After 12 travel hours, a carsick cleanup stop and a late lunch in Albuquerque, we have made it to Texas!  Our Pioneer Boy was born in Houston five years ago, so although he’s a solid day’s travel from his birthplace, he still feels at home.  Number one priority today: Find a size-five tshirt with an outline of Texas on it for our Texas boy.  Also, we might have to buy some kids their first umbrellas.

We saw the countryside change a lot today.  We left Phoenix’s “Valley of the Sun” in the heart of the Sonoran Desert and climbed through the ponderosa pine forest of northeastern Arizona until we reached I-40 in Holbrook.  We passed the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest National Parks (which we have visited on previous trips and highly recommend if you’re in the area).

Four Peaks, northeast of Phoenix

This person is the reason they invented Dramamine.

I-40 east of Holbrook, Arizona

It took us about 4 hours to get through that part of Arizona.  We crossed into New Mexico and drove 373.51 miles on I-40, watching the landscape change from the high deserts of the Navajo Nation to the Llano Estacado, the beginning of the Great Plains.  At sunset we passed through Tucumcari, a town famous in the Route 66 days for having more hotel rooms than residents.

State Two of #thirteenstates!

“T” on the butte at Tucumcari, New Mexico

As we traveled east toward the Texas state line, the weather changed.  The puffy white clouds and blue skies of the deserts gave way to menacing clouds.  We even saw a tiny piece of rainbow

Llano Estacado near Tucumcari, NM

We’ve safely arrived in Texas.  Amarillo greeted us with a lightning show and thunderstorm.  We were a bit too late to see Cadillac Ranch, but we’re hoping to run over this morning and take a peek before we continue east into Oklahoma.

Welcome to Texas, state three of #thirteenstates

We’d love you to follow along in real-ish time as we visit sites and post photos on Facebook.  We’re posting at Facebook.com/PioneerGirls, under the hashtags #PioneerGirls and #ThirteenStates.  Drop by and comment on and share your favorite photos, or give us recommendations on things to do and see in areas you’re familiar with.  We’re always up for an adventure!