On Walkabout On: New Mexico’s I-10 to El Paso

As we continued down Highway 70 from Safford, Arizona my wife and I then crossed into the state of New Mexico.  Once into New Mexico the view are no where near as scenic as what can be seen along this highway in Arizona:

Highway 70 only continues for a short ways passed the Arizona-New Mexico border before intersecting with Interstate 10 at Lordsburg:

On I-10 the drive as actually quite boring and the most scenic thing along the way are the colorful gas stations:

However, once I-10 gets near Las Cruces, New Mexico then I couldn’t keep my eyes off the scenery provided by the dramatic Organ Mountains that backdrop the city:

Here is another nice image of these beautiful mountains:

The I-10 rest area provides not only great views of theis mountains, but also features a piece of art depicting New Mexico’s state bird the road runner:

Anyway our final destination of El Paso, Texas was just a short drive down the road from Las Cruces.  Las Cruces may have the Organ Mountains to backdrop their city, but El Paso has the Franklin Mountains to backdrop their city with:

The Franklins are not as big or impressive as the Organ Mountains, but they are still a scenic desert mountain range to check out.  The easiest way to see these mountains is by getting off of I-10 at the Transmountain Road exit and take this scenic road up and over this mountain range:

El Paso is shaped like a horseshoe due to the Franklin Mountains that runs through the middle of the city and the gap in the mountains carved out by the Rio Grande River that also composes the border between the US and Mexico:

El Paso is one of the oldest cities in the US with the Spanish Conquistador Don Juan de Onate first visiting the area in 1598.  An actual settlement wasn’t constructed here until 1659 however.  This remote settlement of the old Spanish empire has now flourished into the 22nd largest city in the United States with a population of over 600,000 people. 

Transmountain Road offers many views of the ever growing El Paso area:

El Paso is a big change from living in the Australian state of Victoria that is relatively lush and green compared to arid West Texas.  Living in El Paso is kind of like living in an Alice Springs of 600,000 people.  The job I am working here I really like and I am working here with a good Australian mate of mine who I have been working with for the past two and half years I was in Australia.  So I am by no means finished with Australia since I will be traveling back there from time to time among other global locations.  In the meantime my wife and I and finding El Paso surprisingly not that bad of a place to live and we are actually quite enjoying it.  So expect more blogging to come in the future from out West Texas home of El Paso.