So Much Sky

Candy: Well, we didn't have internet access last night in Fort Stockton, Texas, where we stayed, so this is a catch-up post to bring you up to speed.

We packed up the tent and the El and left Corpus Christi yesterday afternoon, driving through San Antonio and into the Texas hill country. We saw tons of mountain goats, deer, and (Tim's favorite, and Chase's too) jackrabbits!

"They look like miniature deer," I said to Tim as we pulled into the KOA at Fort Stockton. They were huge. No kidding.

"You know what they say," said Tim. "Everything's bigger in Texas." That's what he's been saying the whole trip.

This state is HUGE! Fort Stockton is about three hours east of El Paso, which is on the very western edge of the state. We drove and drove and drove and we were still in Texas. Good thing the speed limit was 75. That helped.

In our 500+ mile trek yesterday, we were amazed at the difference in the terrain and climate between Corpus Christi and Fort Stockton. It was much cooler and much less windy. All in all, much more to our liking.

This morning when we left the KOA, we headed into historic downtown Fort Stockton, and took some amusing photos of Chase and the city's mascot, a roadrunner. Here's one of them (left).

We drove another nine hours today, crossing into mountain time zone. The sign at El Paso said that half a million people live there. It was like a big city, with the traffic to match.

The scenery was amazing all day. One minute cactus and shrubs, the next minute hardly any vegetation.

One constant today was the mountain ranges that would appear blue and hazy in the distance (bottom), then sandy as we drove past them, and another set appeared.

Tim saw a good photo opp today and this is the outcome (right). In case you can't read the sign, it states "Poisonous snakes and insects inhabit the area."

The sun shone all day, which we love, and the temps were high 50s. Nice and comfortable.

We stopped at two ghost towns in New Mexico, but they were both closed. Go figure. Private property. Funny that a ghost town would be closed.

Chase got to play ball three times today, and he's getting into triathlon shape. Ok, so he won't ever be able to ride a bike (sorry, Martha).

I hope you enjoy some of the photos we managed to capture along the way today. The one at the top of this post is the awesome sunset we saw tonight as we entered Arizona. I used my sunglasses lens over the camera lens to achieve this effect.

Tonight we're staying in another KOA in Benson, Arizona. We intend to drive to Hoover Dam tomorrow, then to Yosemite and Mono Lake in California the next day, then to Eureka, CA, on Tuesday and stay there for a week.

I'm not sure whether we'll have internet access between now and Tuesday, but we'll certainly write whenever we do.