Wednesday May 22nd 2019

Today was my third windy travel day. It wasn’t as bad as yesterday. I was off the road at my destination before it got really strong. My stop for the next two nights is just west of El Paso near the New Mexico line. It was only 140 miles from Van Horn.

The short distance coupled with changing to the Mountain Time zone presented a minor problem. I didn’t want to delay my departure from Van Horn because the later in the day it got the stronger the wind would be. I departed just before ten this morning. The one hour time change, less than ten miles west of Van Horn, meant I’d get to my destination around 11:30am. It probably would have been OK to arrive early, but I didn’t want to take a chance. I stopped at a rest area about halfway to my destination for an hour and a half. While I was there the wind arrived. The second half of my trip was a battle against a cross wind.

I know how to bypass El Paso to the north. I used that route coming east in January of 2018, but today I chose to drive through the center of the city on Interstate 10. It was the middle of the day and my destination was a little south of where the RV appropriate bypass returns to I-10. The traffic trough the city was moderate and the buildings blocked some of the wind. Overall it was the right choice.

I’m at the El Paso/Anthony West KOA for the next two nights. It’s within feet of the state line with New Mexico. This is very much a desert campground. It is in a cleared area of the desert that has been graded to provide level areas for RVs. In this case there is no vegetation, just gravel. It is fine for a brief stop.