Still Going! States: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas January 23, 1999 by Wayne Brown

12:45 AM (Mountain Standard Time): Restroom stop - Arizona (near New Mexico border)
(Magellan GPS Location: 37º North latitude, 119º West Longitude)

1:50 AM (MST): Gas stop - Deming, New Mexico
(Magellan GPS Location: 32º 21 minutes 60 seconds North latitude
111º 5 min. 51 sec. West longitude)
Karen is still driving. I was snoozing and I missed crossing the border from Arizona into New Mexico. After we crossed the border we drove across the low mountains that are part of the range of mountains that form the North American Continental Divide. We crossed the Continental Divide about 18 minutes before we arrived here. It's my turn to drive now as Karen goes to sleep in the passenger's seat.

8:00 AM (Central Standard Time): Gas stop - Ft. Stockton, Texas
(Magellan GPS Location: 30º 53 minutes 64 seconds North latitude
102º 55 min. 03 sec. West longitude)
We are now in the second largest state in the United States, Texas! The western part of Texas is very flat and not very many people live out here. There are also not many gas stations around, either. We have a trip computer on our van that gives us the distance we can travel until we run out of gas. I watched the "Distance to Empty" display on the computer do a count down to empty...10 - 9 - 8 - 7 - 6 -5 - 4 -3. At 3 miles left to empty I turn off the computer display. We are still eight miles from Ft. Stockton and I don't want to see the miles count down to zero before I get to a gas station. I figure, what I don't know won't hurt me. I don't wake up Karen, because I figure that what she doesn't know can't hurt me either. When we finally get to the first gas station I see, I am releaved to discover that I stlll had about one and a half gallons of gas still in the tank! I could have driven for another 30 minutes!

While Karen was snoozing andwe crossed the border from New Mexico into Texas. A little while after we crossed the border...We had to set our watches ahead another hour. We are now in Central Standard Time. It seems like 6:00 AM to us, but it is 8:00 AM in Texas!

Karen takes the steering wheel and it's my turn to snooze. Before I snooze I check the computer...Still out!

10:15 AM (CST): Breakfast & gas stop - Onzona, Texas
I wake up as Mrs. Brown is pulling off the highway into a tiny, little town...Ozona, Texas. We are in Crocket County and this town's big thing is a Davy Crocket statue. Even though Davy Crocket was not born in Texas, Texans love him. Davy Crocket was a hero at the Alamo. (You can check out the movie at Blockbuster, starring our famous Orange County, California resident, John Wayne.)

We have lunch at the Choo-Choo Bar-B-Q. We share a pork rib plate with cole slaw, potato salad, and peach cobbler for desert.

At the gas station we find out why we are having such good weather. The lady at the gas station tells us there was a huge storm there the day before, with lots of wind and rain. Apparently a big storm is racing ahead of us, so we are getting the calm weather after the storm.

Gas stop and computer repair - San Antonio, Texas
This is the home of the Alamo, but we are not here to play tourist, we are on a mission. This is our only chance of getting the compuer working again, before we get to Florida! The best place to find computer experts is where experts hang out...At a university computer lab! We stop by the computer lab at University of Texas at San Antonio. A computer techie directs us to a little local computer store. We take our computer there and hope and pray. The guy tells us to leave our computer there for an hour and he will know if he can easily fix the problem or not. We now have a new friend. His name is Shawn the computer guy. Our computer is now back online and that is why you are seeing this!

Unfortunately, we taken lost two hours of travel time, so it's back on the road again and I'm driving.

7:15 PM (CST): Restroom stop - (a ltttle west of Houston), Texas
(Magellan GPS Location: 30º 4 minutes 10 seconds North latitude
99º 6 min. 83 seconds West longitude)
We have passed the half-way point in our drive to Florida!

8:00 PM (CST): Dinner and Gas stop - Houston, Texas
(Magellan GPS Location: 29º 47 min. 02 sec. North latitude
99º 41 min. 54 sec. West longitude)
Cracker Barrel for dinner. We aren't that hungry so we share a "Campfire Beef Dinner". This is beef, whole potatoes, carrots, and onions wrapped together in aluminum foil and cooked. It's pretty good. Hey, Houston...No more problem!

Karen's turn to drive now.

11:00 PM (CST): Restroom stop - Houston, Texas
(Magellan GPS Location: 30º 6 min. 99 sec. North latitude
93º 49 min. 20 sec. South longitude)
Yes, still Texas...What can I say? It's a big state.

Well, it's my turn to drive now.

STOP 1 - Arizona
Location: Arizona (near New Mexico border)
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds

STOP 2 - New Mexico
Time: 1:50 AM (MST)
Air Temp: 29ºF
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds
Car miles traveled: 711.9 miles
Average miles per gallon (mpg): 18.4 miles per gallon
Price (gal. of gas regular unleaded): $0.909 / gal.
Gallons of Gas purchased: 10.14 gal.

STOP 3 - Texas
Location: Ft. Stockton, TX
Air Temp.: 59ºF
Weather: Clear skies, a few clouds
Car miles traveled: 1,049.7 miles
Price (gal. of gas regular unleaded): $1.059 / gal.
Gallons of Gas purchased: 18.413 gal.

STOP 4 - Texas
Location: Onzona, TX
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds
Cost of lunch: $10.20
Gas Price: $0.989 / gal.
Gas purchased: 6.552 gal.

STOP 6 - Texas
Location: a little west of Houston
Air Temp: 50ºF
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds
Car miles traveled: 1,503 miles
Average mpg: 18.7 mpg

STOP 7 - Texas
Location: Houston, TX
Air Temp: 52ºF
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds
Car miles traveled: 1,552.2 miles
Average mpg: 18.7 mpg
Gas Price: $0.829 / gal.
Gas purchased: 15.579 gal.

STOP 8 - Texas
Location: Orange, TX
Air Temp: 43ºF
Weather: Clear skies, no clouds
Car miles traveled: 1,679.2 mi.
Average mpg: 18.8 mpg

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