Pecos: West of the River

There are rivers that divide a landscape.

And there are rivers that divide the imagination.

In Texas, the Pecos managed to do both.

For generations, the words West of the Pecos meant something.

They meant you were leaving one world and entering another.

A harder world.

A drier world.

A place where towns were separated by miles and miles of country that seemed determined to remind human beings that they were not necessarily in charge.

Today, we can drive across that country in an air-conditioned automobile.

We carry water in plastic bottles.

We have GPS.

Gas stations.