Never thought we’d see this on an interstate. Not far west of Las Cruces, NM, the whole west-bound side of I-10 was re-routed through a Border Patrol station. Sat in line for ten minutes before we got to the agents. There was a motorhome and an SUV pulling a boat in front of us which both got sent to the penalty box. The vehicle behind us got pulled too. The agent just smiled and waved us through without a question. Do you think maybe Jim’s Marine Corps hat, the USMC front plate and the “Vietnam Veteran….I Served” sticker on the windshield got us a pass? Or maybe they’re just doing some serious profiling and we didn’t fit. The other two Border Patrol stations we’ve been through at least asked us if we were U.S. citizens and if there was anyone in the fifth wheel.
Not much to send pictures of today. Jim got excited when the road had a slight curve after 100 miles of straight. It sort of woke him up. We were never out of sight of mountains but it took forever to get from one range to the next. Not even enough cows to count. Just the kind of driving to make one drowsy. Quite the opposite from this morning’s section from Alamogordo to Las Cruces which consisted of Goblin meowing, Lovie constantly dropping her chewy off the back seat, the Tire Minder not working properly (it keeps track of the RV tire pressures which is crucial to Jim’s equilibrium), Jim getting overheated and being frantic to get his second shirt off and several other annoying things. Boring 100-mile straights are better.
This isn’t a very good picture because we were going by at 65 mph, but this is Mount Graham which is just north of Willcox. It’s 10,720 ft and is covered with snow. We could see it for nearly 100 miles coming down I-10. At first I couldn’t tell if it was a snow-covered mountain or a cloud bank.
Willcox was founded in 1880 as a whistle stop on the Southern Railway line. The railroad has now been replaced by the interstate. The south side of town next to the tracks is the old side and has seriously fallen apart. The trains still roll through here numerous times a day but I don’t think they stop here now. The new part of town near the interstate is very attractive and has a nice Safeway which we, of course, had to visit. Had a funny interaction with a couple of clerks. They asked where we were from, I replied “NC”, and they said “WHY did you come all the way out here??? This place is horribly hot in the summer and very windy all the time!” I asked why they were still here……they said they were desert rats and laughed.
Willcox is also home to Arizona’s up-and-coming wine industry. Who would ever have thought of growing wine grapes in southern Arizona? Or New Mexico? We passed the most massive vineyards, walnut and pecan groves you can imagine somewhere between Las Cruces and Willcox……can’t remember exactly where……but we couldn’t believe how far they stretched. No way to get a decent picture of them……would have just looked like a bunch of trees. Kept wondering where they got their water. I just read up on it and find the area grows at least 16 different grape varietals including Malbec. .
We were amazed to find wineries in NM too. Apparently there’s plenty of water near the Rio Grande (although its bed is as dry as a bone) to grow grapes and pistachios. We learned at one of the wineries that the water in the Rio Grande is dammed somewhere upstream from the Las Cruces area and is carefully managed for the benefit of agriculture. That’s why there’s been no water in the river bed every time we’ve been over it.
San Augustin Mountains from the southwest Tularosa Basin on drive from Alamogordo to Willcox.
No comments:
Post a Comment