EL PASO TO HATCH VIA COLUMBUS

Some blog posts are a little easier to write then others. The best circumstances are lots of battery power/electricity, a quite evening with a glass of craft beer, our comfy sofa, Cassia sleeping and a good day of photos.

Not so today. Right now I am sitting on a hard and cold concrete bench with the sun in my eye (I know there are worse things - right?! Sun and sitting outside). Well, I am hunched behind my laptop case with 45% battery power and not much chance of electricity unless I find a plug in at the shower building.

Plus, I have so little yet so much to say that it's hard to know exactly what to do. Bare with me - I'll give it my best shot then go take a shower and head back to the van to make dinner.

This post will be a bridge filling you in our last few days - last Wednesday to today - Sunday.

Fingers crossed that it all makes sense by the time I am done.

It took all these pics of craft beer so I may as well show them. Prior to heading out of El Paso - thinking that we would be in Columbus (with almost no chance of finding beer) we needed to stock up.

Mmmmmm……coconut + beer - say it ain't so. I didn't go for it this time but this porter is officially on the list. How can it be bad?

I found Spec's for Derek just across the Interstate from the Home Depot and Walmart. It was on our route anyway - may as well stop in!

We were completely blown away by the selection of craft beer at Spec's. All of our favourites and favourites we haven't even tried yet!

Can you say 'Kids in a candy store!'. Too bad not a penny candy store. Ouch!

One of the things we love about craft beer - besides the beer - is all the great logos and graphics.

We bought too much and spent too much but completely enjoying our selection!

Then west on the #9 out of El Paso and into New Mexico. I am really starting to mess up with my State entry signs. They seem to come up so fast and in this case so small. I have only one chance. This was the second photo I took - the first was too blurry.

We are not strangers to this route - our third time heading to Columbus via El Paso.

This road is heavily used to move large pieces of equipment. Two years ago we were stuck behind plane parts and had to pull over for lunch to wait them out. We surprised not to see equipment pieces this year at all - both times before there have been. 

It's a pretty quick ride to Pancho Villa State Park.

We booked in for 3 nights - at $14 for water and electric. LOVE New Mexico State Parks - great prices. Our sunset the first night.

And sunrise. With the time change on our way to El Paso we were all messed up - we were up before 7:00am all three days. 

Lots of birds in this area. 

Thursday we took a walk over to downtown Columbus to use the library's wifi. I didn't take too many pictures of the park this year since I took many last time. If you want to see more the post is here. I was so glad to see that they still had the book exchange and WOW does Cassia ever look young there!

The old train station is now a museum and gift shop.

Downtown Columbus…..yup - very small. But the town actually does have all the amenities plus it is three miles from Mexico. A good place for snowbirds I think - Derek isn't as smitten with it but I like it there. Plus - Deming with everything is a short 30 miles north.

Another nice sunset Thursday night. Good thing we had electricity and could run our space heater because the nights were cool - cold really - as was Friday.

But that doesn't stop a 4 year old from playing on the playground.

This time we chose a site right across from it so that Cassia could play as much as she wanted.

Although we had planned to stay up to a week we were done after three days. We were going to go into Mexico to get our teeth cleaned but really weren't up to it this trip.

It's a good thing that we weren't on the internet much and talking about our plans because in one day they changed about three times. Plan A was to tour around New Mexico for the next month or so (I know LOTS of time) waiting until we could head up into Western Colorado. Then we moved to Plan B since we thought that we were really kidding ourselves to think that that was a good plan. Plan B involved heading into Arizona from Columbus to the warmth and then on to Death Valley and taking the coastal California route back to BC. 

Ahhhhh…….

Since we had to take Cassia's library books back we decided to check our email one last time before we left Columbus.

AND GUESS WHAT!

We won tickets to Gordon Lightfoot in El Paso! Yup! Crazy - right?!

When I was doing the blog on Thursday I noticed that they had a contest via Facebook. Well, we had no chance of winning but enter I did anyway.

When I opened our email I saw CONGRATULATIONS!

WoW!

So - plans changed once again. Since the concert isn't until Feb. 8th we have some time to kill. Who knows now the route we will take home but in the mean time we are going to tour New Mexico - The Land of Enchantment. Pretty excited about that. Did you know they have quite a few craft beer breweries. Yup - they do.

Up to Deming we go.

And on to Hatch.

Now - what is this? Right?! Well, this is in Hatch - Chile capital of NM. Since we have been planning to really get a good look at New Mexico I have been spending my evenings almost memorizing our New Mexico travel book. Hatch has a 'must stop' at burger joint. 

We don't miss must stop at burger joints - especially for a chile cheese burger!

Sparky's is the place. It was VERY busy when we arrived - obviously THE place to go to.

Oh my …… and this is JUST the drink menu! 

At least this was an easy decision - we both chose the World Famous.

A nice day - we waited outside for our order - plus it was full inside.

Derek got the frozen chile powder and strawberry - good doesn't even begin to explain this drink. 

WoW! Get one if you go! Really.

Derek got the fries as his side and me the pineapple coleslaw. Now, who would have thought to put pineapple in regular coleslaw? But it was good! 

It wasn't as big as it looks - just the perspective - however, Mom and Dad were happy to help Cassia eat this sundae.

Sparky's - a very interesting place.

Definitely worth the stop the next time you are in Hatch. Also detour worthy!

Once we left Hatch at around 3:00 pm we were a bit wayward. Not sure where to go - not sure where to spend the night.

We continued on to Truth or Consequences. The last time we were there was back in 2006 on our first USA road trip.

What did we find? Where did we end up that night?

I'll let you know next post!

Teresa
With a sore back from all this hunching over……and 24% left on the battery. Whew. Just in time.

If you are looking for more of Rantin' n Raven we are not hard to find out there in the social media world. We are on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. See you there!

HISTORIC DOWNTOWN EL PASO

Due to Rufus sleeping in the van with us and becoming our morning alarm - we were up and on our way early Tuesday morning. He usually sleeps outside or in the trailer unless it is too cold or in this case too close to the train. We worried that the horns would bother him overnight.

Today's destination was El Paso. Since it was so early I wasn't sure if we would stay there or carry on to New Mexico. That's kinda how our days go - we see what we can find along the way and alter our plans accordingly. 

Highway 90 is a nice highway - quiet. Not always exciting though. Here the mountains are off in the distance.

With this type of terrain things stand out from miles away. Looks to be a blimp. Maybe for the border patrol - not sure. Guess you saw this on your way through Croft.

The mountains over towards Fort Davis. We were thinking to visit Fort Davis this year but then decided not to this year. It is a nice town but we have been there before and will probably be back this way again in the fall. Not worth the 42 mile detour this time. 

What looks to be a Pecan plantation - it went on for miles and miles.

At the intersection of the 90 and Interstate 10 is Van Horn. Only a population of 2,500 but with many many truck stops, gas stations, restaurants and hotels - although most look like they are on their last legs. Instead of just stopping at the first truck stop we drove main street for a bit. A good place to stop and fuel up. In this part of Texas you really have to pay attention to your fuel gauge. There are many miles between each gas station.

The Historic Hotel El Capitan.

Heading west out of Van Horn on the I10.

Back an hour - it's now 10:00 am. Way ahead of schedule if there was a schedule to begin with.

A nice ride and not too busy although it is a busy Interstate - lots of trucks. 

That is a talc plant on the right.

We stopped for breakfast at the last main rest area before El Paso. There were many of these long concrete supports parked there. And here they are again on the outskirts of El Paso.

We just passed a sign that the Interstate was going to be closed that night. Guess the trucks are all waiting to deliver the ramp supports. Pretty neat.

Now we can see where they are all going. 

El Paso is undergoing quite the ramp construction. I recall that they were working on this when we were through two years ago as well.

Ahhhh - taking the Interstate through El Paso. It's our third time. It actually does get easier although it was very busy today. I imagine it is probably busy most of the time. The lanes go from 2 to 3 to 4 to 5 and then back down again. I took pictures of our trip through back in February 2012. 

At this point, getting close to the downtown, Derek mentioned that maybe we should go take a look. Seriously? 

Although I did want to see the historic downtown of El Paso, I've never had the nerve to ask Derek to drive us there - I was expecting it to be a crazy place to get around in.

But if he was up for it - sure - let's do it!

So, here's our exit a few miles ahead. Good thing that it is well signed because according to my map exit 18 looked to be the right one. 

The interstate goes right past the downtown so once off it we were right where we wanted to be. We followed the signs to the tourist office.

We did drive around for about 10 mins to find a good parking spot. No large lots and much of the street parking was occupied. The Visitor Center signs announce free parking but we found out later that is for the parkade - that doeesn't help us much. You can see the van on the right.

We highly recommend a tour of the downtown. If you are in a RV the best place to park may be the casino we saw just outside of it and then take a taxi back - it probably wouldn't cost much. 

I caught Derek off guard - I wasn't meaning to get a picture of him - the Visitor Info Center sign. 

The ladies in the Center. They were very helpful and pointed us in the right direction to the main downtown area.

These maps are scattered around the downtown but if you stop in at the Center they'll give you your own which was very helpful.

This is the El Paso Convention Center. 

Lots of original buildings remain - this is the Hotel Paso Del Norte from 1912.

The Plaza Theatre from 1930.

The architect in me just loves strolling around cities looking at these buildings - the entire built landscape really. I find the central area of large cities fascinating. This is The Mills Building from 1910-1911.

Sadly, the San Jacinto Plaza was closed due to construction.

These types of buildings are just as interesting to me because they show the history and fluid nature of our built environment.

Imagine, Canadian musician Gordon Lightfoot in concert in El Paso. Derek's a big fan. We checked on line but tickets range from $50 to $100. If we could have afforded three tickets we would have been tempted to come back for it, but not this time.

All this walking was making us hungry. Plus, the ladies at the Visitor Center had mentioned that there were food trucks on Mills Avenue. We LOVE food trucks.

What to do with three of them? Why, get something from each of course.

Home fries from The Reef Mobile Kitchen.

A selection of four tacos from the Korean Mexico fusion of the Takorexico Truck. Thanks Gilbert! Nice to meet you - you've got great food. Wish we could have tried everything!

Pork, beef, crispy chicken and vegetarian falafel. Yum.

And to top it off a nutella and strawberry crepe from Teresa and the Food Gallery truck. So nice to meet and talk with you Teresa, thanks again for the t-shirt offer.

With the three of us elbowing each other it didn't last long.

Continuing on our walk…..

The O.T. Bassett Tower from 1929/30.

The last stop - the El Paso Museum of Art. I was on my own - Derek and Cassia headed back to the van to check on Rufus. 

A beautiful interior but I made quick work of my look around.

A neat little shop where we parked.

Once I was back we readied the van and made our way back to the Interstate.

A few miles north and we were back off again. Our destination for the night - Walmart and Home Depot. It had been a long time since we could stock up on groceries. 

El Paso. Thanks. 

After just thinking of El Paso as a big city to get through, we were happy that we took some time to look around. Maybe next time we'll stay even longer. Although large, it is surprising easy to maneuver around and looks to have much to offer. We like how it is situated within the mountains - probably not a bad place to live. Thanks to the friendly people that we met from the visitor center ladies to the food trucks guys and gals. Take care, and hopefully we'll see y'all again next year.

Have you been and stopped in El Paso? We'd love to hear about your experience and where you like to visit there. We didn't go to the Franklin Mountains this trip but that might be a place to visit next time.

Can't help thinking about the ole Marty Robbins song - I remember travelling with my family when I was young - sitting in the front of our Dodge truck with this song playing on the eight track. Sigh.

Well, that's it for this post. We are now here at Pancho Villa State Park. Actually, I am in the Columbus Library - no wifi at the park. 

We are in New Mexico. More about the Land of Enchantment next post.

Teresa

If you are looking for more of Rantin' n Raven we are not hard to find out there in the social media world. We are on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. See you there!