I axed my friend Marfa if she wanted to go Alpine skiing for her birfday...

Rolling east out of Deming, the landscape is ... enchanting...

It's on their state signs and license plates.  This passes for "land of enchantment."  As we approached Las Cruces, there are some pretty mountain silhouettes in the distance...

Crossing into Texas, we made our usual stop for gas, then picked up a breakfast sandwich...

I was dreading the passage through El Paso - bumpy roads and crazy-ass drivers.  I guess I didn't have to worry about that... we saw a sign that said, "Interstate 10 Closed 11 Miles Ahead."  I-10 runs near the Mexico border, and right along the Rio Grande River in this area; the detour took us on a loop that had us climbing a mountain...

At 5,280' (one mile high), we had a good view of the El Paso area below us...

It was a steep climb, but the road was good, and we got to see another part of El Paso... and much less of the zoo that is the normal traffic on I-10.  We even got to try out one of the raised ramps when we got back to the Interstate...

Although it seemed like quite a trek out of the way, it was only about 6 miles further and maybe 20 minutes longer.  I would consider this by-pass in the future if the GPS shows a traffic slow-down on I-10.  We came out at Exit 34 onto the Interstate, well past the worst of the traffic... if the Interstate had been open.

Double towing since our departure this morning, I get the "All CR-V Channel" on our infotainment center...

Heading east, you come to the Border Patrol checkpoint near Sierra Blanco...

"Are you both US citizens?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have safe travels."

Lots of trucks on the road again today...

When planning, Joan had considered an overnight stop at Van Horn.  I was delighted to get there early enough to keep rolling.  Turning south on US Hwy 90, we were on a two-lane road with a 70 mph speed limit...

And, a bunch more nothing out there.  Shortly, the road got bumpier, but they made up for it by upping the speed limit to 75!?!

It was clear that we were coming up on some road construction...

How often do you get to drive on the left side of a double yellow solid line??  Oh, yeah, it deteriorated...

But, we were on the proper side of the double yellow line now.  Then, the road turned to absolute crap.  The speed limit dropped to 45 mph.  The lane was so narrow, I had to straddle the solid double yellow line to keep from dropping a tire off the right side...

It was about that time that a semi and a pickup came up behind me doing about 70 mph.  Yep, the both passed me on the double yellow.  Welcome back to Texas.

What's that??

An aviation observation tethered blimp.  Technically, an "aerostat," it is equipped with down looking radar to keep track of low-flying aircraft.  Why would an aircraft be flying low... coming up from Mexico... trying to stay under more typical radar?  Yeah, I wonder.

On the way today, we made a reservation for an RV park in Alpine, Texas.  "Alpine" brings to mind a village in the Alps.  Well, for me.  I'm thinking there won't be any downhill ski resorts in this Alpine.  Before getting to Alpine, we came to Marfa, Texas...

Marfa is a long ways from civilization.  You have to want to be going to Marfa.  It is known for a local film festival and the Marfa Lights: lights in the sky that have been occasionally observed that some think are from UFOs or some supernatural event.  The government says it is reflections in the low clouds from car headlights or campfires.  If we were going to be here longer, I would put on my tin foil hat and check it out for myself... but, the road construction wore me out.  I am ready to get down for the day.

South of Marfa (I just like to say "Marfa"... as in: Marfa Stewart went to jail), the terrain gets more interesting...

And, the road is decent!  We are settled in for the evening in a nice RV park on the outskirts of Alpine.  We drove through town on the way in - it looks like an interesting town, but it is 4:30 (lost another hour, now in Central Time Zone)... Izzy and I both need a walk.  Joan will be making supper.  We'll have time to explore town a bit in the morning, before heading to Big Bend.

On edit:

Little Izzy got two walks in - one right after I made the above post, then another after supper.  They've had some rain here earlier today, so we had to be careful to not walk in the mud... and by "we," I mean I had to steer her around it.  Back at our site, she climbed up on the brick and concrete picnic table to have a look around.  A rooster called out...

"What the heck was that??"  I explained what a rooster is... "Sounds delicious!"

;-)