Day 11 & 12 - 1/4 & 1/5 Phoenix, AZ - Fort Stockton, TX

We woke up early for a big day in 74 degree Arizona. Chris was kind enough to drive us up to Sedona on Monday. It was about an hour and a half ride and we were only able to stay for about 30 minutes, but it was worth it. Sedona is known for it's red rock. Red rocks are everywhere. We stopped by a park called Red Rock State Park. The red rock formations were a sight to behold. We also saw a few hummingbirds flitting around. Hummingbirds always make Jolene smile. Rick had been looking for a stuffed road runner and strangely enough, we found one in the little gift shop in the park. Sedona also has a cute little downtown with artsy shops.
When we returned from Sedona, we headed to Old Town Scottsdale for lunch at an authentic little Mexican restaurant that Joannah had found. After lunch we walked around and checked out the shops in Old Town. We checked out a sweet little rare bookstore. Jolene was pretty excited to see a signed first edition of a Stephen King novel. Chris' sore throat became the perfect excuse to get ice cream at Sugar Bowl. Yum. Rick was excited to see some original Bil Keane 'Family Circus' comics. It turned out that Keane was a local & used the Sugar Bowl in a number of strips. By this point, we were all beat, so we went back to the house for a rest (and to do some laundry) before our evening plans. Joannah's cousin Kelly was in town from San Francisco and her boyfriend's band was playing at a local bar called Erin's Sheppard. We hung out for a bit and enjoyed the music. Patti & Dennis (Chris' mom & step-dad) came out also. It was nice to get to spend some more time with everyone. We took off early as we had plans to leave for Fort Stockton, TX early in the morning.
We left Phoenix at about 7 am (Mountain time) to continue on our journey. As we were heading down I-10, about 60 miles outside of Phoenix, we suddenly saw a bunch of flashing lights ahead. There were a bunch of cops and traffic was stopping. When we got closer, we saw a German Shepard police dog in the middle of the road with an officer trying to catch him. The dog continued to run, so the officer got back in his car and sped away after him. Turned out to be the Border Patrol. Weird.
Another weird (yet cool) thing we saw was an ostrich ranch! Jolene wished she had known about it in advance so we could have stopped.
Today was fairly uneventful, but a few other things: Texas Canyon rest stop (in AZ) had an awesome view of enormous boulder hills and formations, we passed a pecan and walnut orchard & vineyard, there were random burned out old cars in some fields we passed, we ate at Whataburger, we had to go through a border patrol checkpoint, and the sunset we saw in Texas was beautiful with pink, orange and yellows layered across the sky.
We finally made it to our destination around 7:30 (Central time). We checked into what used to be a Knight's Inn, but is now called Atrium West Inn and headed to K-Bob's Steakhouse for dinner. Both things could've been better. On to Houston tomorrow and possibly New Orleans if Rick can convince Jolene to do 1000 miles in one day. If not, we'll be in New Orleans on Thursday.