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After
leaving San Antonio, I visited Del Rio, Tx, and crossed the border
into Acuna, Mexico just to see what it was like. Went into a
store there to buy a pack of cigarettes. Looked around a
little bit. It was so hot and crowded I just turned and came
back over the border. Headed toward Fort Stockton and the
Comanche Motel & Hostel. And what
a blessing it was when I got there to find a frosty air conditioned
room, a clean cool shower, a refridgerator, clean bunks, and cable
TV! I made good use of them all!
Photo on
right is the empty dorm room. There's my "Hostels USA"
guidebook on the chair. After a long day of driving &
sight-seeing, I like to kick back and check out all the places that
I could possibly stay the following day. If there are no
hostels in the area, then I know that I better look for a
campground.I chose
to sleep on the top. I figured it would make it a little more
difficult for a tarantula to climb up to reach me. Plus, I
know that they are too heavy to climb up walls or across the
ceiling. I also know they don't seek people out on purpose,
but I didn't want one to accidentally stumble across me on his way
to 'someplace else'. I asked
the manager if they ever see Tarantulas around there. She
said, Yes, sometimes they have a problem with them coming out to sun
themselves all over the parking lot. And I
asked her if they ever find scorpions in any of the rooms. She
said, "rarely". Well, "rarely" was too much for me--I stripped
my bed and turned the mattress over making sure that this day would
not be one of those "rare" times when one shows up in the
room. Not in MY bunk!But I
made it through the night in one piece. After I got settled
& relaxed, I didn't even really worry much about anything
crawling around. I was too tired. And who cares
anyway--I'll just go and get the anti-venom shot. What the
heck--I'm tough. This is
just all part of the 'fun' of the road trip. Not knowing what
to expect, learning new things, pushing your fear limits almost to
the point where you don't really care all that much. Face it,
and get on with it!
These
were the managers of the hostel. They were both friendly, and
shared some conversation with me that I very much needed at this
point of my journey. It's always good to meet people along the
way who like to talk and share a little time with a traveling
stranger. In the
morning it was 52 degrees in Ft. Stockton. Felt
wonderful! Coffee was brewing for me in the office. We
said our good-byes and I was off headed toward Marfa before the sun
got too high in the sky.It would
be another long, long, long day! 
