We have arrived in Texas!

Nov 11

We have FINALLY made it to Texas. We left Bowie, AZ at 8am and taking Highway 10 we crossed the border into New Mexico at 8:30.

After spending a rather chilly evening in the MH (our furnace and our heater both quit working and the temperature was 1C, we were determined to put some miles on and find some warmer weather.

New Mexico was much like Arizona, the land was very barren and although there were a few bushes here and there the only thing that seemed to be thriving was the cactus.

 

 

We saw a lot of “Dust Storm Warning” signs along the highway followed by signs  that said,” Extreme Caution.” Apparently dust storms are common here and can hit very suddenly.

Nearer to Deming we saw grass for the first time in a long while and as we approached Las Cruces we saw some cotton fields and a few fields of pecan trees. 

As we approached Las Cruces (pic below)  I was taken aback by how pretty it was. The city lies between the base of a mountain and the Rio Grande River. The Rio Grande River is very low here, the result no doubt of the terrible drought this area has suffered this year. I tried to get a picture of it as we were crossing it but I was not quick enough with the camera.

Near Mesquite we saw several feedlots. This was the most cattle we had seen in one place since entering the US.  They looked pretty overcrowded.

 At 1:15pm, with great joy and jubilation, we finally crossed into the state of Texas. We were both ecstatic!  We stopped at the Visitor Information and picked up some pamphlets and maps and I couldn’t resist taking the picture below to celebrate the great event.

 

We passed through El Paso without a hitch even though it seemed to go on forever.  Anna handled it like a real pro. Although the population is only about 640,000, it appears much larger than that. I tried to get a get a good picture of it but this was the best I could do from the freeway.

 

Determined to make it to Balmorhea State Park, we picked up a couple of sandwiches at a gas station in Fort Hancock while we were gassing up. Bad idea! We both agreed that the sandwiches were  without a doubt the worse sandwiches we had ever eaten.

  The weather was still cold everywhere we stopped.  No matter how far we drove it seemed we couldn’t find a warm spot.

We arrived at Balmorhea State Park about 8pm and after 12 hours on the road we were happy to finally call it a day. It seemed a lot warmer here so we didn’t even care that we had no heat.

Tomorrow we are off to the Ft. Davis Observatory.