We Are In Arizona!

After a long day of driving, 410 long miles to be exact, we are parked for the night about 175 miles from our AZ "home." We left our Roswell, NM RV park at 6:00 this morning...yawn...that's EARLY for us! I took lots of photos today of our beautiful drive so let's see just a few!

Running the checklist at 6:00 a.m.

Forty-five minutes later we were watching the sun rise in our rear view mirrors!

As it continued to rise, the sun bathed the hills ahead of us in an orangey-goldish glow.

This flat cloud was fascinating.

Between Ruidoso and Tularosa we caught our first view of the White Sands, with the San Andres Mountains in the background.

As we drove through Tularosa, something certainly caught the attention of The Girls.

We don't see a lot of water on this route but this pond was lovely with the San Andres Mountains behind it.

We had passed the entrance to the White Sands National Monument when I took this photo. This is the first time we have driven this route and not stopped there but we were anxious to make our goal of reaching Benson, AZ today.

This is the north-eastern side of the Organ Mountains which overlook Las Cruces on the other side. We didn't stop in Las Cruces today either.

Moving on, we parked at a truck stop lot in Deming, NM for lunch. One of the many things we love about traveling like this is having breakfast and lunch in the motorhome. That gives Rich a break from the road where he can relax. As we started to pull out of the lot, Rich noticed this...

We've put all but 4,000 of those 40,000 miles on this motorhome in the last three years...and great miles they have been! 

We saw lots of dust devils racing across the flats of western NM but luckily they all dissipated before reaching the interstate so Rich only had to battle the crosswinds that came up again this afternoon. It was difficult getting shots of them since they were all approaching on Rich's side and I couldn't block the reflections in the window.

This next scene was taken 15 miles from the New Mexico/Arizona border. Seeing the blue, navy, purple outlines of mountains in the distance is always a thrill for me. Isn't this gorgeous?

And then...

Fifteen to twenty miles east of Benson, AZ we pass through Texas Canyon. These enormous rock formations are another favorite sight on this drive.

Soon we dropped down into Benson. After hooking up the facilities and feeding The Girls, Rich was still feeling a bit road weary so he's lying down. I'm going to finish this post and make some dinner for him.

Lovin' Life ~~ On The Road, At Home, Anywhere Together!