El Paso, Texas

Feb 21, 12 we arrived in El Paso at Fort Bliss RV Park - a nice RV park except for being next to a major highway.  We arrived before lunch, so immediately Clara seeks out the best Mexican Restaurant in town, Tiki's.  And it was great.

After lunch, we go to a big import/export shop, supposedly two acres under roof and all Indian and Mexican stuff.  However, it appears that most of it is made in Indonesia.

Then we went by what has to be the largest BX in the country on Fort Bliss.  It's like a huge shopping center.

We aren't very impressed with El Paso.  And we've been warned by everyone we ask that we "definitely" should not consider going across the river to Juarez, Mexico.  In fact, we heard that a lady was shot on this side of the river and there was a car jacking just today.  As much as we wanted to go to Mexico, we heeded the advice and kept our butts safely away from the border.  It's a real shame.  We really enjoyed going to Mexico when we were in pilot training just down the Rio Grande River in Laredo, Tx.

Feb 22, 12 after a good swim at the local YMCA, we had no plan in mind, but had found a State Park about 30 miles out of town (away from Mexico), so decided to take it in (after lunch at another great Mexican Restaurant).

After a couple months of traveling in the desert Southwest, it seems that every town we visit, whether large or small begins to look the same.  They all have the same fast food restaurants, motels, gas stations.  Everyone looks the same when you enter them (just like at home).

The only thing that distinguishes one area from another are the protected lands, National Parks/Monuments/Lands and State Parks.  This is the thing that really distinguishes one area from another.  Thankfully, our forefathers (i.e. elected leaders) had the forethought to protect those areas that distinguish one part of this great country from another.  (It is a real shame we do not have these kind of elected leaders today).

Today, we had the opportunity to visit another one of these special areas, the Hueco (Way-co) Tanks State Historic Site.  It's another one of those places that we expected little and were very pleasantly surprised. The name tanks from the the weathering processes which eroded the rock to form hollows (bowls) in the rock which retain any rain, making them a "watering hole" for the natives and a stopping point for stage coaches.

It is another of those places that geology created and left for us to marvel  at.

Pictorgraphs on the rocks

It rises above the Chinuahuan Desert as an oasis of nature and culture.  Due to its geology, relatively abundant water, and unusual structure, Hueco Tanks has served as a refuge for plants, animals and people for over 10,000 years.  Thousands of pictographs have been left by prehistoric and historic native Americans.

As with a lot of our treasures, there are those who will defile anything they can, and that is the case with this area.  Before the Park Service took it over (and after), people who have no respect for history have written on the rocks, often right over the historic pictographs.

Graffiti is nothing new however, some of the writings on the walls date back to the 1880's when stage coaches were stopping here.

Mimi enjoys the rocks

We pay close attention to the signs

We find ourselves at a place where, no matter which direction we take, we will continue to be in the desert.  The only National Park in the area is Great Bend NP a day or so South.  We want to get back to Beaufort in early March, and going to Great Bend will probably take a week or more.

So we've decided to head back to Albuquerque to leave the RV and then drop by and see Tony and Jill in Witchita and go back to Spruce Pine and then Beaufort.

If everything goes as planned, we'll leave Albuquerque Saturday morning.