Well, here it is the day after Christmas. We have been in Mesa, AZ since the 18th and have been resting up and visiting with Nancy B. and her friend Harry. Not a lot going on other than some grocery shopping and just bumming around in general.

Christmas Eve we went to church for a nice candle light service. Then on Christmas day we went to visit a friend that was in an assisted living facility not too far away. In the afternoon we had a cook out. We had kabobs with beef, green peppers, onions, pineapple and tomatoes, quite tasty and filling. Finished that off with a nice piece of pecan pie.
Today, we are going to visit some friends from Cherokee Village and take them to lunch. They are in an assisted living facility in Scottsdale, not too far away. We have not seen them since last winter when we were here.
Our photos are of the Inter-mountain Expressway around El Paso, TX. It was obvious that we had to do something with that mountain in front of us and apparently that is where the name came from. As you can see it is a fairly steep grade and maybe 5 miles long, so it is a long grind, some in first gear in the steeper parts. It is a really nice drive but a bit difficult for a rig of our size. We did not see any big trucks on this road, they all stayed on I10 and fought the traffic through El Paso.
This was an interesting drive, but next time I think we will stay on the interstate and just bite the bullet and stay with the big rigs.
It is apparent that the interstate has to negotiate this mountain range, but apparently easier than this expressway. Cars and light trucks had no problem with the grades, but not for big rigs.