When Tom got off work on Saturday, Feb. 28, we began our drive westward around 5:00 p.m. We had a hotel reservation at a La Quinta Hotel in Abilene for the night, assuming we could be there in approximately 3+ hours, thereby getting a jump on our drive west toward Guadalupe Mountains National Park.
Thankfully Tom opted to drive first and when we left our house the roads were dry but by the time we were near Dallas all that changed. We began to encounter icy patches on the bridges, overpasses, and any other elevated surfaces, traffic that was moving faster that the conditions warranted, and seeing the results of that all along the way in the form of many cars, pickups, and 18-wheelers that had skidded off the roadway (some over-turned) into the median and ditches lining I-20! Sobering! Very stressful, anxious driving conditions. We could see that only the heavily traveled lanes of I-20 had clear tracks where traffic had kept clear, but a change of lanes required bumping up and over the frozen slush and the exit ramps and service roads were even worse, covered with much more ice and snow!
As stressful and nerve racking as it was in the daylight hours, as darkness fell it became even more hazardous driving! Just as we neared the U.S. Hwy. 180 Weatherford exit there was another wrecked 18-wheeler blocking part of the roadway so we gently exited off the interstate hoping to find a hotel in Weatherford for the night and hope for better conditions in the morning.
Oh my goodness, there was so much snow and ice covering the secondary roadways Tom was driving cautiously, creeping along on U.S. Hwy. 180 west and when we saw a McDonalds up ahead he pulled in for a potty break, switch drivers, and check on the nearest hotels. The doors were locked! Only the drive-thru was opened! Not enough workers showed up to open the dining room at McDonalds because of the treacherous driving conditions!
We then slowly (with me driving) made our way across the icy road to a WalMart which also had a Subway inside where Tom had a sandwich and we relaxed for a few minutes. We inquired about hotels and the young gal working the counter at Subway assured us that only a couple of miles up the highway was several hotels to choose from. Yippee! She pointed toward U.S. Hwy. 180 when she said this, so we headed toward downtown Weatherford on U.S. Hwy 180 and made our way to the courthouse square in downtown and had only passed one hotel, a small America's Best Value Inn. By this time we realized the gal at Subway must have meant a couple of more miles on I-20, not U.S. Hwy. 180! We were exhausted. Not going back to I-20. We circled the downtown square and headed back to the one hotel we had passed, the America's Best Value Inn. Their driveway and parking lot was still ice covered but we carefully made our way into the icy parking spot in front of our room for the night, so glad to be there, out of the car, off the treacherous roads for the night. It sure wasn't the La Quinta in Abilene that we had planned for tonight, but we were warm and dry and thankful to be safely off the highway.
There was lots of snow and ice on the roof of the hotel and by the following morning it had began a gradual slide off the roof line. Right onto the vehicles parked there! We heard a crash outside and when we looked out we saw that a large slab of ice and snow had slid off the roof onto our little red car and had knocked the front license plate off!
This pickup that was parked next to us had a slab of ice impaled on its hood!
Sunday morning we faced a frozen landscape...
We made it to Big Springs and exited off at a McDonalds for a breakfast sandwich and more coffee for me. Across the roadway we saw a huge Campbell's soup can!
As we made our up the onramp to I-20 I snapped these photos of the large evergreen trees....flocked in snow and ice!
When we reached Odessa, we stopped at the Odessa Meteor Crater Museum. The earliest known discovery of the crater was made in 1892 by Julius Henderson, a nearby rancher. For many years it was believed to be a "blow-out hole", caused by gas trapped below the surface erupting due to pressure. By the 1920's, following scientific excavations, the depression was recognized as a meteor crater, formed 63,000 years ago! The Odessa Crater, and four smaller craters, were formed when a great shower of nickel-iron meteorites collided with the earth. When freshly formed, the craters were funnel-shaped depressions, the largest about 550 feet in diameter and 100 feet deep. In the ages following their formation, the craters gradually accumulated sediments deposited by wind and water so that now the main crater is filled within six feet of the level of the surrounding plain. www.odessameteorcrater.com
Following our sightseeing stop at the Odessa Meteor Crater, we welcomed the sight of the sun gradually burning off some of the cloud cover and the further west we went, the better the road conditions were.
We decided to just keep driving. Right past the exit for Monahans Sandhills State Park. The roads are clear. The Guadalupe Mountains are calling to us. We make it all the way to Van Horn on Sunday evening, stopping at a Budget Inn hotel for the night.
We enjoyed great Mexican food for dinner at the famous Chuy's Restaurant---"All Madden Haul of Fame"-a shrine to sports! John Madden, former colorful television football broadcaster, designated the Chuy's Restaurant in Van Horn as his "Haul of Fame".
Tomorrow morning we head north to Guadalupe Mountains National Park!
