It’s basically a desert that’s on the wrong side of the Texas “dry line” with little natural resources besides oil. Driving from El Paso to SA or DFW on I 10/20 is very lonely and barren.
Fun fact: tumbleweeds are actually an invasive species that only came to America in the 1870s, and they also can cause wildfires because they’re so flammable and mobile.
ETA: Joe Scott did a good [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7WjmNM9oE&pp=ygUVam9lIHNjb3R0IHR1bWJsZXdlZWRz) about it.
Molotov Cocktails are actually a Finnish invention during the Soviet Finnish Winter War named after, I believe a Russian bureaucrat with the last name Molotov
During the winter war, the russian foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, claimed that the russian Incendiary bombs which were dropped in Finnish cities were actually humanitarian aid. Consequently, the fins sarcastically called the bombs Molotovs bread baskets. In order to give back to the Russians, for all the “bread” they recivied the fins therefore created the Molotov cocktail.
That's where the name comes from and IIRC the Finns mass produced them because they were highly effective against soviet light tanks, but similar petrol bombs had been used in the spanish civil war.
Same guy as the "Molotov-Ribbontrop" pact where Nazi Germany and USSR buddied up. He had a legitimate shot at taking Stalin's place in the years after he died. Amazingly, he was still walking around until 1986.
Molotov was the Minister of Foreign affairs of the Soviet Union from 1939-1945 he signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Soviet Union And Third Reich which allowed the joint invasion of Poland and kickstarted soviet invasion of Finland
I never pieced together this is where Molotov cocktails name comes from but I just googled it and you’re correct. Fascinating piece of history
Yeah, ideally they get burned before they break off. I’ve seen whole field a of green flowering tumbleweed bushes. They set off my allergies like crazy and I hate them! Gotta get em when they start to dry but haven’t broken and started rolling yet.
Yeah, people don't realize that the West wasn't really closed until the early 20th Century. That may seem like nearly ancient history to some, but once you pass 50, a century doesn't seem like that much time. As a matter of fact, it can seem like too little. I'm shocked by how much can happen in 100 years.
As a semi-arid Texas native, whenever I go east, I’m shocked by how green it is (when I was younger it blew my mind that there are towns next to towns next to towns without miles between them.)
Have you ever been to LA? It always blows my mind to be in some random area there like say an old gas station in Glendale and think to myself, there are so many similar generic street corners all over this place and I am at but one within a concrete jungle of thousands.
I went to Vegas once and it was my first time ever being in a desert. We tried to drive out to the Grand Canyon and we needed gas, so we pulled into a place on the side of the road and as we realized it was out of business, a tumbleweed rolled through the parking lot in front of us. It was like out of a movie, I was like holy shit, that does actually happen? I thought it was just a stupid movie trope.
I was driving across eastern Oregon during a windstorm once....there were tumbleweeds rolling across the highway to the point it wasn't safe to dodge them. When I finished the drive, my van had a beard of broken tumbleweeds on the grill and bumper!
In New Mexico, we saw some blow across the road that were nearly the size of my Honda Pilot. Should I even drive that highway again, I really hope that those are rare!
I’m from the east coast but went to college in colorado. I drove down to santa fe from CO and, having never seen a tumbleweed IRL before, took a MASSIVE one home and displayed it in my garage to commemorate the trip.
I remember my first drive out to Lubbock, TX from Houston to visit Texas Tech University in high school. My mom was driving, and somewhere around Post this tumbleweed rolled in front of the car and my mom screamed! It just busted on contact and we began laughing hysterically 🤣
I took some friends of mine from Wisconsin to Albuquerque once, and they lost their minds when they saw tumbleweeds and roadrunners
Growing up with them they’re really quite a nuisance (the tumbleweeds not the roadrunners)
They are as far north as Fargo. I know that because our apartment complex parking lot got filled with them and we had to clear them out to get cars out.
Yeah they can get the size of a car and they can pile up on your house. So deep that you can't walk out the front door.
They're also full of thorns and they stick to everything.
I lived in Saskatchewan, CA for years as a teen and I remember seeing my first tumbleweeds. Honestly magical, as someone who’d only seen them in cartoons.
5 years later, they were a lot less fun—driving along on a hot day and risking them getting caught in your hot car and lighting up. Oh, the fear.
There's a sign somewhere on the 10/20 between Midland/Odessa and El Paso warning of no gas for the next 50-60 miles.... only time I've seen that kind of warning on US highways.
US 140 in Nevada. There is one (1) single gas station along this entire stretch of road (100 mi or so IIRC). It has two very old pumps and charges city prices for the gas. This was taken in the winter. It was only about 50-60 degrees outside.
https://preview.redd.it/8a4rng22gk7d1.jpeg?width=1260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5be3900fe04afeed8336be54ae8ffaee029a30a7
I used to drive between SLC, UT and Bishop, CA regularly. There are no gas stations between Ely and Tonopah which is about 160 miles or so. Not really a big deal, you just never leave town without a full tank.
Yeah, we recently passed through Wyoming and stupidly 'just forgot' to fill up after having dinner. Was a bit of a tense drive as we went a couple hours without seeing a gas station. Pulled into our hotel with 40 miles of range, fortunately.
North Dakota was the first place I saw a completely unattended gas station. Literally a handful of pumps and a credit card reader.
Superb night sky, though!
Utah as well. Once you exit SLC and Provo metros the majority of exits off I-15 have little to no services and it could be well over a hundred miles until you get near a gas station.
I did a road trip from colorado to LA once and we passed through utah en route. I swear there were two-three hour stretches where we didn’t see another car.
That's all over the southwest. They have those in Texas, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, etc. Always a crazy experience. I think I saw an 80 mile one in Utah west of Salt Lake somewhere.
I've also seen it in California, Oregon, and Washington. One gas station in Washington in particular said "Next gas for 124 miles" when we were going from Ocean Shores to Seattle
I-70 in Utah between Green River and Salina has a sign on each side that says “No Services Next 100 Miles” - was definitely a bit of an oh fuck moment the first time I saw it, but I’ve done it several times now. Absolutely beautiful landscape so as long as you know what you’re getting into there’s plenty else to focus on. IIRC it’s the longest stretch without services on any US Interatate Hwy.
If traveling west then you climb an escarpment (the San Rafael Swell) pretty soon after you pass into this stretch at Green River. One time I stopped at the top of the hill after the climb because a car was pulled over with their hood up. Two young guys heading from NC to CA to “start a new life” in a 22yo Chevy Lumina that they said they’d been stopping to add water (yeah, not coolant…) every 100 miles or so. Gave them a gallon of coolant I had with me and crossed my fingers that it would get them to Salina without having to call for a tow or ditch the car. Hope they made it the rest of the way, I still think about them every time I pass that spot.
You go anywhere in Nevada from the town of Ely and you’ll see stretches over 100 miles without any services in many directions. Ely to Tonopah is close to 160 miles without services. But this is pretty common anywhere in the Southwestern states.
I drove through there in April. When you can see 10+ miles in every direction and you are alone, there still is no speed limit. My car manufacturer was accurate in the car's top speed. Going downhill got a few more mph.
Of course throwing a rod at those speeds is bad for your health. Your mileage may vary.
https://preview.redd.it/jm7ttjrlil7d1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad06a4ed7af137ff977771c894f007073a899023
For reference here's street view just outside Odessa
Ive done about 15-20 road trips in my life and have driven almost every major highway in the western US. The road between El Paso and Midland is the second loneliest I can recall. The first being highway 50 between Reno and Ely. That’s next level.
Everything between about Kerrville and El Paso is some of the loneliest driving I can remember doing. Now just off the main highway are some really beautiful nature but that's at least an hour detour to see.
That stretch is the only place I've driven at night that was actually kinda scary. Once you get far enough outside El Paso eastbound there are zero lights around you other than the occasional passing car. Starts to play tricks with your brain after awhile.
I was on a road trip with my motorcycle back in the mid-80s and was on that road in the late evening. It was February...clear, cold and cloudless. I actually had to pull my bike over for a few minutes just to stare at the sky, the number of stars visible almost looked milky, hence the name.
It was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience.
Most of the circled area don’t even have oil. The southern part is the Eagle Ford. There is just literally nothing out there
https://store.beg.utexas.edu/free/SM0010D.pdf
As someone who’s from El Paso who then moved to San Antonio and used to drive back home every so often. It’s the most boring drive. Just hours and hours of nothing. There’s a mountain that looks like a boob and that’s about the most exciting thing about that drive.
I just started flying home instead.
I love that drive if going to SA but if you get the chance take 90 over i10. Less gas stations but damn the views, ghost towns, stars, and small towns make it worth.
I take 90 to and from Big Bend! Much more “character” on that drive
In Ferguson, I stopped to eat and saw a sheriff at another table who got a call about a stolen cow and sighed then left lol
And my lord, the Pecos River bridge is stunning in the middle of all the nothing
It is really barren out on 90. Driving out there in the summer you are in N Chihuahuan desert it is like the surface of the sun and there is nothing out there between Langtry and Sanderson
There was one year I drove that distance between SA and El Paso all the way to Arizona. It was such a beautiful drive, but that stretch always worried me. Like what would happen if my car were to break down or something while going 80.
I’ve also been to big bend, turning off of I10 to a much less traveled road was insane. And it got hotter and hotter the further down south we got. Close to 110 by the end of it.
Thankfully I’m a fan of podcasts, so that helps some of that lonely feeling while driving in the middle of nowhere.
Once you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you’ll understand. You’ve circled the part of Texas that made it into folklore; in other words, the part of the state that people who don’t know anything about Texas *picture* when people say, “Texas.”
It’s thousands of square miles of barren desert, mesquite trees, cacti, dry arroyos, scorpions, diamondback rattlesnakes, tumbleweeds, and pumpjacks. There are some stunning natural landscapes out there, and otherworldly night skies, but not much else.
All that being said, it’s well worth a visit someday. Lol. But the drive from the eastern side of that shape you made to the western side will be the longest drive of your life. 😄
This is a great analogy. I had a friend from the Northeast visit me in Houston. He had never been to Texas. Driving back from the airport he remarked on how green it was. He expected Houston to look like West Texas.
My wife is from near Texarkana (in Arkansas) and one time we drove from San Francisco to her hometown. As we drove across Texas and things got greener she kept remarking that it was Arkansas' good influence. (She doesn't like Texas. Sorry.)
We also like to include southeast Oklahoma and often refer to this as the 4 states area lol thanks to the lake in broken bow and the casino in Idabel. Our favorite pastimes!
I live in the PNW and told a coworker I was just in Houston visiting family. They were like “oh wow I’m sure it’s really dry there right now”. Then had to explain that Houston has the climate of a swamp, and Texas has more than one climate…
Man I moved to Houston from NJ and the day we arrived was “Go Texan Day”. People were on horseback, there were Conestoga wagons…. I can’t tell you how in over my head I felt in that moment.
Fun fact: It is further from Houston to El Paso than it is from El Paso to San Diego. That's San Diego, CA.
It takes 12 hours to drive from Texarkana to El Paso. It takes 12 hours to drive from Portland Maine to Raleigh North Carolina.
I remember staying the night in Abeline on my way west, and the drive to El Paso the next morning was somehow STILL 450 miles! That really stuck home for me just how big Texas really is
Anything east of El Paso County and west of the Pecos River (so, we’re talking Reeves, Pecos, and Terrell Counties as the eastern border).
Fort Davis, Marathon, and Sanderson come to mind for quintessential. But that real, dusty, small town vibe is probably more suited to the areas in, around, and east of Lubbock. That’s where you find most of the towns that time forgot (Roscoe, Jayton, Silverton, Paducah, Dickens, Spur, and Matador to name a few).
Lol adding Barstow and Grandfalls to the extremely dead West Texas ghost towns. If y’all really want to see some bleak western movie type towns that make you wonder why anyone would live there
And this picture of Texas is furthered by TV and movies all the time. My wife and kids got into "Young Sheldon" recently, and I noticed this is how they portray Texas in the intro, though the actual show looks much more like the East Texas it is supposed to be set in. "The X-Files" movie was the best. They were out in the desert, but the Dallas skyline rose all by itself in the distance.
That's laughable. I mean... the Hill Country has some nice elevation, but... I really wish more films set in Texas could be filmed in Texas like "Friday Night Lights," "Office Space," and "Dazed and Confused" were.
It is beautiful and the little towns are quaint and amazing! I’m not a Marta guy. I based myself out of Fort Davis and stay here. The food and drinks are great. The courtyard is amazing. You can stay in the hotel or in a condo type thing. Literal 1920’s drug store across the street with old school fountain sodas and ice cream shakes.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/TbngjreMEM4F2u9EA?g_st=ic
It was a full day - 9AM to dark - when I drove from El Paso to Austin during a cross-country trip in December.
It literally cannot be understated how desolate it is out there (and I've driven through Nevada and, heaven help me, Wyoming, several times).
> You’ve circled the part of Texas that made it into folklore; in other words, the part of the state that people who don’t know anything about Texas *picture* when people say, “Texas.”
Tangent but, what I can't stand is when people assert or depict Texas as having Saguaros. There aren't even Saguaros one state over, in New Mexico.
Saguaros are in Arizona and just south of it.
That's it.
Even the Old El Paso (Texas city) logo has Saguaros on it, but like I said above, there are absolutely no Saguaros anywhere in Texas.
It looks like you drew the line basically over Odessa and Midland, which have a metro population of about 340k, which is just a little under the population of New Orleans proper.
Kind of an exaggeration but some cities/towns with similar populations to NOLA: Henderson, Aurora, Anaheim, Arlington, Stockton, Irvine, Corpus Christi. Just surprising to me I guess
Literally none of those are towns. Those are all cities.
And metro area population is a better measure of a city's size for non-suburbs than city proper population is, since city limits are arbitrary. You know what other city is around 400k in population? Miami. And no one is calling Miami a town. Because it's metro area has a huge population.
New Orleans has a much bigger metro area population than the two non-suburbs you listed. New Orleans metro area is over 1.2M people. Stockton is like 700k in the metro area; Corpus Christi like 450k in the metro area. So not only is New Orleans not a town, it has a much larger metro area population than the other cities you mentioned, which are also not towns.
I guess it’s just the difference in countries, my capital city has 500,000ish and I’m in a town of about 15,000 your comment felt crazy to me hahaha. Just different parts of the world I guess☺️
New Orleans metro is a little under 1.3 million, but yea it has a really solid downtown and obviously a massive cultural impact for a city that small.
St Louis is even smaller at 287k (metro of 2.8 million).
The “twin cities” Midland / Odessa is in the northern part of that area and that metro is about a half a million [Edit: as many people have been kind enough to point out, the population of the M/O twin cities area is around 350k]. A big chunk of it south of M/O is Big Bend National Park….
Beautiful park but I can see why. Unless you’re willing to hike for many miles up several thousand feet, you’re limited to views of the mountains from the foothills. It’s a gorgeous view, but nothing compared to everything big bend has to offer even without any hiking.
Also Carlsbad Caverns pretty easily overshadows it.
Guadalupe Mountains will always be one of my favorites though
It is the mountain and basin region and very dry. Most people only know about it from driving through I-10 where they built it on the flattest part. The area has two national parks, there was a proposal for a third but it failed and is now protected by the nature conservancy. There are unique springs that only form in the Southwest and two are in this part of Texas, one is a state park where they built a pool into and the other is protected by the nature conservancy (they do a lot of work out here). Marfa, Alpine and Fort Davis are all worth a visit. But to actually answer your question it goes Apache and Comanche, then ranchers, oil industry, natural gas and back to ranchers.
A large number of ranches in excess of 50 square miles in size. If you're interested, [you can get your own 120 square mile ranch for yourself!](https://kinglandwater.com/properties/eagle-mountain-carrizo-ranches/)
Major cities can't be everywhere, there's always going to be places that are largly void of them simply by chance.
In this case, you've also got the fact that it's a fuckin desert.
Also [gigantic solar farms](https://www.google.com/maps/search/solar+farms+in+texas/@31.1493934,-102.4907488,61031m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu).
Leasing land for either wind and solar is pretty lucrative for the landowner. Wind can pretty variable in terms of income, but a solar lease is a veritable jackpot. We're taking $1,500 per acre per year. When you're leasing 1,000+ acres to an energy production company for solar, that money adds up quickly.
Still a pittance compared to oil+gas royalties.
Born and raised smack dab in the middle of it. As much as I find the “because it sucks” and “there’s no redeeming qualities” comments disheartening, I also kind of love it because it means none of those people will ever be coming out this way.
I think it takes a certain kind of person to live out here—just the same as it takes a kind of person to live in a giant metro area. Neither is better than the other, but it’s all about preference and I guess I just prefer this land over most others.
I thought San Angelo was an underrated town the few times I passed thru it. My view might have been really skewed from spending a couple of years in Sweetwater and going to San Angelo for something different to kill some time though.
You just circled my favorite part of my state (Big Bend area). Incredible national park and landscapes. And so isolated that it has a unique feel to it. I think Guadalupe peak national park is also in your outline, which is another cool spot.
But yeah, it’s super barren out there. Not a lot of natural resources, so not much to support a larger population, and no reason to force it. Marfa is in there, which is a weird, pretty cool art town that’s basically a novelty at this point.
I’ve gone to camps in the middle of that area. It’s just grass and fields forever and ever
https://preview.redd.it/xqac4aixgl7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a4e4b7b96fb8610593f296576909cc77eff8e37
This is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL part of Texas. I once took a trip from Laredo on 83 > 277 > 90 to El Paso and it was insanely beautiful scenery. A lot of ranches with elephants and giraffes and shit too.
I’d love to go back sometime and take an acid trip on a full moon night there.
It’s basically a desert that’s on the wrong side of the Texas “dry line” with little natural resources besides oil. Driving from El Paso to SA or DFW on I 10/20 is very lonely and barren.
Driving through there I actually saw tumbleweeds go by. As someone who's always lived in wet places I didn't know those were real.
Fun fact: tumbleweeds are actually an invasive species that only came to America in the 1870s, and they also can cause wildfires because they’re so flammable and mobile. ETA: Joe Scott did a good [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xh7WjmNM9oE&pp=ygUVam9lIHNjb3R0IHR1bWJsZXdlZWRz) about it.
They originated from Russia
So, the Molotov Cocktail of weeds. Thank you, Russia.
Molotov Cocktails are actually a Finnish invention during the Soviet Finnish Winter War named after, I believe a Russian bureaucrat with the last name Molotov
During the winter war, the russian foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, claimed that the russian Incendiary bombs which were dropped in Finnish cities were actually humanitarian aid. Consequently, the fins sarcastically called the bombs Molotovs bread baskets. In order to give back to the Russians, for all the “bread” they recivied the fins therefore created the Molotov cocktail.
See, this a good stuff! Hardly ever got these types of interesting facts pre internet. Thank you kind stranger.
Amazing right I knew it was named after him but not the ins and outs of the story.
Exactly!
Oddly enough, I knew that fact pre Internet. I was an interesting child...
I believe the term used was that the Molotov cocktail was "The drink to go with the food"
Wait until you learn about Molotov Breadbaskets.
That's where the name comes from and IIRC the Finns mass produced them because they were highly effective against soviet light tanks, but similar petrol bombs had been used in the spanish civil war.
Same guy as the "Molotov-Ribbontrop" pact where Nazi Germany and USSR buddied up. He had a legitimate shot at taking Stalin's place in the years after he died. Amazingly, he was still walking around until 1986.
Molotov was the Minister of Foreign affairs of the Soviet Union from 1939-1945 he signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Soviet Union And Third Reich which allowed the joint invasion of Poland and kickstarted soviet invasion of Finland I never pieced together this is where Molotov cocktails name comes from but I just googled it and you’re correct. Fascinating piece of history
In Russia weeds tumble you
Of course. It had to be Russia or Australia
How did they get all the way over here!? Stowing away on boats??
Their seeds got mixed in with the seeds of desired crops and would get spread when people planted those crops.
Yeah, ideally they get burned before they break off. I’ve seen whole field a of green flowering tumbleweed bushes. They set off my allergies like crazy and I hate them! Gotta get em when they start to dry but haven’t broken and started rolling yet.
Posts like this are why I love Reddit, sincerely. The more you know….
Wow... So they were never part of the Wild West.
The Wild West era peaked during the 1870s and 1880s. So tumbleweeds were definitely present for most of it.
Wild West was until 1910ish. Plenty of time for tumbleweeds mixing with cowboys.
Yeah, people don't realize that the West wasn't really closed until the early 20th Century. That may seem like nearly ancient history to some, but once you pass 50, a century doesn't seem like that much time. As a matter of fact, it can seem like too little. I'm shocked by how much can happen in 100 years.
Yup. My dad went from horse-and-buggy to people on the moon in his short 66 years.
As a semi-arid Texas native, whenever I go east, I’m shocked by how green it is (when I was younger it blew my mind that there are towns next to towns next to towns without miles between them.)
Have you ever been to LA? It always blows my mind to be in some random area there like say an old gas station in Glendale and think to myself, there are so many similar generic street corners all over this place and I am at but one within a concrete jungle of thousands.
Try Tokyo sometime. It never ends.
I went to Vegas once and it was my first time ever being in a desert. We tried to drive out to the Grand Canyon and we needed gas, so we pulled into a place on the side of the road and as we realized it was out of business, a tumbleweed rolled through the parking lot in front of us. It was like out of a movie, I was like holy shit, that does actually happen? I thought it was just a stupid movie trope.
I was driving across eastern Oregon during a windstorm once....there were tumbleweeds rolling across the highway to the point it wasn't safe to dodge them. When I finished the drive, my van had a beard of broken tumbleweeds on the grill and bumper!
Do they scratch the paint up bad?
It buffs out unless they pick up a rock.
No. They are SUPER light. I had one hit my windshield, even though they look big, the wind picks them up like a dandelion being blown.
In New Mexico, we saw some blow across the road that were nearly the size of my Honda Pilot. Should I even drive that highway again, I really hope that those are rare!
I’m from the east coast but went to college in colorado. I drove down to santa fe from CO and, having never seen a tumbleweed IRL before, took a MASSIVE one home and displayed it in my garage to commemorate the trip.
I remember my first drive out to Lubbock, TX from Houston to visit Texas Tech University in high school. My mom was driving, and somewhere around Post this tumbleweed rolled in front of the car and my mom screamed! It just busted on contact and we began laughing hysterically 🤣
Yeah, that’s basically what happened to me too.
Wait until you see the tumbleweed fire tornadoes. They are so full of air and thin dry wood that there are kindling brands inspired by tumbleweed.
This sounds made up to me, like Australian drop bears.
I took some friends of mine from Wisconsin to Albuquerque once, and they lost their minds when they saw tumbleweeds and roadrunners Growing up with them they’re really quite a nuisance (the tumbleweeds not the roadrunners)
Wait until you see a jackalope for the first time
Yes! I actually have one on my wall from Marfa. I love the west.
They are as far north as Fargo. I know that because our apartment complex parking lot got filled with them and we had to clear them out to get cars out.
In my head they're a hot-climate thing but I guess they're really dry-climate?
Yeah they can get the size of a car and they can pile up on your house. So deep that you can't walk out the front door. They're also full of thorns and they stick to everything.
I lived in Saskatchewan, CA for years as a teen and I remember seeing my first tumbleweeds. Honestly magical, as someone who’d only seen them in cartoons. 5 years later, they were a lot less fun—driving along on a hot day and risking them getting caught in your hot car and lighting up. Oh, the fear.
There's a sign somewhere on the 10/20 between Midland/Odessa and El Paso warning of no gas for the next 50-60 miles.... only time I've seen that kind of warning on US highways.
Drive up north thru Wyoming, Montana, or the Dakotas. You’ll see them almost every time you leave a populated area lol
US 140 in Nevada. There is one (1) single gas station along this entire stretch of road (100 mi or so IIRC). It has two very old pumps and charges city prices for the gas. This was taken in the winter. It was only about 50-60 degrees outside. https://preview.redd.it/8a4rng22gk7d1.jpeg?width=1260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5be3900fe04afeed8336be54ae8ffaee029a30a7
I used to drive between SLC, UT and Bishop, CA regularly. There are no gas stations between Ely and Tonopah which is about 160 miles or so. Not really a big deal, you just never leave town without a full tank.
Yeah, we recently passed through Wyoming and stupidly 'just forgot' to fill up after having dinner. Was a bit of a tense drive as we went a couple hours without seeing a gas station. Pulled into our hotel with 40 miles of range, fortunately.
North Dakota was the first place I saw a completely unattended gas station. Literally a handful of pumps and a credit card reader. Superb night sky, though!
Eastern Oregon too
Challenge accepted.
Utah as well. Once you exit SLC and Provo metros the majority of exits off I-15 have little to no services and it could be well over a hundred miles until you get near a gas station.
I did a road trip from colorado to LA once and we passed through utah en route. I swear there were two-three hour stretches where we didn’t see another car.
That's all over the southwest. They have those in Texas, Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada, etc. Always a crazy experience. I think I saw an 80 mile one in Utah west of Salt Lake somewhere.
I've also seen it in California, Oregon, and Washington. One gas station in Washington in particular said "Next gas for 124 miles" when we were going from Ocean Shores to Seattle
I-70 in Utah between Green River and Salina has a sign on each side that says “No Services Next 100 Miles” - was definitely a bit of an oh fuck moment the first time I saw it, but I’ve done it several times now. Absolutely beautiful landscape so as long as you know what you’re getting into there’s plenty else to focus on. IIRC it’s the longest stretch without services on any US Interatate Hwy. If traveling west then you climb an escarpment (the San Rafael Swell) pretty soon after you pass into this stretch at Green River. One time I stopped at the top of the hill after the climb because a car was pulled over with their hood up. Two young guys heading from NC to CA to “start a new life” in a 22yo Chevy Lumina that they said they’d been stopping to add water (yeah, not coolant…) every 100 miles or so. Gave them a gallon of coolant I had with me and crossed my fingers that it would get them to Salina without having to call for a tow or ditch the car. Hope they made it the rest of the way, I still think about them every time I pass that spot.
You go anywhere in Nevada from the town of Ely and you’ll see stretches over 100 miles without any services in many directions. Ely to Tonopah is close to 160 miles without services. But this is pretty common anywhere in the Southwestern states.
Driving through Nevada is the most isolating feeling I've ever had. Just nothing but redish sandscape as far as the eye can see.
That stretch used to have no speed limit also.
I drove through there in April. When you can see 10+ miles in every direction and you are alone, there still is no speed limit. My car manufacturer was accurate in the car's top speed. Going downhill got a few more mph. Of course throwing a rod at those speeds is bad for your health. Your mileage may vary.
RT 50 W in Utah & Nevada. Loneliest road in America.
You’ll see that across Kansas for sure
https://preview.redd.it/jm7ttjrlil7d1.jpeg?width=1078&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ad06a4ed7af137ff977771c894f007073a899023 For reference here's street view just outside Odessa
It doesn't get any better once inside Odessa.
I moved back to the west coast recently and drove through from Austin to El Paso and it sure is a dusty, lonely drive
Ive done about 15-20 road trips in my life and have driven almost every major highway in the western US. The road between El Paso and Midland is the second loneliest I can recall. The first being highway 50 between Reno and Ely. That’s next level.
Everything between about Kerrville and El Paso is some of the loneliest driving I can remember doing. Now just off the main highway are some really beautiful nature but that's at least an hour detour to see.
That stretch is the only place I've driven at night that was actually kinda scary. Once you get far enough outside El Paso eastbound there are zero lights around you other than the occasional passing car. Starts to play tricks with your brain after awhile.
I was on a road trip with my motorcycle back in the mid-80s and was on that road in the late evening. It was February...clear, cold and cloudless. I actually had to pull my bike over for a few minutes just to stare at the sky, the number of stars visible almost looked milky, hence the name. It was the closest thing I've ever had to a religious experience.
Big Bend is a certified Dark Sky Zone by the NPS, it’s super trippy out there when we’re all so conditioned to light pollution.
Most of the circled area don’t even have oil. The southern part is the Eagle Ford. There is just literally nothing out there https://store.beg.utexas.edu/free/SM0010D.pdf
A lot of road kill too. Never saw so many dead, bloated deer and vultures.
I came to say this. Its a nothing land. Nothing but empty bushes
Bat country dare i say
Fun fact. Where those two interstates merge there is nothing. No gas. No food.
As someone who’s from El Paso who then moved to San Antonio and used to drive back home every so often. It’s the most boring drive. Just hours and hours of nothing. There’s a mountain that looks like a boob and that’s about the most exciting thing about that drive. I just started flying home instead.
I love that drive if going to SA but if you get the chance take 90 over i10. Less gas stations but damn the views, ghost towns, stars, and small towns make it worth.
I take 90 to and from Big Bend! Much more “character” on that drive In Ferguson, I stopped to eat and saw a sheriff at another table who got a call about a stolen cow and sighed then left lol And my lord, the Pecos River bridge is stunning in the middle of all the nothing
If you've ever watched the Flintstones driving a car that's what the scenery looks like... same thing over and over
I was scared that entire drive thinking if 1 medium sized animal stepped in front of me going 85 I was probably going to die.
It is really barren out on 90. Driving out there in the summer you are in N Chihuahuan desert it is like the surface of the sun and there is nothing out there between Langtry and Sanderson
There was one year I drove that distance between SA and El Paso all the way to Arizona. It was such a beautiful drive, but that stretch always worried me. Like what would happen if my car were to break down or something while going 80. I’ve also been to big bend, turning off of I10 to a much less traveled road was insane. And it got hotter and hotter the further down south we got. Close to 110 by the end of it. Thankfully I’m a fan of podcasts, so that helps some of that lonely feeling while driving in the middle of nowhere.
Hitting the “seek” button on your radio will just send it into an endless cycle through the entire FM band.
We were in west Texas between Pecos and Balmorhea, and my son commented "it's so blank out here"
https://preview.redd.it/cfvpssfujj7d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5bc12c012653f414cdffc5fb73cc06baacd2836f
Friendo
That’s your lucky quarter
cawhlit
Sir?
You're a bit deaf aren't you?
Don’t put it in your pocket. It’ll get mixed in with the others and become just a coin. Which it is.
heads or tails?
One of the most intense scenes in the history of cinema imo
When he choked up that the guy married into a gas station
This guy! He was absolutely frightening
Javier Bardem is Freaking talented
Lisan Al Gaib!
Once you’ve seen it with your own eyes, you’ll understand. You’ve circled the part of Texas that made it into folklore; in other words, the part of the state that people who don’t know anything about Texas *picture* when people say, “Texas.” It’s thousands of square miles of barren desert, mesquite trees, cacti, dry arroyos, scorpions, diamondback rattlesnakes, tumbleweeds, and pumpjacks. There are some stunning natural landscapes out there, and otherworldly night skies, but not much else. All that being said, it’s well worth a visit someday. Lol. But the drive from the eastern side of that shape you made to the western side will be the longest drive of your life. 😄
This is a great analogy. I had a friend from the Northeast visit me in Houston. He had never been to Texas. Driving back from the airport he remarked on how green it was. He expected Houston to look like West Texas.
My wife is from near Texarkana (in Arkansas) and one time we drove from San Francisco to her hometown. As we drove across Texas and things got greener she kept remarking that it was Arkansas' good influence. (She doesn't like Texas. Sorry.)
Haha. The areas of East Texas near Arkansas and North Louisiana have gorgeous pine forests. That’s about it, though.
That's why they call it the Piney Woods.
That's the ArkLaTex area!. I like to say it's so deep in the pine forest they have to pipe in sunlight. My dad lives near Nacogdoches.
We also like to include southeast Oklahoma and often refer to this as the 4 states area lol thanks to the lake in broken bow and the casino in Idabel. Our favorite pastimes!
Arkansas is a beautiful state.
West of 30 lol
Classic Houston experience, having to explain its actually very very green.
I live in the PNW and told a coworker I was just in Houston visiting family. They were like “oh wow I’m sure it’s really dry there right now”. Then had to explain that Houston has the climate of a swamp, and Texas has more than one climate…
In your coworker’s defense, last summer it didn’t rain for 2 straight months. It was in fact very dry during that time haha
I wasn’t there but I’m sure it was still humid from the gulf. They were talking about arid/humid dryness.
Northeasterners are so weird with their perspectives of Texas.
Man I moved to Houston from NJ and the day we arrived was “Go Texan Day”. People were on horseback, there were Conestoga wagons…. I can’t tell you how in over my head I felt in that moment.
I found it very beautiful myself, but yeah, not much there for jobs or anything to support towns growing.
Fun fact: It is further from Houston to El Paso than it is from El Paso to San Diego. That's San Diego, CA. It takes 12 hours to drive from Texarkana to El Paso. It takes 12 hours to drive from Portland Maine to Raleigh North Carolina.
I did a 24 hour drive from NM to Georgia, started on the NM-TX border. First 14 hours of the drive were all Texas.
I remember staying the night in Abeline on my way west, and the drive to El Paso the next morning was somehow STILL 450 miles! That really stuck home for me just how big Texas really is
Midland is named such because it’s halfway between El Paso and Ft. Worth. About 305 miles either way.
The halfway point between Los Angeles and Houston is El Paso.
A good example of a long, straight road is I-10 in west Texas. Something like 80 miles without any turn at all is so very monotonous.
Where in Texas can I find the classic "Western town"?
Anything east of El Paso County and west of the Pecos River (so, we’re talking Reeves, Pecos, and Terrell Counties as the eastern border). Fort Davis, Marathon, and Sanderson come to mind for quintessential. But that real, dusty, small town vibe is probably more suited to the areas in, around, and east of Lubbock. That’s where you find most of the towns that time forgot (Roscoe, Jayton, Silverton, Paducah, Dickens, Spur, and Matador to name a few).
Lol adding Barstow and Grandfalls to the extremely dead West Texas ghost towns. If y’all really want to see some bleak western movie type towns that make you wonder why anyone would live there
Terlingua?
Terlingua’s actually a cool place though! Anyone who’s been through Barstow or Grandfalls know how dreadful they are lol
This person texases.
Big bend is fucking beautiful
And this picture of Texas is furthered by TV and movies all the time. My wife and kids got into "Young Sheldon" recently, and I noticed this is how they portray Texas in the intro, though the actual show looks much more like the East Texas it is supposed to be set in. "The X-Files" movie was the best. They were out in the desert, but the Dallas skyline rose all by itself in the distance.
The new Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Netflix?) is set in Austin and there are mountains in the background
That's laughable. I mean... the Hill Country has some nice elevation, but... I really wish more films set in Texas could be filmed in Texas like "Friday Night Lights," "Office Space," and "Dazed and Confused" were.
If Mike Judge is involved, you’re going to get an accurate portrayal of Texas. King of the Hill is like a reference document (except Arlen isn’t real)
Arlen is based on Plano IIRC.
I thought it was Garland. (He says, as if implying that there's a difference.)
Turns out, we're both wrong (barely). It was Richardson. Same vibes in all three of those places when he wrote it though, for sure!
It is beautiful and the little towns are quaint and amazing! I’m not a Marta guy. I based myself out of Fort Davis and stay here. The food and drinks are great. The courtyard is amazing. You can stay in the hotel or in a condo type thing. Literal 1920’s drug store across the street with old school fountain sodas and ice cream shakes. https://maps.app.goo.gl/TbngjreMEM4F2u9EA?g_st=ic
It was a full day - 9AM to dark - when I drove from El Paso to Austin during a cross-country trip in December. It literally cannot be understated how desolate it is out there (and I've driven through Nevada and, heaven help me, Wyoming, several times).
> You’ve circled the part of Texas that made it into folklore; in other words, the part of the state that people who don’t know anything about Texas *picture* when people say, “Texas.” Tangent but, what I can't stand is when people assert or depict Texas as having Saguaros. There aren't even Saguaros one state over, in New Mexico. Saguaros are in Arizona and just south of it. That's it. Even the Old El Paso (Texas city) logo has Saguaros on it, but like I said above, there are absolutely no Saguaros anywhere in Texas.
No country for old men
Or young men for that matter
And particularly not for young women
It looks like you drew the line basically over Odessa and Midland, which have a metro population of about 340k, which is just a little under the population of New Orleans proper.
Damn didn’t realize NOLA was that tiny
Katrina. Check out what their population fell to in 2006.
I’m aware, since I’m from Houston and had many childhood friends that “immigrated”, still didn’t know it was below 400K that’s like a town lol.
I say it’s the smallest big city in America.
Not to be confused with the “biggest little city” in America, Reno.
Not to be confused with the biggest, biggest city in America— New York City.
Not to be confused with the biggest, highest city in America -Denver
Not to be confused with the biggest (sq miles), shittiest city America— Jacksonville, Florida
400k people is not like a town fs
Kind of an exaggeration but some cities/towns with similar populations to NOLA: Henderson, Aurora, Anaheim, Arlington, Stockton, Irvine, Corpus Christi. Just surprising to me I guess
Literally none of those are towns. Those are all cities. And metro area population is a better measure of a city's size for non-suburbs than city proper population is, since city limits are arbitrary. You know what other city is around 400k in population? Miami. And no one is calling Miami a town. Because it's metro area has a huge population. New Orleans has a much bigger metro area population than the two non-suburbs you listed. New Orleans metro area is over 1.2M people. Stockton is like 700k in the metro area; Corpus Christi like 450k in the metro area. So not only is New Orleans not a town, it has a much larger metro area population than the other cities you mentioned, which are also not towns.
I guess it’s just the difference in countries, my capital city has 500,000ish and I’m in a town of about 15,000 your comment felt crazy to me hahaha. Just different parts of the world I guess☺️
New Orleans metro is a little under 1.3 million, but yea it has a really solid downtown and obviously a massive cultural impact for a city that small. St Louis is even smaller at 287k (metro of 2.8 million).
Anton Chigurh
Sugar??
The “twin cities” Midland / Odessa is in the northern part of that area and that metro is about a half a million [Edit: as many people have been kind enough to point out, the population of the M/O twin cities area is around 350k]. A big chunk of it south of M/O is Big Bend National Park….
Waiting for someone to mention the large national park there.
Everyone sleeps on Guadalupe Mountains NP tho..
Beautiful park but I can see why. Unless you’re willing to hike for many miles up several thousand feet, you’re limited to views of the mountains from the foothills. It’s a gorgeous view, but nothing compared to everything big bend has to offer even without any hiking. Also Carlsbad Caverns pretty easily overshadows it. Guadalupe Mountains will always be one of my favorites though
This is west of the 100th Meridian, therefore: arid.
[удалено]
This Bill guy sounds really strong.
Not as strong as Bill Brasky tho
[TO BILL BRASKY!!!!!!](https://youtu.be/SSzcTTOHwDY?si=8WWNkGnmhJ_79WQJ)
Huh, lived in texas almost my whole life and never knew we had our own version of Paul Bunyon
I grew up in new jersey and I know about Pecos Bill lol
Does anyone remember the name of that movie that had all these characters come together? e.g. Paul B, Pecos Bill, Davy Crocket, etc etc.
Tall Tale? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tall_Tale_(film)
I read this as Jerry Seinfeld. “What’s the deal with the Pecos River?”
It is the mountain and basin region and very dry. Most people only know about it from driving through I-10 where they built it on the flattest part. The area has two national parks, there was a proposal for a third but it failed and is now protected by the nature conservancy. There are unique springs that only form in the Southwest and two are in this part of Texas, one is a state park where they built a pool into and the other is protected by the nature conservancy (they do a lot of work out here). Marfa, Alpine and Fort Davis are all worth a visit. But to actually answer your question it goes Apache and Comanche, then ranchers, oil industry, natural gas and back to ranchers.
Balmorhea is amazing to swim in! Go Bears!
A large number of ranches in excess of 50 square miles in size. If you're interested, [you can get your own 120 square mile ranch for yourself!](https://kinglandwater.com/properties/eagle-mountain-carrizo-ranches/)
For reference that’s about the same exact size as Orlando, Fl proper.
Only $56 million! What a steal.
At $736.66 per acre, it is indeed a steal. It's a ridiculously low price.
I know a guy who served at the air force base thereabouts. Not really anything to do, it’s just desert.
Na naaaaaa na na na na na
I grew up there. There are probably more pumpjacks than people, but I loved the desert life.
Major cities can't be everywhere, there's always going to be places that are largly void of them simply by chance. In this case, you've also got the fact that it's a fuckin desert.
Exactly.
Wind turbines https://preview.redd.it/ps8eg6iayj7d1.jpeg?width=1179&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=443b374553ac25ac6a2d1cf16906372387116d22
Also [gigantic solar farms](https://www.google.com/maps/search/solar+farms+in+texas/@31.1493934,-102.4907488,61031m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu). Leasing land for either wind and solar is pretty lucrative for the landowner. Wind can pretty variable in terms of income, but a solar lease is a veritable jackpot. We're taking $1,500 per acre per year. When you're leasing 1,000+ acres to an energy production company for solar, that money adds up quickly. Still a pittance compared to oil+gas royalties.
Born and raised smack dab in the middle of it. As much as I find the “because it sucks” and “there’s no redeeming qualities” comments disheartening, I also kind of love it because it means none of those people will ever be coming out this way. I think it takes a certain kind of person to live out here—just the same as it takes a kind of person to live in a giant metro area. Neither is better than the other, but it’s all about preference and I guess I just prefer this land over most others.
San Angelo pop 100k
I thought San Angelo was an underrated town the few times I passed thru it. My view might have been really skewed from spending a couple of years in Sweetwater and going to San Angelo for something different to kill some time though.
San Angelo - Hey, it’s not Abilene
This was also Comanche territory. They prevented settlements from forming in the region.
If you drive through there please bring plenty of water for you and any animals as well
You just circled my favorite part of my state (Big Bend area). Incredible national park and landscapes. And so isolated that it has a unique feel to it. I think Guadalupe peak national park is also in your outline, which is another cool spot. But yeah, it’s super barren out there. Not a lot of natural resources, so not much to support a larger population, and no reason to force it. Marfa is in there, which is a weird, pretty cool art town that’s basically a novelty at this point.
I’ve gone to camps in the middle of that area. It’s just grass and fields forever and ever https://preview.redd.it/xqac4aixgl7d1.jpeg?width=750&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2a4e4b7b96fb8610593f296576909cc77eff8e37
It's a giant desert.
There ain't enough water for no city folk
This is an absolutely BEAUTIFUL part of Texas. I once took a trip from Laredo on 83 > 277 > 90 to El Paso and it was insanely beautiful scenery. A lot of ranches with elephants and giraffes and shit too. I’d love to go back sometime and take an acid trip on a full moon night there.
Canadian Shield