Day 7 - Homeward Bound LA to Toronto

April 2015 - Odessa to Fort Worth TEXAS

After a quick breakfast of coffee and hot biscuits with better service than last night we set out on the road again.

The highways are very eye-catching.

The main attraction in Odessa is the "world's largest jackrabbit". More jackrabbits to come!!

Built in 1962, the eight-foot-tall rabbit was the idea of Odessa Chamber of Commerce president John Ben Shepperd, hence the rabbit's official name of "Jack Ben Rabbit." It was Shepperd's way to pay tribute to the city's unique jackrabbit roping competition, held every year during the Odessa Rodeo. The competition ended in 1978, when The Humane Society shut it down for good.

Odessa is also known for Friday Night Lights, a 2004 sports drama film,which documents the coach and players of a high school football team and the Texas city of Odessa that supports and is obsessed with them. The book on which it was based, Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream by H. G. Bissinger, follows the story of the 1988 Permian High School Panthers football team as they made a run towards the state championship.


Once again going through oil country.

Cisco - home of the first Conrad Hilton hotel.

 This is the site of the first Hilton hotel, now the Cisco Chamber of Commerce, lots of photos to come highlighting the museum inside. Thankfully, John suggested we enter the building.

 As we were driving we heard this crazy song about Texas Long Haired Redneck.

Some of the cattle farms in the area.

Our destination is the Marriott Hotel and Golf Club. As we approach Fort Worth it is rush hour and we are getting storm watches on the radio. We are being warned of hail the size of tennis balls and 60 mile an hour winds and torrential downpours. We can see the clouds in the distance and we are in bumper to bumper traffic. We are debating alternate routes and options. There are flashing lights and it is a police car checking on four cars that obviously got caught in the downpour and opted to shelter under an overpass but drove onto the grass and now are stuck in the mud.

It looks like the storm is blowing over us. Turning into the Marriott on Championship Drive.

I love this room it is huge and I especially love the huge picture window overlooking the golf course and pool.

This is the most inexpensive hotel we have stayed in since we arrived back in the States (don't even ask about hotels in Australia and NZ). $149 the first night and then $75 a night, unbelievable.

We head to the Blue Moon Lounge for dinner, I had the pork chop with mashed potatoes, carrots and asparagus, which ended up being two chops. John had the wedge salad which wasn't really a wedge, rather romaine lettuce and a chicken quesadilla.