Del Rio, Texas to Tucson, Arizona January 16 - 18, 2011

January 17 post:  From Benson, Arizona.  We had a good mileage day today that panned out to fairly easy.  We left  Van Horn earlier than usual (for us) this morning on Central time and during the day crossed into Mountain time zone so we turned our  watches back 1 hour.  Leaving earlier than usual and having an extra hour combined with Betty driving part of the trip netted us a 440 mile day.  We usually like to travel 250 to 300 miles for an easy day that doesn't tire us.  So, although we thought we may stop at Deming or Lordsburg for the night tonight we continued on to Benson, only 40 miles from Tucson.  We didn't go on in to Tucson because I want to arrive at Davis-Monthan AFB RV park in the morning rather than coming in after the office is closed today.  We're staying tonight at I-10 RV park for $16 by using the Campclub USA discount.  The park has full hook ups and very clean facilities.

Today, although a good mileage day, was a little frustrating in terms of fuel economy.  I've been really looking forward to good fuel mileage but all day we had a strong headwind so the mileage suffered.  We came in to Benson with an average of about 10.8 mpg instead of the 13 or 14 mpg I was hoping for with the new truck  mods.  Our neighbor here in the park who also came up I-10 today said he got close to 7 mpg driving a rig with a gas powered V10 engine.  I should feel better but I don't.  We're off first thing in the morning to what has become to us our home base (DM AFB).  DRW


January 16 post (from the KOA at Van Horn, Texas):  We decided this morning to leave Del Rio and move back to Tucson to get our refrigerator recall work done and hang out in the Tucson for awhile depending on how full the Davis-Monthan AFB RV park is.  We didn't really do justice to our visit to Del Rio and somehow didn't take any pictures because it was rainy and gloomy looking (until this morning).  We visited Val Verde winery in Del Rio and bought a bottle of Sweet Red that is very good.  Also went to Eagle Pass yesterday and visited the Kickapoo Indian Reservation Casino there.  Since it was our wedding anniversary yesterday it was worth the $20 we lost over the course of the afternoon.

The drive today was pretty.  As usual I didn't take many pictures but we traveled through country that is marked with gorges and bluffs.  The Pecos River crossing is beautiful (you'll have to take my word for it because I didn't stop for pictures).  We did visit Langtree and took some pictures of the area where the infamous Judge Roy Bean made his reputation.  Although it receives little attention this little town is rich with history.  Here are some shots of old abandoned homes there:

The topography in this area is pretty interesting.  Here's one shot of some natural caves just south of Langtree.  We saw similar views along this stretch of the hwy.

We took US 90 most of the way from Del  Rio today and came out to I-10 at Fort Stockton. From there we truned west to Van Horn where we found a KOA for one night before continuing on toward Arizona.  Interesting that when we drove I-10 east into Texas last month we has a head wind all the way and today going west we have a head wind again.  As mentioned in an earlier post we seem to have the power to change the wind direction.

In the morning we're off toward Tucson.  We may overnight in Deming, New Mexico...we'll  see how it goes.  DRW