USA Road Trip Day 7

Departure: El Paso, TX
Arrival: Phoenix, AZ
Hours: 7 1/2
Miles: 453.6
Gallons: 16.4

This morning we started off driving on the wrong side of the road, into oncoming traffic! Luckily we figured it out before we died and didn't make that mistake again. We stayed in El Paso last night in a hotel and prayed that no one would break into our car to steal Kira's stuff. Kira serves with OM Ships, but is moving home to Phoenix to work remotely. It was perfect timing for her to take advantage of our cross country road trip and move the majority of her belongings via "the stewart moving company"!!! Our car was loaded down completely, with only the front two seats available for us to sit. There is so much stuff in the trunk that Kira's possessions were molded into the shape of the back of our car...and in our back seat there was so much that we couldn't see out of any of the back windows and everything fell out if we even considered opening the doors! This morning, the first part of our drive through the last of Texas and then New Mexico reminded me of Bolivia. The breeze was cool and there was no humidity, but the more the sun came out, the warmer it felt. Even the mountains in the background resembled the Andes mountains. About an hour into New Mexico we had to pass through US Customs and Border Protection and we were so freaked out that they were going to make us unpack the entire car. It took Kira HOURS to pack our car so perfectly and completely and we knew that we would never get it all back in the same...or maybe not at all! Thank goodness all the border patrol asked was "are you American citizens?". We said "yes" and were waved on through...weird...what if we had lied? I guess that we look about as American as you can get! After that we stopped for lunch at a gas station and saw some guy being arrested by border patrol!!! The border of Arizona was the first state that didn't have a place for us to take a picture with a welcome sign, so all we got was the flag. But, the bathrooms did have locks on the toilet paper and that was different than the other states too! We finally made it to Kira's house with the car still running and all of her stuff still packed in...we were so happy! So we unloaded all her junk from our trunk (I had to say it...sorry) and the backseat. Then Kira's parents, David and Arlene took us out to eat to thank us for moving Kira cross country!