We were on the road early, knowing we had one of the longest
day’s drive of the whole trip. We were now
on the last stretch to home with a plan to drive over 700 miles today. We wanted to get halfway home before we
stopped.
Getting out of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area is a
challenge. We drove nearly 100 miles
across a complex of expressways and toll roads. Patti navigated while Dick negotiated the
often quick lane changes and heavy traffic of a Friday morning rush hour. Finally, we settled onto I-20 to take us
west. We knew that Texas is a long
state. We had about 600 more miles to
the border near El Paso.
Recently we had been taking the opportunity to
work on the blog while driving. Patti
would compose out-loud as she typed.
Dick would listen and offer additions or alternative wording. It proved to be an effective way to produce
the blog. Of course, it did not work
when we were in heavy traffic or needed to find our way.
Dick is always fascinated by the
changes in the landscape and Texas offers some real differences. Just west of Ft. Worth, the countryside is
rolling with a combination of low trees and grass.
The hours passed and the temperature rose. It was soon well over 100. We stopped regularly for gas, rest rooms, and
just a chance to stretch. We had food in
the car so we could keep moving.
A couple hundred more miles and we
were definitely in the oil patch. We saw many
pumping wells and oil rigs drilling new wells.
In Midland and Odessa we saw drilling equipment ready for use. At one point we saw about 50 rigs stored not
too far from huge stacks of drilling pipe.
This was definitely a different world from what we were used to.
The further west we drove the drier the
land became. The land was brown rather
than the green closer to Dallas. Little
grass could be seen between the creosote bushes. This is the desert. And, we still had another 200 miles to El
Paso. I-20 ended when we reached I-10.
We would be on this road for the next 600 miles.
For the last 50 miles to El Paso we drove near the Rio
Grande River. We couldn’t see it
directly but could tell where it was by the green along it. We knew that on the other side of the river
was Mexico. We had come a long way from
Eastern Canada. The time changed for us
again as we moved into Mountain Time. We got caught in the last bit of El Paso
rush hour and some construction but we finally cleared it and made the turn
into New Mexico.
Shortly after we crossed the border we could see
mountains ahead on our right. These are
the southern end of the Rockies. Seven
years ago we had seen the northern end of the Rockies in the Yukon Territory of
Canada and here we were at the southern end.
Our destination for the night was Las Cruces, New
Mexico, at the foot of the mountains we had been seeing. Traveling west, our day had been stretched so
we arrived just before sunset. We were
happy to check into our hotel, find dinner, and settle for the night. We even switched on the hotel TV, something we
had rarely done on this trip. We wanted
to watch the opening ceremony of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Then we crashed ready
for sleep and knowing we were definitely on our way home.
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