Trip to Las Cruces, NM

I am making a trip to Las Cruces to see my doctors out here. I normally bring my binocs and scope and birding gear. This time I decided that I really just wanted to drive out, visit with friends, see the docs and then drive home. No stops on the road. The only way I can ensure no stops is to not have my "stuff" with me. So I left them in my rig.

First stop on the road was Junction, TX. Decided to gas up as it was about 100 miles to Ozona, the next town of any size. WOW I paid $3.499 for gas at the Valero. Was I ever shocked. :(. Gas back toward San Antonio was around $3.209 or less. Oh, well so it goes. My gas mileage was down a little at that stop as I only recorded 26.0 mpg. The next stretch, something's gotta be wrong because I recorded 23.4 which is even lower. Could be speed - yuh think? - and the hilly roads. Next fill up was El Paso, the east side at the Flying J there, but the receipt is in the car. My normal is 30 plus/minus 2 mpg.

I did have some work done on my car, but it should only have effected the noise coming from the front window. That is fixed. Wondering if they might have done some updating to the computer system that caused some changes.

Will be filling up Wednesday night and be ready for the road on Thursday morning. Expect to spend the night in Fort Stockton and then drive on home Friday. Will be good to get back in my own bed. Besides company is like fish and should be thrown out after 3 days. I have been here with my friends 3 days and time is about up. I love staying here as they are so much fun. There isn't much that they aren't doing. She is into politics and he likes to hunt. She likes to cook and he likes to eat. He would love to retire, but there is the old thing about health insurance costs and pre-existing conditions - and we all have those. They have a son in the local university and that is always a challenge. Great folks to visit.