zzyzx & sue: The Girlfriend Tour (part 1)

The Girlfriend Tour began in April of 2007. I had 2 weeks to visit 3 of my girlfriends, Elizabeth in Texas, Sara in Missouri, and Robin in Idaho. I drove on my own, and spent about 8 - 9 hours driving each day.

My first stop was in Sun City, AZ (Dad's place). Spring in the Arizona desert was absolutely beautiful! The Palo Verde trees were all in bloom, their bright yellow blossoms lining Interstate 10.

When I left Sun City, I drove for around 2 hours, and stopped at Picacho Peak & visited the Arizona Nuthouse - how could I pass that up? They had a nice gift shop with Arizona-made crafts, plenty of nuts, candy and ice cream too.

Barrel Cactus at the AZ Nuthouse

Picacho Peak

I think that this may have been my longest driving day of the whole trip. It was a great day, and taking pictures with my little Nikon Coolpix worked out pretty good. Many of them taken through the car windows while on the road...shhhhhhh.....

I loved the piles of boulders at the rest area. Doesn't this one look like a big lizard?

I never did see any snakes. I think that was a good thing.

Not much traffic. A nice change from the daily commute.

Almost to New Mexico.

This really reminds me of all those Westerns I watched when I was a kid.

I stopped at the first "Welcome Center" I came to in New Mexico. While I was inside, one of the other travelers was talking to the woman behind the counter & I heard her (the tourist) telling the story of this sign. It seems that her father designed & built these signs for New Mexico. After having been at the state borders for many years, it was decided that they weren't big enough to be safe & would be replaced. Lucky for me, they moved at least this one to the Welcome Center, instead of just trashing it.

I didn't run into any dust storms in New Mexico. It was clear & calm all the way across the state.

I actually took this picture to show my friend who's husband works for a company that hauls giant loads like this - they moved the Spruce Goose - and was happily surprised to see the Continental Divide sign!