We zipped over from El Paso into New Mexico and up to Las Cruces and then across the state and into Arizona. We made the furniture drop in Tucson and managed to stay only an hour before we hit the road again. We stopped about 45 min's outside of Tucson at Pichaco Mountain State Park to check out the Sonoran Desert. The cactus's were really cool and we both loved the Saguaro's. Once again we had the park pretty much to ourselves and it was amazing. Stupidly, I didn't charge the camera battery last night and after only a few pictures in the park, the battery died. I'm charging it tonight because tomorrow we're off to Sedona and then to Grand Canyon.

Here's today's photo highlights:
Crossing into New Mexico. We couldn't stop by the sign like we have at most other states because there was road construction and there really wasn't a place to actually pull over.

We crossed the Continental Divide. This was Hubbs first time crossing. I've crossed and recrossed it several times up north but this was my first time doing it in New Mexico. The funny thing was Hubbs asked why made it the divide and I had no idea. Thankfully the Blackberry came in handy again and I was able to look it up. Turns out it has to do with watershed. On the Pacific side, the water drains to the Pacific side, on the other side it drains to the Gulf of Mexico.

Some cool cliffs on the way to Tucson.

Headed into Arizona. People were honking at us while we were taking pictures on the side of the highway.

Pichaco Peak. This huge mountain sticks out of the flat desert and has been used as a navigational tool for thousands of years but was first recorded in the 1700's.

We hiked a bit of the Sunset Trail in the Pichaco State Park. The mountain and the Seguaro Cactus Forest were amazing.

I loved this cactus. I think it's a baby Seguaro but it had the coolest red-ish spines on it. They looked like they should be soft but they were very hard.

Hubbs climbed to the top of this huge lava rock. I was so nervous that he was going to fall but the view was worth it.

I listen to Craft Lit a lot and Heather always talks about pod casting from her corner of the Senoran Desert and I had no idea what it looked like but now I do. I was so excited to check out Pichaco State Park. We were hoping to see a road runner but we never did. We saw lots of birds and chipmunks but no road runners. Maybe tomorrow.

The battery is charging so I'm sure there will be a ton of pictures!

Cisco Texas to El Paso Texas today. It was a very long 500 miles with not much to look at. We tried to make it interesting but I have to give a nod to my Blackberry. I was able to look up information about various things we passed.
Here's the highlights for today:
We passed miles and miles of huge windmills in Sweetwater, TX. We have windmills in California too but none that close to the road.

More windmills. These pictures don't do justice to the size of these things at all. They enormous.

Sorry, not a great picture but neither Hubbs or I could get over people riding motorcycles without helmets. Even if I didn't have to use one, I think I still would. After all I'm the one that wears full leathers even when it's 115 degrees out there.

It was super windy! Check out the hair. I have it in a bun on the back of my head, not a side ponytail! We used a lot of gas getting across Central Texas and into El Paso. We had a head wind almost the entire way.

The wind was kicking up amazing amounts of dust.

Out side of Van Horn we crossed into the Mountain Time Zone from Central time. We're only 1 hour ahead of our home time zone now.

The cactus was blooming in the desert and thankfully we decided to stop and get some pictures.

The mountains were so pretty. It looked really rugged and I couldn't imagine being a pioneer and having to cross this landscape in a wagon.

We got into El Paso early today and after a stop at The Largest Harley Dealer, Barrnets we stopped at a store that sold Texas memorabilia. Of course I had to try on the Texas Sunglasses!

Tomorrow we go into Tucson to drop off some furniture to a cousin and then it's off to Piacho Peak State Park and then to Casa Grande, AZ as our final Destination. I can't wait to get the Tucson part of the trip over with. Not looking forward to having to drop off furniture but I am looking forward to everything after that part!

Another picture heavy post! The wifi at the hotel last night sucked and I couldn't upload any of my pictures! Boo hoo for me! Anyway here's the update from yesterday.

We decided at the last minuet to stay in Vicksburg in the morning and visit the Vicksburg Battlefield National Park. Cost $8 to get in per vehicle and I'd say that we got our $8 out of it. We expected to spend maybe an hour to an hour and a half there but we were really enjoying it and time got away from us. We enjoyed the part for 3 and a half hours. It was really interesting to see history like that. I've been a bit of a Civil War history buff so it was so cool to see where it all happened. We had the park pretty much to ourselves while we were there. I don't think we saw more then half a dozen people the entire time we were there.

Here's the high lights. Hubbs and a restored civil war cannon.

A row of Union artillery.

Hubbs behind Union lines.

The Shirley House. It had a variety of uses after the family that owned it at the time moved out. It was in the middle of repeated attacks and was riddled with bullet holes and cannon fire. It had been restored a couple of times but was badly in need of restoration again. Hubbs and I both loved the porch.

A monument to the Ohio Union troops that were killed or wounded here.

This seal is on the floor of the memorial when you walk in. Booth Hubbs and I went, "Wow!" when we walked in. It really took your breath away.

I learned to use the timer on my camera and we both laughed a lot was I scrambled up the steps of the memorial for a pic with Hubbs.

The view from the Ohio memorial to the west. The area was heavily wooded and had very steep ravines on all sides.

I know you're not supposed to climb on the statues but I couldn't resist ridding the horsey! lol

This is the iron clad ship Ciro. It was sunk in the Yazoo River and recovered in the 1960's. You could walk around inside the ship. Very cool.

The Ciro.

When they raised the Ciro they found a variety of items inside all in perfect condition.

The ships bell.

The Union cemetery.

A head stone in the cemetery. The tree was growing around it.

There was a lot more see there but we were running out of time so it was time to go.

We crossed the Mississippi and then the weather turned ugly for us. It rained most of the way across Louisiana. No thunder and lightening but very heavy rain.

Welcome to Louisiana! Since the weather was so ugly we didn't make any stops in Louisiana except for lunch and gas. We quickly made it across the state and into Texas.

It was windy when we crossed into Texas but at least it stopped raining. After this we went about 300 miles into Cisco Texas. We got in late, grabbed some dinner at the Dairy Queen and then hit the hay.

Caution! Picture Heavy Post!

Flew in to Atlanta yesterday, picked up or rental truck and drove the 2 hours into Roanoke, Alabama. It was funny because we were driving along and all of a sudden I knew exactly where I was. I recognized the church and graveyard where most of my family is buried. Before that I was going strictly off the map. We got in early enough that we were able to loaded up. We ended up skipping dinner last night and didn't get to eat at my favorite place, The Galley in Roanoke.

Got up early this morning and hit the road. We made a quick stop at my great aunts house so that Hubbs could see the place before it's sold.
Here's Hubbs on the front porch of the house.

Here's me the fronts steps. With no one there to take care of the place there is already grass growing in the cracks of the porch and the weeds have gotten pretty tall in the flower beds.

It was really sad to see that no one was cutting the grass and all of Miss Eva's plants were over grown and untended. I feel really sad that we're letting go of the home place but with no one left in Alabama to live there, we can't really keep it.

Some of Miss Eva's Hostas. She was famous around town for her ability to propagate plants and she was always willing to share whatever you admired around her property.

There are tons of thistles around the house. We don't have thistles this color in California.

In Leeds, we stopped at Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. I didn't think we'd spend more then an hour here but we ended up spending more then 2 hours wandering around. It was really cool to see all the old motorcycles up to current stuff. I mostly like the really old stuff.

This was the coolest motorized bike. It had wooden rims for wheels, the grips were made out of cork and the brake just pressed on the wheel instead of the rim like modern bikes. I wanted to ride it!

This was one of my favorite motorcycles. Its a Harley that was exported to Australia and then they added the side car for making cookie delivery's in Sydney. Too cool!

This is a Cushman scooter that I fell in love with. It was really tiny and made in the '50's. I want one! This was the one that was the coolest of all the ones that they had at the museum. I loved the little fringed saddle bags.

We crossed into Mississippi around 3:30 this afternoon. We had to pull onto the shoulder of the interstate to take pictures. I'm sure we looked like crazy tourists, but since it's an accurate description we went with it!

We got into Vicksburg to spend the night around 6 or 6:30. We went to the visitors center to see the amazing view of the Mississippi River. Hubbs has never seen any river this big before and it was really cool to watch the amazement on his face and hear it in his voice too. I'm really glad that it was something that I could share with him. He's usually the one that is sharing his stuff with me, so I was glad that I could share this with him.

I think this tug boat was pushing at full speed just to make headway on the river. The water was really flowing fast.

The United States flag and the Mississippi state flag.

Me and the mighty Mississippi!

A really nice lady was so kind as to snap a picture of us together.

Staying in Vicksburg tonight and going across Louisiana tomorrow and into Texas. To be continued!

It's Wednesday again but this one isn't going to be wordless. Not much has been going on at the Dropped Stitch household lately. Busy with work and busy getting ready to fly out on Friday to "Hotlanta" as my coworker calls it. Hubbs and I are going back to Roanoke, Al to pick up all the stuff that the family left behind in a storage unit when we were there at the end of February. I'm both excited and apprehensive about the trip. It's a long way there, flying, and a very long drive back. Hubbs isn't a great traveler so I'm not sure how I'm going to keep him entertained. Flying is the worst part. I had enough of flying the last time I went. Waiting on the tarmac to be de-iced (in Atlanta of all places) is a bit too much for me. I was so glad to get home from that trip.

I'm pretty type A when it comes to wanting everything to go smoothly, I'm very nervous about the drive back to California from Alabama. I want Hubbs to have fun and see some interesting sights but we really don't have much time for sight seeing. We have 7 days to be back in California, really 6 since 1 day is just getting to Georgia and then into Alabama. But since work is so stressful right now all I want to do is get out of here. It's Wednesday today and our flight out is Friday morning at 6:30am. That means we have to be at the airport at 4:30am. 4:30 people! 4:30! That's an ungodly hour. We'll have to leave the house by 3:15ish to be there in time to check in, make it through security and at the gate. I'm so nervous that we're going to miss the flight. We'll land in Denver at about 9:50 and be flying out to Atlanta at about 10:30. It's going to be a rush rush kinda thing.

I'm going to have my laptop with me so I'm planning to post pictures and stuff from the trip as often as I can. Right now the highlight of the trip is the Grand Canyon. We'll be there around the middle of next week with a stop in Las Vegas for our Anniversary on Thursday. Hard to believe that it's been 4 years already since Hubbs and I got married. We're planning for a nice dinner out but anything can happen. Hubbs is pretty lucky in the casinos so maybe he'll hit a mega jackpot or something! One can only dream! lol

Gotta get through today at work so I can get home, run an errand and then try to pack. I'm a last min packer so I might get 50% packed tonight and the rest packed Thursday night. Fingers crossed I don't forget anything. Next post is from the road!