The Sights on Our Trip

On our first day of our trip West, we drove from Homewood, AL to Eastland, TX.  I had only ever been as far as Dalls/Fort Worth.  Since Captain drove, I got to pay attention to everything! When we stopped for lunch and a gas refill in Louisiana, I noticed from then on that every single gas station has a casino.  That just threw me for a loop.  I have never seen that anywhere!

When we went through Shreveport, I begged to stop and play at a casino, but he was less than enthused.  I did get to see a Bomber flying over us in our way into Shreveport.  I had never seen one that large up close before.  Here's how it looked...

From Shreveport to Dallas/Fort Worth, everything looked similar.  Once we got past the city and got into the "country", I saw a lot more oil pumps, more cactus plants than I had ever seen in my life, and much less greenery.  Captain called the green stuff we did see, "scrub brush".  He said it's short and spread out because of the more desert-like surroundings and lack of water, obviously.  The groups of cactus plants were mostly encircling the small trees.  When we did happen to see some bigger greenery, it was clearly because of a nearby body of water of some sort.

After we left Eastland the next day and headed towards El Paso, things got even more bland, except for hundreds of wind turbine farms.  I have never seen so many!! They are HUGE.  I am not really sure exactly how tall, but I saw several of the blades being transported across the insterstate and only ONE blade per truck.  The trucks' trailors are even extra long.  I couldn't believe how large they are.  They don't seem that big, but it's mind-blowing!!

Just before we got to El Paso, mountains began popping up everywhere!
When we FINALLY got through to El Paso, I couldn't believe the way the city looked.  Mountains and desert was the scenery there.  For those that are not aware, it is directly on the border with Fort Bliss in the city.  The border city in Mexico is Juarez and apparently, it's too dangerous for us to be there.  I begged The Captain to let me go to the border (I've never been out of the US), but he was very adamant on keeping me safe. :)

First of the mountains we saw before getting to El Paso

Captain's old apartment

The Captain's old house

The company he was in

Me overlooking El Paso and Juarez, Mexico

Moutains we drove around to get to Nex Mexico

He showed me around Fort Bliss, where he used to live, and where he worked.  The mountains are amazing out there and very much different than the mountains back home.  When we decided to get back on the road, our next stopping point was Las Cruces, NM.  Las Cruces is just as pretty as the other places because of the mountains.  I couldn't believe how mountainous it is in this area!

Here are some pictures of the mountains in New Mexico and around Las Cruces.

Just over the mountains in El Paso looking towards NM

Mountains and "scrub brush"