We left Texas at 7:30am on an overcast Sunday morning. Damon drove the moving truck. Sid, Star and I followed behind him in my car. Sort of a modern day wagon train. Thus began one of the longest days of my life.
We got to Pecos and ran into fog. A fog so thick that at one point I couldn't see Damon in front of us. I hate not being able to see. Especially when I'm driving 70 miles per hour on the interstate with my kid in the backseat. White knuckled and teeth gritted we slowed down to 50mph and kept going. We were probably in the fog for 15 minutes but it felt like we were never going to escape all that whiteness.
Our first stop was in Van Horn. We pulled into a service station for gas and a bathroom break. Damon had to fill up twice since our card limit cut him off at $75. The gas guzzling moving truck had a strong thirst! Speaking of moving trucks - we went with Budget since we had seen several U-Hauls broken down on the side of the road when we had driven over to pick our rent house. I took it as an omen.
The drive down I10 is very pretty. Not too much traffic and several nice views. You can see Mexico from your car.
I really really really don't like driving through El Paso. It feels as though I've accidentally wound up on a Formula1 race track. People weaving in and out of traffic. They are crazy there I tell you! It takes almost 30 minutes to get through all that highway insanity. That's a long time to hold your breath and pray that no one side swipes you!
After we escaped El Paso unscathed, we had to get through the border check point. I find this a little silly since I never left the country or crossed the border. We passed through a camera station where they took a gazillion photos of me and my car and then had to stop for 20 questions with the border patrol agent. He was standing there complete with body armor and an attitude. It's probably not fun asking the same stuff over and over but it's not fun for me having to stop and answer it all either. He asked if I was a US citizen, where I was going, why was I going there and if Sidney was my daughter and also a citizen. This is one of those moments were putting your kid in a bilingual learning program can really backfire on you. I said she was an American and thankfully Sid didn't bust out with the Spanglish until after I had closed the window and started to drive away.
Our next stop was in Las Cruces for lunch and another gas refuel. Damon realized that he didn't have the gas cap for the moving truck. He had left it in Van Horn after the double refuel. Fortunately, he is good at improv and was able to make a cap out of an empty Coke can and duct tape. Sid greatly enjoyed this little arts and crafts project since she was in charge of helping empty the soda can. The girl loves her some Coca Cola.
Along the highway, as you drive through New Mexico, are several signs that say "Dust storms may exist." I can tell you for a fact that dust storms do exist because we got to drive through one. Yeah! It was only a small one so I couldn't see for only a few minutes. Again we kept on driving to keep people from running into us from behind. We probably picked the weirdest weather day to make this trip. After the dust storm, we of course drove into a thunderstorm. Damon was concerned that his MacGyver'd gas cap might fall off so I would pull up next to him and Sid would check to see if it was still in place. She thought this was great and probably the best part of the trip. The gas cap held up through the rain and wind. Duct tape strong!
We had our final stop in Lordsberg for another refuel and bathroom break. The next thing we knew we were in Arizona. Arizona roads are nice but the desert creeps right up to the white/yellow lines. It seems that any second a desert creature will jump out in front of you. None did but they could have. We drove through Texas Canyon which is funny to me since it doesn't really look like any part of Texas that I've been to. There are rock formations that look like a giant was playing with blocks. It's a neat site and worth stopping for some photos if you aren't exhausted or trying to end a ridiculously long road trip.
Soon we were in Tucson and heading to our new house. When we got to our neighborhood we had to figure out where the second entrance was since the moving truck wouldn't fit through the main gate. This is our first time to live in a gated community and it's a little different from our previous homes. We got a bit turned around finding the second gate and a bit testy with each other. The gps came through and at long last we arrived at the house!
I had arranged for movers to meet us to help unload the moving truck. The 2 guys that helped us worked really hard and knocked it out in 2 hours. Shout out to Sunrise Saguaro! We couldn't have done it on our own. I slept like a rock that night. The kind of sleep where you don't move from the moment you close your eyes.
It took us 11 hours to make the trip from start to finish. Granted we had a few things pop up along the way and had to drive a ginormous moving truck. We did it though and I hope that you will decide to make the trip and come visit us. Tucson is a lovely town and I'm excited to be here. It was worth all the crazy driving and bumps along the way.
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