Happy Monday!  It’s so weird to be at home and not working…definitely not complaining though.  So, yesterday we left off leaving San Antonio.  Day 3 of driving was from San Antonio to Tucson.  It was by far the worst drive of the trip.  14 hours in the car, probably 8 of which was in the middle of nowhere.  We spent our first hour in the fog.

Then we were driving through some mountainous areas and I remember thinking… Texas has mountains?!

It was cool terrain for a while, then boredom and hunger set in.  At least I stocked up on snacks.

I looked at the map (when there was reception), and noticed the biggest city on the dreaded I-10 to El Paso route was Fort Stockton.  It was a really small town…but they did have a bbq restaurant! Woohoo.  Rix Pit BBQ had some decent reviews so I thought we should check it out (full review coming soon).  I had a small brisket sandwich with potatoes au gratin. Brisket was decent, potatoes were great!

After another 4 hours of driving through nowhere, we made to El Paso!  Civilization finally came.  But El Paso did not look bueno.  It sits right across the border of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico…which has the highest murder rate per capita in the world.

Driving by Mexico (notice the border fence near the bottom of the pic)

It was crazy how close we were to the border! Bella didn’t care about that at all… she spent the whole time sleeping.

We got to Tucson at about 9:00 PM and were dead tired.  We ate Papa Johns and called it a night.  The next morning I woke up refreshed and excited… We were going to be in California! As we were leaving Tucson, I saw this sign and new we were headed to the promised land

Tomorrow… last road trip post.  The journey through Cali!

Road Trip Tip! Make sure you have enough snacks.  You never know how long it will be without somewhere good to eat.