Day 24 - Wednesday, Sept 25 - Lordsburg, NM to San Antonio, TX
Starting mileage: 5305 Starting time: 8:00 am
Ending mileage: 6013 Ending time: 7:00 pm
Travel mileage: 708 Travel time: 10:0 hours (lost another hour to time change)
We had quite a long driving day. We had thought that we would stop a couple hours short of San Antonio and drive the rest of the way in the morning but decided we'd rather stay here for two nights so we went the extra distance. We were glad we did as it gave us time in the evening to explore the area.
We had a bit of undesired excitement. We were in the middle of nowhere in West Texas when Carmen noticed that the yellow gas warning light was on. The dashboard indicated we had enough gas for 40 miles. The GasBuddy app showed the next gas station was 35 miles away. The dashboard indicator went down to 20 miles and then disappeared. We were so relieved when we finally got to a gas station and put 15.4 gallons into our 16 gallon tank!
The scenery going from NM to Texas near El Paso is interesting, relatively flat desert terrain interspersed with old mountains pushed up by tectonic forces and newer volcanic activity with pyramidal cinder cones. Passing through West Texas, the geology changes significantly. It is mostly limestone from the ancient sea that covered the middle of America 100 million years ago. The flat-topped mesas and buttes were formed by water erosion. Along the highway rock cuts, the layers of limestone are horizontal, indicating that the hills were not formed by the rock being pushed up.
As we traveled towards San Antonio, we had the first rain in 3 weeks although not very heavy. The vegetation was much greener although still no trees, just creosote bush, sage brush and prickly pear cactus.
We passed huge wind farms. Texas is the largest producer of wind energy in the US. The landscape was also interspersed with pump jacks slowly lifting oil up from below.
We are staying at the O'Brien Hotel, a "boutique" hotel with only 39 rooms located about two blocks from the River Walk.
After having some wine and snacks on our hotel balcony, we walked down the the River Walk where we had dinner along the water. We then took the boat tour of the waterway and walked up by the Alamo.
More on the River Walk and Alamo tomorrow.
Ending mileage: 6013 Ending time: 7:00 pm
Travel mileage: 708 Travel time: 10:0 hours (lost another hour to time change)
We had quite a long driving day. We had thought that we would stop a couple hours short of San Antonio and drive the rest of the way in the morning but decided we'd rather stay here for two nights so we went the extra distance. We were glad we did as it gave us time in the evening to explore the area.
We had a bit of undesired excitement. We were in the middle of nowhere in West Texas when Carmen noticed that the yellow gas warning light was on. The dashboard indicated we had enough gas for 40 miles. The GasBuddy app showed the next gas station was 35 miles away. The dashboard indicator went down to 20 miles and then disappeared. We were so relieved when we finally got to a gas station and put 15.4 gallons into our 16 gallon tank!
The scenery going from NM to Texas near El Paso is interesting, relatively flat desert terrain interspersed with old mountains pushed up by tectonic forces and newer volcanic activity with pyramidal cinder cones. Passing through West Texas, the geology changes significantly. It is mostly limestone from the ancient sea that covered the middle of America 100 million years ago. The flat-topped mesas and buttes were formed by water erosion. Along the highway rock cuts, the layers of limestone are horizontal, indicating that the hills were not formed by the rock being pushed up.
As we traveled towards San Antonio, we had the first rain in 3 weeks although not very heavy. The vegetation was much greener although still no trees, just creosote bush, sage brush and prickly pear cactus.
We passed huge wind farms. Texas is the largest producer of wind energy in the US. The landscape was also interspersed with pump jacks slowly lifting oil up from below.
We are staying at the O'Brien Hotel, a "boutique" hotel with only 39 rooms located about two blocks from the River Walk.
After having some wine and snacks on our hotel balcony, we walked down the the River Walk where we had dinner along the water. We then took the boat tour of the waterway and walked up by the Alamo.
More on the River Walk and Alamo tomorrow.
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| Day 24 map |
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| Alamo at night |
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| Margaritas along the waterfront - tour boat in background |
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