I started my trip to see my cousin Karen and my Cousin-in-Law Dave about 3 weeks ago.  I had vowed that this trip was going to be different for several reasons.  One was that I was going to try to travel as much on U.S. and State Highways. Stay off  the interstates as much as utterly possible.  Second objective was to return to my parents humble beginnings as man and wife and to learn as much as I could about the period that they were there (please see my open letter to Mom and Dad.) The third thing was to meet cousins that until fairly recent, did not know they even existed.  I was able to accomplish everything I wanted - and them some,

When I left San Antonio way back on Sept 7.  I had already out where my first photo-op would be. That did not happen.  It actually ended up about 25 miles earlier.  I was traveling on Hwy 90, west of Del Rio TX and went over a bridge.  I looked - could not stop on the bridge - but went to the other side, turned around to go back.  This was absolutely beautiful.  This is the Pecos River.  Never in a hundred years did I ever expect this in Texas.

Now my education began.  What was to be my first place to stop for pictures (now second) was Langtry TX.  This was the home of Judge Roy Bean.  If you have never heard of Judge Bean I will tell you a little.  He was self imposed judge.  He as actually no more than a Justice of the Peace, but he administered his own brand of justice.  He was hung up on an opera star in New York by the name of Lilly Langtry.  He wrote her often to invite her to the town that he named after her.  He even named his house the Operal House.  Sadly, she did not show up until the Judge had died several months earlier.  This is where my education began.  Langtry was not named after Lilly but after a civil engineer that worked for the railroad.  Towns sprung up along the rail routes that were named after such folk, such as Sanderson, Langtry and Comstock.

Who woulda' thought that out in the middle of no-where would you expect to find a Prada store.  But, low and behold, there it was.  Nothing else around.

This was built several years ago and was meant to be a piece of art.  It is an actual building with the exception that it is not a deep as a regular size store.  It is just a store-front.  The handbags have the bottoms cut out, the shoes are screwed to the shelves.  It has been broken into several times and the would be thieves tried stealing the items.  They were surprised.  This building has now been put on the Texas Museum Registry and now it is up to the state for the upkeep.

The next day, it was off to White Sands National Park in New Mexico.  I have not been there since I was about 7 or 8 years old.  It still amazes me.

 This place has the whitest sand you will find anywhere.  It is said that the sand is still another 30' underground.  It shifts with the wind and what you see today could and will be totally changed tomorrow.  On bright sunny days, sunglasses are required because of the possibility of blindness. That's how bright and white the sand is,

OK - that's enough for today.  I will continue with the Petrified Forest, Painted Desert and Monument Valley next time.