On the road again - truckin' to Texas to meet our friends, Pat & Jim. We decided to take the 'red roads' this time, rather than the interstates. We left Mesa on US 60 to Globe, were there are copper mines. There we got on US 70. It is amazing how different and beautiful each mountain range is. Occasionally we would come down into a valley were the soil was being prepared for planting many crops, including vegetables, citrus fruits, pecans, corn, cotton, and hay. We took US 70 all the way to Lordsburg, NM and then took I-10 to Deming, where we spent the night at Dream Catcher RV Park, one of the Escapees parks.
The next leg of the trip continued on I-10 to Ft. Stockton, Texas, where we spent the night at an RV park just south of town. Deciding to take the red roads again, we took US 285 south to US 90. There was little traffic on these routes and we could see some different scenery. The landscape gradually changed from desert to Texas thicket (brush). Proceeding southeast, we approached the Rio Grande River and another fertile valley. Then glimpses toward the river suggested that it was in a canyon. We found this was indeed the case when we came to a bridge over the Pecos River, less than a mile from where it empties into the Rio Grande. This is the highest bridge in Texas, being built high and strong after several previous bridges were washed out by flood waters. Both rivers are in a canyon here, and we were surprised to see these deep canyons in Texas. We encountered our first rain showers in this area.
The third night was spent in another Escapees park, in Hondo, Texas. It was Sunday, so we enjoyed their ice cream social and I played card bingo. I won two games in a row, winning a dime pot and a quarter pot. The quarters went into my laundry fund and the dimes were later donated to Escapees CARE. Later that night we had a thunderstorm with strong winds that really rocked the trailer.
We skirted around San Antonio and took I-37 almost to Corpus Christi and then took state roads to Fulton, Texas, our home for the next week.
