Driving LA to San Angelo Texas

Not much to write about the drive from LA to Phoenix (where we had lunch with our nephew, Rob, and his wife, Christa). Seemed the road only turned a few times in the whole 7 hour drive and most of those turns were in the first two hours before we got to Palm Springs. It was however HOT after PS and even hotter going through Phoenix, the Midget didn't seem to mind, temps and OP stayed in the normal range but the short guy driving got very close to the temperature red line. You can only drink so much water trying to keep cool before other internal pressures create problems.

Phoenix to Tucson was a little better even though it started hot and stayed that way. We drove state highways instead of the Interstates, so the roads weren't quite as hot and the traffic was very light. We also gained a little over 2000 feet in elevation which helped with the precieved temp and the terrain got more interresting the closer we got to Oro Valley.

After a great visit with Ned and Ann we headed for Alamogordo on Monday morning at 0400. It was amazing how cool it was in the desert, Pat wore a jacket for the first 3 hours, then it started to warm up. The drive out of Oro Valley through Tucson and the mountains of eastern AZ was beautiful, particularly the area around the Texas Valley on I10. Entering NM the highway gets a little flatter and straighter on to Las Cruses and then its over the Organ Mountains a 3000 foot climb at 100 degrees, temps nudged up but the oil pressure stayed strong right to the summit, then it was down hill to our destination.

After a fun time with Tom and Chris, Pat's brother and sister-in-law, we left Alamogordo today at 0400. Again the desert was cool, jacket weather, and it got even cooler as we drove through Tularosa and up to Ruidoso Downs and across the 7500 foot summitt. The ride down from there got prettier as the sun started up, but we started to notice the smoke from the forest fires around Tinnie and Picacho. Soon we could see the fires glowing against the predawn sky. The glow turned into peaks and hillsides in flames, and although we were never in any danger the sight of those uncontrolled fires working over the mountains was a bit disconcerting. The drive straightened out again and the scenery became more flat but the tempertures remained very comfortable until about an hour out of San Angelo and even then nowhere near the discomfort levels of the desert.

We are headed off to Round Top, TX to visit our friends Patti and Mike tomorrow morning, again at 0400. Gotta take advantage of those cool morning temps. Then on the 5th up to Dallas to visit our niece Jodie and her family and continuing to Wichita on the 6th. We will catch up with you once in Kansas, until then stay cool, I know we'll be trying to.