Whop See Daisy!

So as many of you know I am a true professional and I take driving the motor home very seriously. I am attentive to detail and I do not take chances.

We finally made it to the west border of Texas!

Yesterday we had a long day (Feb 9th). We drove all the way from Frederickson, Texas to a small town called Anthony, Texas.

Originally I wanted to make it inside the border of New Mexico however we needed to service the motor home and we found a place to get that done in Anthony.

Anthony is right on the border of Texas and New Mexico. In fact the exit we took off of the I-10 Freeway was exit "0." If I threw a rock I guess it would land in New Mexico.

Add to that we are also on the border of the country of Mexico and I mean right on the border!

By the way I had to post this a little out of order as I didn't want to forget as what I am about to share was so funny for us. So bare with me please.

As one drives through El Paso, (Texas) which is just a couple of miles behind us now (east of us) you can see the wall. Everything on the other side of the Rio Grande River is Mexico. The wall reminds me of Berlin.
Add to that there are Border Patrol cars all around watching.

The Wall! Everything on the other side is in Mexico.

If you can make it past the sensors, all the Border Patrols and the fence you might get in?

Oh yea... Don't forget there is razor wire too...

Ciudad Juárez is the city in Mexico that you can see behind the fence.
No one knows for sure but the population is estimated between 1.5 and 2 million.

Such a difference from one side to the other in economics and all that we take for granted in North America. Sad really.

In researching I find that although the violent crime has dropped in this Mexican city, it is still very violent with drug cartels fighting their turf wars and other non-related murders. Car jackings, robberies, rapes and murder make up the landscape of this once named most violent city in the world, now it only ranks 37th.

Suffice it to say that we have some violent cities north of the Mexican border but nothing like these poor people have faced. I was going to post a link to some information on Ciudad Juárez but there was just too much news. If you want to search it or have any interest (which you likely don't), then go ahead.

Also; I should mention the Rio Grande River is no more. It is all dried up!
We went back and toured the area today.

Before I forget to mention, Texas is one very BIG State!
I think it is close to 900 miles across the bottom on I-10. It takes forever to get across and I am sure there are many countries smaller than Texas!

The USA shares 2,000 miles of border with Mexico, of which 1,254 miles are along the Texas border.

On our way yesterday we were having a great day. It was hovering around 79F all day long, not a cloud in the sky. As we got closer to Fort Stockton, Texas I determined we would need some fuel in "Bounder" the motor home.

Using the in-dash computer I checked and it told me I would have 50 plus miles to spare if I were to stop in Fort Stockton to fill up. So that was the plan.

Once there I took the exit off the freeway to go to the truck stop. We were about 2 city blocks away from it and I could see it clearly. I'm sure now you have the idea of what happened next.

As I pulled away from the stop sign onto the overpass above the freeway whilst turning left "Bounder" just died. That's right, she quit right there! I tried frantically to get her to start and she refused! Right away I knew what had happened. We were out of gas.

So close, yet so far away!
The real problem is that we were sticking out into the middle of the intersection! When you are in a rig this big that can be a bad thing. I quickly jumped from my seat and told Barb to get into the driver's position and steer. I ran outside to the front of "Bounder" and pushed her back out of the intersection. I can confirm that between Bounder and our Honda on the back that is about 23,000 pounds! It's a good thing I work out on a regular basis (yea right, bad joke).

Our next issue was how to get gas into Bounder? I unhooked the Honda and drove over to the truck stop. I was very thankful at this point that we had purchased a motor home and were towing a car so that we could do this. Barb stayed out behind Bounder to direct traffic.

At the truck stop they told me they didn't have fuel cans for loaners but I was welcome to buy one. After pleading my case I was directed to the Manager who just happened to have a loaner gas can out back, no deposit required, yes!

I was back to Bounder inside of ten minutes with the gas and in "pit stop" fashion dumped it into the fuel tank. She immediately started and we were off and running with a sigh of relief!

Sorry... But I think we are out of gas!

I'll have this baby running in about 2 minutes, Honest!

That my friends is called a "Whop See Daisy!"

As noted earlier we made it all the way to the border just west of El Paso (just east of Las cruces, New Mexico) and camped in the parking lot at a Camping World Service Centre. I wanted to make sure we were first in line at the service desk in the morning and we were!

A good sleep along with a chuckle was had by all!

Our Home for the night - Camping World Parking Lot.
Four other rigs joined us.

PS: I won't be trusting that travel computer again in the future!

G'd Night!