Why I love road trips in springtime...

Red and blue, playing nicely together.

Indian Paintbrush 

and 

Bluebonnets 

are beautiful by themselves...

but together 

they truly bring out each other's beauty, don't they?

These were some of the lost files my friend Bruce recovered for me.

Thanks again, Bruce!

And this is where I stopped to snap these on my way back from Houston a couple of weeks ago. 

Doesn't it look like someone passed by with a leaking bucket of blue paint?

And that's why I love road trips in springtime. 

The end.

Highway Heaven (Texas Wildflowers)

If you're planning a road trip in Texas, spring is the time to do it, 

when wildflowers parade up and down the roadside.

Even without the rains that really make them pop, 

 a few hardy show-stoppers strutted their stuff for me on my return trip from Houston 

along Highway 71 a week ago.

There were the usual bluebonnets,
spilling across an open field...

The pink primroses (aka buttercups) filling the highway median...

(notice the one lone Indian Paintbrush?)

And then there was this field fronting an old farmhouse outside of LaGrange, 

that caused me to gasp, 

brake 

and steer off the road so I could capture the beauty in my camera. 

Bluebonnets alone are pretty,

 but sprinkle some red drummond phlox in there, 

and, well, you'll gasp 

and pull off the road for photo after photo after photo, 

several almost exactly alike, 

because you just can't stop snapping away...

until you're worried the people in the farmhouse are going to come out and speak to you - 

or maybe just call the police...

So you hop in your car and go - 

after taking one last photo of the awesome oak tree guarding the old farmhouse, of course...

What a wonderful surprise! 

Hilary at the Smitten Image presented me with a Post of the Week award for this one. Yay! 

Thanks, Hilary! 

Click on the image below to check out the other POTW winners.

Ellinger, Texas

A slow spot on the highway,

halfway mark between Austin and Houston,

home of Hruska's - pitstop extraordinaire.

I took advantage of driving solo on my return trip this week

 to do a bit of exploring beyond the highway.

Look what I found...

Bluebonnets...

Honeysuckle...

...embracing this old red brick building.

I love old red brick.

And honeysuckle.

Daylilies...

...facing an old church...

I also love daylilies and old churches.

There was more ... I spotted an old cemetery, some old houses, a few old trucks ... 

but I knew I better hit the highway again.

Next time.

Now I know.