The Windmills in Western Texas

Driving through Texas and into New Mexico

Driving through Texas was never ending...and I must apologize to Texans but I sure was glad to see the mountains going into New Mexico ! I wanted to see my first oil well, but was dissapointed by the tiny oil wells /drills I saw dotting the countryside, then by the end of our seemingly neverending trip through Texas, was tired of seeing them. Being a nature lover, I also really disliked the oil refineries we saw, although I understand that is a necessary 'evil'.
Driving through El Paso, we had our first look at the Wall that made up the border between the U.S. and Mexico, and what looked like abject poverty on the other side. I remember thinking ' No wonder they want over here. '
Since watching John Wayne movies as a child, I had in my mind what the Rio Grande River would look like, and was dismayed at what little I could see from the interstate and how narrow and low the river looked. I am guessing we can blame the drought for that. I do wish we'd had more time, or any time, to actually pull over in Texas and spend a day exploring so that not every memory we had of the state was made from the car. Next time, Texas !!

Our trip on into New Mexico....next

Our Trek to the Arizona Desert

Late September, 2011

First let me just say, that we planned this trip specifically to see some beautiful country we had never seen, and photograph some amazing reptiles in the Arizona and New Mexico country.

Now...

Almost 6,000 miles later, we're home...back from our latest adventure on the road, having driven through and visited 6 states, in a two week time period .
It all started in Tennessee, where the three of us planned for months a trip to Arizona, never having been West of the TN state border., actually...never having been as far west as Memphis !
Packing up a rental we lucked up on ( the added bonus of a free upgrade ), we headed out early one Thursday morning in September and just..well, drove. We drove all the way through Tennessee, realizing after we passed Nashville that this was all new territory for us. Chattanooga having always been talked about as a child as the 'town that was all the way at the other end of Tennessee and too far away to visit '.
Well not only did we pass Memphis, but we went all the way through Texas, seeing our first longhorns, and oilwells... The land was flat and we passed through it at a bad time, during the fires of 2011. Luckily ( or not ) the only fire we saw was the one on the side of the interstate, that shut down traffic for a good hour. Hey we were in a great car, good music, comfy, bags of snacks, so we sat our time out in good humor.
We actually almost passed through Texas in one long day of driving. Aric drove a good 13 hours that first day, finally pulling off the interstate in Sulfer Springs so we could rest for the next day of driving, after an officer pulled us over to warn us about veering over the white line a few times. We were just tired travelers, so pulled on over to a Hotel to stay the night. We were so glad we did as we left the next morning at 4 a.m. and hit the ' before rush hour' period going through Dallas. Dallas...wow...small town family here, and Dallas traffic was crazy , the burning car in the middle of town and interstate not helping my view on this in the least. Thankfully we have pups that travel well and Catie is just glued to the window with her camera taking pictures of what turned out to be psychedelic blurred lights of a city.
And then..we were on the road once again.