Welcome to Pecos ... and an afternoon in Odessa, TX

It took about 7 hours to drive the almost 400 miles from Dallas to Pecos, TX.  I had really bad m.p.g. on this drive .... about 6.8 was my average and not much more, down from my normal solid 8mpg.  I assume it was the wind, because I kept my RPMs in the "zone" and my gearshift on economy, but still ....

I have a new winner for the dirtiest my Jeep has ever been!  It sprinkled/rained for part of the drive, and then the wind .... OMG my car is disgusting.

My first trip to see the surrounding area was to Odessa.  A beautiful day - sunshine, 83 degrees with a slight wind .. unfortunately, I spend the first half in the Jeep dealer while they worked on my GPS.  Jeep Customer Care called to make the appointment when I complained about how bad it was getting and they discovered there was a "Service Bulletin" out on it .... I still had to pay the $72 labor.  Does that seem fair?

Now I do understand why no one at the campgrounds where I stay recycles.  I drove about 12 miles with 4 garbage bags full of soda cans and I was rewarded with $3.18.  It truly was not worth my time to wash them out and collect them for recycle.

One of the places I stopped in Odessa was at the University of Texas for see the Stonehenge Replica.  It was cool to see.   Horizontally, it is identical to the original; vertically it is 70 percent of the original. Each limestone slab came from a nearby quarry.

 and then onto the The Odessa Meteor Crater & Museum - Perched on the edge of the 550-foot diameter crater, the museum tells the story of its namesake crater and offers exhibits about meteorites from around the world. Posters line a wall of the one-room museum, showing where meteors come from, where they’ve struck the earth, and the dramatic consequences.  There is a short walk around the meteor site.  http://www.texashighways.com/travel/item/8165-a-meteoric-blast-odessa-meteor-crater-museum

 I needed milk and a few groceries but decided not to shop in Odessa because of the heat; thinking it would be a better choice to stop in Pecos by my campground.  WRONG.  ha.  There are two stores in town, a Mexican market (very, very expensive) and a Walmart ... only the Walmart doesn't sell groceries.  I did get my prescriptions filled, however, before going back to the Mexican market for my milk.  When I say "expensive" ... they wanted $2.49 for one avocado.  I did buy a jicima and a cucumber along with my milk .... but they were out of  Mexican pastry, darn.