We Have Returned to Tucson

This is what passed for dinner last night.  We had a primo parking place, wherein we backed in to a shrub.  Backing up to walls and bushes makes it harder for people to steal anything out of the back of the truck.  So anyway, we walked over to Rudy’s BBQ.  They had gas pumps out in front! You order at the counter, get sides out of the refrigerator and then they give you a bag of white bread.  Their food would have been OK except for the sodium content.  Fortunately they post their sodium counts on the web and we knew what to avoid.



This is the very first stretch of New Mexico.  There were a number of stock yards just across the border from Texas.



The Bowlin company owns a bunch of road side attractions.  These signs were for Akela Flats – they sell worthless crap from China, but they did have a well placed restroom.  Their most famous attraction is The Thing.



The yuccas in New Mexico were large and multi armed.  For such an unattractive plant, they do put out an amazing flower spike.



NM has its own austere beauty.



When you see these rocks in Arizona, the drive is almost over.



Two things struck me on this trip.  The first is the incredible number of hotels along the freeway.  They are everywhere.  One has to wonder how they fill enough rooms to make money.  They appear in clots along the freeway.  Unfortunately, they do not appear with any place decent to eat.

My second observation is the continuing decline in restaurant food.  We had one decent meal at a Holiday Inn.  I had a salad with steak on it, and Jim had one with chicken.  They were actually good.  The rest of the time we felt like we were being poisoned.  It’s like people have forgotten what food is supposed to taste like.  The amount of fat and salt is just horrendous.  It’s probably not fair to expect much along a freeway, but it seems worse than our last continental crossing.

We’re here.  We close on Tuesday, unload the truck on Wednesday.  I’m going to be very happy when this is over.