Highway 9

Greg likes to avoids the blue and sometimes the red roads when we can. They are just too crowded.

So we chose the black Highway 9 West. You never know the condition of these black roads but usually they are OK. You will notice there is no shoulder (and rarely a rest area). We did have one pull off that came up at the right time.
We were on one of those black roads on the way to the Kickapoo Casino and it was so narrow that when we had on coming traffic we had to really slow down and sometimes have the tire off the pavement.

BUT, when you take these roads, you really get to see the real world. In Eagle Pass we would pass gates with a lot of signs, a RV or trailer would be parked next to the gate and the look of "don't even think about it" We never did find out what they were guarding.

Highway 9 was very uneventful. There is just nothing out there but cactus,rocks, dry grass, an occasional cow and ranch in the distance.
AND those piles of rocks. Have no idea what they represent . In Hawaii there are similar stacks of rocks and I believe it has some religious purpose.


The road runs parallel to the Mexican border. We could see some white markers which we assume was on the border.
Interesting enough, we didn't see any border patrol after we left the El Paso area.
After about 70 miles we arrived in Columbus and discovered the Pancho Villa Park and museum. It looked interesting so we decided to spend the day and night.