Western Texas - May 23, 2004
I-10 from the New Mexico border to Ozona.
Monument marking the Texas line.
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And the standard Texas welcome.
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US 85 has reappeared after being a secret since leaving Colorado.
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Coming up on El Paso.
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View across to Juarez, Mexico, from I-10.
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El Paso in the foreground, Juarez in the background. Hard to see from these pictures, but there seemed to be a big, smoky fire somewhere in Juarez.
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Continuing through El Paso.
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A rest area a little east of El Paso offers views across into Mexico.
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These mountains are all across the river in Mexico.
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Looking back north to the US.
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It's a very sandy desert here, and the plants all are surrounded by mounds of sand.
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Continuing east.
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Quick stop to see Ft. Hancock, Texas. Here's the only store that seemed to be open.
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Fort Hancock. I think I've heard of it because they sometimes have the national high temperature.
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View across to Mexico again. It's surprisingly hard to get anywhere
near the river. The road to a bridge to Mexico in Fort Hancock was
well hidden behind a Port of Entry. I wasn't interested in driving
into Mexico just to get a picture of the Rio Grande.
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So, time to head back to I-10.
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Finally, the river is visible from the highway.
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Texas likes to show off. The first San Antonio distance sign was
almost 600 miles.
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One last attempt to drive toward the river without crossing it. At
Esperanza. View from just off I-10.
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Turns out it's a gravel road for 2 miles into town. I decided that
wasn't a good idea.
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I-10 is target practice here.
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And now headed east away from the river and into those mountains.
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All traffic had to stop at one point to be checked out by the border
patrol. It was probably about a 10-minute delay. Someone a few cars
ahead of me must have been suspicious, because the line stopped for a
few minutes.
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You don't usually see that on the interstates. There are some
at-grade crossings on this part of I-10. It's so remote, it really
doesn't matter.
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Soon, it got to be an hour later.
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Quick stop at Van Horn, which is the western terminus of US 90.
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First US 90 shield. I didn't actually take US 90, though, just got
back on the interstate.
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I-10 is the Texas Mountain Trail for a while. Later, the trail heads
south toward Alpine.
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I-20 splits off in west Texas. Not to be seen again on this trip
until South Carolina..
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There it goes.
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And it was a warm late afternoon.
The terrain got flatter and the desert vegetation seemed to get more
dense and grassy.
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No time for Big Bend this time.
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US 67 joins I-10 for a while.
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Looking for dinner in Fort Stockton, found US 285 signs.
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..and US 385.
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And eventually, a restaurant that was (1) not a fast food chain, and
(2) open. It wasn't bad.
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Back onto I-10 after dinner.
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Heading out of Fort Stockton, after which it got too dark for pictures.
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E-mail domain: teresco.org, username: terescoj -
Sun May 23 22:38:23 CDT 2004
Copyright notice: All images are copyright © James D. Teresco unless otherwise specified. Unauthorized use is prohibited.