Arizona & New Mexico Road Trip 2009

December 6, Sunday: Joshua Tree NP Area to Buckeye, AZ: Big observation: 13 of the 18 Rest Stops in Arizona, run by their DOT were currently CLOSED! On their website it states:

As part of a series of actions to address current budget constraints, and in an ongoing effort to preserve the most critical services and safety measures for the traveling public, the Arizona Department of Transporation (ADOT) is temporarily suspending operations at 13 of its 18 rest areas beginning the week of October 19.

So because of budget cuts, their rest stops were closed. We did not know this until we first started seeing rest stops which we wanted to go to, and could not. They had barricaded them. The one we finally were able to stop at, had no toilet paper in the ladies room, only one sink working and no soap. WOW, I guess the recession is really hitting home here.

December 7th, Monday: Buckeye, AZ to Lordsburg, NM: Well, since the rest stops were non-existent, we had stopped at a Love's Truck stop the night before. That was really good, and there were tons of trucks, must have been over 100 trucks around the area, stopped for the night. We felt quite safe and because it was raining, did not get on the road until around 1 pm. It was going to be another later day for us.

We were listening to some podcasts today, especially of RV Navigator, we think the couple is kind of funny, especially as we can not believe all of the gadgets that they own. I mean really, do you need to have 4 TVs in your rig, 4 computers of different capabilities, and three ways of getting the internet (or is it 4 now?) It is just too many, and they are not full-timers, they still have a house. I just think they spend WAY too much money, but hey, if they can and want to, well, we certainly are not going to stop them! But we definitely like their tips and their personalities and their ability to laugh at themselves.

We went 322 miles today with most of the miles done in the afternoon and evening. We stopped for the night at 9 pm in a truck stop in Lordsburg, NM. I hope we wake up to not so much wind and beautiful views.

Hurray! we actually stopped at a rest stop in Arizona that was not too bad. There were already trucks lined up for the night. The bathrooms in the lady's room had toilet paper, but Sasha said the men's room did not. Lovely. No Soap and cold water.

December 8th, Tuesday: Lordsburg, NM to Lordsburg, NM - Not moving today, as there are projected wind of up to 30-40 mph with 60 mph gusts. We are not moving. I am doing some work and Sasha will be doing some writing.

December 9th, Wednesday, Lordsburg, NM to Van Horn Texas - We got going around 11:30 am, to beautiful blue skies and a little wind.  Saw the Continental Divide at mile marker 51.5 (or so) no way to pull over to really see it, and looked pretty flat and disconcerting to me. Lots of RVs on the road, and lots of trucks, but not too many places or towns. The rest stops are relatively nice, right off of the highway, not too big, but had these cute adobe huts for picnicking. They also had signs to beware of snakes! Always interesting on the road.

Picture	Explanation
	This was at the Flying J in Lordsburg, New Mexico, where we stayed for two nights. The first night was in a different spot as there were tons of trucks, so we could not get this spot then. We were able to get this spot the second day. Very good as it was straight into the wind, as opposed to sideways, not as cold that way. Also, no leveling needed as the parking lot was very level. The way these truckers can back in is truly amazing. No need for a second person, they can back in by themselves.
	If we talk a bit about Flying J, it is because they have been so good to RVers. It is a great company who helps out truckers and RVers alike. There is usually a dump station, propane, great prices on diesel, and good spots to park it for the night.
	I managed to get this shot off, of the continental divide. As you can see, there is not much in the way of mountains here, maybe a few in the distance, but it is much better to cross the divide in NM than in say, Colorado or some other colder area. The temperature was around 55 degrees F. Not too bad!
	This roadrunner was at one of the last road stops in New Mexico. While these road stops were not as bad as Arizona (at least they were open!), they do not compare to the ones in Texas.
	This is in Anthony, Texas - it was interesting, but the town itself is in two states - New Mexico and Texas. We went to the Flying J in Anthony, Texas to get diesel. We were figuring we had a long ride ahead of us and we wanted to gas up now while the prices were cheap ($2.65 a gallon for diesel, gotta love Texas for cheap fuel prices!)
	Close up of the star.

Listening to a book on iPod called The Lemur: A Novel . Hard to get into in the beginning, but now we seem to be OK with it, will let you know how it goes.

Got into Texas, WOW, everything is nicer and bigger in Texas. The welcome center was beautiful, with lots of information and very nice bathrooms, free wifi, and huge, spacious places for RVers. They know how to treat us right!

We decided to stop at a Rest stop outside of Van Horn, at mile marker 145. This one had bathrooms and nice picnic areas. You can stay for 24 hours at any rest stop in Texas. Plenty of time for an overnight, with great scenery. Will have a picture up hopefully in the next couple of days. Of course the internet is not that good, how can it be, we are in western Texas/

We decided since we are not going to make it to Livingston by Friday, to take a more circular route to there. We are going to go down Route 90, unfortunately not able to go to Big Bend, but going to enjoy the nice weather. So December 11th will be a new page called Texas!

Where are they now? On The Road Again to TEXAS -It is as big as they say, and it will take a while to get through here.