December 17 - Still Texas

We left for Fort Stockton which is a dirty little desert town, didn't even bother with the hook ups, only used their power.  You felt like you were in the middle of the desert but there was nothing appealing about the place at all.  Glad we were only going to be there overnight.  They did have a large Roadrunner in the middle of the town dressed in a Santa suit.  I didn't even take a picture, however, I should have.  I feel bad about it now, too late...

Texas is a very large State with miles and miles of nothing to see, at least along Hiway 10.  Gas prices are getting higher - $3.29.

December 18 - El Paso

Knowing that we were going to be in El Paso the next day, that night I could not get the Marty Robins' song out of my head.  If I could have thought of all the words it may have helped but I was missing a few lines and it drove me crazy...

Texas also has very small Rest Stops, they also have picnic areas in the middle of nowhere but no bathrooms.  The State that brags the most keeps coming up short in my estimation.  Good roads though.

We pulled into the Mission RV Park in El Paso, it is an Escapee park, got set up and then took a tour of the area.  We tried to get to the Old Town, found it was a tourist trap, old, deserted and dirty.  700,000 people all doing their Christmas Shopping - no fun fighting traffic.

December 20 - to Tucson

We tried to leave yesterday but high winds and blowing sand kept us here - we went to a Shopping Centre close to where we are parked and just walking to and from 3 stores, we got so sandblasted we had to come home and wash our faces and clean out our ears, our glasses didn't even keep it out of our eyes. 

Oh well, we got an early start today, heading to Tucson.

Right where our street meets the frontage road a semi, a half ton and a tow vehicle had an altercation, the tow vehicle took the brunt.  A block down the road from that three more vehicles had collided.  Everybody here drives too close and they don't pay attention, at highway speeds the result is not pleasant.  It is a beautiful, clear and sunny day so there is no excuse to not see the person in front of you.  Texas is definitely not on the list of places we would want to move to.

Gas at a Pilot we came upon was $2.79 - the lowest we have seen on this trip.

The Rio Grande river is nothing but a trickle - how disappointing.

I am sure there must be some beautiful areas in Texas, unfortunately we haven't seen any of them.

We stayed at Casino del Sol in Tucson.  We arrived in the afternoon found a nice space, they have a huge parking lot with quite a few RVs parked there, some look like they are there for the long haul.

We thought we would have dinner in the Casino so decided it was too early to go in.  We napped and read until it was time to go inside.

I found a really fun machine "The Beverly Hillbillies" I must have played it for 1 1/2 hours - doubling my money, it has quite a few games on it so you are not just putting your money in and pushing a button with no result.  It also shows lots of video clips of the old TV series which brought back some fond memories and with it lots of cash.  It was a good thing that I came out ahead as Dalton did not.  Anyway, we decided to go back to the RV for dinner and finish off the fantastic Butter Chicken that Dalton had made the night before.

The wind had been blowing ever since we arrived but by evening it was really gusting, blew most of the night but by morning it was lovely and sunny and only a gentle breeze blowing.

Tucson is a beautiful city, not many highrises and all the overpasses and berm fences are painted with beautiful Aztec art.

I had no idea that cotton was grown in Arizona.   I am sure learning a lot on this trip.

In my humble opinion, Arizona is a beautiful State.