Trippin' Across Texas {Road Trip to Texas Part 5}

Within a couple hours of leaving Roswell, Jen and I had finally made it...

... to the Texas state line!

We stayed in Pecos for the night, and upon our arrival, we were disappointed to find that every restaurant in town was already closed!! 

SO, we got Subway at the gas station, and Jen whipped up a couple lemon drop martinis for us.

Classy.

The next morning, we were ready to see all that Pecos had to offer...

... like this cool sign...

... and a replica of the Judge Roy Bean courthouse...

and this random, standalone train car...

... and that pretty much exhausted Pecos's tourist attractions.

Jen and I knew we were on the home stretch of our trip, and we were excited to get to our final destination - Devine.

It was going to take something pretty extraordinary to distract us and delay our arrival.

Something extraordinary like an abandoned zombie bus.

That's right.

About twenty minutes outside Pecos, we were driving, minding our own business on US-285.  That's when we saw - in the middle of NOWHERE - an old, abandoned school bus off in the distance.

"WHAT is that bus doing there?!" I asked.

Jen looked at me and said, "I don't know.... but do you want to go check it out?"

Of course I did!  I turned myself around and headed back for the bus.

I guess we'll never know why it was sitting there in the middle of a field, but it definitely looked like something out of The Walking Dead.

About an hour into our drive, the terrain started to drastically change.  We went from hot, dry, treeless desert to hilly, slightly more vegetated land.  We were so excited to see green land that we stopped at this rest area for a few pictures.

Our next stop (after a bathroom break in what's sure to be the most populated Dairy Queen in West Texas), was lunch at Cooper's in Junction.

Jen's husband, James, recommended Cooper's, and knowing how much James appreciates Texas BBQ, I knew he wouldn't steer us wrong.

We made it to Texas!

Shortly after leaving Junction, we found ourselves in the Texas hill country!

We passed through Bandera... where apparently it's normal to park your horse outside the local bar.

After leaving Bandera, we knew we were getting SO CLOSE to Devine....

... and before we knew it...

... we had arrived!

One thousand one hundred and fourteen miles after leaving Denver, we had reached our final destination.

We were greeted by James, Jameson, Kenzie, and Hudson - who were VERY excited to see their mom! We then walked next door to Jen's parents' house, and spent the rest of the evening eating Scotty's famous nachos, drinking Shiner (or martinis for Jen), and relaxing!

The next day, I caught a flight back to Denver to spend the rest of my time off from work with my family.  (And let me tell you, it blew my mind that I was able to fly home in 2 HOURS, considering it had taken three days to drive there!)  As we pulled out of Jen's driveway, I waved good-bye to my car...

... and thought about how surreal it is that the next time I come to Texas, I will be LIVING there.  It's seems a little crazy, but it's definitely exciting!

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*Thank you, Jen, for making the drive with me!  It was a blast!!!~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*