February 25, 2011 Traveling to and in Texas

We were up early this morning, got everything packed up and were on our way with…are you ready for this….ME DRIVING – :-))).   I figured it was about time I started doing more of it.. 

Anyway, 20 miles later on I-10, all these alarms start going off on our Pressure Pro (tire monitoring system).  I see 24 (psi) flashing and then realize it is our MH passenger back inside tire – Yikees!!!   So I slowly got off the road with out doing any harm.   We walked out the door and could hear the air escaping.  OH MY.  It turned out to be the valve stem in that tire.   Andy tried fixing it but we finally gave up and called Good Sam (heck, that is why we pay for Roadside Assistance).

They arrived about 1 hour later (From TA in Wilcox, AZ), fixed us up and we were on our way again by 11:30 – Andy driving (I will try again another day.   I figure it was enough excitement for both of us for one day… :-)).

So we said our goodbyes to Arizona – :-(((.   Well, not goodbyes as my friend Kay says but see you later – :-)).

And in thru New Mexico where we saw lots of different signs:

This is scary:

Use EXTREME CAUTION not just Caution – even scarier!:

Now this is the area where the dust storms occur:

What do these poor cows do when there is a dust storm:

Lots of signs advertising the Continental Divide Trading Post:

Wonder what kind of snake stuff (did not want to find out):

LOTSA Rocks – LOL!:

Just in case you missed any of the signs…here they are all together:

And here is the Trading Post – believe me, it is in the middle of nowhere!  How cute!  

We actually saw a number of these posts along our way today – all in the middle of nowhere and they all had pretty much the same signs – :-).

And the trains along the way:

Andy trying to out run the train:

Abandoned homes along the roadway:

Homes/Farms/Ranches with trees all around – protection from the wind:

And hilltops that just pop up every now and then (actually we are on a high plateau in these pictures):

   

And greeting us at the entrance to Las Cruces:

He was HUGH!

And Las Cruces – oh my! – talk about humanity:

We will be back:

And into Texas…. and El Paso.. even more humanity:

 

Andy did a great job of getting thru this traffic – while I was on pins and needles….

We made a decision to get to the east side of El Paso before we stopped.  And then since we were so close to the Mexican border, we decided to go further.   (For those of you who are wondering why, El Paso is across the border from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico  which has had quite a bit of problems and I would not feel comfortable – just me.)   So we are staying in a Passport America park, Vista RV, in Sierra Blanca, Texas ($10.00/night for full hookups).

We arrived in the dark which is very unusual for us and we stayed on the interstates, which is even more unusual.   Well, here is the reason.   When I plan routes I also take into consideration the weather patterns.  There is a huge storm coming in from the Pacific and will make its way across the southwest on Saturday night into Sunday.   Many of the areas have very high wind advisories and even snow predicted down as low as 1000’ feet.    In Benson, they were predicting snow and very cold temps for Sunday which is why we left.   In eastern Texas, the warnings were put out last Wednesday for Sunday’s storm and those predictions were for high winds and some gusts up to 80 mph.   We were trying to figure out if we should just buckle down somewhere and wait it out or go further east to get out of the winds – and that was our decision – keep on going.   Our destination is Hondo, Texas where there is a Escapees Co-op – their weather prediction is for a temperature drop but hey, on Sunday it will be 90 there and on Monday, it will be 79 – that is a no brainer…   So that is our plans and why we will probably stick to the interstate to outrun the storm.

Until tomorrow.

Miles Traveled:  359 miles

Routes Traveled:

Arizona: SR-80; I-10

New Mexico: I-10

Texas: I-10; Ranch Road 1111, I-10 Business