We Learn from New Mexico and Discover Texas

It seems we have a new experience every day!  Today's adventure started as neither of us slept very well...plus it was COLD in the bedroom!  There are 3 windows in the rear of the RV (the bedroom) and they are about as well insulated as a toy balloon.  RVs actually are designed to be "fair weather" friends - so though the heater warmed up the main cabin of the RV pretty well, the 28 degrees outside sort of seeped into the bedroom with us.  Then we discovered that the 28 degrees had also seeped into our water hose and froze the water so we had to use whatever we had in the holding tank for flushing and washing, etc.  Luckily, Al's work (and my laundry) kept us busy until about 10 and by that time the sun had warmed everything up and all had melted.  We were on our way again by noon.

I'm not going to add photos today because apparently the owner of this KOA RV park doesn't know how to set up his internet and I'm having a hell of a time getting ANYTHING done!  I'll try to post today's photos on Facebook IF I can get connected to it.  This is NOT the first time we've had Internet trouble at an RV park - we've had one sort of difficulty or another at EVERY ONE of them!

Anyway, before we actually reached Texas we saw a huge cattle holding area - those who have been up Route 5 in California have seen one much like this one - and more - they've SMELLED it!  Yeah - imagine about a mile of tightly packed cattle and the pungency...lovely farewell memory of New Mexico.

Anyway, before we knew it we had entered El Paso - which surprised me by being an enormous, sprawling metropolis, full of industry and complex highway systems and...and...TRAFFIC!!!  We were actually delayed for about half an hour in a genuine Traffic Jam!  Go figure!

Once out of El Paso we were back into the miles and miles of miles and miles however I did notice one difference between Texas and Arizona/New Mexico.  While the scrub and craggy mountains were much the same as before, there were almost always signs of habitation in the distance in Texas.  One side of the road was empty scrub and the other also scrub but way down there were farms or buildings or something happening indicating human presence.   This continued for a long way past El Paso but eventually gave way to more emptiness.  And yes, Texas is BIG.  For the first time, we looked into the distance and saw...more distance.  Oh, I did see one road sign I thought was clever...it said "Littering is unlAWFUL"   Cute.  Oh, and while the speed limit in the other states ranged from 65 to 75, Texas is the first place that we've seen a speed limit of 80MPH!  We keep to around 65 actually.  It's far easier to control the RV and maximize fuel economy that way.

Well, shortly before arriving in this booming town of Van Horn (it has 3 exits on the highway!!) we passed through a border guard inspection station!  We figured they'd want to come into the RV to see if we were smuggling illegal immigrants or something but they just asked if we were American citizens, then passed us along.  Oh well.

So, here we are in a small town in west Texas, hoping to stay in the window of good weather, and prepared for another night of freezing.  Tonight we're going to sleep in the main cabin on the air mattress under the sofa.   This RV can sleep up to 7 people actually, though with just one bathroom, I don't see how that could possibly be accomplished!

We're in the Central Time Zone now - I guess it IS later than I think!!!