It seems like a long time since we had wifi, although it's just been 4 nights. When we left San Antonio on 9/25 and went west on I-0, we drove out of Hill Country and onto flat, dry plain. We originally planned to stay in Fort Stockton but Randy felt like pushing farther, so we ended up at the Saddleback Mountain RV Park in Balmorhea. I'ts a small park; you check in at the gas station, then drive through the truck lot full of pot-holes to get to the RV area. There is no wifi and no TV (not even local), but it's a right off I-10, has a Passport rate of $10, and the sites are long and level. And each one has a small cactus garden, some with happy faces!
The next morning we got an early start, just as the sun was rising. Randy drove across the rest of Texas and into New Mexico. We started seeing these signs; this is the land of blinding dust storms.
We check in for the night at the Faywood Hot Springs RV park, a little north of Deming. We have stayed there before but since then it has gone up in price and down in comfort; the roads are worse and the water pressure is nonexistence. We had to run our RV water pump to get any water at all. The only thing they have going for them are the hot springs baths and as much as we enjoyed them, they are not enough to bring us back again.
So we stayed there one night and in the morning we drove 26 miles to Deming to check into an Escapee park. After we settled the RV, Randy drove another 30 miles south to cross the border into Mexico. On the way we passed field after field of dry dirt and scrub bushes. But one field was completely full of solar panels. I don't understand why more of this isn't going on around here.
The Mexican town of Palomas is not as touristic as Los Algadones and, perhaps because of that, their prices are are higher, so we didn't buy much there. Instead we walked through the town a little and I admired the beautiful little touches.
Then we went to lunch at the Pink store. There is a very good reason it's called the Pink store...
They do a great job of keeping it authentic Mexican while making a few adjustments to make their American customers comfortable, like the note at the bottom of their menu (the sentiment is better than the spelling).
The food was great and they serve Coke Light! Coke Light is different than Diet Coke - it's better. And somehow everything was better for being served on a colorful Mexican tablecloth
After lunch we drove back to Deming for the evening.
Sunday morning we went out for breakfast. There were very few places open but Manolo's Cafe was busy so we went there. The food was OK but not much more - we decided the restaurant was busy because of the lack of options. We spent the rest of the day relaxing at home, reading.
And today Randy drove us into Arizona. He does all the driving so if he wants to keep going, we keep going! The road was good and reasonably flat, and it seemed like we were always surrounded by beautiful mountains.
Out here the trains run along beside highway 10, carrying double loads of truck trailers. Unfortunately we passed one that had run off the rails; it is going to take a long time to get all those trailers sorted out.
This part of Arizona is where we started five years ago, and it's nice to see familiar sights. Picacho Peak is the main landmark here; we climbed it back in 2010.
We checked into a resort in Casa Grande, when went out for something to eat. We planned to go to Chris's for their wonderful pizza, but Chris's is closed on Mondays (as we found out after we got there). So we grabbed a late lunch at In-N-Out; this is a burger chain that is another sign you are in the Southwest. Then a little shopping, and back to the RV.
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