We left New Mexico and crossed into Texas - we stayed a total of 12 days in the Land of Enchantment state and really enjoyed it.
Not far into Texas (20 miles or so) we came into El Paso - lots of traffic and road construction. I-10 parallels the Rio Grande and you can see the crowded Mexican town of Juarez across the river.
Once through El Paso it was just a long drive across the West Texas desert. Even with the 80mph speed limit, we saw several people pulled over by the Texas State Troopers. Rest assured, we weren't doing 80 mph in the motorhome!
Just before Van Horn we crossed back into Central Time, then 35 miles or so east of Van Horn we passed the junction where I-20 splits off and takes the more northern route across Texas - we stayed on I-10. After a 310 mile day, we checked into Balmorhea State Park just out of Balmorhea, TX in the middle of the afternoon - relaxed the rest of the day. It was pretty hot - in the low 90's, but there was a light breeze. We have stayed here before and it is a nice place for a stop-over. They have the campground, and a motel, plus a huge natural spring-fed thermal pool that a lot of people make use of. We walked over late in the afternoon just to check it out, but it was already closed.
Yesterday (Thursday), April 28th - another leg of the "waltz across Texas". We again hit I-10 headed east into the early morning sun. Still wide open desert.
We started the day at an elevation of 3196 at Balmorhea, gradually dropped down to 2000 feet at the Pecos River. Then it was back up into the 2200-2500 range for a lot of miles. Also, when we crossed the Pecos we started to see a change in the landscape - a lot more vegetation and mesquite trees with a few oaks thrown in. We also started to get into the Texas Hill Country.
We stopped at a rest area that had some really interesting picnic tables!
In addition to the change in vegetation with all the trees, we started to see a lot of color in the median and on the sides of the highway.
After riding at the 2200-2500 feet elevation for a long way, we finally topped the last hill and dropped down into Kerrville at 1637 feet - lowest we've been in awhile! Kerrville is in the heart of the Hill Country.
After a 314 mile day, we checked into the Kerrville-Schreiner State Park in Kerrville - got a really nice site for two nights. The weather was warm, but it clouded up some and cooled down pretty soon. We were able to put our chairs out and sit under our shade tree for awhile. We've stayed here several times over the years and it, like Balmorhea, is a good stop-over.
Today (Friday) was a domestic day - chores to be taken care of. We started the day at Cracker Barrel for breakfast (Yeah!! These folks know about sweet tea!) and then to Wal-Mart for a few comodities and a haircut. Back at camp we had a couple of hours of house cleaning and then back to our shade tree. The weather forecast for yesterday and today was for scattered thunderstorms and rain showers, but we didn't get a drop. Was cloudy for a good part of the day, but later the sun came out again.
Tomorrow we're like Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again". We'll be hitting I-10 for our last leg across Texas - through San Antonio and Houston headed for High Island on the Texas Gulf Coast. We plan on being there a few days.
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