Every day truly is a new travel adventure.
This week we’re in a part of the country we’ve never been through before, traveling I-10 East from Tucson, Arizona to San Antonio, Texas. From an interstate highway rest stop perspective, every state does things a little differently. On Tuesday we stopped at the coolest rest stop we’ve ever been to. It’s at mile marker 135 just before Las Cruces, NM.
It’s damned hot in New Mexico most of the year. Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas all thoughtfully provide picnic table enclosures for those who, like us, want to stop and eat a picnic lunch as well as use the rest rooms. At the rest stop we used before this one, the shelters were miniature adobe looking houses just big enough for one picnic table. But it was a happy coincidence we chose the next rest stop for our picnic that day.
The rest stop at MM135 doesn’t look like anything special when you pull off the road. It’s not until you get out of the car and walk toward one of their adorable stone shelter picnic sites that you see what makes this stop so incredible. The whole site is located on a scenic overlook. Spread out magnificently below you is a valley where you can see the entire city of Las Cruces. It’s yet another opportunity to experience the unique and diverse eye candy of this vast country of ours. I can’t even describe in words the stunning view from a cute little picnic table enclosure perched on the edge of a precipice. Here’s what we saw (as near a photo can capture the grandeur) as we were eating a simple picnic lunch of ham rollups, chips, and oranges.
We didn’t even notice the recycled roadrunner statue the rest stop is known for until we were ready to drive away, but I had to get out of the car to take this photo for you. The statue is enormous, though you can’t tell the scale from the photo. I should have had Randy stand next to it.
This is, hands down, the best rest stop we’ve ever been at. I’ll never forget it. Beautiful country too. And Las Cruces may be my favorite city we drove through on this trip. I’ll tell you why in my long post on Tuesday.
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