Westward to Las Cruces, New Mexico

Had another very chilly night, as is all the rest of the country, and packed up yesterday morning and left Fort Stockton by 9am.  We had about 300 miles to put under the RV wheels, traveled entirely on Interstate 10 westbound.  Desolate, wide vista views, I would say not a pretty place, but never the less, if you have traveled all the way across Texas as we have now done, you can say - been there, hope not to do it again.  If you drove from one side of Texas to the other - staying on I 10 all the way - you would drive 895 miles.  Since we jogged a little up and down but pretty much stayed parallel to I 10, we put 1,127 miles on the RV.

Common sight - oil refineries

Stark dead trees 

Love the art on bridge abutments

Wide vista views

We did not see ranches or homes from the highway although every now and then saw water wind mills to draw up the water into troughs.  Did see cattle very sporadically but saw a lot of oil and gas wells, refineries.  The small towns we drove through were sad.  Saw homeless people huddled under bridges of some of the towns.  RV parks were scattered inside these towns, not sure what was to see if you stayed there for the winter - I guess do the big drive up and down to see Big Bend National Park a couple of times. Climbed in altitude to 4700 feet, right now we are at 3904 feet but will drop down to 1800 by the time we get to Picacho.

As we came into El Paso, we decided to gas up the RV so we would have a full tank when we left the park here in Las Cruces.  Good thing - we got stock in stand still traffic with an accident about 3 miles up ahead.  Could see the Mexican/American border from the highway - large brown iron fence along the Rio Grande River.  And was reminded about the cattle farms to the west of El Paso - and the stink!  Billboard after billboard lined the road.  Amazing.

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico - new X sculpture marking entrance
to Mexico - 197 feet tall

Border boundary 

Stinky cattle farms 

Lots of billboards

We changed to Mountain Time so now we can start getting adjusted to the time difference we will experience for the next couple of months while sitting at Picacho, Arizona.  Will stay here a few days, then move closer to winter home.  Hopefully we will get into the Escapee park in Benson - worth the $12 a night!