#33!

Today has been a blast! Tony and I left early this morning and the only sad thing about it for me was having to adios Roy, Belle, Beau, Little Debbie and Big Al(ice). When I adios-ed Roy, he took it in stride and wagged his tail, which I guess means that he was laughing at me.

Belle, our official four-legged worry-wart, wrinkled her forehead and acted very concerned, but then again she always acts concerned. Beau, Tony's Blue Heeler, basically blew me off and ran outside to chase his squirrel friend.

And Little Debbie and Big Al(ice) were not happy campers about us leaving them behind for a couple of days, so they intentionally used their potty-pads right in front of me, so I had to stop and replace their soiled pee/poop-pads with new ones before heading out the door.

Our trip today was fun, too. Our first pit-stop was at the Pilots Truck Stop, in Junction. We bought two sausage, egg and cheese biscuits and one breakfast taco. Then we took off and ate while Tony drove Sparky down I-10.

Around Ozona, while we were listening to Willie's Roadhouse on Sirius' channel 59, I said, "Tony, don't you just love Sparky!"

"Yeah, it is a great go-cart. When do you want to start driving?"

"Soon," I lied.

About fifteen miles before we got to Ft. Stockton, Sparky told Tony that we were low on fuel and believe it or not, the very next exit sign showed a gas station. So, we took that exit and sure enough, out in the middle of nowhere was a tiny gas station and nothing else.

So when we pulled into this little oasis, in the desert, I told Tony that I would go inside to pay for the gas while he filled up Sparky. "I'm also going to dump out our trash," I said.

When I walked over to the blue, rubbermaid trash can, without a lid, I started to toss out what was left of the breakfast taco and two breakfast biscuits, but before I could dispose of our leftovers seven, beautiful cats, that all looked closely related surrounded me and started meowing at me. "Y'all want some breakfast?" I asked. Their answer was a definite yes, so I carefully unwrapped the taco and biscuits and fed them to the cats. Then I went inside the gas station and paid the woman for our gas and confessed to her that I had just fed the cats.

She smiled and said, "Thanks. I usually feed them in the evening when I close for the night."

When we turned off I-10 to get on Highway 67, Tony once again, asked me when I wanted to take over the driving, and I told him, "When we get to Alpine." And of course that didn't happen, even when we stopped to top-off Sparky, near Sul Ross.

When we turned onto Highway 118, Tony complained about being tired of driving. So, I ignored him and changed the channel to a comedy station, to make him laugh and forget about me driving. Then I sent Chet a text to let him know our approximate arrival time.

Seconds later, my phone rang and it was Chet. "Hi Nancy...."

We checked in, at the Terlingua Lodge, just a little past 3:00 and they gave us a key to our cozy cabin, #33.

After we had unpacked everything, we drove down to the Bad Rabbit Cafe, less than a quarter of a mile away. Christy, their friendly waitress greeted us and then brought us iced tea while we made up our minds what to eat. And believe it or not, we did not order the same thing. Tony ordered a BLT with fries and I ordered a veggie burger without the bun and fries. Then we got to visiting with Christy and John, the cook and it was a lot of fun.

Right after we started eating our delicious lunch/dinner=linner or dunch, Chet walked inside and all of us greeted him. Then the five of us started visiting and hears some good news—John is interested in possibly adopting Big Foot. "John, we are boarding Big Foot and his sister, at Hoegemeyer Animal Clinic, until we get back. And if they haven't already found a fantastic home for him we would love for you to adopt him..."

We stayed at the Bad Rabbit for over two hours having a great time visiting with Chet and our two new friends. And just before it got dark we adios-ed everyone and returned to our cabin. And here is a picture I took from our front porch.

Tomorrow morning we are meeting Chet for breakfast, at the Bad Rabbit. Then we plan to hang out with him and his friends for most of the day. And that's about it for tonight.

Y'all have a great evening, because we are!