Text 24157, 67 rader
Skriven 2009-05-18 02:05:08 av Dale Shipp (1:261/1466.0)
Ärende: Trip Report 3
=====================
On day 9, the coach took us to Cameron Trading Post Arizona, which is in
the middle of the very large Navaho reservation.  Our lunch there was
salmon on a bed of greens.  It was the first food I had eaten in two
days, other than a cup-o-noodles soup that Gail had made for me while I
was laying in bed sleeping off my flu-like distress.  Unfortunately,
that night Gail got the same flu.  The next day she had to sleep it off
on the rear seat in the coach instead of a decent bed like I had.  

We arrived at the Phoenix airport about noon, picked up a rental car and
headed straight to our motel in Tucson, AZ.  This began the second phase
of our vacation -- driving to El Paso Texas to visit with our son who is
stationed at Fort Bliss.  We took several side trips getting there.
Along the way, we stopped at San Xavier Mission, just south of Tucson.
Then to the south east to stop at Bisbee, AZ -- a very old mining town
that was once the third largest city west of the Mississippi.  Next we
drove to the north to Tombstone, AZ.  This is a town that everyone has
heard of, and seems to be one of those "must-see" places.  In reality,
it is very touristy with shops, enactments and stuff.  We did not spend
much time there.  North of Las Cruces, NM we were on an interstate that
went paralell to the Rio Grande.  For much of our trip, the scenery was
cactus and brown vegetation.  Along the Rio Grande there were many farms
with green fields and orchards of what we were told were pecan tree s.

When we got to El Paso, our son took us to dinner at a Vietnamese
restaurant.  It was the first time we had been to one.  It will not be
the last!  The food was quite fresh.  The next morning, he had breakfast
with us at the hotel and then took us on a short tour of the fort and on
a tram ride up 1000 feet to a mountain near El Paso.  As you can see
from the photos, it was quite a view.  For dinner that night, I said
that I would like to have some good Texas BBQ.  Since that is not in his
area of expertese, he called a friend.  The friend recommended a place
called State-Line BBQ.  The parking lot is in Texas, and the restaurant
is in New Mexico.  Bryan had a mixed vegetable grill which came with
sides of cole slaw and Texas beans.  I inherited the beans since they
had meat in them, and the waitress brought him a dish of potato salad in
replacement.  Gail had a lean brisket sandwich.  They also offered
original fatty brisket for those who like that version.  I got a mixed
platter with five meats.  It included a large beef rib -- good;  a
quarter rack of baby back ribs -- excellent;  a few slices of lean
brisket -- very good;  a smoked sausage -- very good; and a moderate
portion of turkey breast -- ok.  The turkey breast was supposed to be
smoked, but very little smoke flavor penetrated the sauce that was put
on top of the meats on the platter.  There was only the one sauce.  To
me, it tasted like the Bulls Eye sauce that we have in the frig.  I
liked the sauce.  This restaurant is one of a small chain of nine
restaurants, mostly in Texas -- http://www.countyline.com/  .  If this
was anywhere near us, I would go there often.  The menu is similar to
the wide spread chain of Famous Dave's -- but the food is much better.

All along the trip from Phoenix to El Paso, there were many varieties of
cactus that were blooming.  I made a special section of the photos just
for pictures of cactus blooms.  On the entire coach tour north of
Phoenix, we rarely saw any blooms.  This was just another example of the
effect of elevation and local climate on the plant life in Arizona, Utah
and New Mexico.

All in all, it was a very good trip -- but was really too long.  We rode
on the coach for 1600 miles in nine days, and drove ourselves for 1300
miles in the next week or so.  I'm glad we did it, but am not likely to
do it again.


... Shipwrecked on Hesperus in Columbia, Maryland. 02:06:19, 18 May 2009
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