The first stretch of highway out of Phoenix took us through more mountains. It was another beautiful drive except for the drizzle. Once we passed through the mountains and into New Mexico, I was surprised by how much cotton we saw. I did some research and found there has been cotton growing in the area since 1891. The first commercial production began in the Pecos Valley around 1910. In 1919, the Mesilla Valley began commercial production, and cotton was established as a major crop by 1922. The USDA opened a cotton field station in Las Cruces in 1926.
I have a thing about roadrunners since our last trip to Arizona. And while we have yet to see one in the wild, we had a great photo op at the Rest Area just outside of Las Cruces.
I had now been Covid negative for two days and had no symptoms at all. When we checked into our hotel for the night, we found the Drury Suite and Inn offered a Happy Hour snack which turned out to be enough for a dinner. It was not too crowded and we stayed away from others while enjoying a glass of wine, a hot dog, meatballs, salad, soup, and then a cocktail. It was all included and it was a nice way to cap off our first drive day home.
The next morning, we had another excellent breakfast that was included with the room and we were on our way to Ft. Stockton, Texas. By this point, we had used the weather forecast to make a decision about where to go next and this would be a good halfway point. The drive around El Paso brought us more mountains and today, the weather was gorgeous. El Paso is a very large and expansive area and we saw lots of US Border Patrol vehicles. We passed a number of Walmarts in the area and I was thinking of the victims of the mass shooting that happened in August, 2019. 23 people were killed and 23 injured that day. We eventually passed through a checkpoint where they simply asked us if we were both US Citizens before waving us through.
We arrived in Ft. Stockton early enough to visit the Historic downtown area. We walked around the Fort and did a little shopping downtown.
After the Civil war, the US Army returned its focus to the Western Frontier and in 1867, four companies of Black soldiers, from the 9th Calvary, arrived and the Fort was built. The location was chosen because of the water that was available from nearby springs.
And then of course, there was Paisano Pete.
Dinner was at “Guadalajara” and seemed to be a destination for locals. The food was quite good. We both had a version of the Carne Asada. Our hotel for the night was a brand new La Quinta with once again, a full breakfast included.