Deming, New Mexico

We managed to drive from Austin to Deming, New Mexico today.  We are all ready to be back in California.  Aside from Ana Marie, we left California in July, and we are looking forward to sleeping in our own beds!  It will be a very long drive again tomorrow, but everyone agrees that we want to make it home.

Today we had perfect weather on our drive.  West Texas doesn't have too many sites to look at, just alot of straight shot driving.  Lucia announced 'we are officially in the middle of nowhere' somewhere near Fort Stockton, but the sagebrush and big open blue skies have their charms.  Texans are definitely proud of their state.  Everywhere you go in Texas people name businesses after their state, they wear Texas t-shirts and hats, and the Texas flag is commonly flown from peoples' businesses and homes.  It was a little surprising to me, because in CA. the state flag is not so prominently flown.  In fact, I think many Californians might not even know what the state flag looks like.

We stopped in Sonora, TX for lunch and saw many cowboys, though they drove trucks and didn't ride horses into town.  This meant that they weren't true cowboys to some of the girls.  We rode into El Paso in the late afternoon and went into a WalMart in search of fresh fruit.  The town feels like you are in Mexico, and indeed, the interstate runs within 100 feet of Mexico as you head West.  As we headed out of Texas we probably took a little bit of the culture with us.  Everyone really does say 'Y'all' in Texas, and I have a feeling that 'y'all' might follow us back to CA.

We ran into some beautiful isolated rainshowers as we went into New Mexico.  The rain clouds were scattered about the area, and we saw the rain coming down in different places.  We even saw a huge rainbow as we approached Las Cruces, NM.  The sun was setting a wonderful purple and orange as we arrived at the hotel.  The air was warm and fresh from the recent rains.  Tomorrow we go through Phoenix (114 degrees) and the California desert before getting to home sweet home in Lomita.

After 25 states the consensus is that there are some interesting places to visit, but that California is the very best state of them all.