We are back!!!!!

Its been over a week since we have posted a blog.  The main reason for not posting is that our internet service has been next to non-existent, so the downloading of pictures was not going to happen.  I tried a few times but after striking out, I closed the computer and went about my business.  Pat and Harold have arrived and have joined our convoy.  The Ponderosa, Roundtuit, and the Hitchhiker are quite a site going down the road. 

Now that I am back in the land of Wifi, I will start with today's post and try to update the rest of the days in between as best I can.  So here goes.

Today our travels brought us from the Marfa Lights viewing area near Marfa TX. to Walmart in Las Cruses NM (I will post about the lights later  under Jan 17 post).  The viewing center was bright and sunny this morning with the Ponderosa in the background, all set for another travel day.

It is just a travel day and nothing much happened to us.  Most of our travels in the last few days has been along the Mexican US border so we see lots of border patrol.  We got a close look at one of their radar blimps which are tethered to a long cable.  They claim they can spot anything within a 25 mile radius.

Further up the road we spotted some trucks hauling the blades for some wind turbines.  The blades are well over 100 feet in length, and as the truck travels you can see the back end of the blade flexing about 2 feet up and down.

back overhang is probably 30 feet

For the past few days Sue and I have been noticing stripes on the pavement.  Yesterday she asked me what they were and I told her they looked like the trail from a tar truck when they are fixing the pavement.  But then I got looking at them and they looked like they were there on purpose.  Here's what they looked like.

Today Sue asked Ed and Lessie and they immediately came up with the answer.  Surprisingly, we hadn't gone 20 miles up the road and we came upon the following operation.

That's right, we are in Texas!!!  They are putting down salt brine in case the highways get icy tonight with the -5C temps they are expecting for about the 5th night in a row.

We have read some comments on other blogs about bypassing El Paso to stay away from the traffic.  I am not one to do a lot of diddling around in a city so we opted to go straight through on I-10.  El Paso is one of the easiest cities to navigate through because you just pick the center lane and go.  There are no merges or off ramps to worry about, so all you have to do is keep up with the flow of traffic and within a half hour it spits you out the north end heading to Las Cruces.  My experience has always been that the easiest way through a large city is on the Interstate that takes you right down town.  Just my humble opinion.  I am always amazed at the maze of interchanges that keep the traffic moving.  We counted 8 different roads at this point and all of them were doing at least 60 mph.  Wow!!!

By the time we got shut down at the Las Cruces Walmart the day was quite nice.  I know 12C is not hot but it is a lot warmer than it has been.

Here is the view out our window tonight featuring Roundtuit!!

Our Location tonight:  Walmart Las Cruces Texas   Wallydocking