Travel Day - June 15

June 15 - TX, NM, AZ (travel)

When I last updated, we were on the road (I-10) heading towards Tucson and the Lazy Days Campground. Because of the time changes, we managed to hit El Paso at rush hour which was a bit of a mistake as there was a TON of traffic, but Dad did well, and we managed to escape. It was the longest city!  I thought we were never going to make it through. I think we did see Mexico, however. I missed taking a picture of the sign for the road to Mexico. I don't know why Dad didn't turn around for me.....



Downtown El Paso, TX. Glad we didn't stay here for the night. Apparently from all accounts we've heard, not too safe and not the smartest place to stay in the Newell.

Close enough to Mexico that I can say for this picture "Look, Mexico!"

The rest of the drive was fairly uneventful until we started seeing the signs for a border patrol check point in New Mexico. Oh boy! So everybody had to go through the checkpoint, and the guy asked us how many were on board (2) and if we were United States citizens (yes, AMERICA!). So I took pictures, total tourist, but whatever. I've never seen anything like that, so I thought it was pretty cool. Also very happy that we weren't planning to cross the border, even though Dad thought it would be fun to just say that we did. I thought it would be easy to get in, yet harder to get out. My passport doesn't have any stamps in it though. Too bad I probably wouldn't get any in either Mexico or Canada, if we end up there later in the trip.

We drove across the entire state of New Mexico which included over the Rio Grande. I was working on my previous post when that happened and had to look up a map of the Rio Grande on the iPad. This river borders Mexico and Texas before turning north and flowing through New Mexico.  That's how we ended up crossing it.

Self explanatory.

Line of traffic to check point. No one was getting out of their vehicle.

We gained two hours on this trip (leaving TX and getting to AZ). I thought we were just getting into Pacific time zones, but apparently areas of AZ do not participate in daylight savings time, so we have been 3 hours behind Eastern time. When we leave Tucson, I suppose there is a chance we'll end up in Mountain time soon. Who knows? I hardly know what time it really is anyway!

More trains in AZ.

Beautiful rocks in AZ. The camera setting (extra vivid) really made a nice difference in the color of my pictures.
 I think it's just beautiful!

Dad called these "Dirt Devils." They were coming up from fields and probably just a combination of dust, dirt, and dessert that caught the wind. We really didn't want to run into one of these as it crossed the interstate because it had some pretty strong winds. We didn't, but very cool to see.

The destination of this travel day was Tucson, AZ - Lazy Days RV campground. Because of all of the time changes, we arrived around 12:30 local time and had NO trouble getting into our large pull through spot. They even put us next to a Newell (2011 - fancy)! This park is really top notch. The owener was hanging around and was impressed with our Newell. There's a pool, great laundry room, and a very clean fitness center as well. Immediately, I wanted to stay for more than one night. Without much hesitation, we decided to stay until the 19th. I am so thankful because I have had the chance to become acclimated to the time changes and enjoy Tucson!!!