7 Heading West: Celebrating in Texas

Since today is Butch's birthday, his day begun with a Happy Birthday song, just as he opened his eyes from a good nights sleep!! He has had birthday wishes from all over the country on my Facebook page, his cellphone and my cellphone have been busy on and off all day with phone calls, and beautiful renditions of "Happy Birthday To You"! He appreciated every wish, and after the call from both of our children, his day was made!! We're finishing up the birthday cake that the group got him before they left us, so, all in all, he's had a wonderful day. At least, I sure hope he has!! Being on the road made it even more special.

We left Las Cruces, New Mexico this morning. We weren't really in any big hurry to get up and 'run', so to speak, just taking our time. We thought, for a few seconds, that we would be driving in the rain today, but after the 35 raindrops fell, then it was back to pure sunshine!!! The campground had pretty much filled up since we had gotten there, but by the time we left, was nearly empty again! The highways in Las Cruces, as well as lots of other cities in the West, are going through major construction, so we worked our way through the orange barrels (that we are so familiar with from home), and found a Pilot. We filled the rig up with gasoline, had breakfast, then hit the highway for the trip to Ft. Stockton TX, which was our next scheduled stop.

I drove for a little while, just to give Butch a break from driving. I made a good grade, even maneuvering between the barrels & walls, so I really feel proud of myself!!

Today we experienced one thing for the very first time! We had to drive through a Border Patrol stop. Every vehicle on I-10 filtered down into 3 lanes, one for cars, one for buses and one for 18-wheelers!! I was prepared with both of our divers licenses ready, just in case, but all they wanted to know was how many were on board, and if we were both legal U.S. Citizens. That was it!! Don't know what would have happened had I told them we had 35 in the back of the rig, and we were born in Hawaii before it was a state!!! :-) We opted for the truth, however, so we were on our way in no time at all. But, it was a first for us.

We are staying tonight in a beautiful campground in Ft. Stockton TX. It's called Hilltop RV Park, and it is actually on a hilltop!! The view is wonderful, and unless I get up extremely early in the morning and take pictures of the sunrise (NOT), then you'll just have to take my word for it, because after we got here, I haven't been outside except to check the satellite dish to make sure it was doing okey dokey! We've just rested, had a nice birthday dinner for Butch of leftovers, had some birthday cake, and he's already gone to bed for the night. We will be driving into San Antonio tomorrow, at least for 2 nights, maybe more! We have a few things that we want to check out while there, so it will just depend if we get around to seeing all and doing all we want to.

We did have a beautiful drive today, awesomely blue sky with massive white clouds here and there. All I have to share today is just some quick shots I made while riding down the road. Sorry if the windshield spots show up. Butch washes it every morning before we take off, but it seems as if every bug in the West, finds our windshield!!

Anyway, hope you enjoy the pictures and thanks, again, for traveling with us!