Tucson (Arizona) to San Anthonio (Texas)
After a week of 48 degrees, sightseeing in Tucson and waiting for parts to arrive it was time
to move east. From the rugged mountain and the desert of Sierra Vista, the southeast corner of Arizona is one of the state’s most scenic regions. Southern Arizona’s boundaries are not well-defined, it is generally considered to include all areas south of the Gila River.
With the weather still hot (48 degrees plus) and heatwave warnings out every day we decided to detour to historic Tombstone, located at an altitude of 1500 meters. But even at 1500 meters it was still 38 degrees, but the nights were cooler at 26 degrees.
This region is part of the wild west and walking around town feels like you are back in the 1800s, when cowboys and outlaws where in town. The central street of downtown Tombstone, Allen Street, retains much of the historic character that made it famous all those decades ago.
Growing up in the 60’s we loved our cowboys and wild west movies. Tombstone in Arizona and Virginia City in Utah are 2 towns which made us feel like being in a wild west movie.
Back in the day, Tombstone was a place for lawlessness, gunplay, and all kinds of debauchery, with a deep connection to American lawman and gunslinger Wyatt Earp.
Allen Street is the main hub for Tombstone tourism with historic saloons all surrounded by the living history of the True West. Tombstone is also known as “the town too tough to die.”
Thousands of people were calling Tombstone home by the mid-1880s. The exact numbers are murky because only white men over 21 were counted in that kind of data at that time.
Tombstone serves your typical American food: burgers, steaks, chips, hotdogs etc. Many pubs and restaurants have a lot of history attached.
Bird Cage Theatre operated through the 1880s as a saloon, bar, theatre, and brothel. The ladies who worked the brothel hung from the ceiling in large bird cages.
Big Nose Kate’s Saloon also worth a visit; the pub is named after Mary Katherine Horony-Cummings, or “Big Nose Kate.” She was a prostitute and common-law wife of Doc Holliday.
Time to move on, next stop New Mexico. New Mexico lives up to its slogan the “Land of Enchantment” with its vibrant scenery, towns, culture, and attractions. New Mexico’s history tells the stories of the Native American, Spanish, Mexican, and Anglo-American cultures that shaped it. It is a unique destination, with more open, empty spaces than people and boundless natural attractions.
Las Cruces
Las Cruces is the most populous city in southern New Mexico. The city’s major employer is the federal government on nearby White Sands Test Facility and Missile Range. The Organ Mountains, 16 km to the east, are dominant in the city’s landscape, and just 60km north of the Mexican Border.
Spaceport America and the Missile Range are 90 km North of Las Cruces to the north towards White Sands National Park and has completed several successful crewed, sub-orbital flights. Las Cruces is also the headquarters for Virgin Galatic, the world’s first company to offer sub orbital spaceflights.
White Sands National Monument is one of the most stunning landscapes in the state, located an hour’s drive Northeast of Las Cruces. gleaming white gypsum sand has built up into an extraordinary landscape of dunes up to 60 feet high, which are constantly displaced by the wind. you may be fooled into thinking that sand dunes look like giant snowdrifts. To be honest the park was a little disappointing but as they say YOU NEVER NEVER KNOW IF YOU NEVER NEVER GO
Next stop the border town of El Paso in Texas. We should have known better but believed Ioverlander and decided to stay overnight at the Texas Welcome Centre just past the state border inside Texas. The noise of the trucks and the freeway were enormous and I have no idea why people would recommend this place unless you are one of the US road trippers who park your RV, turn on the aircon and turn on the TV, or arrive at midnight and leave again at 6AM the following morning. PFFF
El Paso is located at the western edge of Texas on the left bank of the Rio Grande, which here forms the frontier with Mexico. Its unique desert landscapes are home to diverse flora and fauna, and the city is rich in cultural attractions. It is also home to Fort Bliss one of the largest air defence centres in the world, Franklin Mountains State Park and for magnificent views of the city. The El Paso Scenic Drive is a must-experience, with the best views of the city and its border landscape covering New Mexico, Texas, and Mexico along the southern edge of the Franklin Mountains. Unfortunately for us it was very hazy hence no views (42 degrees Celsius)
Around 150 kilometres north of El Paso is Guadalupe Mountains National Park home to the four highest peaks in Texas. It is also known for an abundance of wildlife, including golden eagles. The landscape itself is stunning, especially around the towering El Capitan, as well as the Guadalupe Peak, the highest elevation in Texas. It is a hiker’s paradise with more than 120 kilometres of trails through spectacular woodland canyons and lush springs. But we follow the off-road trails on 4 wheels as we are not really hikers.
Carlsbad Caverns National Park
Musty-smelling stone and fluttering Mexican free-tailed bats add to the creepiness as you descend 250 meters underground into the strange underground world of one of the planet’s greatest cave systems. Riding an elevator that drops the height of the Empire State Building into a bat-filled cavern is amazing, going from 40 degrees down to 22 degrees in a matter of seconds. Carlsbad Caverns is comprised of 120 known limestone caves created by an ancient sea thousands of years ago. Its most famous attraction is the Big Room which is a giant space. The room is 600 meters long with an 85-meter-high ceiling, it is filled with stalagmites and other alien-looking landscape features.
The caves are home to a colony of about 400,000 bats that roost here between mid-April and October. At sunset each evening during this period the bats emerge from the mouth of the caves to hunt down buggy dinners. It is a beautiful spectacle to watch thousands of bats flying from the mouths of the caves, cutting black lines through the crimson sky.
Our plan was to visit Big Bend National Park on the border with Mexico but the extreme heat (48 degrees) and the comments from other overlanders that if you have seen Big Bend in Utah this one will be disappointing, hence we continued towards San Antonio following the Texas oil fields.
San Antonio, famous for the Alamo and the River Walk, is a must-see city if you are going to Texas. Stretching for several miles along the San Antonio River in the heart of the city, the River Walk is lined with restaurants and lovely outdoor patios, where you can sit and dine alongside the river. Built below street level, this pedestrian walkway hugs the river as it winds and waves through the city and is as popular among locals as it is for tourists, day, and night. Although strolling along the river is the most popular thing to do here, another wonderful way to enjoy the ambience of the area is on a leisurely cruise on a river boat.
Our 3-day planned stay became 7 days due to Hurricane Beryl reforming in the Gulf of Mexico and heading direct for Padre Island. But there are worse places to be stuck than vibrant San Antonio with year-round festivities, entertainment, outdoor cafes and bars and a great nightlife.
- Tropical Storm Beryl is intensifying again and is expected to make landfall as a hurricane Cat 3 along the Texas Coast. On Monday, Beryl made landfall in Grenada’s Carriacou Island as a Category 5 hurricane, ravaging the southern Caribbean Islands, flattening hundreds of buildings, and killing at least six people.
- Jamaica and multiple locations across the Caribbean, including Barbados and the Cayman Islands, suffered widespread damage after Hurricane Beryl made landfall earlier this week, with 11 deaths reported in addition to power outages, destruction of homes and buildings, coastal inundation, and emergency evacuations.
After hurricane Beryl hit the coast, it was time to leave San Antonio for the beaches on the Gulf of Mexico. The Texas coastline has 370 miles of fantastic beaches along the Gulf of Mexico.
Till Next time when we travel to New Orleans via Padre Island, Galverston Island and Jamaica Beach and Baton Rouge
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