Had a great Mexican breakfast with Dave Porter at the Frontier Restaurant and
left Albuquerque at 7:00 AM, destination Fort Stockton, TX so that I could
hopefully catch up with Bill and Joyce Sullivan and five other cars from
Southern Ontario who were a day ahead of me.
The drive down to Los Cruces, NM was uneventful and I followed Dave's driving
instructions to turn left at Texas, which took me through El Paso and in
close proximity to Mexico, so this trip's route has gone from Border to Border,
which was the original concept. The Rio Grande Valley is a belt of green in an
otherwise desert landscape, but the mountain ranges both paralleling and
crossing I-10 keep it interesting and scenic to this Easterner's eye. On more
than
one occasion I saw trailers or lean-to houses out in the middle of nowhere
with no visible road access, but obviously being lived in.
Just east of Van Horn the sky went a buff color and at first I thought I was
travelling in an unusual fog--in actuality it was dust kicked up by high winds
coming off the mountains to the south and soon the ceiling and temperatures
dropped, with the accompaniment of spectacular lightening bursts, some lasting
four to five seconds in a solid bolt from sky to ground. The smell of ozone
was overpowering and the rain drops Texas-sized!
This weather lasted for about thirty minutes off and on but made for pleasant
driving temperatures. In any case, I arrived Fort Stockton and soon found
the motel where everyone was staying--five cars from Southern Ontario (Bob and
Levina Yule, Laurie and Diane Wilford, Ian and Susan Smith, Bob and Jean Slater
and Ed and Anna Orr) along with the Sullivans of Albuquerque. All reported
their cars in good order with only minor problems. We ate dinner out and will
be departing in the A.M. for San Antonio, about 300 miles distant.
Best--Michael
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