El Paso, Texas - Feb 9th 2014

We are deep in Cowboy Country now!

That's part of what I like about being on the road and camping in free areas like Wal-Marts, Truck Stops and other lil places we find for the night when travelling. It feels like we are living the old fashioned way, like Cowboys (and Cow Girl too!). Freedom in a weird sort of way.

As we neared the west end of Texas I was wondering where to get the oil changed in the rig. I am a bit of a stickler for doing oil changes on vehicles and making sure they are done in the right time frame. It's the best and one of the cheapest things you can do to properly look after it and make it last a long time. So... where to get one done in something this size?

Here we are inside the BIG state of Texas!
Anthony is just west of El Paso.

I have pondered doing the oil changes myself while on the road and I have the tools but the problem is where do you get rid of the old oil? Finding that can be a hassle.

So we drove into El Paso and through west bound and found a Camping World This is a franchised RV parts, service and sales store located throughout the USA. We decided that the parking lot was big enough that we would camp there for the night. As it turned out a few other RV's had the same plan so we were not alone.

Beautiful views from our new home for the night

See, we really aren't that big compared to some!

Camping World
An alternative to Wal-Mart for Dry Camping on the go!

We got up bright & early the next morning at 7am as the service department opened at 8am. I wanted to get in and out as fast as we could. As it turned out they didn't get it finished until 5pm, so much for that idea!

Nothing went right actually.
What I was quoted was about $180.00 shy of the actual bill! I had asked them to change the oil & filter on the generator too. That ended up being triple the price because between the time I told him what I wanted and the time of when he wrote it down they messed up big time.

To make a long story short after complaining about the unbelievable price they were trying to charge me the Manager was able to widdle down the invoice to a reasonable price. They didn't make any money on me that day!

So as it was so late we decided to stay another night in their parking lot. Camping along the side of the I-10 Freeway always offers something to see.

While we waited the day out for the rig to get serviced we took the car into El Paso to see the sights. I have seen things like this on the Tijuana Border, on the news and perhaps in a movie or two but seeing it in real life is something.

You see what we have here are two fairly large cities side by side. One is in Mexico (Juarez) and the other on the US side called El Paso.

The city in Mexico is estimated at 1.5 to 2 million people. No one really knows or can say for sure. People from all over Mexico and South America come here if they want to enter the USA. Some of them do this legally and others, well not so legal. All that separates the two cities is the Rio Grande river which is pretty much dried up here, a large steel fence, sensors and the roaming US Border Patrol.

As you may or may not know the Gangs & Drug Cartels in this city are many. The violence has been plenty over the years having slowed down a bit right now. Hundreds of people have been murdered and hundreds more disappeared from this very city each and every year in the past. One place that you do not want to visit at night.

El Paso, Texas
Downtown

An old military building

Looking thru the fence at Juarez

Miles of fence separating the two countries & cities.

The Border Patrol is everywhere watching.

After a day of touring, back home to the rig at Camping World.

On the US side El Paso seems to be much safer and less violent. After doing some research and reading the local papers it seems it does not suffer near the same amounts of criminal activity. There are plenty of criminals here though, from both sides of the border.

Driving around El Paso we saw some of the nice areas and there are lots of them. We went down town and one street reminded me of many I have seen in Mexico. In fact this whole area reminds me of Mexico to varying degrees.

We drive along the fenced border looking at the other side. Many of the homes appeared vacant and that was later confirmed. Apparently as many as an estimated 400,000 people have left Juarez due to the violence. The homes some burnt, others with windows missing all sitting along quiet paved streets. The odd person, family or children are seen walking along the streets. A top of one hill is a large fancy home. One wonders who lives there and why is his/her home so much different? I will leave that to your imagination.

What a difference a political border line can make. As intriguing as it is to see this in some ways... it is very sad too.

Boy... We've come a long way baby!

I will end it here. If you want to learn more you can easily Google it and see lots of information, both the good and the bad news.