We'd planned to boondock our first night on the road at Lucky Eagle Casino in Eagle Pass, Tx. over 300 miles from Harlingen. It seemed simple enough, usually there are many signs. No, not in Eagle Pass, we drove clear through town without seeing it, we didn't know the name of the casino so it was hard to give "Miss Sally" (our GPS) an address. Well we finally found the name and address only to keep running into closed roads due to construction. We were really pushing to get to the casino in time to catch the last part of the Seahawk game. At last we were parked, poor Luci, we rushed her outside to tinkle, took her back to the coach and ran to the casino. I get so nervous watching the games on TV, I pace, holler, hide my eyes, etc. At the stadium I was more relaxed even in close games. At any rate they won the first of two playoff games.
We left early Sunday morning for Ft. Stockton, Tx., another 300 plus mile drive. As we drove north we saw several border patrol SUV's, along both sides of the highway they have gravel roads that the border patrol drive dragging tires behind them. We assumed it was to make it easier to see new footprints. We also spotted an observation balloon, they are unmanned, about one eigth the size of a blimp, (Give or take a little) North of Del Rio, Tx we passed over the Pecos River, it actually had water. Gary being the history buff, spotted a sign for Judge Roy Bean historic state park in the town of Longtry. He was a law enforcement in early Texas. The center was new and very well done with a desert garden, the best part was free admission. Across the street was a RV park with a burned out motor home and another old trailer. The sign said $20.00 per night, maybe on our way through next time. (Not)
We arrived in the Ft. Stockton Walmart to spend the night. We were the first RV to pull in, we went to a restaurant for dinner and a little football, when we got back two more expensive motorhomes pulled in, they were traveling together, parked door to door, put out tables, chairs and BBQ. By the time we went to bed three more had arrived, all expensive rigs. On the other side of the parking lot about 4 trailers and 5th wheels had pulled in for the night. The "jerk" next to us started up his generator at 10, just as we were crawling into bed, and ran it for several hours.
Monday morning we started our last leg into Las Cruces, NM. Along the way we switched from Central time to Mountain, only an hour ahead of Pacific time. We stopped for lunch at Camping World in El Paso, the city is a lot bigger than we remembered, our last visit there was a nightmare, maybe we blocked it out. The same two RV's from Ft. Stockton that were traveling together pulled in beside us. After three days on the road we made it out of Texas, we are going to spend 3 nights in Las Cruces NM., we stayed there last spring and enjoyed the area.
Tuesday morning we decided to take a nice hike, all three of us needed to stretch our legs. We chose the Bar Canyon hike, it was only about 4 miles with 800 feet elevation climb, with a waterfall at the halfway point. We didn't make it quite to the waterfall we weren't quite sure how to get there, no loss, there wasn't any water. On the way up we looked for a geo cache off the trail a bit near a couple of large boulders. Luci scaled one of them twice, almost straight up. What a monkey. Last spring we found a pizza parlor that had delicious pizza. Of course we forgot the name, so we went searching the general area, After an hour of cruising we found it CLOSED for business. ARGGGH!
Wednesday we spent the day cleaning and doing laundry so we wouldn't have to while the Lawry's were visiting us in Tucson.
Thurday we left early (for us) for Tucson. I wasn't too popular with Gary, I directed him to a gas station with cheap gas, after we were past the point of no return, he realized there wasn't room. So we had to disconnect Jeep, fill up, then hook back up again. Whoops. So we didn't leave quite as early as we'd wanted. We passed over the continental divide (going west this time) 4583 ft elevation. We got to the exit for our RV park around 2:30. Again I wasn't Gary's favorite person, I'd left out a digit on the address to the park on Miss Sally. We drove about 8 miles too far through road construction. He turned into a residential neighborhood that was pretty tight but was able to turn around without disconnecting. Finally arrived at Outward Bound RV park. The spaces are a little small but a very nice park. Dan and Charlene who are staying in a nearby hotel, came over about 5:30, we had adult beverages then went downtown to a brew pub, good food good company.
Friday morning was clear and warm, we went out to Saguaro National park for a hike, supposedly 2 miles long with 60 feet elevation change. We got off course, hiking up a steep wash with sandy bottom. Needless to say we got quite a work out. We found a cute little Mexican restaurant close by. We sat outside in the mid 70's, our server was a lot of fun. Gary found a geo cache on the way back on a bluff overlooking the valley. There were several cell towers that looked like tall saguaro cactus. In the afternoon we taught them how to play Mexican train then had dinner here.
Saturday the guys wanted to go to the Titan Missile Museum south of the city. 54 missiles were built during the Cold War. In 1987 the last of the missiles were retired, only one remains. Charlene and I went shopping in the little town of Green Valley. We drove south to Tubac, an artsy community, for lunch. We took Luci out to lunch for the first time, we sat outside in, of course, a Mexican restaurant. She was a very good girl, surprised us! We came back to the coach, I BBQ'd triple tail that we bought in Rockport.
We had a lovely day Sunday, at 9:00 the four of us went to church service here at the park. Fred the pastor, a retired Navy chaplain had a good message with a lot of humor. We needed to check out a few details at Davis-Mothen AFB so we took them on a tour of the base then had lunch after at an In and Out, our first on this trip. We needed
Monday morning we took Luci to Petsmarthotel for a day of doggie day camp, we headed off for Tombstone and Boot Hill. We walked through the shops, had a nice lunch at the historic Crystal Palace. Gary and Dan went through the County Courthouse Museum. We picked up Luci at 5:00 and headed home to crash. This "touristing" is hard work.
TTFN
Pam and Gary
Photos top to bottom: Texas visitor center, El Paso; RV park in Longtry; Judge Roy Bean Historic State Park; Gary and Luci hiking in Bar Canyon NM; Dan and Charlene at Saguaro Nat'l Park; fake cell tower cactus; Mission San Xavier; Dan swinging in Tombstone; crazy street musicians; historic bar at Crystal Palace and gravesite in Boothill.
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