Seeing It With Eyes Of Appreciation

I really don't know what the big difference is on this journey thru New Mexico or Texas over past trips through these states along Interstate 10.  We've crossed the country on I-10 probably a half dozen times over the past 20+ years and previously I would sort of dread part of it. 

Once you get into New Mexico a few miles, and all the way through West Texas until almost San Antonio, the landscape is rather brownish with some smattering of green sagebrush and the like.  There are mountains to see, but those are mostly brownish in color also.  This time it was different for us.  We were seeing this area with "eyes of appreciation".  We rode through this area the past 2 days with a feeling of excitement and joy, I guess you could call it.

This time we really looked at it with different eyes.  We could still see the brownish landscape of New Mexico with the stark and sometimes barren look of it all but we saw the contrast of the brown mountains with the blue sky.  We saw how some of the rocks and mountains were a different shade of brown.  Some mountains were jagged and some had been sheared off by centuries of stiff winds until they were turned into a plateau.   Same thing for West Texas.  As we looked at everything, we talked about how difficult it must have been for the early settlers to cross that desert like terrain, filled with all sorts of unknown dangers. 

(click on any photo for a larger view)

Here are some beautiful rocky mountains in Arizona just before you get to New Mexico.  Awesome!

Just after entering New Mexico we could see some beautiful yellow wildflowers.

The wildflowers lasted only a short time and then the landscape turned into a dry prairie with the mountains in the distance.

Just after you cross from New Mexico into Texas,  the folks from the Lone Star state greet you with a huge sign.

Another wonderful part of Texas is their pride in their home town and the entire state.  In even the smallest towns, they honor their high school teams by painting the water tanks with the sports teams achievements.

Here is a photo of west Texas many miles east of El Paso.  The wide open spaces of this area hold great appeal to the residents of this part of the state.  They don't want close neighbors as they prefer to farm the land or graze cattle.

Before we got to the turnoff for Hwy. 290 toward Johnson City, we could see many of the wind machines erected on the hills and plateaus here.

The Interstate took us through more hills, with green shrubs and sagebrush, and then we saw our turnoff for Hwy. 290.  Making our exit from the Interstate, we were now heading into the area known as the Hill Country.  We will be here for 4 nights.

I think most people travel to see different places and experience new things they don't find at home.  That is why we travel.  We are not content to sit all year long looking at the same scenery.  Every traveler will have their own preferences on what is most important to see.  How boring would we find life if everything looked the same?  If there were nothing but large cities to visit, I wouldn't be happy.  If there was nothing but desert to visit, I wouldn't be happy.  If I could never see the ocean, I wouldn't be happy.  We may have been driving through barren land most of the past 2 days, but how refreshing to NOT SEE constant strip malls, gas stations, fast food joints, and rows and rows of homes that look identical to the one next door.

So this is why we could see this area with our eyes of appreciation.  We appreciate the diversity of this state of Texas, but we also just appreciate being able to be fulltime RVer's and go where we want.  We are so blessed and that makes us very thankful, too.

Until next time....so long for now!