We bought pearls – pounds of pearls.  Some so beautiful that you would be willing to go through a wedding just to get to wear them, and some inexpensive that you could buy 15 strands and wind them together in a magnificent choker.

And we bought amazing sterling clasps, unique and sturdy and even some “real girl” magnetic ones!

And vermeil and Hill Tribe, really different beads and even some that look like artichokes!  Glass hearts, hollow large ones and dichroic smaller ones.  Even lapis hearts!

And matte white-line onyx, words can’t describe it.

Fluorite in 5 colors per strand, or a heartbreaking blue.

Bling out the wazoo!! 

And if that isn’t enough, translucent dyed jade in colors that make your mouth water,  like a mango margarita or limeade or strawberry smoothee.  In all kinds of shapes and sizes!

OK, time to go now.  can’t spell anymorel.

But we found another Fabulous Roadside Sign on the way!

Yep, that really makes you want to wander around and check out the picnic tables!

Anyway, we made it on into town, hit one show and bought a lot of glass pearls (this is about 1/4 of them, or less) (ignore the cruddy background, we’re in a hurry here):

And really cool agate and jade:

and these:  Stalactite slices ringed with amethyst:

see, even with a bedsheet and tissue paper and cruddy photography, some of their fabulousness shows thru!!!!

And now I have to start pricing, Mary’s been doing it for about an hour while I’ve been doing this, and she’s getting a bit snippy.

So you can easily find last year’s posts on that trip, and compare the two.  Today we pass my favorite road signs in the world – Dust storms may exist. 

Also, I figured out how to set it up so the entry posts at a later time than when I hit Save, which is a bit cool!  More prize opportunities!

OK, it’s nearly 7AM now, really.  Are these people EVER going to get up?  There are BEADS TO BE BOUGHT TODAY, only 3 hours away!!!

The first time you post a comment in here, it goes into a holding area until someone can look at and verify that it’s not offering drugs or pornography – you’d be amazed how much spam we seem to get.  My past favorite was “May to want baig pipi for U!” which I think I get the gist of, but maybe not.

OK, rambling.  Anyway, your comments are held and it tracks the minute (and second) you posted it, they just might not show until I can OK them.  In most cases, after we clear one to post from your email address, all future ones will show up immediately.  And since it stores everything, I don’t have to remember who won the “comment prize” for each entry.

Also I decided to see if I can manage more than one a day, just to keep it confusing exciting! 

(The camera cord is lost somewhere in the back of the pickup, buried, so I took pictures but they’ll have to wait till tomorrow evening to be inserted.  Just imagine them today:)

For 11 hours today, this was my view:

And

And this is what I did:

And now we’re in Las Cruces NM, after passing several of the huge windmill farms, oil wells, El Paso, and trucks.  We ate fried jalapeno strips at a DQ, (quite tasty) ice cream sandwiches (also very nice) at the gas station, and fantastic raspberry lemonade. 

After very little discussion, we opted to pass on staying at the Worst Motel Room in the World in Van Horn.  (see last year’s Tucson blog, “Hazard Duty” for an edited description.  I removed the pictures from it last year, it seemed too mean.) 

We’ll be there tomorrow, shopping. 

Thanks for the comments!!!  Yay!!!  I’m not completely alone. 

Remember, the first person to respond in a comment wins a prize!  I’ll tell the winner of today’s prize in the comments.

Saturday morning, we’re loading up the pickup and heading west!  Everything is ready: lists are made and organized, dogs are boarded (sorry, Susie and Louie!), and Starbuckses are in the cupholders!  We are Starting the Adventure!

Unfortunately, Mary swats when someone starts singing “On the Road Again,” probably because the swatee can’t sing for doodle.  So I’ll just have to find some other way to irritate her.  And that isn’t really very hard for me to do.  After 3 hours in the car, everything irritates her. 

We start shopping on Sunday! 

Oh, since I tend to feel like nobody’s reading this, first person to make a comment on each blog entry wins a special prize!