Tucson to Ft Stockton

Wednesday the 28th

We knew it was going to be a long drive today so we were up by 5:30 AM. I got the dogs walked and fed while Tina got stuff packed up. We took most of our gear down to the truck along with the kids then went back for a continental breakfast. Then it was back up to the room for the bikes, down the elevator and out to the truck to finish loading. We were on the road by 6:45 AM headed for Ft Stockton, Texas.

It was cold when we left Tucson and got on I-10 East. After about 100 miles we started getting light rain, just enough to make things slippery and keep the windshield wipers working. By noon when we stopped for lunch the sun wasout and the rain disappeared making the drive much more enjoyable.

The scenery is interesting but bleak - not a lot of stuff growing other than mesquite. But it’s fun trying to decipher the geology of the land as we went through the cuts in the hills. Some places look like shale, some volcanic and others limestone. Some formations are flat, parallel to the ground, some are tilted and broken from erosion, some are folded up, some folded down. And one formation is very strange, a series of big rounded rocks, boulders really, sitting on top of each other, looking like giant cairns.

Passing through El Paso we were surprised at how big the city is, seeming to stretch for 15 miles along the freeway. Of course, it’s like Seattle-Tacoma where one city seems to merge into another, but it still seemed to go on forever.

Switching drivers after lunch, Tina powered us down the highway for the next 200 miles then we switched back for the last 100 miles into Ft Stockton. Once we got our room and unloaded the truck, we went downtown to a Mexican Steakhouse for dinner. Interesting, but I wouldn’t submit it to the Food Network for a segment on Guy’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

After dinner we relaxed and made our plans for the next day before calling it a night.

Distance for today, 556 miles. Total for the trip so far, 2,157 miles.

No photos today.