Miriam McFate Travel Journal - 1926

Mon, Nov 15, 1926

We did not start very early this morning. 8:10. 21 miles to our next town Odessa Tex. Drove about a mile when we saw a flock of quails so stopped. Grover shot 2 of these. We will have these for dinner. This is all one vast prairie. Just a few buildings scattered here and there. Railway runs right along the road all thro here. Not a tree in sight. Nothing only sage brush and prairie grass. As we came near the town people do a little farming. Stopped here and got some groceries. 35 miles to our next town Monahans Texas. Nothing thro here but prairie. We can look ahead and see pavement as far as we can see. Looking behind it is the same way. We have passed one filling station and one ranch house in this 35 miles. We have sand everywhere thro here. Passed another ranch. We did not see any cattle either place. Just knew they were ranches by there names. We are 5 miles from Monahans. This is all sand mounds. Very little of anything grown here. This sand is very fine. We could see where the wind has made little drifts in it. It must be terrible out here on a windy day. This little town is built right in among these mounds of sand. 21 miles to the next town of Pyote Tex. This country is all the same, this whole stretch is practically worthless. The only living thing we saw was a little white goat. I think it has strayed away from the rest of the flock. It was the only one. We never even saw a bird.

This little town has one store, one filling station and a depot. It is 17 miles to the next one, Barstow Tex. We drove on. The country is very level again. Not a tree or a shrub. Just tiny turfs of grass. Here we saw a coyote. Grover took 2 or 3 shots at it. Came close enough to make it run but did not kill it. It did not act very wild. When we first noticed it, it was about 100 yards from the road. On we drove about a mile. Here we had to make a detour. Drove across the railroad and out into the prairie.

We detoured here for about 10 miles, round and round thru the sage brush and shrubs. The road is full of stones and lined with old tires and inner tubes. Someone surely has had their little joy of motoring. I pity the fellow that started across this detour with four poor tires. We finally reached Barstow. Stopped here for gasoline .23 cents. Have lots of good cotton and alfalfa here. Near town they have quite a number of irrigation ditches. There is a small stream here where they get their supply of water. 7 miles to Pecos the next town. This land is ever so much better than any we have come thro since morning. Crossed the Pecos River near the edge of this city. It is a little larger than most towns we have passed thro today.

After we left this town we came into a very desolate country again. Very little growing here. The soil still is very sandy. 20 miles to Toyah Tex. This has been this way the whole 20 miles. Saw a few cattle grazing thro here as we came along. Stopped to camp here 5:45. The time has fooled us quite a little these last 2 days.. The sun doesn’t set till 6:30. Daylight about 6:45 in the morning. This town is full of Mexicans. Time changes at El Paso. .25 cents to camp here tonight.