Travel Day Six (from the Ridge)

Walmart SuperCentre, Deming, NM

Sunday, Oct. 27^th we woke up shortly after 6. The boys went out for Gibbs’ morning constitution and the little guy returned to bed. I never heard a thing all night. The lot was quiet this morning, but since we arrived, it was the noisiest I’ve heard! It seems the areas around these malls are a race track and contest about who has the loudest sounding vehicles. Plus, who has the best stereo? Drove me nuts but it did quieten down around 10 and remained that way.

Good morning
Through a dirty doggy smeared window.

Pretty rest areas and
yes, we are in the Lone Star State. 😉
(in the ladies washroom)

Also, the trees in the parking lot are filled, during the daylight hours, with Grackles. Our Grackles back home don’t make the same sound so maybe my bird app called it wrong. I was thinking Magpies but ……….anyway, they were so loud with all kinds of expressions. They also quieted down come nightfall. Bill did not sleep well, didn’t have ear plugs (and neglected to tell me!). ☹

Some sights along the way
Trains always remind us of Dad and we were soon
entering what we affectionally call the Train State (New Mexico)
We saw quite a few on our travels today.

Top picture is a Picnic Area, not a Rest Area.
A place for trucks and travellers to stop to eat or rest.
No washroom facilities.

Today, we have a shorter day and got on the road at 7:40 under a clear sky. 59F/14C, so a nice morning. We had an easy start, out of the empty(ish) lot, onto the TX 250 Loop to I-20W. At 9, we stopped at Ward County Rest Area quickly where we all had a walk about for nature reasons. 😊 Around 10 am, we hopped onto I-10W, hoping for the highway to be as great as I-20 has been. It was one of the best roads we’ve travelled on.

Some of the views we are always happy to see

We began to notice a lot of scenery changes, reminding us of why we love the area so much. The Beavertail/Prickly Pear cactus, Yuccas and eventually before we stopped, green Ocotillo were all making appearances. ♥ A fuel stop at Salt Flat, Texas had us paying $3.29/gallon, giving BB over 27 gallons to take us on down the road. The temperature had risen to 69F/19C, not surprising since our elevation had jumped to over 4800’

It took him a few hours but he eventually layed
down for most of the afternoon.
Still panting though.♥

Top picture is another of those
Picnic Areas. They are very creative and as tourists,
we love it!
Middle picture, Deb D. your Ocotillos await.

At 11:30, we crossed into a time change, now Mountain Time, so our clocks dropped back to 10:30 giving us an extra hour in our day. Since our stomachs were on the CT still, we had lunch at 12 noon CT. Are you with me? 😊 That all means that we are 2 hours different than back home and will soon be 3 hours when their clocks change at the end of the month.

Okay, 80 miles per hour?? That's crazy!
That is about 130 km/hr. back home.
Our Suite's sweet spot is about 63 mph. where
we get the best mileage.

El Paso is a hopping city but we decided to go through the heart of it on I-10 only because it was a Sunday. It was easy, quick and interesting. We both turned our phones on to airplane mode since we were very close to the Mexican border and we didn’t want to bounce to their towers. We have an $11 or $13/day coverage but we didn’t want to pay for it unnecessarily. Once we crossed into New Mexico, we drove a few miles before turning it on again.

El Paso. I love the complication of the overpasses
and give the designers and builders a lot of credit.

Finally, I caught the Roadrunner Rest Area on the eastbound side. At least I saw the bird up on the hill so I was able to get a picture. I usually miss it. 😊 It was a good drive today with only one fuel stop. We arrived at our destination early, pulling into a spot at 1:50pm, but how sweet that is! I guess it could mean more loud car entertainment………….oh well. It is 85F/29C, plenty hot!

Prettiest Welcome sign we've seen.
At least it is one of, if not, our favourites.
Probably the only roadrunner I'll see this winter.

We got set up and then walked into Walmart for some Coke Zero and a peek to see what yogourt they had. Nothing I want but they do have my keto bread and low carb tortillas. I’ll keep looking! It will be a quiet afternoon, and another meal out at Wendy’s since it is right around the corner. No picture, it will be the same meal as last night.......I think! We eat out more on our trips down and back than we do all summer at home. I used to make prepared meals but we don’t have to do that and I enjoy not having to cook.

Keto bread and tortillas.
I'll be using them for pizza lunches, Shirley! Thanks for that tip!

The evening will be either watching tv or starting into a new book for me. Bill will set the StarLink dish out so we have all the conveniences of home. Bill's travel update can be found here. On your phone or tablet, you may have to click on 'web version' at the bottom to see it clearly. He has tried to change the colour but has had no luck so far.😊 

PS - duh on us for the Wendy/Uncle Burger fiasco! Perhaps our drive yesterday was tooooo long! Thank you to the Anonymous commenter who set us straight. Also, thank you to those of you who recognized the Tesla 'truck'. That is sure no MY idea of a truck.

Settled for the night.
Don't look at how dirty Black Beauty is,
she is embarassed!
We reached a high temperature today of 88F/31C.
Good night!

Thank you for the visit.