San Antonio To St. David, AZ.

February 15, 2012

It was time to get on the road again, so we headed out of San Antonio,TX. We were held up about a half hour because during our checks, we found that the right turning signal on the car was out. We messed with it for a while, changing bulbs and things, but we couldn't fix it. It needed a replacement part, so we headed out anyway trying to be careful.

We continued on I -10 north out of town. It was relatively easy except we came to a spot where there were two exits for El Paso, TX. Since it came up quickly and we didn't have a right turn signal on the car, we stayed in the left lane and went left. Joe thought maybe the one we didn't take was an express route that didn't  have any exits. We will never know.

Some dirty bird messed up my window shortly after we took off that morning. Sorry for bird blob. This was the landscape just north of San Antonio, TX. We were originally going to go to Corpus Christi and Brownsville for a couple of weeks, before we came to San Antonio. We had to give up those plans to go to Florida to buy Nest 2. Another day Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

Must be a church off in the distance with the cross. I zoomed in.You could see it for many miles away.

Our hills soon 

went down down down.

to the Edwards Plateau.

Then we had some more climbs... 

then downs again. The landscape turned to no trees, and just brush.

After the small town of Ozona, TX. we started to climb even more... Nest 2 is going 55mph instead of 35mph up the steep hills, Yea!

I think Joe even tried his exhaust brakes on one the descents.

I-10 is 80mph once you leave San Antonio, Texas.

We start to feel like we were back in the west again.

It was chilly but a sunny day.

We stopped at a Exxon truck stop off exit 257 in Fort Stockton that night. We have not been doing well at Wal-Marts lately, so we thought we might do truck stops instead. We have a book called " The RVer's Friend, and another called  "The Next Exit". These two books help us find large or extra large truck stops off interstates. The Exxon truck stop was a large one. If you stop here for the night, be sure to get in early, because there are only a few pull in spots. The rest are back in spots. Semi-trucks don't have any trouble backing in, but if you are towing a car, it is a problem. We drove 313 miles that day We found a automotive store in Fort Stockton and found the part we needed to fix out right turning signal.

                                                                     February 16, 2012

The next morning we were, "On the road again"....

It is very desolate west of Fort Stockton...

but very beautiful ~

"Joe go to the right"

This guy is very hardy. It was very windy and cold that day.

I-10 takes you along the Mexico border near El Paso.

Joe velcroed this basket to the dash because he needed a place for some of his stuff, but I think we will have to rethink this matter, because it is cluttering up my pictures.

We stopped at this rest stop for lunch. It looked so warm and sunny, but I had to put on a winter coat because the wind was chilling to the bone.

Mallery hates doggy rest area's. They must be just too smelly like our out house's.

El Paso seems to sit with mountains all around it.

It is the 6th largest city in Texas and 19th largest city in the United States.

There was some writing on the side of a mountain wall, but I could not read it. It was probably in Mexican anyway, so if I could have read it, I still would have not been able to read it..

El Paso sits at 3800 ft. above sea level.

We continue north...

and reach 4579.1 ft. elevation,

and a few miles further...

we enter into New Mexico.

New Mexico Land Of Enchantment.

We made our 2nd night stop at exit 139 at the Travel Center or TA truck stop on the west side of Las Cruces, NM. Another 286 miles down. We originally were planning on stopping here and going to the Calsbad Caverns in NM, but as I told you earlier, we lost that time in Florida.

This truck stop was also a large truck stop, but this one had a lot of pull in spots.

After being park next to a semi-truck, it pull out and a semi-truck pulling a cattle trailer pull in..  We heard a lot of hoof/trailer clanking out our side window.  Joe said, "I sure hope they are not staying for the night"!

When they first pulled up, all the holes had noses sticking out of them. I wonder if they were smelling the burgers cooking at the truck stop and if it smelled good to them. After an hour the semi pulled out and we got a good night sleep.

                                                                  February 17,2012

We start our 3rd and final all day road trip.

It starts to rain...

but we were glad, because we didn't have to worry about dust storms.

We saw several signs that said  zero visibility is possible during dust storms on this section of I-10.

With all day drizzles

we finally enter into Arizona.

Snow capped mountains.

 Joe pointed out "The Think", and said he had seen a ton of signs for it. Here is what I found:   Roadside attraction hyped by signs along Interstate 10 between El Paso Texas, and Tucson, Arizona. Teaser ads, such as The Thing? What is it? and Mystery of the Desert, entice travelers along this sparse stretch of desert highway to stop, just to find out what the mysterious Thing? might be. It is a:  a mummified mother-and-child tableau encased in a glass-covered coffin. Glad we didn't stop.

We start up again...

and reach 5006 ft for the highest elevation for the last 3 days of driving.

This section off I-10 had many neat rock formations

and the rain stopped.

We have enjoyed the last two days of driving. 

I love to see landscape that man has not touched.

Benson, AZ. is down in the valley below. We stopped at the Benson Super Wal-Mart for groceries, before we drove 8 more miles south to St. David, AZ.

St. David, AZ. ~ Establishes 1877 ~ Population 1744 ~ Elevation  - 3690 ft.

Ah, so glad we are home. The three long day drive was tiring and we both were ready for a weeks stay in one spot. Our day drive was 239 miles, the shortest of all the 3 days.