Day 2 of the LONG drive

It's the end of day 2 of the long drive. My traveling partner ended up getting into Tucson around midnight, so by the time he got settled down, it was after 1AM. I was determined to get an early start, but Hipolito was tired from the drive, so I let him sleep in a couple of extra hours while I had breakfast and gassed up the truck. Only, he still wasn't quite ready to go, so once again, I headed out earlier than him, so I could get to the next motel before dark. We kept in contact by cellphone, so I would know where he is along the way.

I arrived at Fort Stockton about 4:30pm California time (6:30 local time) and got checked into the motel. Hipolito was about 3 hours behind me and was, again, going to arrive late. It looks as though he will be here around 11PM local time.

Our next leg is from Fort Stockton to McAllen, TX. Another 9-10 hour drive or more. I don't know what happens if we arrive late, but Hipolito said the customs broker is open 24 hours. We will also need to find a place to stay because I didn't make advance reservations for this portion of our travel, just in case anything had changed, plus I didn't know which border crossing we were planning to use. We really need to get an early start if we want to cross into Mexico early Thursday morning. As it is, I really don't know if we will make it across the Belizian border by late Saturday. If we don't, we will be stuck at the border until Monday. Not what I want to do.

The terrain going from Arizona to Texas is the same, bland. It's mostly flat with some mountains in the far background, but not much to speak of. Maybe that's why the speed limits are so high. In California, the speed limit is mostly 65 mph (110km hr), but in Arizona and New Mexico it's 75mph (130km hr) and in Texas (which always has to be the biggest), it's 80mph (140km hr). Now that's moving. The little Toyota doesn't like doing 80 but 75 works out OK. Plus she's fully loaded.

Arizona landscape

New Mexico landscape

Texas landscape

I know, it's the same picture all three times, but the view is the same in each state, flat and boring.

In Arizona and New Mexico they also use photo enforcement, which are just like the red light cameras they use in California, but here they use it on the open highway to catch speeders. They put these things all over the place, like at the bottom of the grade or just before the grade, so they can catch people who like to gain speed before going up a hill. And you won't know you've got a ticket until you open some strange mail from Arizona or New Mexico a month or so later. Nice.

It's time to pack up the computer and go to bed. And Hipolito has just arrived.