that dumped the slush here has moved eastward, hitting as far north as Chicago (no surprise!) and will rumble across Dixie bringing thunderstorms and possible tornadoes later today. Ironically this is the kind of weather I started this trip with: cool and stormy and rainy the second and third day.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/weather/chi-mxaweathertopmap030308mar03,1,7974921.story
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