Origins Painting Trip: From DeFuniak to Las Cruces.

I drive from the horrible hotel in Florence, SC, to DeFuniak Springs on Sunday, the second day of the trip. By morning, I am energized enough to do a little exploring in DeFuniak.

A hotel clerk gives me information on the place, and points out some cool photos on the walls. Native Americans, probably Seminoles, were living in what is now DeFuniak when a survey party for the Pensacola and Atlantic Railroad happened into the place.

They thought it was beautiful and serene, and then they found the round lake - one of two perfectly round lakes in the world (the other is in Switzerland). They loved the place, and named it for Frederick DeFuniak, president of the railroad that employed them.

This very cool old machine will give you directions to 100 places.
A knob at the top turns, and the directions show up in the
clear space up there. They are very simple, but right!

I drive around the round lake before heading west. It is a small lake, and charming, surrounded by Victorian Houses and a cute 1950s-looking little downtown.

From there, I make my way across Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, and into Texas. I push on to get to the western side of Houston. I've seen morning traffic there, and want to avoid it.

On Monday, I drive 747 miles across Texas. It is a long day, a long, long day. I love open spaces, big skies, a horizon that goes on forever, but Texas, and especially western Texas, just doesn't do it for me.

It is unrelentingly brown, and every time I drive through, it makes me feel that people have just given up. Homes stand abandoned and rotting. The cows I see on the highway look hungry and thin.

Over and over, I see places that make me think that people came there with great ideas and high hopes, and then left, disappointed and broken. So the cheery yellow New Mexico welcome sign makes me happy, even after 13 hours of driving.

The last exit in Texas is, yes, Exit Zero.

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Scenes from the Road

Truck carrying uncut licorice?

The Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway runs for more than 18 miles across the Atchafalaya River and its swamp in southern Louisiana, between Lafayette and the Texas border. It's a pretty amazing feat of engineering, twin spans, two lanes each, going on for miles and miles and miles.

Had to look twice at this sign!

Cool! A real plane at a rest stop near Pensacola, FL.

Overpass in Pensacola

Who doesn't want to live in Niceville?

They grow rice in east Texas, and I think these are rice fields. I saw Sand Hill cranes along this stretch of road, but they were too far away for me to capture in a photo.

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The Name Game

Have you ever noticed that you can make great character names from road signs? First name, last name, there you go. Sometimes it works better if you take the second line first.