01-February-2024. El Paso, TX

Today I headed west back into TX from NM. I'm going skiing on Saturday in Jackson Hole WY for a week and had initially planned on flying there from El Paso .... but I just landed a cat sitting assignment in Albuquerque and in order to get there on time I had to switch my flights from round-tripping from El Paso to Albuquerque. It's a 4-hour drive to Albuquerque (which was going to be my next destination anyway) so I will drive up there tomorrow.

After getting used to "white sands" yesterday todays drive was lots of "red sand". Pretty much a wide open desert between white sands (Alamogordo) and here (El Paso).

On the way here I saw some army tanks kicking up a huge dust cloud as they drove thru the desert - I bet it's a good place to train for the middle east! And the highway occasionally gets closed when missle testing is in progress - so interesting - not a lot of missle testing happening in Scarborough, Maine.

Didn't have much time to explore El Paso but I did make it to Rim Road - a stunning scenic drive along the edge of the mountain that overlooks El Paso. It has incredible views over El Paso and beyond to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. I was fortunate to get there in the late afternoon and got my daily mile in and then was able to enjoy a gorgeous sunset.

Today I had to do some laundry – have done a lot of hiking the past couple of weeks and need to get everything cleaned up before going skiing on Saturday. On the road, laundry gets done when I am visiting with friends, at a pet sit home or in a hotel.

I wanted to introduce everyone to my friend Maria – she is a 7-year-old from Pennsylvania who is virtually following me along on my Adventure via this blog. She's using geography skills to track my location, math skills to determine how far I drive, and science skills to make sure I wear extra sunscreen when in reflective environments like sand dunes and ski slopes .... just name a few of her many academic talents! Here is a pic her mom shared of Maria drawing a map and using her abacus to track my miles - keep up the good work Maria and I'll try to keep you challenged!