How Big IS Texas?

Day 3 of our trip - second full day of driving - began in Lajitas, TX and ended in Tucson, AZ.  That means we finally crossed out of Texas, drove across New Mexico, and a good way into Arizona.  But it all began with sunrise on the Rio Grande...

and Emily's turn to take a dip.

(After all, she was the only Texan in the group.)
Immediately followed by a good rinse since we had no time to lose.
Our drive took us across the bottom of Texas along the Rio Grande...
and past some livestock...
(RIGHT past some livestock)

But, those cows were nothing compared to the band of javelinas we almost ran over.  Promise.  Of course, I was in the lead car and didn't have the camera so we were only able to snap a couple when they were off the road.  See...

What do you mean you can't see the javelina?  Look again.  Here is the path along which they walked - look right below the arrow at the emptiness.

Now look in the same spot... see the javelina?!

If you see this...

then you have keen eyes and a wild imagination... just what I look for in a blog reader.  :)

Other than those fun sightings, the road looked much like this...

until we saw this.

A genuine UFO which gave us something to ponder and talk about for 15 minutes...
until we got close enough to see that it was tethered to the ground and probably some sort of weather balloon.
After that it was back to the same 'ol car fun...
the kind where Emily tries unsuccessfully to sleep, 
and makes it hard for others to do so.
We finally crossed out of Texas at 12:15PM on June 21st and somewhere around 5 o'clock we stopped at Council Rock - a rest area that was REQUIRED viewing.
After all, we have MUCH history there.  Like when my mom and I FIRST made the drive east on the move to TX in '95...

when Victoria made her first drive to CA in '01...
and again in '04 for our wedding reception.
You can understand why we had to have some photos taken...





before grinding out the last part of the drive into Tucson - where we arrived at about 8 o'clock.  I am sure we looked a little different than the normal travelers arriving at their nice hotel.
We sure did have a lot of STUFF!  Even Emily had her own assignment...
good thing, since it gave her something to do while they figured out where to hide all of us put us for the night.
Finally, home "suite" home...

complete with a bed for Emily.
Good night!!  Final road day tomorrow!