The Longest Day: Day 6

The next logical stop after we left Fort Stockton, TX would have been Tucson, AZ.  This would break up the 24-hour trip from Houston to Los Angeles into three 8-hour days.  However, our good friends Amy & Jason recently moved from Memphis to a suburb of Phoenix so we thought we could drive the extra two or so hours to get us there. 

It wasn't a bad drive although it was a long time to spend in the car.  It helped that in the process, we changed time zones twice at least making it feel like we weren't in the car for ten and a half hours. We had to make several stops along the way for gas and just to take short breaks, but thanks to the 75 mph plus speed limit along the way, we made it to Gilbert, AZ by 6:30 pm Pacific Time (Arizona does not observe daylight savings time).

Jason had some late work meetings, so we spent some time visiting with Amy and prepped for a cookout by the swimming pool.  Amy and Jason have a butcher shop nearby so they had gotten four beautiful steaks for us to enjoy for dinner.  After Amy cooked up a few sides, we took the food and some beer out to the pool.

The desert heat is definitely different that the southern humidity heat that we are used to, but it is still hot.  Even after dark, it was still warm enough that pool was a welcome respite from the heat.  Jason made it home around 9:00 so we grilled up the steaks and did some more swimming. We had a great time with our Memphis friends, but are sad that we only had one night to visit.

Day 6: Fort Stockton, TX to Gilbert, AZ, 657 miles