Out of Texas... finally

We have probably taken one of the longest routes out of Texas. We spent most of our day driving through large, dry expanses of nothing. Dustin gleefully pointed out cactus for miles and then seemed disappointed as it tapered off. (He also pointed out the lack of cactus.) He spent his time waiting for what he considered to be desert and was sorely disappointed by the dry land and scruffy shrubbery but no large areas of sand. As he insisted he wanted to see the desert, I looked up precipitation requirements for a region categorized as "desert" and read it to him. Sometimes 3G with Internet access is pretty cool ... and allows you to show off.

Once we hit El Paso it was a constant stream of "is that Mexico?," "can you see Mexico?," "is that it over there?" and "I think that's Mexico." I am pretty sure we saw little or no Mexican soil. We didn't even try to go in, just kept looking southwest for a glimpse of traffic or gates.

We did take a break from the long day of driving to wander an outlet mall. It was awesome! A really cool open-air style with a cover to keep it from getting too hot. It had plenty of brand name stores and lots of people out enjoying the Texas sun.

Since we went the super saver route in Austin, we took nicer accommodations in Las Cruces, N.M. We are the only guests at a bed and breakfast in the hills just out of the city. The owners of the Hilltop Hacienda (how cute is that?!) are a sweet couple offering three bedrooms of varying prices. They have lots of landscape work done, with paths to lovely views down the hilltop. When we got back from trying out Whataburger in town we saw a jack rabbit on the driveway!


[An aside on Whataburger, I was so impressed with that place. For fast food it was pretty good but it's the service that is unreal. The cashier greeted us and was very pleasant and patient. We found a table to wait and the food was delivered to the table instead of a number bellowed across the room. When we left they said goodbye and thanked us for coming in. Blown away... since when do service workers care about anything?]

Bob (one of the b&b owners) noted that Dustin's request for breakfast at 8:45 a.m. Most people it seems go for 9 a.m. They have been great so far, very pleasant on the phone and waiting for us in the driveway when we arrived. Tomorrow we are going to check out nearby ghost towns and then it's on to Arizona!