Day 7 – El Paso to Odessa – From the Texas Mountains to the Permian Basin – (352 miles)

Hueco Tanks State Park was our first stop on day seven of our trip across the state of Texas. Located just down the road from El Paso in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Hueco Tanks State Park

Our next stop was the highest peak in Texas, El Capitan, in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. What a majestic spot in the Lone Star State!

We made it to the southwest corner of the Texas Panhandle. Thanks to our friend, Melissa Hagins with the Texas Pecos Trail Region for providing us with a photo, as we didn’t see this plaque in the area when we drove by.

We were pleasantly surprised by the town of Pecos. Over-sized boots greeted us as we drove into town and stopped to shoot some photos at the West of the Pecos Museum and park next door.

We had little time to visit Monahans but stopped by to capture a photo of the entrance of Monahans Sandhills State Park.

Since I’d visited the park before, I’m sharing a shot I took on my last visit to Monahans.

We traveled along the historic Bankhead Highway briefly near Pecos and Monahans. Traced as far back as 1916, it was one of the earliest transcontinental highways in the U.S. and ran from Washington D.C. to San Diego, California.

We got to Odessa right before a thunderstorm came through the city. Had dinner at The Barn Door with our friend Melissa Hagins from the Texas Pecos Trail Region. While the meal was great, we loved the fresh bread and butter they served prior to the main course, as well as the cheese block appetizer.

It’s hard to pass up a trip to the Stonehenge Replica on the University of Texas Permian Basin campus.

We finished the evening on our trek to find more raspa locations for our Texas Raspa Trail. Mango Tango ticked the boxes and we felt like we owed it to them to try one. This trail is coming together nicely, if we do say so ourselves.

Raspa at Mango Tango

Next we head to the Panhandle of Texas in the Texas Plains Trail Region.

Until next time from Texas … safe travels!

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