Road Trip from Tucson – Part 1

I decided to take pictures at every stop we made along our four-day trek between Tucson, Arizona and Laurel, Maryland. The first one was at the Texas Canyon rest stop – still in Arizona – that we’ve stopped at every time we’ve made the long drive over the past 6 years. It’s the most scenic rest stop of the drive – rocks, blue sky, and

Desert plants.

We didn’t stop at all as we traversed New Mexico – holding out until we reached El Paso, Texas and a Love’s for gas, coffee for my daughter, and a soft drink for me. El Paso has the best highway art (overpasses and abutments) along the drive. The area is very dry – makes Tucson look lush.

The next stop was a rest stop near Van Horn, Texas. It is one of the old style in Texas: not air conditioned or completely enclosed….but beautiful with historical themed mosaics and colorful sandstone walls.

The area is still very dry.

The first day out was a long one so we had another stop at a Love’s in Odessa, Texas

Before heading on to Abilene where we stopped for the night. The sun was going down by the time we picked up our dinner. We parked in the shade and decided that the temperature was dropping enough that we didn’t unload the plants or tarantula that we had in the car.

The increasing amount of available water makes the eastward journey greener and greener. By Abilene there are even some trees!

As we headed out the next morning there were some clouds.

We stopped at a new rest stop. It opened in Spring 2016. It was museum like…air conditioned…no mosaic.

Shortly after the stop, it started sprinkling and then we got waves of heavier rain through Fort Worth. It was misting and then just cloudy for the rest of the day. We arrived in Carrollton…visited with family. I took another picture of the red yucca in bloom…and the sunset. We were glad that the drive between Abilene and Carrollton was a short driving day allowing us to rest up a bit for the next 2 long drive days….which I will post about tomorrow.