Carlsbad, NM ==> El Paso ==> Deming, NM ==> Tucson ==> Picacho, AZ

Anne and I have been in southern New Mexico, western Texas, and southern Arizona for the past several days. I swear, in this southwest climate you can stand on the sunny side of the RV and gently bake in the dry heat, and on the shady side you can enjoy a cool breeze. Only one of us enjoys the heat though. Does that mean we have to stand on opposite sides of the RV?

One of our tires seems to have developed a slow leak, so stopped into a car repair place to inflate it fully on leaving Carlsbad. I asked the technician if there were other places down the road where we could get air if we needed it, and he said “There’s nothing down the road that way.” Well, he wasn’t kidding. We had a 260 mile drive thru the desert today, practically ran out of fuel, and we saw nothing but the desert scene most of the way till we got to the suburbs of El Paso, where we paid dearly for fuel.

So we drove southerly, back into western Texas and eventually thru the southwestern town of El Paso. Then back into southern NM, finally stopping in Deming, NM for one night. On the way we were checked out (for the second time) by the Border Patrol. Not sure I mentioned earlier that the Border Patrol checked us out on our way out of Study Butte. Sometimes we see them out inspecting and working on fences near the highways too.

Anne booked us into an RV park in Deming named ‘Hi-Lo RV Park‘. It was a ‘singles’ park, but welcomed others. It happened to be the international headquarters of an organization known as LOW (Loners On Wheels). Hi-Lo was a real good neat park with crushed stone everywhere, and beautiful cactus gardens all over. The crushed stone was a welcomed change from the dusty conditions we’d become accustomed to in Study Butte and Carlsbad. The sunset was spectacular here, and combined with large stratus and puffy clouds the sky became a yellow-orange-blue blazing delight. I was overwhelmed. By the way, when we got here the air pressure was low again in our right rear tire.

We didn’t disconnect the RV from the truck here, so this morning was easier than usual to get off and running. We stopped into a tire shop on the way back to the highway and they took us right in. The young man quickly found a screw embedded in our tire. He removed that, patched the tire, and we were on our way. I was pleased as the repair only set us back a half hour and $10.75.

Today we drove on Hwy I-10w for 250 miles, passing directly thru Tucson, AZ and continuing all the way to Picacho, AZ. Tucson has grown a lot since the last time we were here, maybe 10 years ago. It's a different world here tho, and I love being here in the desert.

Anne made the arrangements (as always) here in Picacho and we checked into the ‘Arizona Hideaway RV Park’. On site they have Frankie’s Chuckwagon Restaurant, and tonight (Fri) they offered their fabulous fish fry (Cod) which we took advantage of. We enjoyed it but it was nothing like the fresh fish we’re used to back home. They also have really beautiful cactus gardens here too.

This place is adjacent to a horse and cattle ranch. At sunset out back we could actually see cowboys roping calfs (sp?). A nice fringe benefit.

The weather has been beautiful for several days now but there are storms forecasted for central/northern Arizona this Sat/Sun. We’ll stay well south Flagstaff where it is going to snow, and even south of Phoenix to let the bad stuff pass before we visit Anne's childhood friend in Mesa, then her brother and her nephew's family in Prescott Valley.

We continue to meet tons of nice people from all over. The folks in this part of the country are real nice just like everybody back home. We miss and love all of you, and I’m happy you follow along with us, reading and looking at the blog. That feels good. Thanks.