This is our last trip out of Phoenix for the year 2002. It is also our 22nd excursion out of our routine unless one were to start considering that traveling is our routine. As is becoming the norm, we have left in the late afternoon and will drive until tired.

After about 350 miles of driving into the night, our next possibility for a motel in El Paso, Texas, so instead of driving the 46 miles there, we decided to stay here in Las Cruces, New Mexico, at the Sands Motel. Beyond El Paso, it looked like we’d have another 120 miles to Van Horn, Texas before we might find another spot for lodging, and that would have given us another two-and-a-half-hour of driving without the guarantee of finding a room for the night.

While it’s great being relatively spontaneous on many of our travels, we are also aware of the risk of running into places that, for one reason or another, are sold out.