Travel from Padre Island, TX to Arizona

After a fun-filled month on North Padre Island, Texas, it was time to move on to our next "snowbird" destination (VRBO condo) in Tucson, Arizona.  Neither of us had ever been to Tucson before and were happy we were finally going to get to check it out.

We had a long but good two-day drive from the Corpus Christi area to Tucson.  We had no idea west Texas would be so pretty, but it was.  Once we got into Texas Hill Country northwest of San Antonio, the scenery was really attractive.  We found the speed limit attractive as well; and it's a good thing too, as we had a long first day with over eight hours of driving, even at these speeds!

Never seen signs like this east of the Mississippi!

Great views somewhere in west Texas

We spent the night at a motel in the small west Texas town of Van Horn.  There's really nothing in this town but a row of economical motels, a railroad, a few restaurants, a couple of truck stops and gas stations, and a small RV park.  But it's the only place to stay in the immediate area, and we were delighted to find a Mexican restaurant, Chuy's, catty-corner across the street from our motel.  

After getting settled in our room, we were starved after our long day on the road, so got some takeout. While waiting for it, Barry took some photos of the amazing sunset outside, and I enjoyed looking at the many autographed photos plastered all over the walls of all the famous folks who have eaten there. Their main dining room is named for John Madden, and they pay homage to him on their lit sign outside. Guess he must have been a pretty regular customer! 

Mountain view on the far side of the railroad tracks

The sunsets in the southwest are often exceptional, and we certainly had one of those on this night. Stunning!  I did not retouch these photos in any way; this is what the camera saw.  Made me gasp when I stepped outside of the restaurant!

The next morning, Barry got a few more shots of this funky little town before we hit the road.

Cute junk shop by the side of the main road

Interesting "art piece" (???) at the junk shop

Van Horn main drag by daylight

Today we would quickly enter New Mexico before eventually crossing the Arizona state line.  A good chunk of the time in NM, we had views of Mexico right out the driver's side window, we were that close to the border.  We even had to go through a US Customs and Border Protection stop there (as did everyone), but once we stated that we were both US citizens, we were quickly sent on our merry way -- no check of license and registration required.  I hate to think what a mess it would have made if we'd been chosen for a full vehicle search with all we had packed into our CR-V!

Mountains ahead!

Onward to Tucson -- uncharted territory for us both!

Traffic stop ahead!

New Mexico provided beautiful desert and mountain scenery as always.

Love the trains out west!

And before we knew it, we were in Arizona!

Picture postcard views

We were somewhat intrigued by the many billboards touting this roadside attraction (tourist trap?) but did not stop to see what it was.  Reading Wikipedia, sounds like we could have gotten in for only a buck -- might have been worth it to see "The Thing"!

I-10 also winds through the gorgeous "Texas Canyon", which is known for giant granite boulders.  We didn't even know it was coming so barely had time to snap a couple of photos as we drove through.

Boulders in Texas Canyon area

Now we're here in Tucson and loving escaping winter.  Although the weather has been a bit cool by Tucson standards, it's so much better than most of the rest of the US, we'll take it!  Starting this weekend, highs are supposed to be 70+ with the full sunshine the desert is famous for.  Stay tuned for more blog posts from Tucson!