The photos below are what we saw.
On our
last night in Galveston, Len cooked an awesome feast of stuffed
chicken, stuffed pork roast, beef tenderloin and sweet
potatoes. It was delicious.
The
following morning we hiked along the beach to his favorite
breakfast spot on the seawall. Above, the rising sun
backlights Galveston's "Pleasure Pier".
Our path
took us underneath the pier and offering an interesting view of
the pilings illuminated by the morning sun.
The
pleasure pier has an arcade as well as a number of thrilling
rides.
Heading
west along the seawall we passed the Hotel Galvez, Galveston's
namesake.
We left
Galveston and headed north toward Houston and came upon this
monument to the automobile.
Our
objective for the day was New Braunfels and a dinner with our
friends Collen and Paul. Paul and I went to the Colorado
School of Mines together and were pledge brothers in Sigma Phi
Epsilon. Colleen went to Mines as well, but after I
left. After New Braunfels, we had many days of
travel. We went through Dallas, then north to La Junta, CO
for some repairs. Thor, it seems, had sprung a fuel leak
(we thought) due to the spray of fuel along the underside of the
truck. We discovered that the real issue was "asphaltenes"
contaminating the fuel system. A major cleaning was in
order and all fuel lines were replaced as well as the fuel
filter and strainer. The asphaltenes had plugged the vent
line for the fuel filter and had caused the leaks. The
solution, aside from the cleaning and replacement, is to use a
fuel additive that prevents the formation of the
asphaltenes. Upon inspection of other trucks in the Terry
Lee facility, we discovered that all the trucks' fuel systems
were contaminated at some level. Interestingly, the trucks
that traveled the most were the worst which is consistent with
our experience. From La Junta, we traveled south over
Raton Pass and then south to Alamogordo, NM.
We had a
cold night in Alamogordo (note snow on the distant peak) and the
following morning we decided to do a "drive-by" of White
Sands. The dunes at White Sands are not sand at all, but
rather gypsum (calcium sulphate dihydrate).
The
recent rains had left pooling water on the gypsum roadbed.
The
strong local winds produced interesting patterns in the gypsum.
To the
southwest we could see the distant Organ Mountains on the far
side of the White Sands Missile Range.
A
parting view of White Sands National Monument and the snow on
Kinney Peak.
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Photos and Text Copyright Bill Caid 2018, all rights
reserved.
For your enjoyment only, not for commercial use.