Walmart!

We are sitting in Big Spring, Texas in a Walmart parking lot “Waiting On Weather”.  We traveled a long way yesterday and ended up in my childhood home.  I have a lot of pictures and a lot of stories to tell you.

We departed Las Cruces before nine yesterday morning.  The Coachlight Motel and RV Park was certainly acceptable.  Easy in and easy out, we never even unhitched.  We planned to travel as far as Pecos, TX.  What a long and boring drive west Texas is.  Following are some pictures from our drive through El Paso.  It always seems to go on forever.  It looks like a very wealthy city with a lot of thriving industry but right across the border you can see Mexico.  What a contrast.

View of I-10 driving through El Paso, TX

From the freeway we could see Mexico

Then it was into the flats with nothing for miles and miles.  We left Interstate 10 and took off on I-20 which goes right through Big Spring.  We had considered stopping in Van Horn but it was still early so we kept going.  Next was Pecos and we pulled into the RV park I had chosen as the best of the bad.  It was BAD.  And no one was in the office.  We left!  No problem, we will just keep going and stop in Odessa.  I found a place online that sounded pretty good and gave them a call.  The woman who answered the phone didn’t know anything about anything and was making me crazy.  After about 10 minutes on the phone with her I knew it was never going to work.  She didn’t know for sure if she had room and she couldn’t tell me how to get there.  We drove on past Odessa and headed for Big Spring.

Another border check.  We were asked if we were US Citizens and then told to go one.

"Nothing" on I-20 in west Texas

And here we are in a Walmart parking lot!  It really is a cool way to stay somewhere and I think we might do more of it.  It is very handy to have Walmart right in our backyard.  We visited yesterday after getting set up and purchased some fried chicken for our supper.  Not the best in the world but I was starved! The only problem here was that this particular corner of the lot also seems to be the place where the teenagers meet to buy and sell their drugs.  They have expensive noisy cars and big radios.  Once I decided that they were no threat to us or our rig or truck, I got the earplugs and went fast asleep.  And awoke to a wind storm.  We will be staying here for another night and hoping the wind is gone by tomorrow morning. 

Here we are sitting in the Big Spring, TX Walmart parking lot

Day Trippin' to Mexico

We spent yesterday in Mexico so please join me on our day trip.  We had a blast!

CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT

Yuma, AZ sits almost on the U.S. - Mexico border and the town of Los Algodones, Mexico is just a short ride on the highway from where we are staying. There is a very large parking area and you just park and then walk across the border to Mexico.

Since it is summer (in Yuma it is anyway - very hot!), there were not too many other people stupid enough to spend the day walking the hot streets of Algodones.  The public restrooms didn't even have a line!

Our goal and the reason we were willing to wander the streets in the heat was that Kirby needed new sunglasses and we were told that they were cheaper in Mexico and just as good.  We had seen an advertisement for Best Optical so went there to check them out.

The selection of frames was amazing.  And all prices from economical to fancy, expensive designer frames.

We waited (we had no appointment) for only about 10 minutes for Anna, the "doctor" who gave Kirby his eye exam.

She was very thorough in her exam and had the latest equipment.  So far so good!

Kirby got to practice his Spanish with Anna and they became great friends.  He always finds the cute girls!

This is Carlos.  I think he was the money person.  He was quite stand-offish until he realized that Kirby could speak Spanish and that I had limited Spanish.  Then he opened up and was a lot of fun!

We were told to come back in two hours for the glasses so we just started wandering around the town.

I made a double take when we passed by this opening on the dirty street.  I backed up and took my picture.  I love the floors and all the color.  It is so "Mexico"!

I was in search of a tienda and was delighted to find this one.  It brought back so many memories  of our years living in Mexico.  (Tienda means Store in Spanish)

I didn't want to look like the rude tourist that I am so I tried to be discrete with my picture taking.  But I HAD to have pictures!

In Mexico, when in the small towns with no supermarket, you buy your eggs by the Kilo (Pound) and put them in a plastic bag.  That always amazed me and I did it and no, I never broke any of my eggs.  But I was very careful!

I can remember that after living in Mexico and shopping there for such a long time, I would come back to the states and have to convert everything in my head from kilos to pounds and then Pesos into Dollars.  Pretty trippy for a non-math brain!

The souvenirs are all so bright and colorful but you have to be careful of the venders - they will not leave you alone for a second.  And with so few customers around - we had all the venders with us each moment.

It was getting pretty hot so we found the place we usually visit while in Algodones for a beer and settled in to pass some pleasant time under the banyan tree listening to Mexican music.

Hot and sweaty but having fun and drinking my favorite beer.  Had to drink fast - it was pushing 100 degrees!

This is the reason for the search for a tienda.  Easy-Off oven cleaner in a jar with a little brush.  Do you remember that?  You can't get it in the states anymore but you can in Mexico.  It is so easy to use on small areas and is much stronger than the spray we have here.  I always by a jar when I visit.

After two hours of playing in Algodones we went back to Best Optical and Kirby's new sunglasses were ready and waiting for him.  After a quick fitting, we were on our way.

Now it is time to head home.  During the winter season the line to get back across the border can be way back here and  beyond.   (these people are venders trying to get us to buy their souvenirs before leaving the country)

It only took us about 8 minutes in line at the border instead of the normal winter season wait of 45 - 60 minutes.

We loved our day and were hot and tired when it was over but it was a great day in Mexico.  Sure, it was a border town but hey, beggar's can't be choosers!  We still LOVE Mexico!