Another day, another greasy spoon

We are at a roadside picnic area, where US-183 and US-283 divide, just south of Throckmorton, Texas (map).

We had another long day today, but I am a tad less tired tonight because we did not have the extra whammy of changing time zones. It was awful hard to get up this morning, though, and we took some extra time over coffee to pry our eyelids open.

We blasted through the rest of Kansas and all of Oklahoma today, stopping only to walk the dog, take a potty break, or change drivers. Once again Louise relieved me for an hour or so in the middle of the day.

We finally crossed back into Texas late in the afternoon, and figured a dinner stop for either Vernon or Seymour. We did not pass any restaurants in Vernon that were still in business or open, so we pressed on to Seymour, where there was a Sonic, a ramshackle Mexican place, and a greasy spoon called "Maverick's." We opted for this last choice, and it was a mistake. Now we've eaten in plenty of dilapidated roadside diners, and many of them have been quite excellent, with good and plentiful home cooking. We've learned you can't tell just by appearances. This, however, was not such a place. Sad to say, but Sonic would have been a better option, which may be why their parking lot was more crowded.

Oh well. At least we were provided sustenance, and we were glad we did not wait another 45 minutes to Throckmorton -- there weren't any restaurants there, either. My projection for today was to stop somewhere between Seymour and Throckmorton, so we started looking for a place to stop. This picnic area is a bit close to the roadway, but there is little traffic here, and it's secure and comfortable. I really did not want to press on another 45 minutes to the Wal-Mart in Breckenridge, which is a mile off our route anyway.

Tomorrow we will drive the final 250 miles to the Red Cross Disaster Services Maintenance Center in Austin. While we have successfully stayed in the parking lot there for a couple weeks in the past, we've learned that the landlord has put a stop to this, so we'll probably end up in nearby McKinney Falls State Park, where there is at least some power to run the air conditioning -- it's projected to be in the 90's for the foreseeable future.