El Paso To Phoenix

Today, we did the 430+ mile drive from El Paso, TX to Phoenix, AZ. With the noticeable exception of Tucson, AZ, there really isn't anything in between (this is becoming a theme of my West Coast drives).

El Paso, near the Mexican border, provides a view of the Frankin Mountains, which give the city a nice backdrop.

The handbook of Texas notes:

Though the mountains look arid, a number of springs can be found during periods of adequate moisture. These springs are particularly conducive to plant and animal life. Stands of cottonwood, hackberry, oak, and juniper grow in some of the more remote areas of the park.

Once you leave El Paso, you quickly cross into New Mexico and its impressive set of mountain ranges.

Rocks are pretty much all you will see on this drive, and as we learned later, gas (especially diesel) is hard to find.

The search for diesel took us 15 miles off of Interstate 10, the longest we've ever had to go off highway to fill up our trick. The town, Wilcox, AZ, which has a population of 3,760 and an elevation of 4168 feet.

Wilcox is a great place to buy a car.

We found the place with the best deals in town.

Wilcox was once the "Cattle Capital" of the nation, and I hate to think what economic troubles attacked the place for it to lose that title.

West of Wilcox (and East of Tucson) are the Dragoon Mountains, a tourist spot for hikers.

You can see the scale of these rocks in terms of the pickup truck on the lower right.

The last daytime view came from Tucson, AZ. I had plenty of opportunity to look at this view, since the traffic in Tucson is absolutely horrible. You can rent an apartment here for about $516, but that means you have to live here.

According to this website, there are four Albanians living there. I hope they are watched closely, otherwise they might form a club or something.

On a bad note, I've got a fever, a cough, and a stuffy nose, so I won't be doing very much non-work related stuff while here.

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America's Treasures