West Texas Oil Fields

    On our second day of driving through Texas we found the oil fields.  We also saw RV parks full of oil field workers and hundreds of businesses supporting the oil industry.  We saw a bunch of cotton fields (I didn't know that Texas was a big cotton grower) and a lot of cactus.  Lots of dust, trucks, and tumbleweed.  It is my second least favorite place we have traveled.  Nevada is still number one.
    While I am whining may I also add that it was windy today and we went through a tank of gas in record time.  Not as big a problem as it might be because gas in under $2.  Such a deal as we fill up our 55 gallon tank.  However, getting gas is always a challenge.  We are 46 feet long with our car in tow and over 11 feet tall.  Manuvering into a gas station is a challenge, expecially since we can't back up with our car in tow.  Today it went ok both times we got gas.

     Texas interstate roads are odd.  Frontage roads run along them almost the whole way and there are short little exit and entrance roads all along the way.  Hardly the "limited access" road that an interstate is supposed to be.  Getting on and off the interstate with a 45' vehicle that is almost as long as the exit ramp is exciting in a bad way.  The traffic was heavy, the roads were bad and bumpy, and just wore us completely out.  My GPS directions and my phone directions did not agree in helping us find our campground.  We ended up driving through Odessa for 30 minutes during rush hour, sigh.  
    But here we are at our gravel campground mostly full of oil workers right next to an oil pump.  There is a little pond nearby with a fountain which has colored lights on the spray.  There is a big playground for the kids and a pretty nice workout room and rec room.  The folks are nice and we are not right on the Interstate as were most campgrounds we passed today.
     Tomorrow we drive to Big Bend - a park bigger than some states.  No cell phone service, no TV, almost no radio.  There is Internet at the campground store but it is likely the blog will not get posted for a few days.  Just think of us under the big skies of Big Bend.