"HOLE IN THE ROCK"

Free Arch, right beside the highway

El Camino del Diablo? No mas!

"SHIPROCK" (wouldn't that look cool in giant letters?)

Small town. Big traffic.

Mike Kirkpatrick and his newest toy

Santa Rosa Campground looked like a winter wonderland in the morning

Could be worse. It could be nine BELOW zero...

Even electrified and insulated, the water taps stayed stubbornly frozen.

Back in "TEXAS" again, after six months away

Good motorhoming road, eh?

Downtown Big Spring, with wind turbine array on the hilltop beyond

New in 2002! Let's stay there.

Mighty metal bird stands watch over our campsite

It seems that we happened to hit the 100th anniversary of the Big Spring trail of lights

"Heigh ho, Silver!" (or whatever)

Hmmm, that dude looks kinda skinny for Santa...

LOVE: always a good policy

Giant postcards mixed it up with lighted shapes

Signature attraction of Big Spring's show are the giant Poinsettas of red light on the lake

The reflections from the water were cool

Couldn't argue with the snowy backdrop on Christmas Eve either

Almost home and finally out of the snow, we were thrilled to spot this high bay car warsh (we're back in Texas now, y'all!)

Those big wheel wells collected some of the biggest chunks of frozen mud ever

The poor car was REALLY filthy...

... covered with a witch's brew of diesel exhaust, mud, sand, and grime

Nasty

Just a frozen, oily mess

T'was a bad idea to try the rear wiper...

Back in Austin, with everything nice and clean again