COAST-2-COAST REPOSITIONING - WEEK 2

SUNDAY - 142-miles driven - This morning, shortly after 9:00AM, we left our National Forest campsite up at over 4000' and an hour later we were on Interstate 10 traveling east. At one point we were actually below sea level when we passed by the exit for the Salton Sea.

I'm also happy to report that shortly after NOON today we crossed the border into Arizona, leaving California behind for the first time since August 13th.

The first thing we did after crossing the state border was stop at a Love's Travel Center and purchase gas for $4.09, a full $1 cheaper than the "$5.09 bargain" Indian gas we got in California just 3 short days ago.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
SAN BERNADINO NATIONAL FOREST, CA TO QUARTZSITE, AZ

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Most of our Interstate 10 driving today was across the relatively flat Sonoran Desert.
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Tricia's mouth started watering when we drove passed this Date Palm orchard.
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We arrived in Quartzsite and claimed our FREE spot for the night on BLM land.
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By 2:00PM our solar batteries were charged to 100%.
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We've driven through Quartzsite before but never spent the night, now we have!
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At 5:15PM we were treated to a spectacular moonrise over the mountains.

MONDAY - 144-miles driven - This morning we were back on Interstate 10 headed east for another 80-miles before turning south on AZ-85 so that we could bypass going through the Phoenix area traffic.

On AZ-85 we traveled 30-miles south before turning east on Interstate 8 to finish off the day.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
QUARTZSITE, AZ TO GILA BEND, AZ

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Continuing our travels east on Interstate 10 this morning.
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I'm not sure what happened to the cab that was pulling that trailer,
but we gave them a wide berth as we passed by so as not to interfere with their work.
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Interstate 8's traffic was much lighter, which enabled us to maintain our prefered 55MPH.
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We've arrived at Lost Horse Tank Dispersed Camping in the Sonoron Desert National Monument.
We've been here once before, early last year.
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Nothing but wide open BLM land around here to camp on.
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We are looking forward to tonight's sunset. Last time here it was spectacular.
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With our awnings out and in the shade the 80°F temperature is quite bearable.

TUESDAY - 132-miles driven - Today we hopped right back onto Interstate 8 and took it to where it merged with Interstate 10, just south of Phoenix.

We then remained on Interstate 10 for the rest of the trip. We timed in pretty good so that we traveled through the Tucson traffic at 2:30PM when it appeared to be fairly light.

When we reached our destination in Benson, AZ we purchased gasoline for just $3.89, the first time we've seen under $4.00 since February.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
GILA BEND, AZ TO BENSON, AZ

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Just like the early pioneer wagon trains, I'd recognize that mountain anywhere, Picacho Peak.
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We overnighted at the Benson, AZ Walmart Supercenter for the second time this year.
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Honest Officer, I didn't see no stinkin' sign! Heck, they nailed me on both counts, truck and RV.

WEDNESDAY - 206-miles driven - We plan on being back in Florida in time for Thanksgiving, but if we're going to make that happen we need to step up our efforts to make that happen.

For that reason, today we drove an extra hour longer than we usually do, plus we have plans to meetup with an old friend in New Mexico tonight.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
BENSON, AZ TO LAS CRUCES, NM

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I'm not sure what that "oversized load" heading west on Interstate 10 was,
but I do know the traffic behind it was backed up for several miles.
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There's the "old friend" I was talking about, right where we last saw him in March of 2024.
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His name is "The Recycled Roadrunner" and he's made entirely out of recycled waste.
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He'll be keeping watch over us while we sleep in THE POD tonight.

THURSDAY - FRIDAY - SATURDAY - 219-miles driven - This morning we traveled on Interstate 10 for a short 4-1/2 miles before exiting in Las Cruces and heading north on US-70 over the Organ Mountains, and then continued north on US-54 before heading east all the way to Roswell on US-380.

At 219-miles it was our longest travel day yet since leaving Sequoia National Park and starting this Coast-2-Coast Repositioning.

TRAVEL DAY PHOTOS
LAS CRUCES, NM TO ROSWELL, NM

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That's Las Cruces, NM at 6:30AM as seen from the Recycled Roadrunner Rest Area.
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Just 4-1/2 miles down Interstate 10 we arrived in Las Cruces, NM.
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Outside the town of Alamogordo, NM is the 30' tall World's Largest Pistachio.
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We took the PistachioLand Tour the last time we visited here in February of 2023.
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This time ROVER and THE POD got their photo taken in front of the giant pistachio.
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There wasn't much to see as we approached Roswell from the west on CA-380.
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Soon we were passed Roswell and on the east side where we are camping for the next 3-nights.
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These "bottomless lakes" are no more than rain filled sinkholes.
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$35 a night gets you water and electric hookups, plus a dump station on the way out.
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Our site also has a pretty nice view of the red rock canyon walls surrounding us.

FRIDAY - Today we're heading 12-miles back west on US-380 to the downtown section of Roswell, NM.

We have several UFO related locations to check out and a BBQ joint picked out for lunch. We'll also fill up on gasoline before returning to camp.

SIGHTSEEING IN ROSWELL, NM

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Both the east and west side of town had Welcome Signs depicting a crashed flying saucer.
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One of the McDonald's in Roswell had a flying saucer parked outside.
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Actually it housed a huge play area for the kids.
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Even the streetlamps in Roswell are alien themed.
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Dunkin' Donuts also seems to be onboard with the alien theme.
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Our next stop was at the International UFO Museum.
It's hard to imagine, but every single book in this library is UFO related.
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This diorama depicts the 1947 flying saucer crash outside of Roswell.
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This set was designed for the Travel Channel's TV show called "Making Monsters".
When the show completed, the entire set was donated to the museum.
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Trcia was sitting on a bench, waiting for me to return from the bathroom, when this happened...

I don't know exactly what I expected from our visit to Roswell. I usually research a destination just enough to decide whether a visit is warranted or not. This time I was completely "underwhelmed" and Tricia wasn't all that thrilled about our visit either. I guess sometimes you WIN, and sometimes you LOSE.

On our way back to the campsite we stopped at an overlook with a view of Lea Lake.

There's THE POD waiting for us in the front row.

Today we leave New Mexico behind and enter Texas. That means we will be leaving the Mountain Time Zone and entering the Central Time Zone and normally we would be setting all our clocks forward an hour. Not this time, because we arrived just in time for the end of Daylight Saving Time (DST) which would have us setting our clocks back an hour. So it's a wash!

So no time changes until we reach Florida and the Eastern Time Zone in the middle of November. We will remain in the Eastern Time Zone for our entire 2027 travels, with the excepton of a 2-week visit to Alabama in April.

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