Day 23 – 6/22/2017 –New Mexico to Florida

On the road early today, Thursday, 6/22/2017, we have a very long drive ahead.  We have about 50 miles before Texas then about another 50 miles into Louisiana before we stop for the night.  As we near El Paso, Texas we can see the Franklin Mountains to the north and Mt Cristo Rey (seen here, which is actually in New Mexico) to our west.  The shrine is 29 feet tall and was dedicated in 1940; however the first cross was wooden and erected in 1934.

Shortly afterwards we are driving by the University of Texas El Paso and very close to Mexico, I think this town is called Felipe Angeles, and can see the colored houses across the border. 

We pass Fort Bliss and Biggs Army Airfield and are beyond El Paso and we see another of the tree farms which probably grew almonds or pistachios.  

Before I-10 moves away from Mexico, we go by towns with names like Morning Glory, Alamo Alto, and Fort Hancock as we continue to follow the border and can see the mountains in Mexico. 

In Texas as we’ve seen in all of the southwest, cactus on the hillsides is a normal event.  However, Carmen does not always get a good picture as the speed limit is 80 mph, which means I’m usually doing 85-90 just trying to keep up with the traffic.

Crossing from the Mountain to the Central time zone we have lost an hour which means that when the map said 13 hours I didn’t take into consideration loosing an hour, but at least the scenery is still great.

Guess what we see in the distance; we are in Texas after all and guess that they are drilling for either oil or natural gas, but then again they could be drilling for water.  Either way that is one very tall drilling tower.

A number of miles down the road we see another drilling rig near the road and can see more details.  There is a tank to the far right and we assume that this will be a holding tank for whatever they bring up out of the ground.

Just outside of Fort Stockton we see this metal sculpture on the hillside depicting Indians and horses. 

On the other side of Fort Stockton is a metal sculpture depicting the US cavalry. 

We see a few pumps by the roadside and still cannot tell if they are oil or natural gas pumps.  In either case in the near background is an exhaust pipe which is aflame.  Also you can see the windmill farm on the hillside also in the far background.

On the side of I-10 we see one of the old wooden styled oil rigs.  Not sure why it is still standing, but glad it stayed up until we got to see it.

Look at what we see driving down the road!  There were two of these tanks being pulled by trucks and we think they are like the one we saw next to a drill rig we saw earlier.  They are huge about 20 feet in diameter, bigger than a regular hauled trailer.

It took us awhile to get around San Antonio with the traffic, road construction, and accidents.  But we stopped for something to eat to wait for the traffic to settle down.  After eating we’re back on the road and sometimes the pictures we take are by mistake.  Carmen was taking a picture of the crop field when we drove by this flower along the side of the road.  It focused just right as she took the picture.

The crop in the background is corn, but we have no idea what is in the foreground.  Of course we were driving by too fast to really see what the crop was.

What can I say, we are after all in Texas so we have to see steers grazing in the fields.  However, there is only one here that is a longhorn.  Figure that one out. 

Now how classic is this?  Just before the exit to Flatonia we see this barn with cattle outside grazing on the grass and windmill powered water pump; you can’t see it but there also is a pond in the back.

At this time we are around Columbus, Texas (home of the Santa Claus Museum) and about 70 miles from Houston when we see this gorgeous tree; what great symmetry.  Carmen saw this tree from a little was down the road and was ready for it when we got to the tree. 

Driving for a long time and just in case we’re not sure where we are, this still tells us that we are still in Texas.  No mistaking this State flag or the State profile on the building.

We are finally through Texas and now in Louisiana, where we stop for the night and the next day of course goes by quickly since the drive through Louisiana is short and we don’t need to stop.  We switch to I-12 out of Baton Rouge to bypass New Orleans and just before we enter Mississippi, get back on I-10.  Mississippi goes by just as fast as Louisiana and when we drive by Mobile, Alabama we can see the Battleship USS Alabama, Submarine USS Drum, and military museum.

A little under two hours we are driving by Pensacola, Florida and there is a Blue Angles jet as a welcome sign at the Florida Welcome Center. 

For the rest of the trip we do not take any more pictures, I think we were starting to get a little tired and glad to be back in Florida and it will take us about 7 more hours to get back home.

If you have any comments, Carmen and I would love to hear them and thanks for viewing our travel blog.  If you liked this travel blog and would like to see more of our trips you can find them here: https://www.blogger.com/profile/02504216977029606085 .

Day 22 – Las Vegas to New Mexico

We leave Las Vegas early Wednesday morning, 6/21/2014, heading south on I-15 and are headed into California.  No sooner then we leave Nevada and a few miles into California, we pass closely by another solar collector. 

Carmen got a close-up picture of the collector tower and you can clearly see the suns reflection from the mirrors going into the heating collector.  They have plenty of sunshine to run this type of power at this location.

Continuing through California we are passing the boundary of the Mojave National Preserve.  Along this section of the highway, we pass many Joshua Trees like these. 

In the distance you can see the Mojave; sand and all.

Still on I-15 we pass several places where the sand is drifting up the side of the mountains. 

Now tell me that this doesn’t look like a scene in an old western movie.  Rounding up cattle and getting ready for the cattle drive or the hide-out for bank robbers.

Almost at our first stop which is Apple Valley, we can see from out descent both Victorville and Hesperia in the valley floor.  Having just past Dale Evans Parkway we opt for the Bear Valley Road exit because of construction.  Apple Valley is where Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lived and where their museum was located before being moved.

At Carmen’s brother’s (Del and C C) house we check out his flowers and trees.  Here is one of the roses from his many bushes and he also has a few nectarine trees.  After lunch we headed out on our way.

From Carmen’s brother’s house we are continuing south on I-15 and descend through the Cajon pass.  Here you can see the railroad track that also shares the pass with the highway.

Our plan was to also stop at my brother’s house (John and Serina) in Moreno Valley, just off I-215, but they were gone at the time and so we missed stopping in.  We continued to Temecula for a short visit with Carmen’s niece and family before continuing.  Much of the country around here looks similar to this, but with a house or two.

Leaving Temecula we headed south to CA-52 then CA-67 where we merged with I-8 east.  Driving along, we have been seeing many ranches, including this horse ranch.  Can you see yourself staying here for a week and riding in these hills?

As we neared the turnoff to Jacumba Hot Springs, we see hills with boulders and rocks piled as if a giant decided to use them to make hills.

Some of the rocks were even sitting precariously like they were placed there by someone, yet these boulders must weigh close to a 1,000 pounds.

After coming out of the hills with the rocks and before we reach El Centro and Calexico we pass yet another windmill farm.  We have seen a number of these and will probably see more farms.

We pass towns like Coyote Wells, places to rent ATVs and dune buggies to ride on the sand dunes, more solar panel farms, and then we enter El Centro and see this tank.  The mark on the water or oil tank is where the sea level is located, so we are driving beneath the sea level.  

Except when we are in Texas this is as close as we’ll get to Mexico.  While we are driving east on I-8 we can see the border wall between the United States and Mexico running along the dunes.

On I-8 we stop at a rest area next to the Buttercup Ranger Station.  To our north are the Algodones Dunes Wilderness Area and south of us are the Buttercup Sand Dunes, where you can rent sand dune buggies.  We were going to cross the Algodones Dunes north of here on CA-78, but decided to not take the time this trip.  Even so, the dunes look great here.

Another great view of the dunes; notice the white metal barrier at the bottom.  This is a fence we figure to keep people out because of the dune buggies.   The sign says “Pedestrians Prohibited”.

Before leaving California and entering Arizona, we pass this little chapel.  It was maybe quarter size of a regular building.  The interesting thing, it was near the Center Of The World Chapel and the Official Center of The World Pyramid.  (We did not go and check them out, since I only found out while looking at Google Maps trying to figure out where we were when Carmen took the picture.)

Before we get to Yuma we had to stop at a US Border Patrol Inspection Station.  Then when we get to Yuma and stop at the visitor center to get a map, we find out that this was the Army’s Yuma Quartermaster Depot and fort.  Nearby is also where the old Yuma State prison was and it’s still here.

Here we see some of the old styled wagons that were used during the period of the fort. 

Before we cross into Mohawk Valley, we drove by a couple of huge dairy operations.  There had to be over 5, 000 milk cows at this location.

The ridge of mountains at Mohawk is impressive.  It would be interesting to climb one of these mountains just to view the countryside from the top.

We are getting closer to Gila Bend where AZ-85 south would take us to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which we are not going.  Instead we do catch a glimpse of some of the Saguaro Cactus with the mountains in the background.

How amazing is this?  Not only do we finally see a corn harvest in action, but Carmen gets the picture, though my window, and not a car to block her picture.  Looks like the truck need to move forward a little.

We stop in Gila Bend for gas and something to eat and there is this huge Saguaro Cactus on the side of the road.  Not only is it very large, but it is also nicely arranged.

While still on I-8 we enter the Sonora Desert National Monument and we see several Saguaro cacti and a number of what we think are some sort of Cholla cacti. 

Almost at our connection to I-10 and nearing the end of the Sonora Desert National Monument we see many Saguaro cacti and can see them going way back to the mountains in the background. 

We are now on I-10 and somewhere around the town of Picacho when we drive by a tree farm and think the trees are some sort of nut, either pecans or pistachio.

One of the interesting things we saw along our way back to Florida was in or near Red Rock, AZ when we see all of these aircraft sitting along an airfield.  It is a boneyard for aircraft and located at the Marana Army Airfield.

We are beyond Tucson near Benson and we still see mountains and landscape like this.  This is beautiful country and in younger days I would want to hike these mountains.

Not far from Mescal we see a train however, the train is only made of engines.  There are about 150 engines lined up end-to-end.  Seems strange that they would keep this many engines just sitting around, not in use.

Another stop or stops we didn’t make was to visit Tombstone, the Cochise Stronghold, and Fort Huachuca (where our granddaughter’s husband was stationed).  Maybe sometime we’ll make it back to this location the next time we come by.

Before leaving Arizona we again drive by rocky hills as if a giant placed the stones like they were making stone castles.

Another of the rock boulder hills; pull one boulder on the bottom and they all come down.

Carmen has been trying to get a picture of one of these Agave plants as we drive by and finally she got one so I told her I’d add it to the blog.  It’s funny, where we stop there never is one of the plants, only when we are driving 70-80 mph.

The same is also true for these Ocotilla and when in bloom the tip of each stem has red flowers. 

While driving through Arizona we saw a few things we didn’t expect, like several huge diaries, an aircraft park, great mountain views, and nut tree farms like this one.

In New Mexico now, the views are no less as spectacular. 

We still have passes we drive though with a valley beyond.  As we were driving though this particular valley, a sign warned of dust storms the next 10 miles, the length of the valley.  There were also police cars in the center with lights on during our drive.

As the sun was setting, we are about 35 miles from Deming, when we see this “teepee” and the Continental Divide Historic Trading Post.  So we stop to take a picture of the sunset, hoping for a nice afterglow. 

Although this trip has been fantastic, the sunset had very little afterglow.  When the sun was down, it and any glow were gone, no clouds, no afterglow.

We reached our destination for the night in Las Cruces.  The next day we'll spend driving through Texas.