On our way to El Paso from Terlingua, we decided to stop by Fort Davis.  This was one of the forts built to protect pioneers from the Indians, along the San Antonio/El Paso Trail.  It played a huge role in the history of the Southwest from 1854 to 1891 and is one of the best preserved military posts.

We reached our campground in El Paso, El Paso Road Runner RV camp by mid afternoon, even with the change to Mountain Time.

After a couple of weeks with a lot of activity, we decided to lay low and enjoy the mid 80’s to 90’s weather for a couple of days. Then, our first weekend in El Paso, the temps dropped to the 40’s at night, barely reaching 60’s during the day. So, we are killing more time. That is okay; this is home and we still enjoy our time together, even without outside activities.

After a few days of relaxing at home, we decided to venture out to the Blazing Tree Brewery. This is a little hard to find but well worth the trip.

I’ve never seen such a unique array of beers. The bartender let us sample as many as we wanted, to select our flights. I usually drinker lighter beers but that was not the case today. However, my favorite was the peanut butter chocolate which sounds weird for beer but was delicious. The lavender blend smelled and tasted like soap. Yuck!

I had a great conversation with the bar tender who is currently undergoing breast cancer treatment. I’ve never really gotten to talk to anyone in depth before about this experience and it meant a lot to me. I think it did to her also. I kept apologizing to the guy next to me but he seemed genuinely interested.

We also met a couple from Washington DC who had just gotten here from Big Bend. They have a goal to visit all National parks. That sure sounds interesting!

We went to the White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. It is located in the middle of the White Sands Missile Range. The monument and even the highway are closed for several hours, a few times each week when missile testing is going on.

This is the largest white sand dunes in the world. They were formed by layers of gypsum, the same material found in sheet rock. They are also a relatively young geological element.

The animals here have evolved from similar animals in other parts of the desert by becoming very light or white in color.

The dunes are constantly drifting and growing. Some of the older ones move 2-3 inches a year because they are held down by plants. The newer ones can move 15-18 inches in a year.

We were hesitant to visit Juarez because we had heard it could be pretty dangerous. More research told us the city had been working hard to clear up the violence and we should be okay if we stayed in the more populated areas.

This is a very authentic Mexican village, with few tourists. Unlike other border towns, you have to walk in several blocks to get to the shopping district. Medical, dental and mani/pedi salons are there, but one is not accosted constantly with invitations to buy, as in other towns like Progreso.

The city is very poor which is evident from the litter and broken sidewalks. Some times we had to step over open spaces filled in with rebar.

I’m glad we went, even though it was sad. I feel I know more about a Mexican City than I did before.

We stopped for lunch but could not read the menu and the waitress did not speak English. A customer who spoke both, helped us with the menu and gave our order to the waitress.

We had heard that going across the border could take longer than usual because so many Border Patrol had been moved to the duty of clearing immigrants. We found ourselves in a non-moving line for about 15 or 20 minutes. Later, we saw several official looking people going out to the detention tents and our line started to move. We found out from the evening news later that the head of Homeland Security had toured the facility so it had been closed during her visit.

How can one go to El Paso and not visit Rosa’s Cantina? There is still question about if Marty Robbins wrote the song first or if the cantina was renamed after his hit song.

We have not ridden bike in El Paso for several reasons. It is very windy and there really aren’t any “neat” bike rides. Plus, the traffic is aweful. However, on Thursday, we went for a short ride, to the village of San Elizario.

Along the way, we stopped to visit the mission at Socorro.

Below are several buildings from San Elizario. This historic town boasts some neat things. It is the site of the Salt War of 1877, the biggest gunfight in the Old West. It is where the Texas Rangers were defeated for the only time in history. It is where Billy the Kid broke into a jail rather than out, as he was rescuing a friend before they headed off to Mexico. It has the oldest Main Street in the US. It is part of the original Camino Real, the oldest highway.

On Friday, we toured the Holocaust Museum of El Paso. We thought this was a strange place for a Holocaust museum but found out it was started by a Holocaust survivor who settled in El Paso, Henry Kellen. The museum was very well done and very touching.

We have been in Texas for over three months and have not had Texas BBQ. Rudy’s was a short walk from our campground. Imagine gas pumps in front of a restaurant!! The food was delicious.

We had heard about another famous dive restaurant in El Paso. This one is in a car wash! The food was authentic TexMex and delicious at H & H Cafe.

We left the truck parked at h & H, and walked the .7 mile to the El Paso Historical Museum. We’ve seen a lot of museums but it is always interesting.

El Paso still has electric buses.

Back at camp, a pair of pigeons came visiting every day. They are not afraid of people and came so close I thought I was going to get my toe pecked. One of them hopped up on our first step. I’m sure glad we had the door closed but wish we had moved quickly enough to get a picture.

Dave took me on the Scenic Drive around El Paso. The views are stunning. We stopped at the overlook also.

On the way back to the campground, we tried to go into McKelligon Canyon, but needed a state park sticker and did not want to do that, for a short drive. Instead, we turned around and found a short road that ended in a dead end with a VFW at the end. We went in for a beer and had some fun conversations with a couple of patrons.

The winds are very high in west Texas right now. We sat home one day with wind speeds 40+ with gusts at 70+. We did not plan to venture out at all! I went to the campground laundry and sat outside while clothes were washing and drying. When I went inside for 10 minutes to fold clothes, the winds came up. We had expected them but they came up FAST! My legs were stung by flying sand and the sky was tan colored, as I walked back to the trailer. Later we found out that our sand got all the way to Minnesota and covered the new snow!