It feels good to be back on the road again for an extended period time. We won’t really feel like we are in exploration mode until we move away from these familiar surroundings but I can’t complain with views like these from our front door.
Our stint in southern California allowed us to catch up with a lot of our friends, new and old. During our last cross country trip, while we were on the road, a new dealership opened in Los Angeles. Our friend Lynda and Mona invited us to come join in on their 1-year anniversary celebration which we were thrilled to be a part of.
The next stop is going to be our last one in the eastern Sierras before the caravan officially disbands for us to all go our separate ways. We will continue to head north towards Mammoth Lakes to camp at Crowley Lake. Before that happens, we are going to double down on the Burger Barn in Bishop before we leave because it is that good.
Last night we parked next to big rigs at the Flying J truck stop in Ehrenberg, Arizona. This is the same spot where we spent out first night as full timers back in 2010.
Today marks our 200th day on the road since we left Las Vegas. Technically we have been in the Airstream for much longer than that but the daily posts did not start for this trip until we departed from our 5-night hotel stay in sin city. We are getting very close to home and by the end of today, we will be even closer.
We intentionally spent the night just short of Tucson last night in the town of Benson so we can go see one of the best preserved natural caves in the world. We found a Wal-Mart in Benson that had a no RV overnight sign but the manager had no problems with us being there. It is becoming more common to have cities and counties ban RV overnight parking in Wal-Marts.
As we drove west last night out of Las Cruces, we contemplated making the long drive all the way into Arizona and settle somewhere in Tucson. That would have been a really long trek and we would be missing a stretch of I-10 that we have not explored much in the past. We decided to stop at the town of Deming, New Mexico for dinner and stay the night at the Wal-Mart.
We finally made our way across Texas last night and landed in a Wal-Mart in Las Cruces, New Mexico. We have not been back here since near the beginning of our trip in 2010.
Our third day at El Cosmico is our last as we packed up our site and prepared to head back out on the road. We have a handful of places we still want to check out in town but we will do that on our way out.
Our ordeal with the Texas Highway Patrol last night left me pretty riled and unable to sleep well for the rest of the night. If you don’t know what I am referring to, go read the end of this post and you will know what happened.
Last night we spent our first night at a Texas rest stop. Most, if not all, of the roadside rest stops in Texas allow at 24-hour stay. It stems back to the depression era when people were moving west to look for work and needed a place to camp for the night.
After our excursion in Austin yesterday, we actually found a Wal-Mart near the city that allowed overnight parking. At first glance, you wouldn’t think they would allow it because it is a smaller store. After we asked the manager inside, they gave us permission as long as we park in a designated area which we happily obliged.
