AZ to TX via NM. "River in the Rio Grande"

I-10

Driving out of Arizona, I'm struck by the rocks. Ha. Not literally, thankfully. but I'm awestruck at the landscape. I noticed it around Dragoon. Everything was piles of giant rocks and interesting formations. I tried to take a picture of it, but...

A) it's hard to do it justice in a photo. The awe comes from the feeling of total immersion in rocks all around you. 

B) taking pictures while driving, not good for anyone.

So just trust me, there were some awesome rocks on I 10 east of Tucson. 

I did not stop at the Thing?, though it was tempting. Perhaps it was the hard sell on the heavy billboard usage that made it seem worth stopping. But I pressed on. I had my eyes on the Organ Mountain National Park, near Las Cruces. 

I got hungry a couple hours into the ride, so we stopped at a rest area near the state line just before we hit Lordsburg. I finished the pizza saved from the night before. River waited while I ate.

After I finished eating, we walked around and River found a cool marker...

and he peed on it. Sorry, Jefferson.

We drove another couple of hours on I-10 and stopped where it crosses the Rio Grande River. 

I fed River his dinner on the banks

 and then he took a quick drink, which turned into a little splash...  

He eventually slipped all the way in and got soaked; then quickly scrambled out and wiggled in the mud.  Somehow, he was clean by the time we got back in the car.  But I still gave him a bath when we got to the motel. 

My plan was to take a quick trip from Las Cruces to the Organ Mountains National Recreation Area. But I couldn't locate it. I didn't see any signs in Las Cruces and couldn't get it to come up in my navigation. I didn't give it too much energy; it was just something I thought I could do along the way if it was easy. Maybe I missed something, but this one wasn't easy. So I hopped back on I-10 and headed to Texas. I took a picture of some cool mountains on the way out. 

We crossed into Texas with a friendly welcome in Anthony, TX. And found our home for the night in El Paso. 

On one of our walks on the grounds in the motel, we were approached by a homeless man who was deranged and wanted to tell me a story. River wanted nothing to do with it, so he barked at him and lunged toward him, pulling on the leash. I took my cue and called out "Yeah! River!! This way." And took off running in the opposite direction. River followed but kept turning around as we ran. The man was following us, so we took a sharp turn and cut through the parking lot to get to the big motel six sign by the entrance. I gave River a pedestal to perch on and bark a few more times to ground himself. 

When the coast was clear, we went back to the place we got interrupted and continued our walk in peace.