Travels With Abs - Austin to Canyon, Texas

Started a tad later than I had planned, but it all worked out well.
Eight year old Abs had plenty to keep her busy in the back seat and she did not even pack all her dinosaurs to take along. Whew! She had her head buried in books, puzzles, drawings, and coloring until we were well clear of the Austin area.
We just happened to pass through Llano about lunch time, fudged a little early, and stopped for bar-b-que to go at Cooper's, my most favorite BBQ place. Well, Goode Company and Cooper's run neck and neck. We stopped a little later at a roadside park for lunch. Amazing how cool it is in the shade, with a breeze, while the thermometer insists it is 99+.
As we entered very arid central Texas and hurried through the Panhandle, I began to call Abs' attention to some of the attractions. Her response was more than satisfying as she began to take notice of the area we were traversing. Seeing the world through the eyes of a child is nothing short of exhilarating.

Me: "Look, Abs, lots of goats! This is goat country because there is not enough water and grass to raise cattle."
"Look at the size of that yard! That house is sitting all by itself with no neighbors close by. That is just the way the pioneers lived. They took their sewing with them and had to walk or take a horse and / or buggy to visit their neighbors when they finally got too lonely."
Abs: "I know someone who bought a goat to mow his lawn."
"WOW! Look, Grandma, tall mountains! And that one looks like a Shield Volcano." She pointed to a line of disconnected mesas not too far away.
Me: "Those look tall to you because you live on flat land. Wait until you move to Colorado in a couple of weeks."
I pointed out the serenely beautiful blue sky peppered with fluffy clouds. She immediately noticed the windmills.

"Grandma, those are just like the windmills on the Teletubbies!"
We tried to find one close enough to the road to check out the monstrous machines up close. They were very quiet, just producing a slight hum.
"WOW! There are hundreds of them," Abs exclaimed. "WOW!" was quickly becoming her favorite word.

"Look, Abs, dust devils!"

"WOW"

That was a conversational element for a good half hour! There were a lot of dust devils, as well as farmers plowing dried fields and kicking up dust. She learned to tell the difference.

"How fast are you going?" she questioned several times.
"70 miles per hour." I answered repeatedly.
"Can't you go any faster?"
Long explanations on speed limits ensued. I had the same feeling though. I was traveling at 70 mph on a major, but not heavily traveled, road, and it seemed we were crawling. I have, however, learned my lesson the hard way and cannot tempt fate for another 2 years.

We have stopped in Canyon, Texas, just short of Amarillo, so we can spend the day exploring Palo Duro Canyon tomorrow and give Abs a day to stretch her legs.