JCLC

FL to CA: The Return Trip / Trip Summary

2011-07-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Almost forgot to wrap up our last "trip"--which turned out to be less of a camping trip and more of an intense driving trip punctuated by using the RV as a hotel room.

The return trip started at 9AM on Monday morning; we were pulled into our parking spot at home Saturday noon. We could've made it home late Friday night, but it's way better to arrive home in the daylight (you should see the tricky turn-around procedure that involves steep driveways and dodging trees). So, it's clear that 5.5 days is what it takes (us) to go from home to St. Augustine. At least we tried a few new roads and campgrounds on the way home.

But, boy oh boy, was it hot. Driving all day really was the only option. It's not like we wanted to stop at 3PM, find a state park, and go for a hike when it feels like 104.

Monday: St. Augustine to Tuscaloosa, AL
On our new-to-us route north on 231 (very nice drive), we managed to visit a roadside farm stand for "Sweet Dreams" peaches, some nice plums, and some gargantuan tomatoes.

Saw the horrible tornado damage and the clean-up efforts. Got some very tasty 'que, and camped at a very nice state park--Lake Lurleen. Mid-week travel after a holiday week = empty campgrounds. Or maybe it was the heat. Who knows? We shared the place with the birds.

The heron flew off rather quickly, as I tried to shoot pictures, but the ducks came a-swimmin' and demanded food. They like campers.

Tuesday: Tuscaloosa to Aux Arc, Arkansas
Excellent driving day through beautiful Mississippi. We whimpered as we bypassed some of our favorite places--the Natchez Trace, Lorman, and Hot Springs, Arkansas--but we FINALLY found a good place for Delta hot tamales, which we first heard about on Alton Brown's Feasting on Asphalt show, but have since learned are quite interesting. There's even a Tamale Trail. Man, oh man, was this a great lunch (that morphed into a great dinner, too).

The Tamale Sampler:

Tamale Pie (with deep-fried corn on the cob, for heaven's sake):

This restaurant had outside-only seating. Suffice to say, it really DID feel like 108, so we ran the generator to power the AC and ate inside the RV.

Decided not to try to squeeze in Hot Springs visit, but instead forged ahead to the Aux Arc COE campground on the Ozark river, after a wonderful, winding drive down off of I-40 through the wineries. Very cute area, and I'll be darned, but the wine was good! Favorite meal: leftover 'que from 'Bama, leftover tamale pie from Mississippi, Alabama tomatoes, and Arkansas chardonnay.

Sunrise. I got to take pictures, while Lisa dumped the tanks. I prefer my job.

Wednesday: Arkansas to Tucumari, NM
All I-40, all the time. We saw the very nice-looking casino in Oklahoma that Linda S. recommended--another time, perhaps. It was only mid-afternoon when we passed it, way too early to stop, but the RV spots along the river with the shade trees did look nice. We were reminded again that next time we're through OK, we need to slow down and visit some of the many well-advertised sights. The state does a very good job with interstate signage that makes one want to exit and explore....

Stopped for lunch in Texas at a Roadfood (Jane and Michael Stern) recommended place outside of Oklahoma City in Clinton. Strike 2 on the Sterns for Texas BBQ. This place has a great vibe, but the meat was, well, just weird. Sort of an "ABC" quality, if you'll recall what that means from childhood days (e.g., ABC gum, remember?). And Michael Stern gave it his highest rating: "Legendary. Worth a drive from anywhere." Au contraire, Michael....

We were pushing to make it to Tucumcari because, well, if you don't stop in Amarillo, then you sort of HAVE to make it to Tucumcari. And, boy did we HAVE to. Ran into a severe weather cell (it is monsoon season) with 60 mph gusts. Thank goodness we missed the hail. But it was definitely creepy:

We visited our new friends at Cactus RV and had THE best breakfast by walking just up the road to Kix on 66. One of the best green-chile omelets ever!

Thursday: Tucumcari to Williams, AZ

Another all-day I-40 run. My big brother (a former Arizona resident and master tour guide) gave us the idea to push for Bullhead City and a great city park right on the Colorado River. We could've had a dip and a little casino entertainment. But we were soooo tired on this 4th day of pushing that we had to get off the road at about 5:30-6PM in Williams. I, for one, was just vibrating. It's high season in Williams (gateway to the Grand Canyon), but of course, all we wanted to do was stop driving. A pricey stop at a pretty marginal park (Canyon Motel & RV Park), but it was worth it for the cool mountain air and the lack of road noise and motion.... No pictures.

Friday: Williams to Bakersfield, CA then Home on Saturday

We detoured through Bullhead City to see what we missed (that city park looked like fun!) back to our favorite pit stop, A Country RV Park, which is almost exactly 4 hours from home. Staying here allows us to dump, regroup, and make it home early enough the next day to clean out the coach. And on this particular instance, it also allowed us to join a group to see the Harry Potter movie ;-)

Trip Summary

Total miles: 4,562

Number of days: 25

Average mpg: 12.95 (heavy foot and heavy winds--our worst average yet! But we did have one day of tailwind and got 18.2 for that tank!)

Average camping fee: $29.43 (boy, the need for AC requires a commercial park, and the lack of guard dog has us staying at NICE parks!)

Number of states: 10 but no new ones :-(

Number of public parks: 4 (2 state parks, 1 COE, 1 national seashore)

Favorite New Parks: The Bluebonnet RV Park in Terrell, TX, is a new good find outside of DFW area. Gotta go back to the Redneck Riviera in Florida and stay at Grayton Beach. (Now I know why there's a View/Navion rally there every year.) And our little Cactus RV in Tucumcari--very cute and great price. And gotta go back to try the Davis Camp in Bullhead City....

RV Maintenance: Had Camping World in St. Augustine replace the #*$& Fantastic Fan with a Maxx-Air fan with a remote control. Yes, the Fantastic Fan has a lifetime warranty, but when it keeps breaking, it stops being worth it. Three strikes and you're out! Had to add 1.5 quarts of oil, which is par for our course. Only one other issue--on our last day in St. Augustine, the engine didn't want to turn over. We suspect humidity, but will have the Sprinter tech check the codes to uncover the mystery. Engine seemed to heal itself well.

Roadfood: This was our real treat--roadfood for lunch (or breakfast) every day we were on the road. I usually love to cook, but the heat and the driving delirium did not help. We had our green chile fix, our Texas (and Alabama) BBQ fix, Gulf seafood, and Delta hot tamales. Happiness.

Photo Overview: CA to FL June 2011

2011-07-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

Because this trip hasn't really been an "RV trip," I've not been very motivated to post. But, because I'm committed to at least keeping an online journal of our travels (God forbid for when I get the clearly hereditary dementia in our family!), here's a quick overview of our trip so far. I've managed to keep up with RVParkReviews.com (see sidebar), too.

Day 1: Carmel Valley to new park in Kingman. No photos, but the new park wasn't worth the extra $10 per night. But, our old favorite Kingman place prints out emails that are blatant lies and puts them on the counter where you check in. I really don't like spending money on places that are anti-fact, hate-mongering, nut jobs. Seriously. I really can't stand spending my money in places like that.

Day 2: Kingman, AZ to Holbrook (of course) and on to Tucumcari.

We've stopped at this restaurant 4 or 5 times now. Sad to say, it wasn't that good this time, but we did appreciate the famous "doodle" behind the counter.

Stayed at a really cool, inexpensive, neon RV park on old Route 66. This was a site we saw on our night walk.

Day 3: Through north Texas (with callouses caused by gripping the steering wheel!). Man, the weather stunk.

Day 4: To Mississippi and some semblance of "real" RV travel because we stayed in a national park

Day 5: To the Panhandle

We fit right in, once we backed in and hung our back end over the parking strip. (Right, Linda?)

Day 6-19: St. Augustine

The Fourth of July parade in my parents' "retirement community." It was a hoot.

My parents' most excellent neighbors were one of the many classic cars in the parade:

A darling grandchild of somebody's:

There was a golf cart decorating contest, naturally:

A smooth-coated collie from the south of Scotland:

Lisa checking out the EMTs, for once in a calm manner....
(We've met these guys at least 5 times under less fun circumstances.)

Day 20: Who knew that there was only about a 25-mile difference between the I-10 and I-40 routes home? We are hoping to hit a few new spots on the way home, even though we'll be in a bit of a hurry....

Testing from Texas

2011-06-25T18:24:00.001-07:00

On this, our third long driving day, we are (well, I am) finding that there's just not time nor inclination to get out and set up the laptop in order to blog. I find myself posting funny tidbits to Facebook because I can use my iPhone easily from the passenger's seat. I just had a V8 moment: "there must be an app for mobile blogging!" Of course there is....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Interstate 20 Frontage Rd,Terrell,United States

Hiatus Ends!

2011-06-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

We will be hitting the road shortly for a summer family tour. So glad a friend of ours will be minding our house--it pays to have a fog-free location when others are socked in all summer....

We've sanitized the water lines and HWH; cleaned the skylights and solar panels; scrubbed, dusted, and vacuumed everything (including the A/C filter and ducts); tightened screws; filled the tires; and held the mail. All annual maintenance done earlier this year. What are we missing?
All that we see left to do is stock 'er up and, somewhere along the road, find a truck wash, propane refill, and do an oil check. Poor gal sat the longest she's ever sat :-( But we'll go put 7-8k on her and she'll be back to being happy.

Tentative easterly route (pending weather and smoke from wildfires): I-40 to our favorite spot, Hot Springs, AR, then cutting south to Mobile and over to St. Augustine and Julie's parents. Gotta make miles to arrive in 6 days (to accompany Dad on a surgical procedure), but perhaps we can squeeze in a dip in the hot springs....

Returning a more northerly route to allow us to visit Lisa's parents, Julie's 4-month-old great-great niece, and perhaps our Colorado friends (westward via I-70 to US 50 to I-80 and home). Can we squeeze in a corner of Nebraska so that we can fill in a "hole" on Rocksie's US map? To be determined.

It's all dependent on the weather and timing. Just discovered a great web site to monitor the pervasive smoke from so many wildfires in AZ, NM, TX, GA (thanks to Linda Sand for reminding me to check this!): US Air Quality: The Smog Blog. We hope the tornadoes are done for the season, and let's not have any hurricanes, shall we?

Even though we're shaking our heads at the folly of traveling during "record-breaking heat" and "oppressive air quality," we're still eager to hit the road. Off we go soon!

On Hiatus

2011-06-02T08:24:00.000-07:00

Our poor RV, Rocksie Candu, sits outside our house, covered in spring pollen, waiting for us to hit the road. But I'm afraid we've been sidelined for a while and will continue to be for the foreseeable future....

You see, I was visiting my parents in Florida in March (I flew because I thought it would just be a quick trip!) and my dad fell and broke his hip during my visit. Because my mom has Alzheimer's, I needed to take care of her AND do the hospital duty. That was quite a juggling act until the cavalry (Lisa, and then later my brother and his wife) arrived and we could do more "divide and conquer" care. All I can say is this: Never, ever go to a hospital by yourself. Seriously. All of us need someone with us to advocate, double check, write down questions, and prevent really dumb mistakes....

So, it's now June and I'm making my third trip back to FL. Dad is still in rehab for his hip (after 3 hospital trips), and Mom is sort of getting used to having 24/7 caregivers staying with her. Sort of. She hasn't locked anyone out this week, at least. We are hoping that we're getting all of Dad's complications sorted out so he can continue his rehab and get back into the house with Mom, but no one knows yet if that will be possible. He is 88, after all, but remarkably resilient and committed to doing his exercises.

We are hoping that when the next move is clear, we can perhaps drive the RV to Florida to help them move or get the house set up for walkers/wheelchairs/live-in caregiver. Or, if that's not possible, to at least squeeze in some mid-week California trips. There are some national parks in CA we haven't visited yet: Lassen, Kings Canyon/Sequoia in particular.

However, we are sad to report that we still don't have a canine traveling companion yet, either. We brought home the puppy we'd been following his whole little life and discovered he had a serious cardiac deficiency that would cause him to have a short life. We decided that we had enough cardiologists in our lives right now, so we returned him to the breeder to live out his life, before we got any more attached to him. Boy, was he ever a cutie. Here he is, at 10 weeks of age, checking out his reflection in the piano, as we gave him the house tour.

So, now we await another litter, which will probably be for the best. We had actually wanted a pup from this second litter initially (the parents were very "experienced" and known) and it will probably work out for the best anyway, given the Florida care giving situation.... Everything does, doesn't it?

Photography Viewing Tip

2011-02-15T20:29:00.001-08:00

Did I ever mention that you can click on any photo and see it much larger? I post them small to fit most browser windows, but usually most are worth viewing larger to see detail. Just sayin'....

Trip Summary: Winter 2011

2011-02-10T21:55:00.000-08:00

Total miles: 1,450

Number of days: 11

Average mpg: 15.07

Average camping fee: $35.57 (darn California budget crisis for raising the camping fees!). Our highest average ever.

Number of states: 2 (Arizona for 1 night; not keen on spending money there....)

Number of public parks: 6 (only 1 commercial night)

Weight loss: 6 pounds for JC, 4 pounds for LC (since this was a "camp and cleanse" trip!)

Miles hiked: About 20

Spectacular CA Drives: Highway 1, of course (we all know that), but also CA 33.

Favorite CA State Park: Toss up between Anza Borrego and Morro Bay (for different reasons).

Most surprising: Smell of the Salton Sea (along with the profusion of fish carcasses), or was it the very odd "city" of Felicity, CA?

RV Maintenance: Nothing to speak of, except getting our dinette seatbelt recall handled on Day 1 of the trip. She's running great, as well she should after (a) 6 new tires, (b) transmission fluid change/oil change/fuel filter change/brake fluid change, and (c) all kinds of house maintenance (seals, appliance tune ups, and a wash-and-wax that had people complimenting Rocksie on her good looks).

Roadfood: None. See weight loss above.

Morro Bay State Park

2011-02-07T17:39:00.000-08:00

We spent a lovely weekend at Morro Bay, a 10 out of 10 state park if ever there was one. Pricey ($50 for hookups), but if ever a park deserved it, this one does. Every hookup site was screened with mature vegetation, the sites themselves were level and pristinely maintained with very nice BBQ and separate fire pit and stone picnic table (none of those ratty wooden ones!). We don't tow, so we were thrilled to find that we could walk to just all of the amazing amenities: in-park golf course (!), a very nice natural history museum, two restaurants (one is just a stone's throw from the campground), the harbor and kayak rentals, hiking trails. Now, downtown is about 1.5 miles each way; totally doable, but we didn't try it, as we ended up finding a couple of geocaches.

Restaurant across the street from campground

Museum within easy walk from CG

State park golf course--with a view!

Smooth-as-glass bay with kayakers and stand-up paddlers

Sunset at the harbor across the street from CG

We had a blast meeting the folks who were camping (no hookups, of course) in this vehicle.

Now, THAT'S a rig

They gave us a complete tour and we were envious for about a day. We really liked how self-contained the rig was--almost 100 gals of fresh water, the cartridge-style black water disposal system (means never having to find a dump!), all appliances were either diesel (furnace, hot water) or solar/electric (fridge); the only propane appliance was the stove, as they say that diesel tends to be problematic in that application. Very nicely finished inside with high-end wood and appliances. 600 amp hours of solar. Good clearance, and an almost indestructible shell.

The downsides were that drivers must follow truck regulations and speeds, the thing gets less than 8 mpg, driver fatigue sets in pretty quickly, the interior (while nicely designed) is pretty cramped for 2 adults and a dog, and you really gotta be in good shape to climb in and outta there ;-) I didn't have the nerve to ask about price, but each one is made to order by a fellow in Wyoming. If he likes you. But very interesting to contemplate....

On Sunday, we did a 3-mile hike up Black Hill and then left right around noon--kinda like we did at Malibu Creek. Used up all of our paid-for reservation! At that point, we decided that it was time to be home. We had made it 10 days without much grocery shopping (just milk, fresh veg) and without a laundromat, glory be, but it was time for both. And we had such a wonderful time in this neck of the woods (and we had one more CG to try out--Kirk Creek, which is spectacular boondocking right on a cliff above the ocean) that we figure we'll be back maybe next month for a few days. Why not enjoy one's own backyard?

We had a blast driving up Highway 1 all the way home. Can't believe we've never taken Rocksie to/through Big Sur--our backyard--but she did great.

The best stop was just north of San Simeon. (We opted to spend time on nature, not on another tour of Hearst Castle.) We spent a good hour watching the amazing mating rituals of the elephant seals. Here's how it works. (I just posted all these to Facebook under the heading "Just in Time for Valentine's Day." Now, I'm duplicating my Facebook and blog posts--no!!! I had been so careful to distinguish between the two. Oh well. Just this once, she says....)

Males battling for females

Alpha male putting moves on a female

Male trying not to drown her, but, still accomplishing the goal

Surf scene reminiscent of "From Here to Eternity"

Bragging

Cuddling after....

Lest you think this was a "private moment" for our seal couple, this is the view down just one portion of the beach. The view the other way was quite similar.

The females give birth starting in November, nurse the single pups for one month (pups gain 10 pounds a day), breed again right away (Feb-March), and then swim off to Alaska to feed, leaving the pup to learn to swim and survive on its own. They return again in the summer to molt, then they're off again till it's time to give birth in November. What a calendar!

We are now home, but what a lovely little trip we had in our summer-during-wintertime. Will do a trip summary soon....

Suicide Is Painless (MAS*H Theme--don't worry!)

2011-02-04T19:49:00.000-08:00

We arrived at Malibu Creek State Park just at sunset on Thursday, after having negotiated the Pacific Coast Highway (the PCH, as they say down in LA-LA land) its entire length from south to this point. Gorgeous sunshine was giving way rapidly to chilly evening, but we got our expensive ($35) boondocking site after taking the chatty Cathy camp host's recommended site. (It was supposed to be one of the more "level" ones. Hmm.)

The coyotes started singing very early and in stereo, which accompanied our domino game. Turned in early so that we could get up and hit the trail on Friday for a 5-mile round trip hike to see what Lisa has just been wanting to see for years now: the site where M*A*S*H was filmed.

This hike was much easier than the Palm Canyon hike in Anza Borrego, in terms of path (most of it was a fire road) and elevation gain (only 175 feet), but it was much longer and we had to hustle to get out and back and then showered before check-out time. (The ranger at this park was quite persnickety about the rules.) A few iPhone photos show that we accomplished our goal:

Lisa up on the helipad

We departed the park at 11:55 AM, just under the wire and pretty tuckered out, and proceeded back down the canyon to the PCH again and headed north through Malibu (couldn't figure out where Jennifer Aniston's house was) up to Oxnard and Ventura, where we stopped at the Channel Islands National Park building. We read the exhibits and picked up the literature and plan on returning down here another time. Maybe we can get our friend who lives part-time aboard his boat in Newport Beach to take us to the Channel Islands sometime (hint, hint)....
Then back on the familiar 101 route to get to our weekend destination, Morro Bay State Park, a mere 120-ish miles from home, but right smack on the harbor. Great park--it's one of two in the state system with its own golf course. There are two restaurants and kayak rentals--may have to check that out tomorrow. We could use an upper-body workout rather than a long hike. I've got the ice pack on now, while Lisa is using the hot pad (!).

We'll decide Sunday whether we go home, take a different tour of Hearst Castle, and/or stay out one more night at Kirk Creek (the place where we were going to go last January, but had to cancel due to stormy weather). So many things to decide!

Winter Wonderland in So Cal/Yuma (Expanded)

2011-02-01T20:30:00.000-08:00

As I belatedly start the blog for our current journey (on day 6, for heaven's sake!), the Midwest and eastern part of the country is getting pummeled by ice, snow, and generally horrific blizzard conditions.

Thursday: We drove two hours south to Paso Robles for the Winnebago seat belt recall repair, which took much longer than the promised 20 minutes. We had the opportunity to tour some of the RVs for sale--5th wheels, Class As, Class Bs, and travel trailers of all sorts, including Airstreams. That was fun. For about a half an hour. We still love our Navion best.

Then we (counterintuitively) drove a bit north on country roads to go to a Monterey County park we've never stayed at--Lake San Antonio. Beautiful winding, country roads through vineyards and ranches, but the poor campground had seen better days. We stayed at south shore for $40 and not much in the way of amenities except for a clear sunset

and some of the outstanding outdoor art of our local boy, John Cerney:

On Friday we set off south in the morning, clearly not in any hurry, because we took quite an out-of-the-way route, just to shake things up a bit. We tend not to explore California very much (probably because of the overcrowded, overpriced, and always reserved state parks), but we were bound and determined to do so on this trip. We took the very familiar 101 south to
just after Nipomo and then headed east on 166, a new road for us, and one shown as a dotted "scenic" route on our map. It was a very nice drive, rather typical inland California scenery--oak and chaparral studded rolling hills. Not terribly remarkable. But then we turned south on 33. Wowee. What a fun road to drive and what gorgeous scenery. We didn't take any photos as there weren't too many pullouts, but put this road on your list. Up to 5000+ feet elevation and down again, with every curve and twist making us gasp.

The road ended at Ojai, where we were planning (well, hoping) to walk in to a site at Lake Casitas--a spot we'd read about that we wanted to try. Two-night minimum was required, and it was a Friday night. There would be no chance of getting a spot at a beachfront state park late in the day, so we took the Lake Casitas fellow's recommendation and went to a nearby county park. Ugh. I gave it a 4 out of 10 on RV Park Reviews....

So, our trip thus far had taken us only a few hours from home with only mixed results on the fun-camping scale. Maybe the next day would be better?

Saturday dawned sunny (again) and Lisa got behind the wheel for this whole day, as it involved negotiating LA traffic. We made it through LA and then East LA (I kept having to do my poor Cheech and Chong impersonation) and finally out of the smog. Slowly city faded and desert began.

We made it to our Salton Sea destination to find, not surprisingly, that the hookups at the state recreation area were already full. Of course! It's high season and a Saturday. But we found a really nice spot down the road 1.5 miles at Mecca Beach, where there was boondocking (but also restrooms and solar-powered showers). We checked out the primitive beach sites down the road, but opted for the place with bathrooms, as we didn't have enough fresh water to get us through two days of boondocking. Boy, did we ever like THIS place. Just gorgeous and a nice 1.5-mile trail through the desert to walk between Mecca and the Headquarters area. I took a ton of photos, but here are a few of my favorites. (You have to imagine the smell, though.)

Our campsite:

Sandpiper at sunset:

Some of the thousands of pelicans wintering here:

The Chocolate Mountains at sunset, with the very frequent freight train entering the picture. (Seriously, ever hour or so, a 3-4 engine train of 130 cars went by. You can't be bothered by train noise along this lake....)

And here's the smelly part:

You'd think, perhaps, with train noise and an unrelenting odor that this place would be the pits, but it wasn't. Far from it. The millions of birds, the vast expanse of sparkling water, the snow-covered peaks made it magical, really. Something to experience. For more info: Salton Sea.

On Monday, We then made our way all the way south to just a few miles north of the Mexico border to I-8 and headed east to Yuma to see my dear ole Uncle Joe--an 85-year-old Illinois snowbird who is a lot of fun to be around. We spent the afternoon touring the area with him, he treated us to dinner (our first meal out of the trip!) at the Cracker Barrel, and then he came over to "our house" for some tea and chatting into the late evening. We stayed at the retirement community and were tickled by how friendly everyone was. (Much friendlier than our other jaunt into this world in Mesa last spring.) Here we are outside of Uncle Joe's trailer home this morning:

After our nice visit, we headed back to California on Tuesday, past 2 border patrol and one agricultural inspection station. On the way, we stopped at Felicity, California, the center of the world, at the recommendation of Uncle Joe. It's right off I-8 in CA, about 10 miles from the AZ border. What a place. What a vision this fellow has. This Roadside America article sums it up best.

I have a hunch that our tour guide may actually have been Felicia, the "town's" namesake. That's her below, explaining how this sundial works and checking her watch. (That's a 3D interpretation of Michelangelo's arm of God. The sundial is perfectly accurate at noon on December 25 each year.)

Because the proprietor is French, here's a section of the actual Tour Eiffel, with Rocksie posing in front.

Here's the pyramid that covers the "actual" center of the world bronze marker that you put your foot upon and make a wish....

Here's the non-denominational church on the newly made hill. (Dedicated 2008)

49 steps lead up to it; haven't figured out the significance of "49" yet, but I'm sure it means something....

Some sample engraved panels. The first in the history of the universe, of course:

The last one:

View from the church toward the pyramid, with the "history in granite" in between.

Entrance to the gift shop:

We reached Tuesday's destination, eerily, almost exactly at 2PM, the time I was shooting for (but not in any planned way--who could account for the 3 inspection stops and the bizarrely fascinating Felicity stop?) and exactly the state park campground's check in time. We got the last hookup site (natch) and then proceeded to walk the mile and half trip to the Visitor's Center, reading natural history signs along the way. Every time we said that we'd like to see an animal, it showed up. Seriously. It was strange. At the end of the walk, we realized that we'd forgotten we'd like to see the rare bighorn sheep. Tomorrow--we'll see 'em tomorrow! I'll post pix altogether then....

Good night! Tonight's serenade is not a freight train (Salton Sea) or Harrier jets (Yuma's Marine Corps air base), but rather lots and lots of coyotes.

On Wednesday we awoke to this sunrise and view of Venus (iPhone photo through bedroom window).

After letting the chilly desert air warm up a bit, we set off on what was billed as a 2-hour hike up Palm Canyon. Well, it took us almost 3 hours! Thank goodness we had our walking sticks.

Apparently, a flash flood some time ago had messed up the trails and there was a fair amount of scrambling over rocks to be done. And, we had to eat an apple and some nuts at the top of the trail, taking in the beautiful palm oasis that was the trail's destination.

View up toward the oasis at the top of canyon


The towering palms at the oasis

After that 3-hour, 3+ mile hike, we felt just fine about sitting still the rest of the afternoon and reading/writing.

We departed the next day, Thursday, bright and early, as we had quite a big drive ahead of us. The first section I drove--over two sets of mountains. Very winding road, but gorgeous. We didn't stop in a very cute Gold Rush era mountain town (Julian), which is apparently famous for its apple orchards. Every window advertised pie, but since one of the purposes of this trip was to do a detox/cleanse and start off the new year with some weight loss, we figured it best to keep driving....

Lisa took over the reins at San Clemente, for the trek through LA on the Pacific Coast Highway (Highway 1). We avoided the freeways entirely and enjoyed seeing the famous towns and beaches of Newport, Huntington, et al. But, boy howdy, did it take time to get through all that and up to our destination: Malibu Creek State Park. See next post....

Trip Summary: Fall 2010

2010-12-12T18:06:00.000-08:00

We got home and got busy with the holiday season--almost forgot the trip summary. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Total miles: 8,088

Days: 40

Camping fees: $26.14 average. Not bad, thanks to our families and their driveways (plus one night free at the Oklahoma casino).

Fuel economy: 15.23 mpg. Very similar driving conditions as our spring trip this year—lots o’ wind.

Number of states: 19, with 8 new state stickers added to our US map on the back of Rocksie.

Time zone changes: Nine, count ‘em, nine times. Between time zones and the end of daylight savings time, we kept busy changing clocks and watches

Closest call: Missing the deer by a hair at Mammoth Cave, Kentucky. Followed closely by missing the tornadoes in Turkey Run State Park, Indiana.

Weather: Knowing that we were heading out during the season change, we packed shorts and tees along with sweaters, rain gear, and mittens. Good thing because we wore them all. We were in a tornado watch (temp dropped from 69 to 35 in just a few hours), wintry mix, high wind advisories, but mostly bright warm sun shining on gorgeous fall leaves.

Most brain bending trip ever: This trip not only had us change time zones and states all the time, but also cultural and geographic and social lines. We got down-home in Maryland and Alabama and Georgia, but also upscale in South Carolina and Indianapolis. We went to very serious places—the Supreme Court and the Carter Center—but we also laughed at the Rally to Restore Sanity, marveled at Graceland the International Spy Museum, and had a total blast at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. We were in the Southwest, the Midwest, the Tide Water region, and the Deep South.

Family visits: This trip took the cake. We visited all immediate family on both sides, except for our Louisiana branch of the family—18 in all.

Notable grub: The crab cakes at Crabs to Go, fried hamburger at The Tune Inn in DC, the ribs at Fat Matt’s in Atlanta, the vinegar pulled pork in NC, and the pork tenderloin from the Pana bowling alley. Oh, and the mustard-based SC BBQ sauce we brought home is STILL good on top of turkey.

Such diversity of taste sensations. The 4 pounds I gained on this trip are finally off again. (A big downside to not taking the dog—not as may walks.)

Best surprise stop of the trip: Assateague National Seashore. We hadn’t planned to go there, but just “swung by” spur of the moment.

Most captivating stop: Charleston, SC. We’ve heard the stories, but seeing is believing. Beautiful place.

Most disappointing: South of the Border. Pedro was just more impressive back in the day….

Maintenance: We had a few maintenance issues—low tires (thank goodness we carry a compressor now), had to add 3 quarts of oil at various points, and we lost a headlamp (and some interior lights).

More frustrating was when the TV antenna got stuck in the up position. We finally lowered it as far as we could and drove to our destination. We found a really great guy in Pana, IL, who showed us what went wrong and fixed it in 30 seconds for free and showed us how to do it ourselves in the future. (Of course, he knows my brother. Everybody knows my gregarious brother in that small town ;-)

Our major issue was a sudden loss of power while driving in the-middle-of-nowhere Arizona on a 75 mph freeway. It’s a bit scary to be dropping to 45 mph while the 18-wheelers are blowing past. We were so lucky that it happened right before the big pull up to Flagstaff and near the only open rest area in Arizona. We pulled in to turn off the engine, which often resets the computer. While we were waiting, we checked the oil (1 quart low, so we added). We stared rather helplessly at the hoses to see if something had come loose around the transmission. Nothing. So we started to leave.

We got just a few yards when the check engine light came on. We called Coach-Net and created an action plan. Because two other German-engineered vehicles we had owned lost power when given “bad gas,” we suspected that maybe we had gotten the bad diesel at our last fuel stop. Maybe it had water in it. We were sure that it was diesel, not gas (in case you’re wondering), but Rocksie did try to spit it out. (Fuel sprayed everywhere.)

So we nervously drove 2 miles to where we knew a fuel station was (the only one for many miles)—the place we stayed earlier this year: Meteor Crater. The check engine light stayed on all the way to Kingman, but the mechanic said that as long as it’s a solid orange (not flashing, not red) and as long as we had power we were good to drive. So we did. Put in another ½ tank in Kingman and, voila, the light went out. Correct diagnosis! So glad we didn’t chicken out and trek down to a dealer in Phoenix.

Mods: Got some gadgets to help make life inside the coach much smoother. What a pleasure it is now to not have to secure tissue boxes and soap dispensers each time we get under way. Thank you, Nashville Camping World!

Passage of Time: While camping in the RV, we got to see, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown; A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving AND the 1964 classic, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Holidays and seasons came and went on this fantastic trip.

Catch-Up Post: TN, IN, IL, OK

2010-11-30T06:33:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a new month with AT&T so we can upload data once more. We are now on our way home, a few days earlier than planned, since my 30th high school reunion--the reason for this trip--was unceremoniously canceled at the last minute. I felt a mixture of relief and keen disappointment, especially since I was going to get to be the DJ for the party. (Lisa just felt enormous relief.)

So, we hit the road Saturday and made it to western Oklahoma, where we were forced to stop by the severe cross winds (sustained 25-35; gusts up to 50 mph). We fought 'em for a while, but then jumped off I-40 in favor of a state park in a canyon, whose red rock walls have been sheltering us from the worst of the winds all afternoon.

While it is frustrating to lose 1/2 a day (we had been planning to make Amarillo), it's just dumb to ignore weather hazards when you clearly have a choice. Plus, we were out of water, hadn't had Internet for a week (lots of to dos to do), had low tire pressure, and road weariness. Best to address all these things. So, that's what we are doing. So, now on to the brief catch-up post.

We ended up camping right by Opryland in Nashville, after finding that the spot we picked right off the Trace wasn't our cup of tea. Pricey, but sometimes it's worth it to have hookups and a feeling of security.

In the morning, we drove into the Opryland complex (goodness, it's huge), trying to find the free museum. No dice. So, we simply took in the size of the hotel, got heebie jeebies, and drove off to our real destination...

...Andrew Jackson's Hermitage, continuing our presidential theme. Ended up spending almost 6 hours here. Gorgeous fall day, very good audio tour and costumed guides (rare to find both), and lots to see. Except for the Indian genocide part of his presidency (yikes), I have to say that he did get some things done that we could use with doing today.... Some photos of the day:

Then we cruised north, up through Franklin,

Bowling Green (no time for the Corvette or Duncan Hines museums), and on to our next tourist stop, Mammoth Cave.

We spent the whole day there (it IS mammoth, after all), taking the New Entrance Tour in the morning, having lunch at the authentically retro coffee shop in the hotel, and then taking the Historical Tour in the afternoon.

Something like 550 steps, 3 or 4 miles--good exercise! We were happy to get back in the RV at the end of that day.

But we had a VERY close call with a deer there. (I made eye contact with her as she jumped over the Sprinter's tiny hood.) Suffice to say, we ordered the deer whistles that day, recommended by Sharon and Mohammed of St. Augustine, and will install them on all our vehicles when we get home!

After the caves, we drove up through Louisville at rush hour (a much easier city than Nashville at the same hour!) and to our overnight in Clarksville, Indiana. This made an easy morning drive (albeit densely foggy) into Indy to visit with Lisa's parents. Cannot believe we forgot to take pictures! It was even an exact 2-year anniversary of seeing them in Florida on our Tioga trip in November 2008. We had a very nice visit, with Rocksie getting a safe resting spot for $20 at a brand-new storage facility. (We even squeezed in a trip to the movies to see Harry Potter 7/Part 1.)

Since Lisa's parents were heading down to Louisiana for Thanksgiving, we hit the road on Monday and took our time getting over to our Thanksgiving destination. We took the oh-so-familiar back roads of Indiana over to visit our alma mater. The campus has changed so much, but we enjoyed seeing some of our favorite places:

The academic quad, with the new gingko trees

East College, always beautiful, with a little bit of remaining fall foliage

The view down the street toward one of our favorite taverns (which is now a "pub"). Just says Midwest to me.

Wish we had gone for lunch here, instead of Marvin's. I was all prepared, camera and all, to do a Roadfood review of Marvin's famous (as in, shipped all over the world) Garlic Cheeseburger (GCB), but we were so disappointed. Bland and personality-less. Should have gone to Moore's for the pork tenderloin, but we knew we had at least 2 of those in our future.

Rocksie in front of our old sorority house. Never thought I'd say that!

Then we carried on west to Turkey Run state park, a park I remember from my childhood. (Not camping, of course, just for day use.) Turns out there was only one other camper there, a trailer that looked like it'd been there for quite a while--lights, awnings, all manner of outdoor set up. The weather was turning ominous and by 6PM we were in a tornado watch. Very nerve wracking. The ranger finally stopped by to, we thought, collect the $17.42 fee (yes, that's right), but instead, he told us to pay at the office in the morning. I was at least able to ask him where we should take shelter, if necessary, since the bathhouse near us was locked up for the season. He assured us he'd come get us if the watch turned to warning. But it was a very tense night--some gusts made me jump out of bed, ready to do who knows what.

We detoured through my home town of Mattoon and completed the Thanksgiving grocery shopping, scoring the hard-to-find fresh Brussels sprouts, and having a pork tenderloin at the Coles County airport. They are famous for these "elephant ears" but, again, memory trumped reality.

On the way to Pana, I had to show Lisa the very famous tourist attraction in Gays, Illinois:

Yes, that's a two-story outhouse....

We arrived at our 4-night stay at my brother's house and settled into his driveway at the back of the yard. Great spot! We only had 10 amps, so we had to be careful with the heater, but we managed 4 days of showers and freezing temps just fine. He also brought us a take-out tenderloin from the Pana bowling alley that was just to die for. Wish we'd have reviewed THAT one.

Here are some scenes of the festive celebration for a dozen of the Cason clan (both of my brothers, their wives, the granddaughter and her family):

Lisa and I cooked much of the feast and our hostess did all the shopping ahead of time and the very impressive decorating. Team effort!

Sharpening our Grandpa Cason's knife

I'm finally getting this posted from 16-degree Albuquerque. It is time to get home (although we've heard that home has had some hard freezes, too!). Time for some of those great free pancakes at our Bernalillo campground and then west to Arizona.

Next post will be the trip summary!

Sweet Home (Northern) Alabama

2010-11-18T06:47:00.001-08:00

We headed west out of the Atlanta metro area (whew) via gently rolling 2- and 4-lane US routes (our favorite), lined with fall-hued trees. The kind of drive where you can pull off and buy local produce from a guy and his jerry-rigged, tarp-covered stand. We got apples, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and vine-ripened tomatoes (yes, they're still coming in here). Delish.

We made it to our destination of Decatur, GA early afternoon. Now, we'd picked Decatur because of this Wikipedia article on barbeque. I had found this article as we were driving across the U.S. at the beginning of this trip. (The iPhone makes long drives positively bearable.) This led us to make a point of trying the vinegar-based BBQ in North Carolina, the mustard-based BBQ in South Carolina (we had to resort to buying a bottle of sauce for this, though, but we love it! Great on chicken and ham...so far. Going to try it with the leftover Thanksgiving turkey next week), and (drum roll) the mayonnaise-based BBQ of Decatur, AL.

Well, folks, Decatur is a great place to visit, but I don't ever need to try Big Bob Gibson's again. This place is chock-full of enormous trophies for BBQ competitions, but perhaps they are now resting on their laurels. Very, very disappointing. And the white sauce? Let's put it this way. It's got eggs in it. It should be refrigerated, right? (It even says so on the bottle.) But every table had a room temperature kinda nasty looking bottle of the stuff on it. I had the tiniest of tastes (fearing salmonella or worse) and checked that off the list. Lisa had an unusual entry--a "loaded" baked potato.

Now, the ribs were pretty good, but we still think Fat Matt's Rib Shack in Atlanta sets the bar.

Now, on to happier topics. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping and headed to our campground, Point Mallard.

A very nice city park for the amazing rate of $20/night--large sites, very wooded, full hookups, nice store. We looked up the weather forecast and decided to stay two nights. Boy, were we ever glad we did.

It poured all night and most of the next morning. When a sunbreak happened, we went out for an hour-long walk in the pretty neighborhood nearby. Large, lovely homes and fall leaves. Lots to look at.

(Now, we didn't take photographs of the McMansions! That wouldn't have been nice....)

But we had to cut it short because the weather started to change again. A cold front started to blow through. Temps dropped and winds were 20-30 mph. Again, a good idea to be off the road.

So, I worked on a project for my HS reunion next week, Lisa cleaned the coach, and I got the Crock Pot humming all day. All in all, a very nice, recuperative day. That is, AFTER we first awoke.

You see, it was just pouring and if you haven't been inside the metal can that is an RV when it rains, you have no idea how loud rain can be. (Let's not even revisit last May's monster hail storm.) At any rate, we got the kettle going and were awaiting the morning caffeine jolt (at least I was). We then heard, distinctly, over the rain noise, claws scratching in what sounded like our pantry cabinet over the dinette. Yikes. So, I banged on the cabinet door. The creature ran the other way. I banged again. More scampering. Ick! Could a rodent get INTO the pantry? I know it would like to, as that's where we keep our nuts, granola, crackers, and other such foodstuffs.

Lisa, being the brave one (and being a decaf drinker who doesn't need to wait for her beverage), threw on some rain gear and went outside to investigate. Her theory, which proved to be correct, was that a squirrel (and there were tons in this wooded park) sought shelter from the pouring rain under the cloth canopy above the slide room. That would be right ABOVE the cabinet, not INSIDE it. Whew. Mystery solved. But I was all ready to go hire some kind of critter getter....

After our day "off," the sun came out and we headed back out on the road. Over to the Shoals area, where there looked to be all kinds of interesting attractions. We ended up not seeing Helen Keller's birthplace in Tuscumbria because time was, we thought, short. Instead, we had a wonderful tour of the only Frank Lloyd Wright home in Alabama, given by the woman who is head of the site preservation committee and who was personal friends with the woman who lived there for almost 60 years.

This is the "front" which is really the back.
And vice versa:
The living room:
The study down the hall from the living room. (Mr. Rosenbaum was an English professor. The bookshelves continue in the same line from the living room to the study--a very cool design feature.)
A truly special tour, as the family's furnishings (of which Mr. Wright approved) included original Eames chairs. I couldn't get a good photo because of the sunshine, but suffice to say that each is worth probaby north of $3k (times 6 chairs). One of the best parts of the tour was learning about how items were loved and used, not "collected" or protected. Mrs. Rosenbaum was quite comfortable in her "famous" home for those many, many years.

The other unique aspect of this Usonian design was that Mr. Wright reluctantly agreed to add an addition to this 1540-square foot home after Mrs. Rosenbaum had 4 boys.

The hallway connecting the addition--all storage.

For the first 8 years, this tiny closet of a room was her kitchen. (It was turned into a wet bar later, which is what you see here.)

With the remodel, she got a larger kitchen and a dormitory room for the boys. (Turns out the two oldest went away to boarding school as teenagers. Can't imagine how this room would work for 4 older boys! This is one set of bunkbeds for all four of them....)

After our lengthy tour, we took what turned out to be a very scenic drive through the historic districts of Florence (there seem to be a lot!) to find a Roadfood lunch. No photos of this fun and funky old grocery store, but you can see some here. A very good burger for $2.95 and some fancy parking in this old neighborhood. Had to head-in angle park, which wasn't a problem until it came to backing out in very busy traffic. Glad I had a good flagman outside.

After lunch, we headed onto the northern most stretch of the Natchez Trace, stopping to pay our respects at Meriweather Lewis's death and burial site, given our Lewis and Clark tour from 2008....

The day went slightly awry when we got to our targeted campground at about 4PM. Their policy is for you to pick a site and then they'll "come over to see you." Without Nick, we didn't feel comfortable having someone knock on our door in the dark, in a very remote place, so we moved on.

Now, the one real drawback of traveling in the fall (our favorite camping season) is how early the sun sets. We managed to finish the Trace at dusk, but we then hit Nashville in the dark, at rush hour. Lisa masterfully negotiated that mess and we ended up at a campground near Opryland (!). Stay tuned for how this day turns out....

Catch-Up Post: To FL and NW on to GA

2010-11-14T13:15:00.001-08:00

We've been offline for almost a whole week, mostly because we were visiting my parents and that activity requires our focus. But we do have some catching up to do on the day before and day after that visit.

Last Monday: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (and the rest of the Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios). We had a (pardon the pun) charmed day. Arrived just as the gates opened, left just as they closed, and we had very good luck in timing the rides such that we got to ride the 3 HP rides each twice, have lunch at the Hogs Head tavern/Three Broomsticks before the rush,

and have the entire RV parking lot to ourselves. Goodness, off season travel is fun. Plus, the county park where we stayed was so very close (about 4 miles) to Universal (and only $16/night) that the quick visit was just a joy. Much better than the Disney shenanigans we did last year, with the $100/night camping and the miles and miles of Orlando travel.

We only took in our iPhones (and mine has gone wonky), so the photos aren't great, but the little videos we took (but I can't upload) of the Hogsmeade shops are rather fun. There was a mandrake crying in one, and a Quidditch quaffle and bludgers trying to break out of their cases. I'd say the WWOHP part of the park was definitely worth a visit, but I sure wouldn't have wanted to make a multi-day resort vacation out of it.

The "town" part (shops, post office, restaurant/pub, wand store), Hogsmeade:

Platform 9 3/4 with the Hogwart's Express:

Hagrid's Hut at the Flight of the Hippogriff

The towers of Hogwart's Castle (really cool ride in there, based around the TriWizard's Tournament):

Lisa, picking out some of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans at Honeyduke's Candy Store. (I've had a few; there are some doozies.)

I didn't get a picture of the Dragon Challenge--the twin racer coaster that we actually rode two times in a row. We felt just like 7th graders, running off the ride and around for a second time. Had to ride each of the 2 trains.... But that did my tummy in for a few hours, so we explored other, non-HP parts of the park--Spider Man (great ride), Jurassic Park, and of course, Dr. Seuss.

Thing 1 or 2?

Then it was down to St. Augustine and our "regular" RV park for the rest of the week. The RV highlight of this visit was finally getting to meet Sharon and Mohammed (but unfortunately not Mello, their yellow lab) from the V/N list. It's been a running joke how every time we're in St. Augustine--their home town--they're somewhere else. Once they were even in OUR home town in CA when we were in FL. Great people and Sharon was even kind enough to bring some home-baked pumpkin muffins for us to enjoy that day and as we travel down the road. Yum! But, doggone it, I forgot to get a picture of them....

After treating Dad to his birthday lunch (it's #88 this month), we headed north and then made our big turn back west. We stayed at a ho-hum I-75 RV park because it was just getting too dark to get to the state park we were headed for, but that was just fine. We were able to cruise into Atlanta by noon on Sunday on a gorgeous fall day and pull right up to Fat Matt's Rib Shack 5 minutes before they opened. We were only about 6 people back in the line of hungry people waiting for the doors to open. My, oh my, we now understand why the nice Atlanta couple we met in Charleston, SC told us to go here. Melt in your mouth pork ribs, with a sauce that seems to combine the nice peppery vinegar of the Carolinas to the east with the tomato base found just to the north in Memphis.

Then we headed just 4 miles away to the Carter Center and Presidential Library. He was only 56 when he left office in 1980; his accomplishments post-POTUS are really impressive. And the $10 million renovation of the museum completed last year was quite impressive.

And the required Oval Office shot. Very Georgia-peachy.

A statue called "Hope" in the rose garden:

Our mission tonight was to stay in a COE campground (of which there are tons around here), but we noticed at the last minute that most are closed for the season. So, we're at a commercial campground, a little early, enjoying the wifi and cable TV as we are both still fighting colds. Best to be off the road when you're tired (and it's raining). Gotta get rested up for our fun week heading north, via the Natchez Trace, Nashville, Mammoth Cave, and who knows what other scenic KY/TN hamlets we might find on our way to Indianapolis. (Suggestions welcome!)

The Palmetto State

2010-11-05T17:39:00.001-07:00

What a surprise South Carolina was to us this time. What with the unflattering (to put it mildly) politicians and history of often deplorable politics, we were not sure what we were in for. But we had heard over and over that Charleston was not to be missed. All we can say now is that we must come back. Two days is just not enough. We've got to go to Fort Sumter, Middleton Plantation, and more of the house museums.

What a gorgeous city. We also found such parallels with our recent South African trip that it was downright eerie. The history of slavery and oppression, mixed with the contemporary scenery and lively guides--not to mention the French Huguenots that both places took in during the 1600s--kept ringing bells for us.

Without further adieu, here is the Holy City (so named for its abundance of church steeples towering over this low-rise city).

And you have to love the "progressive and inclusive since 1681" motto!

A very small sampling of the gorgeous architecture:

My favorite new architectural feature is the doorway onto the "piazza" (what they call the "porch" here):

When we came around the corner to see this view, I immediately snapped a picture and then burst out laughing.

The entire parking lot facing this view was crammed with plein air painters. I guess I didn't discover the angle, eh?

I have soooo many doorway and window box photos. I shan't bore you with them all here, but I am thinking of doing a collage of some sort for our home decor ;-)

We loved the way that the shopping street (King St.) forced national retailers to adapt to the Charleston architecture, rather than the usual vice versa.

The fun of walking is in discovering the little details. In front of this store:
was this sidewalk:

Back in the day, this was a model home. It's not in use, but it's a hoot....

We capped off our visit with a Gullah Tour, which is really where we were reminded how similar the U.S. and South Africa are in terms of racial history. The tour guide was marvelous--very entertaining, funny, and up on his historical facts.

He had a particular emphasis on Philip Simmons, a Charleston folk artist with whom we were not familiar until today, but whose work is found all over the world, including in the Smithsonian. He showed us many of the wrought iron masterpieces Mr. Simmons (who died last year at age 97) has installed all over Charleston, and then we visited his home and forge:
Photos of Mr. Simmons gorgeous gates. The care he took is evidenced by the tight, tight curls he made in his iron plus the fact that he even handmade each of his tools. Sometimes it took him longer to make the tool than the work of art. But, as we all know, the right tool for the job makes all of the difference.

Now, for artistry of another kind: the unbelievable food. This reminded me, especially of our South Africa trip, because after just a few days of such amazing victuals, I had to have plain crackers for dinner. Too rich! But boy, it was all tasty. Here's a quick tour:

The take-out bag from Hyman's; we ate less food than we took home!

But we were glad we visited. So many famous folks have eaten here that there is a brass plaque on each place setting honoring the many famous visitors--politicians, sports stars, actors, musicians.
Shrimp and grits, which Lisa says is perhaps her new favorite Southern dish:

Fried green tomatoes (of course, given that movie's great significance to us):

The best place of all the restaurants we've been to so far: The Hominy Grill (also a NYT and famous folk hangout).

Lisa had eggs and grits (which she said were wonderful), along with the day's special, homemade duck sausage with fried apples. I had to have the dish called "The Big Nasty," well, because..... Here it is.
The most tender biscuit surrounding a small piece of fried chicken smothered in cheddar sausage gravy. Out of this world. And not such a big portion as to make you want to crawl into a corner to sleep it off, either. This fortified us for over 5 hours (and many, many miles) of walking. Good thing, too....
And finally today we had less than an hour before our campground shuttle was to pick us up, so we ducked into a French bistro for some moules (nothing fried!) and a glass of wine to soothe our sore feet, after two days of walking:

Now, on the WAY to Charleston, it was cruddy weather. We had nothing to do, really, except drive AND find some 'que. We decided to have 2 lunches--one dish at each. That turned into splitting one lunch at B's but having to order 2 meals at Wilber's...just to cover the bases. Lots of leftovers.

B's was our favorite for BBQ chicken in the most heavenly eastern NC mopping sauce--just vinegar, black pepper, and red chile pepper flakes. And Lisa did a heroic job pulling a U-turn on a tiny country road to get us a shoulder parking spot for this gem of a place:

Now, Wilber's was very good for its mac and cheese side dish and its vinegar-y BBQ pork. But really...the sweet potato pie, which we split, was the crown jewel. We had been driving all day past cotton and sweet potato fields, so it just seemed apropos....
Yup, those are collard greens. Yum!

And Lisa really liked the Brunswick stew, which we learned can be made with all kinds of different meat, including squirrel. (My dad was even moved to tell me that he used to hunt squirrel for the dinner table as a child. I had no idea!)

Then there's the pie.

This is one slice that was halved by the cute waitress, whom we apparently intimidated when we ordered the pie "a la mode." She came back and shyly said, "Now, y'all want that pie with vanilla ice cream, right?" Yes, ma'am, we do. So she brought two plates, with the slice split. (One 1/2 slice would've been enough to share!)

Also on the way to Charleston we did the 2.4-mile boardwalk trail through the swamp at

where it was raining steadily. That kept the mosquitos down, thank goodness.

In the below-normal temps (low 39, high barely 60) I still got bites. I'd hate to be here when it's a 4 or higher!

Off we go to Florida....

Eastern Shore of MD and VA

2010-11-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

A quick post, as I discovered that my moment of guilty pleasure (downloading the Halloween episode of Glee) ate up most of our month's data allotment on AT&T. Yikes! Need that data for bill paying and blogging. Guess we'll be more vigilant about seeking out wifi after tonight--probably our last night in a state/national park CG.

Left DC after morning rush hour--no problem on the Beltway--and headed for rural Maryland. Found a Roadfood restaurant that we set our course on, only to discover that it was closed on Mondays. Happily, I found a place using Yelp that sounded VERY Roadfood-y and we had the most amazing lunch at Crabs to Go, a seafood market that will also make your lunch from scratch to carry out. We split a seafood platter and a "crab fluff," which we thought would be a little crabcake dipped in tempura batter. Well, it was a bit bigger than that. Our lunch also provided dinner!

This whole eat out fun lunch (but eat in healthy breakfast and dinner) is a nice plan....

We then set our course for the coast, dipping into Delaware a bit (lots of Christine O'Donnell signs) just so we could put a sticker on the map.

We arrived in early afternoon at Assateague Island National Seashore, home to the wild ponies.

After posting one pony picture on Facebook, I discovered that this place is on so many people's bucket list. We are so grateful to have experienced it.

We took walks the afternoon we arrived and the next morning, covering the dunes habitat, the forest habitat, and the marsh habitat. (See the clams growing at the base of the marsh grass? Made us hungry....)

On foot, we never ran into the ponies (thank goodness, because we were warned with quite graphic pictures that they bite), but evidence of them is just everywhere.

We even found fresh piles in the morning around our RV. I thought I heard something in the night....

We then headed south to Virginia, stopping at a recently reviewed Roadfood place (we heard it on an October Splendid Table podcast) on the skinny little piece of Virginia that's surrounded by water. An amazing find. Handmade signs line the highway.

Everything is cooked to order and delicious. I had a crabcake sandwich for $5 and Lisa had the oysters (out of this world) and shrimp platter for a big $12. So fresh and sweet. Another take-out place, but since we travel with our table...no problem.

We then arrived at First Landing State Park in Virginia Beach and had the delightful surprise of meeting some fellow (former) View/Navion owners and fellow blog followers, Linda and Dave in their new, bigger ride:

Such a small world. Gotta love it. And here's D&L's much better blog post about the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.

Since I'm still fighting my head cold and the big-time sleepies from running the propane furnace last night boondocking (low: 37!), it's an early evening. But, there's BBQ on the menu tomorrow....

***Update***
The morning dawned (sort of) but we headed out for our beach walk on a very gloomy day. But as we walked about 2 miles along the beach, we were accompanied off-shore by a pod of dolphins. Quite a lovely experience, really, to be kept pace by such graceful creatures.

Then, as we were leaving the beach, Lisa discovered a nice driftwood sculpture:

The Rally to Restore Sanity

2010-10-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

Saturday found us leaving the RV park at 7:30AM (it was still dark!) and making it to the Mall by 8:30ish. Crowds poured in all morning. We heard horror stories of subways breaking down, people walking miles and only arriving as the rally finished. Thank goodness we only experienced delays getting back to the RV (2.5 hours!). But all that fades when we think about how very great the day was. Hundreds of thousands of people poured onto the Mall to show support for moderation, reason, and civility. Humor (and politeness) abounded. And the music was outstanding. But nothing beat the cleverness and creativity of the signs.

Best article about the rally here on CNN (and lots of good signs mentioned here).

Video clip of the "keynote speech"

Some of the signs we enjoyed:

Touring Our Nation's Capital

2010-10-31T11:57:00.000-07:00

We played tourist on Friday, seeing things we didn't see last October when we were last in DC. (And that was a plane trip, so no blog post, but just to keep track, on that trip we visited, or revisted, Arlington Cemetery, the 911 memorial at the Pentagon, the Library of Congress, the Museum of the American Indian, Museum of American History to see Julia Child's kitchen, and then we participated in a march for equality down Pennsylvania Avenue, past the White House, and on to the Capitol.)

This visit had us going to:

Supreme Court
There was a very nice exhibit on Sandra Day O'Connor, who is one of my favorite Justices of all time. She was not only really, really smart and tenacious, but also quite funny:

View from the Court to the Capitol:

National Archives (no photos allowed)
We got to see the original parchment versions of the Declaration of Independence, the 4-page (!) Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Very moving. And the only photos we could take with the iPhone were outside. Love the compact flourescents ;-)

International Spy Museum (no photos allowed)
A very hands-on, interactive private museum that we were, I'm afraid, a bit too full-up from reading exhibit signs to appreciate this last place fully. But if you have kids, this would surely be a must-visit. Lots of spy devices to play with.

We had lunch at the place I used to hang out in when I was but a lowly Congressional intern back in the day: the Tune Inn on Capitol Hill. Little did we know that Guy Fieri had just been here (look for his review on DDD this fall). I just had to have what he had. Oh my, it was tasty. And the sweet potato fries were substituted for "health." Yeah, that's the ticket.....

Next time, we're thinking we should plan ahead far enough and get tickets for the White House and perhaps an oral arguments session at the Supreme Court. (I did both of those things back in 1982, but I'd sure go again, and Lisa would like to see 'em for the first time.)

On the Road from Memphis to DC

2010-10-31T11:36:00.001-07:00

From Memphis, we hightailed it to DC, with two memorable stops.

Swett's cafeteria in Nashville. Oh my. The squash casserole really WAS worth a detour. However, the Lorman, MS, fried chicken still stands as the best. (This was tasty, though.)

You know you're in the South when you see bumper stickers like this:

And President Woodrow Wilson's Presidential Library in Staunton, Virginia, where we saw a yard sign that I should have co-opted for the rally. It's now my desktop wallpaper, lest I forget....

A favorite political cartoon:

Some early 20th century hyperbolic propaganda, aimed at convincing men from the South not to support women's suffrage. Read this and consider the parallels with some of the overblown rhetoric (from both left and right) on the cable TV channels. Fear-mongering is fear-mongering, no matter what the era or topic, and it just is harmful. (Nothing can be gained and everything may be lost by allowing women to vote??!?)

And here's Wilson's beloved car, which he enjoyed driving after his presidency. The car fell into terrible disrepair over the years and when folks wanted to restore it, they found the side lanterns on eBay in 2006 (!). Love that story.

And the orange on the tires is a nod to Wilson's New Jersey alma mater.

An aside: Because it wasn't an RV trip, we didn't mention here that we scored two more presidential libraries this past summer on a car trip to LA: Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Very interesting places in large part due to the fact that both were staffed with volunteers who were personal friends. Gave the places a very distinct atmosphere, to say the least. Here's one fun photo from Reagan's library, just to show we were there!

Revised Southeast Plans

2010-10-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

Took the "opportunity" of a head cold to hang out in the RV today, cleaning, doing laundry and planning the next week. Now that the rally is over, our heads are clear for the next leg, and here's what we're thinking. If you have any other suggestions, we're all ears!

Monday: Assateague National Seashore (camping on MD side where the wild horses are, apparently, frequent visitors to the campground)

Tuesday: First Landings Seashore State Park near Virginia Beach (with the potentially white knuckle drive in the RV across the Chesapeake Bay Bridge/Tunnel. Hope it's not windy!)

Wednesday: Forecast is for rain, so we think we'll tool our way over to I-95 and catch some NC BBQ trail for lunch and stay somewhere around Fayettesville.

Thursday: On the way to Charleston, take a hike through Congaree National Park, weather permitting. Too bad we haven’t bought that kayak we keep talking about...yet. But the hike will be nice.

Friday and Saturday in Charleston, staying at the county park, which has a shuttle into town. Possible activities:

Top Chef Kitchen Tour
Gullah Tour
Museum Mile
Rent a bike
Fort Sumter
Graveyard walk--my dad says that there's a particularly good tombstone, where the fellow couldn't afford a headstone for his wife, so he used the headboard from their bed ;-)

The route we're taking gets us a bunch of new state stickers to affix (MD, DE, DC, VA, NC, SC). I know our neighbors back home will be happy to see the map getting filled in ;-) Note that later on we'll be adding KY, IN, IL.

Then it's on to Orlando and St. Augustine the following week, where we're all set with campgrounds and activities. So, let us know if you have any suggestions for the MD-VA-NC-SC leg!

Safe Harbor in Memphis (UPDATED)

2010-10-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

How lucky are we? We arrived in Memphis yesterday afternoon, before rush hour, and before the severe weather: high winds, thunderstorms, and tornado alerts. The trifecta! And we are happily ensconced in a beautiful brick home with family. Off to play tourist in the weather....

UPDATE: Here are a few photos of the fun we had this time.

The "formal" living room (as opposed to the "casual" Jungle Room, which was too dark to photograph well...at least for me. No flash allowed in Graceland.):

The surreal basement pool room:

Walls and walls and walls full of hit records. Can't believe Elvis only ever had one Grammy.

In the "meditation garden"--

One of Elvis's two planes, which we got to tour. 211 trips flown in this puppy.
One of the plane's two gold-plated sinks.
We also had fun at the Williams Sonoma OUTLET (who was a very happy girl shopping for 30-50% off cooking items right before Thanksgiving?!?) and a most wonderful cupcake shop, started by a recent grad from Dana's daughter's high school.

There was only time for a quick game of Hearts (to 50), but I'm happy to report that I finally won a game. So great to see all of the Buford family, including oh-so-cute Scout, who made us want a puppy very badly.

On the list for next visit: R&B spots, like Sun Records, and perhaps more BBQ....

Makin' Miles (and Some Smiles)

2010-10-24T17:34:00.000-07:00

Three days into our adventure we find ourselves on the eastern side of OKC, perfectly positioned for an early AM departure to miss rush hour. We have traveled about 1580 miles in 3 days--not my brother's clip (he's a professional driver who regularly can do 900+!), but much more than we typically like to do in a day. And we've still managed to have some fun--mostly by way of entertaining Podcasts and delicious one-hour breaks from the road at lunch time. (Joe & Aggie's again in Holbrook, AZ,
and a new dive in Amarillo today on a very cute artsy section of old Route 66.)

We are very much looking forward to getting off the road tomorrow afternoon in Memphis at Lisa's sister's beautiful home. I've even put in a request for a Graceland visit, since I resisted it during our last visit ;-) So, yay for upcoming tourist fun. As we pass favorite places (ABQ!) and new ones (so many cool state parks), we keep reminding ourselves of our current cool itinerary and its demand that we get ourselves across country PDQ. We can always come back to explore Roman Nose State Park and revisit Palo Duro Canyon and the very cool shops on 6th street in Amarillo....

No photos--yet. The gorgeous hot-pink sunrise this morning in Albuquerque (with full moon at our backs) just didn't come out on the iPhone as we were driving. Soon, I'll have full use of the real camera!

The Next U.S. Sojourn

2010-10-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

We've been tending to Rocksie's maintenance--sanitizing the water tanks, cleaning the solar panels, checking the appliances, replacing alarm batteries (it's that time of year to do it in your house, too, hint, hint), cleaning, stocking up, etc., etc., etc., because we are hitting the road in a few days.

Highlights of this year's fabulous fall odyssey:

A dash to the East Coast, with a rest and recreation stop with Lisa's sister's family in Memphis, before we meet up with a slew of college friends to attend

Then southward through Raleigh and Charleston and down to Orlando to visit
before we spend a week with my parents in St. Augustine. Then, it's north through Atlanta, Chattanooga, and

By Beatrice M (http://www.flickr.com/photos/blmurch/152399860/)[see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

Northward for an Indy visit with Lisa's parents before we move on to a big Cason Thanksgiving (at least a dozen of us) in central Illinois.

And then it's (yikes) time for my 30th high school reunion!
If time allows, we'll make a cousin stop in St. Louis, but then we've then got to make the mad dash back across the country (please think warm thoughts so that the weather cooperates) to get home a day or two before my cooking class starts.

Only about 7000 miles in 6 weeks. Shoot, we've done that before. We expect to be able to make more miles this trip without (sniff) Nick....

Our African Adventure Photos

2010-10-20T08:04:00.000-07:00

What a trip! An amazing place, South Africa. We simply must go back to experience more of this inspiring, beautiful country. And, there are a lot of "caravan parks" and easy RV rentals on the coast. (I don't think we'd be brave enough to camp where there are lions, leopards, et al, although we saw people doing it in Botswana.....)

A selection of photos, categorized by place and subject matter at our Mobile Me Gallery.

A Non-RV Adventure: AFRICA!

2010-09-10T20:42:00.000-07:00

Some of you know that we are soon to be off on a once-in-a-lifetime sojourn to South Africa (with a few days at Victoria Falls/Zimbabwe and a few in Chobe/Botswana). Because Rocksie can't come with us, we shan't be blogging here. We hope to be able to post a photo a day on Facebook (wifi connections willing), but our group has a blog here.

The name, BTW, is a little something I came up with to name our group, which was initially a group of 8 folks from all over Northern California (wine country) who wanted to go on safari (the rhino part). Here's our group's logo, which we've all put on various articles of clothing, luggage tags, and traveling cards to give out:

Babe Boondocking at Mammoth Pool

2010-09-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

I don't know what it is about blogging right now, but I've not been into it. (My blog buddy Nancy is going through the same doldrums, so perhaps it's something seasonal, astrological, or just a simple malaise.....) I'm thinking that it might be Facebook's fault. On that site, the feedback is so immediate and so chatty. Here, it's kind of a one-way street--posting off into the ether.... But, I do know that I have a few readers, and I've been called to task for not sharing last weekend....

What a blast we had at Mammoth Pool NFS. Terrible campground, as campgrounds go, but fabulous experience nonetheless. (The detail-laden campground review can be found here. If you're up for boondocking in a totally off the beaten path place, this is it for you.)

The best part was the great group of gals we were camping with. 9 others, plus us, plus 4 dogs and 2 kayaks and 2 fishing poles made for an always-interesting experience. We had a lawyer, real-estate investor, social services worker, marine biologist, retired police chief, physical therapist, home inspector, college professor, etc., etc., etc. Good campfire stories and good fodder for playing storytelling games like: Tell 3 things about yourself, but one is a lie. It's always fun to get to know cool people. Somehow, we never got a whole-group photo, but here is part of the contingent:

We sure missed our Nicky boy, but were actually rather relieved he wasn't there. It was too hot and there were waaaaay too many other dogs (most of the time off leash) for him. Plus, he hated getting wet and that was pretty much all there was to do.

And the Pomeranian was actually the best doggie camper of them all! Tuckered out at the end of the day....

We basically spent 3 days taking turns making meals, dipping (sometimes skinny--hence the few photos posted here) in the pools made by the enormous granite boulders in the river to cool off (temps were close to 100 each day), kayaking/fishing, and hiking.

Oh, and having an adult beverage or two.....

And catch a few crawdaddies (yes, Louisiana kinfolk, we have them in California, apparently, too!)

All the other gals of "L Troop" were tent camping, so they HAD to go to the river to cool off/clean off. We finally broke down Sunday night and showered in our RV. We took our ration of grief for smelling good.

The big hit of the weekend was our first attempt at cooking with a Dutch oven in the crampfire. We made a "Dump Cake," which is basically 4 cups of berries with a box of white cake mix (the kind with pudding in it) dumped on top, and a 20-oz 7-up poured over the whole thing. (I forgot the 7-up and used diet Ginger Ale to great effect.) Then hot coals on top (20 or so) and just a few underneath for about 1/2 hour. Whipped cream is also crucial. The pot was empty in a hurry. No pictures because it was pitch black by dessert time.

There's talk of making it an annual event. Sign us up!

Looking Forward

2010-08-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

I realize we haven't posted in forever, but that's because we've been staying close to home or, in my case, using the #*$& airlines to visit my folks in Florida this summer (goodness, but I hate flying) and this blog is supposed to be reserved for our RV travel....

We were staying off the road this summer because (a) we aren't keen high-season campers and (b) our big trip to Africa this fall is where we're focusing our resources.

However, we've been invited to join a very nice group of gals on a camping trip to Mammoth Pools National Forest up in the Sierra Nevada over Labor Day. From the NFS:

We'll be boondocking as the sole RVers, while the rest of the gang will be tent camping. I'll finally get to test out my Dutch oven since there'll be a crowd to cook for AND someone handier than I to start and tend the fire. And we'll be traveling relatively lightly--no dog, just weekend provisions--so I can justify bringing the cast iron ;-)

Then, we are lining up the following trips:

Napa Valley for Halloween (Boethe State Park) with our friend from Chicago. We've never camped 3 to the coach, but we'll give it a shot. Think we'll drive up our Honda Element separately so we can do some mountainous touring/tasting.

Another visit to my parents' home in Florida, with a possible detour in Illinois for my 30th HS reunion, if they decide to hold it over Thanksgiving. Dicey weather, but what the heck. We haven't decided what we'll see on this trip (our 4th?) to the East Coast and back....

And, if the 3 to the coach trip goes well, we promised another friend (as her 50th birthday present) to take her to the Grand Canyon; it's on her bucket list. Thinking Feb/March....

And we keep looking at next spring/summer: Alaska or all the way over to New England/Maritime Provinces? So many considerations. An Alaskan cruise, with rental car/hotel extension to see Denali sure sounds easier. But then there's the 4th of July bash in D.C. we don't want to miss--our college buddy's returning from yet another tour of Iraq. Can't miss that.

So much to think about! In the meantime, we did take Rocksie on an exercise tour that got out of hand--just meant to make a little country Sunday drive, but we forgot that our road (Carmel Valley Road, or G16) takes many, many miles to reach Hwy 101. Our little loop was over 100 miles, but it was a beautiful drive,

we got to fill up Rocksie's tank (since we were recently reminded to store her full to avoid algae growth!), and we tried out driving around without Nick.

On that note, we are starting to investigate sources for a new German shepherd to come into our home around the first of the year....

How are we ever gonna camp again?

2010-07-05T11:54:00.000-07:00

Very sad news to report. Our RV security alarm and all-around best camper, Nick the mighty German shepherd, was diagnosed with bone cancer on July 2nd. We said goodbye to him July 8th.

How will we ever go camping without him? We bought the darn RV just for him, after all. He thought it was his big shiny kennel. You couldn't ask for a better traveling dog--he just loved getting into the RV and he so looked forward every day to 3-4PM when we'd pull into a (preferably leafy) state park. He'd wake up from his day-long nap, play ball, have dinner al fresco (weather permitting), and enjoy the new surroundings. What a great life. New trees to sniff and p-mail to read at every new stop.

Here's Nick in his morning till mid-afternoon riding spot: the front dinette seat, looking out through the windshield to see if any tree-lined roads (the kind that lead to state parks) are coming....

He wasn't generally allowed to be in his traveling seat when we were eating, but this was just too cute.

And he was always up for a nap:

I think this is my favorite portrait--on an iPhone, even. Taken April 2010 at Great Sand Dunes National Park. (Nick never liked those mean ole national parks with their dog restrictions. Give him a state park any day.)

Such a good camper:

And he loved going for rides at home in the car, too. Always on guard duty.

We will miss you, Nicky boy. No dog will ever fill your collar.

Spring 2010 Wrap Up

2010-04-25T13:06:00.000-07:00

Distance/time: just about 6,000 miles in 40 days.

Average camping fee: $30.42 (our highest and first over budget!). Only 1 night of boondocking (Usery Mtn SP for $10) and no free driveway camping this trip. We took the cushy route and had electric and water every night. I sure do prefer the quiet electric space heater to that loud propane one....

Maintenance: 6-hour, expensive oil change in ABQ on the way home, and replaced marker light cover at RV shop in Tucson on the way out. Now we have to tackle a host of little things that have gone awry: a broken window shade, a broken water compartment door handle, dirty HVAC and engine air filters, and the inevitable plethora of loose (or fallen out) screws.

Fuel Economy: 15.2 mpg. Wayyyy windy this trip, plus ole leadfoot (me) couldn't keep it to 55-62 always.... We had a number of days when we wanted to make miles rather than explore; that always bumps up the speed. We averaged $2.58 per gallon, but paid as much as $3.29 getting out of and back into California.

National Parks and Monuments:
1. Great Sand Dunes National Park (finally!)
2. Big Bend National Park (probably first and last visit to this "remotest" national park in the lower 48)
3. Petroglyph National Monument (revisited)
4. Hot Springs National Park (revisited)
5. New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park
6. Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve (Lafayette, LA)
7. Vicksburg National Military Park

Favorite State/County Parks:
On this trip, we liked both Texas and Louisiana state parks a whole lot. Texas drives us a bit nuts with each park being a different price. We paid, variously, $14, $17, $20, and $25 for no apparent reason except, perhaps, proximity (or not) to urban areas. Same amenities, though. We just loved Blanco SP in Hill Country, though. Our idea of a perfect park: huge, grassy sites; shade trees; water/electric and a convenient dump station; nice restrooms; sound of running water from the creek; a variety of activities (free fishing, good geocaching); and the ability to walk to restaurants and shops. All for $17/night. We'll be back!

Given the poor condition of Louisiana's state roads (which a Reader's Digest article just this month listed as the worst in the nation--no kidding!), we didn't expect a lot from their state parks, but we were pleasantly surprised. We will be staying at more of these parks next time we're visiting and/or passing through.

Favorite vehicle:

Best meal: Oooh, this is tough given the variety of amazing foods we got to try, but the Louisiana Bistro's "Feed Me" dinner probably takes the cake. Also, getting to enjoy the Cajun crawfish dinner provided by our neighbors at Hot Springs NP was a big treat, too.

Best pie: Royer's Round Top. Hands down. We are definitely ordering some of these for the big party we want to throw this summer.

Most educational tourist attraction: Tie between the Queen Mine tour in Bisbee, AZ and the Balloon Museum in Albuquerque. We knew next to nothing about either topic, but had a lot of fun learning at these places.

Most challenging activity: Hiking up the mountain in Hot Springs National Park and into the canyon at Big Bend. We were, for the most part, a bit on the lazy side this spring.

Most fun: Watching the Cubbies spring training games with our good friend.

Biggest surprises: How much it was still winter in Colorado in mid-April AND how much we liked staying at the Sky Ute Casino--our first Indian casino RV visit. Oh, and the 5-minute sheep delay....

Prettiest sunsets: East and North Texas state parks

This trip's weather challenge: Wind!!! Tailwinds out of California, dust storm in Big Bend, big cross winds across Texas, and severe wind warnings in New Mexico. No other storms to speak of, except that little bit of snow at the beginning of the trip. Couldn't ask for better weather, really.

Time to Go Home

2010-04-15T19:47:00.000-07:00

We spent Wednesday morning at Coronado State Monument, a lovely little park with the most amazing artifacts. We've been to so many sites--Canyon de Chelly, Mesa Verde, Bandelier, Montezuma, et al--and have never seen what this little park has: the finest kiva murals in the world. Amazing pieces of art and well preserved and displayed. (No photography allowed.)

Plus, the setting--along the Rio Grande--was just lovely. We had a nice time walking the trails. Well, the humans did. The dog wasn't pleased about cactus and rocks, as per usual.

We then embarked on an important task to finish: hiding a "geocoin" in a cache near or inside Petroglyph National Monument. A gal we met geocaching last January gave us this coin, whose mission is to travel to all the national parks in the U.S. We have been photographing the coin at all the national parks we've visited: Big Bend, Hot Springs, Great Sand Dunes and it was time to plant it for someone else to find and carry to a new spot. We had wanted to leave it in Colorado, but the poor AT&T reception made us unable to use the GPS to locate a good spot. So, it was New Mexico for the coin.

We returned to Petroglyph, since we knew where that was and it was sort of a "park" (we are hoping "national monuments" count in the game). We photographed the coin in the park

then we had to drive to another end of the park to find the cache where we could leave the coin. I had to drop Lisa off (no safe parking) and find an unobtrusive place to park in a not-very-nearby neighborhood covered in "Report Suspect Persons" signs and patrolled by the local gendarmes. I don't know which was more challenging--having Lisa find the cache in the lava field or finding a place to wait for her. It all turned out, though. The pressure is off. Oh, wait. Lisa has now picked up another travel coin from our stop tonight in Arizona. Now we'll have to take it around and find it a new home....

We ended up checking into our tried-and-true RV park on I-40 early in the afternoon, thinking we'd catch up on some TV via the Internet. Drats--no 3G. Turned in early so we could be up and out of the park before 7AM to be at our oil change appointment, bright and early and first in line.

Suffice to say, after 6 hours and 10 minutes, we weren't happy campers. I think my biggest disappointment is that we thought we had finally found a competent dealer, albeit one 1000 miles from home, that we could rely on since we had had such great service from them last fall. But this time, in this new location, it was just a series of lousy customer service moves. The manager did call me later that day, after I had made my disappointment known to the assistant manager before leaving.

A very disappointing day, and one that shows what happens when you start letting thoughts of home creep into your trip. It. Is. Time. To. Go Home....NOW. So, we finally hit the road in early afternoon, skipping any tourist sites along the way (putting Acoma back on the list along with Catwalks) and skipping our fun idea of going US 60 through Pie Town. It was just too late in the day to attempt that because there were just too many long stretches of nothing in case we needed to stop.

So, we took boring old I-40 and made it to Meteor Crater Park outside of Winslow. We're here with about 25 El Monte rental RVs full of Finns. Yes, folks from Finland. Very interesting group.

We expect tomorrow to be a big push day--perhaps to Bakersfield--and then Saturday cruise on home. Next post will be the wrap-up post from home.

Burque, Duke City, ABQ

2010-04-13T16:41:00.000-07:00

A most lovely day playing tourist in what feels like our second home, Albuquerque. Spent the morning at the Balloon Museum, which had a ton of really fun interactive exhibits.
We built a balloon,
wove a basket to go under a balloon, flew a balloon via simulator,

and used a flight simulator.
You do not want to ride in a plane with either of us. Crash, crash, crash. But Lisa got almost a perfect score on the balloon simulator, for your future reference. They also had a great gift shop where we could pick up a few goodies for those who are being so kind in watching our house ;-)

Then it was off to the Nob Hill neighborhood, which I'd read was the hip place for restaurants and locally owned shops. Had a scrumptious lunch at a surprisingly delightful brasserie. Lisa had a trout/artichoke dish and I had the most wonderful cassoulet. Then we strolled the shops and found a few must-have items for the house, including one thing that I have been regretting not getting last October in Durango, CO. (It was even unavailable via the internet!) Lo and behold, I found it on Route 66, aka Central Avenue, on Nob Hill.

Then we toodled back up the road toward Bernalillo, stopping at the Gruet winery. We had heard a Splendid Table podcast about their unusually good sparkling wines, so we had to stop. (We have a May celebration to buy this for ;-)

Turns out the sparklers weren't as good as the Chardonnay and Pinot Noirs that they use to make the sparkling wine. So, we purchased a few of those, including some to give as gifts back home.

Catch Up: Panhandle-Raton-Colo

2010-04-12T15:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday: Copper Breaks State Park, Quanah, TX
What a funky little 1960s era park! In the middle of, literally, no where. A very windy day (30-40 mph) so we hunkered down indoors till early evening when the wind calmed down. Then enjoyed a nice hike around this canyonland park, dodging fire ants (pronounced "fahr aints" in this neck of the woods).

The best part was the drive from the park the next day. Near Quitaque, TX, we spotted the best ranch name ever: Middle Age Spread!

We drove by Caprock Canyon State Park, which wasn't very far away--we'll try that if we're in the area again.

Thursday: Lunch in Amarillo, Texas
We finally caved and stopped at the well-advertised tourist trap: The Big Texan. Its claim to fame is the stage inside where big eaters attempt to down a 72-oz steak (plus all the fixings--potato, salad, shrimp cocktail) in under an hour. If they fail, they have to pay for the darn thing, which is quite expensive. No one was making the attempt when we stopped for lunch, but that was OK. It was an experience, and the food wasn't bad.

Texas Still Life

Thursday: Palo Duro Canyon State Park, Canyon, TX (Texas' Grand Canyon)
Beautiful park. Only about 30 miles south of I-40 and definitely better than any of the Amarillo-area CGs. The drive here was spectacular, as we crossed the eastern end of the canyon driving north from Copper Break. You're just driving along, flat West Texas views, and then the road drops way more than 10% down into a gorgeous canyon. We only made 25 mph climbing up the other side. Then it was back to "Wide Open Spaces"
until we finished our Amarillo business and headed back down south to the western side of the canyon.

The temperatures fluctuate dramatically from the bottom of the canyon (much hotter)

to the rim (much windier)

Thank goodness we were visiting in April. We hear that the summer temps can be 110 or more.

If we come back again, we want to be sure to bring our boots and check out the riding stables. The trails are pretty rough in the canyon, so doing it from horseback seems like a really good idea.

There is also a really great museum and art shop. Check out Martha's upscale cousin--a $1500 turquoise mosaic skull spotted at Palo Duro Canyon State Park store, which had surprisingly good art for sale. I was talked off the ledge, but boy he'd look good over our fireplace.

Friday: Surgarite Canyon State Park, near Raton, NM
We spent Wednesday morning driving up the rest of the Panhandle, through tiny little towns and lots and lots of nothing. Our big score was finding a self-service truck/RV wash. We were able to wash off much of the many layers we've been accumulating: the snow slush of our first week crossing the Sierras, the heavy duty day-glo pollen of Louisiana and Arkansas, and the major bugs of Texas. $15 dollar later, Rocksie looked much, much better.

Then we made it into the upper NE corner of NM, intending to recreate last fall's delight with NM state parks. Whoops. I guess they aren't quite all the same. This one was way up the side of a mountain and had tons of interesting history (ruins of an early 20th century coal mining town), but was terribly run down. We were just beginning to acclimate to the altitude (about 8000') so no huge hikes. Snow melt had the river running, with lots of mud great for studying animal tracks.

Turkey Tracks

Saturday: Southern Colorado
We have intended to get to this national park so many times that we just couldn't miss it again. You see, I first learned of this park in 2002 while working on a K-5 reading program. We were licensing a charming picture book by Audrey Wood, The Bunyans, which "explains" via tall tale how many of the United States' most interesting geographical features came to be. Great Sand Dunes was, of course, formed when Paul Bunyan's son turned over his shoes and dumped out the sand inside. Well, I just had to see 750' tall dunes. I think the 8 years' of anticipation just about guaranteed an anti-climatic visit. We had a picnic lunch, but the stream wasn't flowing, the campground was closed--sort of a bust. But beautiful to see and now we can cross this off the list.

There isn't much in the way of decent camping near the park, but we had found what we thought was a gem: Hooper Hot Springs. Called to confirm and it turns out they were closed for a few days of maintenance. So, we pressed on to Pagosa Springs, where we had a bead on another RV place--an in-town park with access to hot springs and walking around town. Fun, right? Yikes. Turns out the RVparkreviews.com of a very scary place was the one we thought we'd stay at. We checked it out--no thank you! The Visitors Center was closed, so no getting advice from them at 4PM on a Saturday afternoon since we found that all the other decent parks in the area were still closed for the winter (contrary to our Good Sam book!).

The last piece of business we had in that city was to look up two friends of friends, who also happened to own the best bakery in town, which we'd read about in Sunset magazine. I'd had this clipping in our travel file for ages!

Of course, they had gone home this late in the day, so we didn't get to meet them. But we did manage to buy a small round of rustic bread and a slice of apple-blueberry pie to compensate for the day we were having. Pretty tasty the next morning.

And we hit the road again close to 5PM, heading toward Durango where we were pretty sure there'd be open parks. Here's the terrain we crossed. Yikes!

Wolf Creek Pass, Colorado (10,850')

We made it to Bayfield, Colorado, and an open RV park. However, we heard faint strains of banjo music, so we carried on one more drive to the Sky Ute Casino, Ignacio, CO. This brand-new place got 9s and 10s in RVParkReviews and it was just what we needed after 9 days of state and national parks. We managed to clean the coach, do laundry, soak/swim/work out, eat out, and do a little shopping and gambling (only $15 between the two of us). Felt nice not to drive for a day, too.

The "lazy-river" swimming pool--there's a current and you can float all the way around. Nice hot tub and gym, too, which we desperately needed and used. It's the first time we've done laundry and been able to swim in the pool in between loads. Nice.

Sunsets were very nice here, and we had the place practically to ourselves.

Then we took off Monday morning. This is rush hour on the Southern Ute Reservation. Took a full 5 minutes for this enormous herd to trot by. Poor Nick....

We took off early, without using the gym as we had intended, because of the weather. Learned that the weather service had issued a severe wind warning for where we were headed to start early afternoon. So we hot-footed it down to Bernalillo (north of ABQ) to miss the worst of the winds. Crossed the Continental Divide again and did fight some tough cross-winds, but nothing like what the winds grew into that afternoon. Wow!

We had intended to go to Ojo Caliente again, especially since we were thwarted on soaking at Hooper and Pagosa hot springs. But, the weather forecast is for big storms at the end of the week and the wind storms yesterday made us yearn for the relative safety of the city. You may recall how cruddy of an RV park Ojo Caliente is from our visit last November....

So, Monday afternoon we had lunch at The Range--the great little restaurant we enjoyed last October. Did a little shopping and tucked into the KOA by the time the winds were really going. Had one gust that must've been close to 50 mph. Really strong. And we've been in some wind storms this trip!

We'll play tourist today and tomorrow, get our oil changed on Thursday, then head home, stopping at Acoma Pueblo, Holbrooke, Flagstaff, and probably Bakersfield, making it home about a week early.

Off to enjoy the best (and free) pancakes at this campground....

In Cell Phone Hell....

2010-04-10T19:09:00.000-07:00

No AT&T reliably for days now. Cheating now (and will probably get in trouble for using "off network") to post quick update that all is well. We made our way across Panhandle, up to NM state park, and across almost all of southern Colorado (who knew everything was still closed?!) till we landed at a very nice Indian casino with a brand-new RV park. Staying here 2 nights as we are all a bit tired and cranky from daily travel and all those beautiful, but very rustic, state parks. Reformulating going home plans now.....

Resuming the Westward Migration: Hot Springs to Texarkana to North TX

2010-04-06T19:07:00.000-07:00

At a Walmart on the Way
One of the most effective fundraising techniques ever, I bet. The SWAT team guy on the roof used his bullhorn to "persuade" shoppers to donate to Special Olympics. Boy, howdy, WE did ;-)

Easter Weekend in Hot Springs
The gorgeous architecture and spring blossoms along Bathhouse Row

Lisa geocaching downtown. Couldn't find this microcache that was supposed to be right by this hot spring fountain. Too many muggles around....

Since I'm working on what's next for me, I couldn't resist putting $1 into Zoltar. He told me the time is now.
Hiked 2.5 miles one day and over 3 miles the next, up 1000' mountain. We haven't been working out much, so that got us back in the saddle. Here's Lisa atop Goat Rock.
Just tons of wildflowers blooming in the park, mostly pinks and purples (not the oranges, reds, and yellows in Texas).

Crater of Diamonds State Park
Starting the westward trek, we stopped at this park for an hour or two. The only public diamond mine in the world--37.5 acres available for diamond mining for $7 admission and beaucoup bucks to rent equipment. Apparently, the extinct volcanic crater has diamond-bearing material that is 7 miles deep, so it's not going to run "dry" any time soon.

Most folks look the same way as folks in Vegas look--grim-faced, persistent, slot-machine lever pullers are replaced in this case by the same kinda folks with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Hope springs eternal, but it doesn't look like much fun.

Lisa had much more patience and persistence than I did, which is, of course, no surprise.

We even parked next to a rental RV from, of all places, my hometown of Mattoon, IL.

Atlanta State Park, Texas
Gorgeous lakeside sunset in the Piney Woods of East Texas, where wisteria just drips from 40-foot-tall pine trees.

Ray Roberts Lake State Park, near Denton, TX
Another gorgeous lakeside sunset, this time in North Texas, where the 25-40 mph winds are a bit creepy....

Heading into West Texas and the desert again.

Hot Springs, Arkansas--One More Time!

2010-04-01T18:45:00.001-07:00

We reached Hot Springs today via Route 7--a dotted scenic trail through southern Arkansas that was quite lovely

and a bit challenging.

But so much better to ride scenically through the back country than be a jerk and drive too slowly on crowded, fast-moving freeways. (And yes, I found national studies supporting my claim that driving too fast AND too slowly for conditions causes accidents.)

That last paragraph indicates that I need to stop interacting with people online (Facebook, Yahoo, et al) who I allow to perturb me. The editor in me gets so irked with unsubstantiated assertions that contradict easily findable facts.... Especially when said with such certitude (arrogance?). Argh. Time to figure out how to stop letting that get to me.

So, I am unplugging (I've unsubscribed to the lists that are bugging me) after tonight. No more blog for a while, no more Facebook, no more View/Navion list chatter. Just a Hot Springs bath/massage/pedicure tomorrow morning and lots of hiking this weekend.

We plan to stay here till Monday then state-park our way across Texas and the panhandle. Then head north to Great Sand Dunes NP (weather permitting) and Pagosa Springs, then down to revisit favorite spots in NM with another oil change in ABQ. Home by end of 3rd week in April, we think.

In the meantime:

Drive Friendly

Life Is Good.

Morgan City, Natchez, Vicksburg, and More Bayou

2010-03-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

Haven't had the inclination nor bandwidth for an update since Sunday, but thought we better say something soon ;-)

So, here's a bare-bones catch-up post, with photos to be posted when we get a better connection.

Monday: NOLA to Houma for shopping and errands. What a great Rouse's (Louisiana small grocery chain) we found. Tons of local yummies to stock the fridge with. Wished we could've fit all the great chopped frozen veggies (gumbo mixes, etc.) in our freezer, but we did buy some boudin, smoked turkey sausage, and spices. We also stopped at a "Louisiana Culinary Trail"-recommended lunch place-- A-Bear's -- for catfish, shrimp, red beans and rice. Chatted with the waitress throughout the entire meal. This isn't the first time that's happened in Lousiana. Wish I could capture that accent; it's so wonderful.

Then on to Morgan City for birthday dinner with family for Amy's bday.

Lake End Park--a very great RV park near their house

Tuesday: Laundry (and an unfortunate kerfuffle with the CVS over refilling Lisa's Rx. Boy, would electronic health records help travelers) and then we hit the road for Mississippi.

Took forever to get to Natchez--and we had intended to make it close to Vicksburg--so we pulled off and stayed at a really great little state park--Natchez SP.

Wednesday: Got to remove a tick from Lisa in the morning--a souvenir from the really great little state park. Have to remember not to pull THAT baggie out of the freezer.... Headed up to Vicksburg, past Port Gibson's great little churches that we saw last summer, and past Lorman with its worlds' best fried chicken, and into Vicksburg Military Park, which we missed last year. Wow. A pretty amazing story and grounds. We got glazed over pretty quickly with the THOUSANDS of monuments, but were pretty moved by the scenery and ruggedness of the terrain. More than 20,000 soldiers from both sides died during this epic seige, which restored Grant's reputation and helped turn the tide of the war in 1863.

My favorite monument--to the African American soldiers who joined the Union side. The symbolism is moving; this statue represents looking to a future with freedom earned by taking up arms, remembering the slave past, with support for all. So sad that it took another 100 years past Emancipation for the Civil Rights Act and then many years and struggles since then....

Made it to northern Louisiana and another great little state park (Bayou D'Arbonne Lake), where we thoroughly enjoyed a "parting gift" from Donald--seasoned deer and wild hog burgers, expertly grilled by Lisa.

And do check out the meat market's motto. (Double-clicking on the photo ought to show it larger.)

We are now officially headed westward, towards home....

Feed Me (R)

2010-03-29T06:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday was another lovely day in NOLA--just stunning to be here in late spring with flowering trees (about 6-8 weeks behind schedule due to long winter), sunshine, but cooling breezes. Perfect weather!

We took several walks--one with dog, one without--and saw some of our favorite haunts and some new ones (the new "Waldorf collection" Hotel Roosevelt and the Ritz--had to stroll through). We then went back to the Roadfood festival to watch the fire dept. best the police dept. in a beignet eating contest. We had a light nibble of a lunch--we split a crawfish cake from Royal House (wow!) and an oyster po-boy from Antoine's (so-so)--because we had found our dinner adventure and wanted to "save up." (Oh, the irony of that in this city.)

Louisiana Bistro--we had walked right past it after checking out Bayona, one of the trendy restaurants. We had called NOLA (an Emeril restaurant)--no openings till 9:30. Then chatted with some knowledgeable local fellows about Bayona (they highly recommended but there was no answer on their reservations line) and Upperline (a few miles away). But then we walked by Louisiana Bistro, which looked completely charming and had an option called "Feed Me" (yes, registered trademark). After checking out Yelp and Urbanspoon, we became convinced that this was THE place for us--an evening's sustenance and entertainment. The chef (CIA trained, then Biba in Boston, and Emeril in New Orleans, among others) really likes to be hands on, so this small restaurant is his baby--only a sous chef in back with him. If you order the Feed Me option, he comes out to discuss any allergies or aversions you have and then he gets your permission to run with whatever he'd like to. Each dish is presented by the waiter, and the chef is right on his heels to explain each dish. What a treat. (Note that the other diners having the Feed Me option got different dishes than we did. Amazing....)

I only had my iPhone in pretty poor light, but I took the pix to remember the details. Some of these dishes were just THE best of that category we've ever had--especially the oysters. Oo la la.

1st: cornmeal crusted flash fried oysters on a Cajun pepper brown sauce

2nd: melaton (aka chayote squash) stuffed with crawfish on top of buerre blanc

3rd: quail over Southern style bacon stewed greens with jalapeno hollandaise. (Oops, forgot to take the picture right away!)

4th: 12-hour braised buffalo rib over delicate garlic mashed potatoes with a mixture of Midwestern BBQ sauce (tomato based) and South Carolina BBQ sauce (vinegar based), which turned out more like an Asian sweet-and-sour sauce. Lisa loved it. This was the only sauce I didn't sop up with the bread, but the meat was soooo tender.

Accompanied by the chef-recommended Tempranillo Grand Reserve from Rioja, Spain, which was a perfect accompaniment to the delicate spicy heat of the Creole cooking

Dessert: We split an order of Creole ice cream (ice cream mixed with a ricotta cheese--very different) with strawberries, chocolate, and balsamic. And they even had decaf chicory coffee for Lisa.

We highly recommend this restaurant if you're in the area--it's actually quite reasonable compared to the other chef-y places, and it has a reasonably priced wine list. I'd like to see this place have lines outside, but perhaps not everyone is up for the adventure of Feed Me?!? But we're not the only ones who loved it: Yelp and Urbanspoon

We are packing up at last (what a treat not to move the vehicle for 3 days!) this morning and heading out of our "resort." We enjoyed the hot tub and pool yesterday, but we won't miss sleeping next to the freeway. Off to Morgan City to celebrate Lisa's sister's birthday!

A Day in the Quarter

2010-03-27T16:32:00.003-07:00

French Quarter RV Resort
Our RV park, day and night (um, yes, it's convenient to the freeway)

The young gals run out to meet you when you first check in. Good security, too.Pool, hot tub, exercise room, laundry, bathrooms and showers

The next-door new visitor center--gorgeous renovation (since Katrina)
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
A visit to the oldest cemetery in NOLA, which is right by our RV park (quiet neighbors on at least ONE side)

Supposedly the newest crypt in the graveyard--for Nicholas Cage

Marie Levaux, voodoo priestess' crypt. Mark 3 Xs, knock 3 times, turn around 3 times....
Fun in the Quarter
The actual Roadfood festival. (We couldn't make ourselves go to the World's Longest Oyster Po-Boy in the morning....)

We munched our way down Royal Street, sampling Uggi Shrimp, meat pies from Natchitoches, brisket from Taylor Texas, and Amy tried some of the pie we had had last night. All around tasty.

Donald steered us into an antique store, the likes of which I have never seen. There were precious antiques from France and England, 200 years old. $50,000 chairs, an unbelievably ornate 10'+ tall grandfather clock for $1.2 million, etc., etc. And some of the most gorgeous jewelry (pink and yellow diamonds, cultured pearls the size of pearl onions, and more!) that puts Tiffany's on 5th Avenue to shame. A ton of fun.

We also introduced Don and Amy to geocaching, locating a tiny cache on Dauphine Street.

And Lisa tried another first--she ordered and drank most of (Don helped) a real absinthe cocktail. Here's the time lapse....

Roadfood Opening Party

2010-03-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

Just so we can remember the details, here's the "official" description of the event we attended last night, with [comments].

The New Orleans Roadfood Festival kicks off with a true Roadfood party featuring the best barbecue from Alabama [pretty good], Camp Washington Cincinnati chili [out of this world good--allspice and chocolate with onions, cheese, beans, spaghetti], cracklin's from Cajun country [unfortunately not hot], all the shrimp [and crawfish] and oysters you can eat [yum!], an open bar [bad idea], KJoe's celebrated Creole bread pudding [with bananas foster on top!], and pralines made on the spot [oy, too sweet!].

They neglected to list the pies from Royers Round Top Cafe--out of this world pecan, chocolate chip, and buttermilk. Not too sweet--just right. And available for mail order. These go on our list for that Roadfood party we want to have this year....

It all takes place in a French Quarter setting outsiders rarely get to experience: the historic Boucvalt House, a three-story Greek Revival home built in 1841, now meticulously restored to antebellum grandeur.

Next to the food, the best part was the people--such a convivial group from all over the U.S. Fellow travelers, open to new experiences off the beaten path. Our kinda folks.

Forgot my good camera and the courtyard setting was a bit too dark for the iPhone, but here are the photos anyway:

Rouse's ran out of plates, but the box worked just great for the crawfish and shrimp boil, complete with potatoes, sausage, and corn.

Jane and Michael Stern, the hosts and founders of Roadfood.com (and authors of the Roadfood column in Gourmet magazine till it folded this year--30 years).

This is the "official cake"--yes, they sliced and served it at the end of the evening. Unbelievable!

We ended up strolling the Quarter afterwards, finding our way to Cafe du Monde for some cafe au lait. (The Tums didn't come till about 3AM....)

Having a slow morning today, resting up to hit the streets again this afternoon with Lisa's sister and her husband. Moderation, moderation, moderation....

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

2010-03-26T08:15:00.000-07:00

After spending a nice day touring Acadiana (including the national monument and museum in Lafayette) and tasting a to-go lunch plate from Earl's (recommended by Roadfood but unfortunately sold out of the top-rated boudin by 12:15!), we camped in a spectacular state park--Tickfaw. HUGE sites, tons of wildlife (and a nature center to tell you that the unworldly screams you heard at night was a particularly large flock of barn owls), and grass a-plenty for Nick, who is in 7th heaven here.

After a great walk this morning on boardwalks over the prodigious swamps...

...we will be heading to the Camping World in Hammond and then over the Causeway (a first! 24 miles long) into NOLA.

Back to the Bayou

2010-03-25T06:31:00.000-07:00

Can skin have whiplash? Over the last few days we've gone from Big Bend (10% humidity and severe fire danger) to green Hill Country (70% and wildflowers starting) to Louisiana (100% humidity and severe thunderstorms). Wow! What a difference a few days make.

We detoured through Austin yesterday to have coffee with our college friend, John. That almost didn't happen because we agreed to meet at the Central Market near his house (where we shopped last year when we visited). Too bad I didn't remember which Central Market was near his house. Turns out he was at the North Lamar location and we were at the South Lamar location. Thank goodness he was willing to trek south ;-)

Then we had a slog of a drive through Houston (hideous traffic) in drizzly rain and dark skies all day till we crossed over into Louisiana. Given the storm forecast, we forewent (?) the TX state park and returned to a friendly, tidy RV Park in Westlake, LA (see November 2009 post). Having a concrete pad in the rain helps alot with the dog paws. Doing a bit of laundry this morning, as the puddles start to dry and the birds sing.

The best part of the morning was finding the Lafayette NPR station. Before 7AM and Morning Edition, they play local Cajun music and speak in French. Love it. Think we'll detour into Lafayette today to do some sightseeing on our way to a state park near Hammond, LA before we hit NOLA tomorrow.

Hill Country

2010-03-23T18:50:00.000-07:00

OK, so extended writing isn't going to happen, but here are the Cliff's Notes for the last few days.

Monday: Driving day, capped off with a dinner of TX BBQ in a lovely state park along the Blanco River

Tuesday: Tooling around Hill Country, poking around galleries and wineries, finding some geocaches, and generally having a lovely, low mileage day. The Sculpture Park was closed, but we saw a little bit of it. Every time we visit Hill Country, I want to buy property....

The real thing:

The sculpture:

The Big Bend of Texas

2010-03-22T18:41:00.000-07:00

Outside Marfa, TX
The coolest permanent art exhibit anywhere. In the middle of the Chihuahuan desert: a Prada store.

Marfa, TX
A very cool little town in the middle of, seriously, nowhere. Full of artists and art coops, organic/local/sustainable food (who'd a'-thunk it?), and really neat architecture.

Stillwell Ranch and RV Park
(just outside northern entrance to Big Bend NP)

Can you say, funky? Sure you can, sure.

We stayed on "The Strip," a wide-open area with horse corrals, water and electric hookups, and not much else but space. (The other area was cheek-to-jowl Class As because it offered a sewer connection and cost $2.50/night more.) We preferred the space, and boy did we have some.

Not exactly the perfect place to ride out a windstorm (40mph), but it was better than driving!

Sunrise over Stillwell Ranch Campground--our patriotic neighbor's flag is even appropriately lit at night.

Big Bend National Park
Here is Lisa with a geocache "travel bug" that a new friend asked us to take to any national parks on our route. We plan to take it to Hot Springs NP and bury it there for someone else to find. (Big Bend seemed just too remote.)

The Window, up in Chisos Basin

The yucca plants were in full bloom

This rock formation is called "Mule Ears" but it is incorrectly named. That is our German shepherd's ears (with one bitten off a bit) and his long snout snoozing on the back of the dinette seat as we tool down the road.

One of my many ocotillo plant studies: in context and up close. These things are so weird in general but even stranger when blooming.

Things grow wherever they can in the desert

These folks were living right back in the early 20th century: this was once a 1200 square foot house, on a hill overlooking what used to be fertile farm land, with a double-sided fireplace made of really cool petrified wood. Can't imagine what that'd cost to build today!

Going into Santa Elena Canyon on the Rio Grande

The scale of the canyon

View as you climb up the steep trail. That's Rocksie Candu in the lower left quadrant. And those specks are people walking on the sand....

Lisa contemplating the muddy Rio Grande, from the U.S. side of the border, of course! Rest assured that the U.S. Border Patrol was out in force along the entire area. We were good and safe, although it does feel a bit odd to be asked one's citizenship inside of one's own country.

And a final shot: the long and winding road. Man, everything IS bigger in Texas.

Bisbee to Silver City to Las Cruces

2010-03-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

We are going off the grid tomorrow, heading down toward Big Bend National Park during, what we now know, is its peak season. Not sure if we'll boondock in the park or stay at a funky ranch outside the northern entrance to the park. But either way: no TV, no Internet, no cell, and probably no hookups. (We have been getting spoiled by running the silent ceramic heater during cold nights instead of that heinous propane heater, which is needed for boondocking.)

Yesterday and today were nice days. The tour of the Queen Mine was a real treat. Ours was led by a 77-year-old veteran miner who was able to attest to the conditions in the mines. His mind and physique were amazing; his hearing? Not so much. Too many years of dynamite :-o My next favorite thing? The 1950s mining film, voiced by that same guy you heard in your school days. We could infer the rough age of the film by the complete lack of safety equipment (shirtless guys with no eye protection working with sulfuric acid) and the telephones, mixers, and other appliances shown as examples of why copper mining is so important.

Then we proceeded along the border toward Douglas and then up to I-10. Boy, howdy, were we glad we take good care of Rocksie. Hardly passed another soul on this long stretch of 2-laner. We expected to hit a border checkpoint--we'd been seeing them for days, always for the other side of the road--but we never encountered one, thank goodness. Nick isn't keen on guys in uniforms. (An aside: we think he's moving into healthier territory.)

We made it up to about 6000 feet in western New Mexico in Silver City, a pretty quaint old West town, very different than the rest of the state. This area feels more generically Wild West (mining, ranching). Our plan was to head out early Thursday for the 60-mile drive north to the Catwalk National Recreation Area. Good thing we stopped at the visitor's center in Silver City Wednesday afternoon--thank goodness for retirees staffing Chamber of Commerce offices! Found out that winter rains had washed out the bridge into the park and that a 10-mile hike was required to do the Catwalk. Sigh. Given that 6 miles is a good hike for us, we passed and head south to Las Cruces.

We took a circuitous scenic route down to Las Cruces, passing one of the world's oldest open pit mines. It's 1.7 miles across.

Spent the afternoon doing a bit o' shopping, as we learned that our Friday night event next week in New Orleans is a bit dressy (who knew?) and replacing Lisa's ruined khakis. (Oops, I didn't pack the overhead cabinet properly and a box of pasta fell out, hitting the salad dressing cruet that doesn't close properly, and spilling our yummy homemade walnut oil balsamic vinaigrette all over the light-colored pants. Yeah, that's not coming out.) We both detest shopping, but now have two successful shopping trips notched up for New Mexico--once in ABQ last trip and once here. Apparently, we like Dillards....

Now, we're off on a backcountry adventure, where we need to plan our diesel consumption. We'll start out tomorrow with full propane, full water, empty tanks, and enough food to last a week, but gotta think carefully about fuel--there's not a lot of options in the middle of nowhere. I'm sure we'll do fine. Awaaaay we go--

Tombstone and Bisbee

2010-03-16T19:50:00.000-07:00

What a great little corner of the world. Beautiful scenery, interesting architecture, colorful history--can't ask for more. We visited Tombstone in the morning today and checked into our RV park at noon in Bisbee--it was hellaciously windy today so we wanted to be off the road. Turns out we could walk to everything, so we had fun poking around the museum and shops all afternoon. Found a yummy Mexican lunch spot. I had corn tacos filled with citrus-ancho-marinated pork tenderloin, and Lisa had grilled shrimp in an avocado sauce. We decided to splurge a bit since we are heading into boondock land for the next week.

Update on Nick--he is loving his bland diet and seems to be feeling OK (he is playing), but now we've swung to the other extreme--nothing. It was Lisa's "on duty" night last night and she was up with him at 1:45 (a little something) and 5:30AM (nothing). We've had him out a bunch today, but nothing else in the productive department. A new worry. Appreciate any advice from other dog owners. We know he hates the whole desert vibe, so we're going to a forested CG in NM tomorrow just for him (!).

We couldn't get Mine Tour tix for today, so we're on deck for the 9AM tour tomorrow and then we'll head out to New Mexico, where we hope things aren't so crowded as they are in Arizona.

Here are the photos du jour:

Tombstone

Bisbee

The Copper Queen Hotel--this was quite a city back in the day. Around 1900, 20,000 people and quite the lovely buildings.

View of town from our campsite

(and the B on the mountain lights up at night)

The mine we're going in tomorrow--

Phoenix, Mesa, Tucson

2010-03-15T21:31:00.000-07:00

Ah, the catch-up post. The one that never does justice to the daily nuances of travel, but that nevertheless must be done. We have barely an AT&T connection, here in the middle of (seriously) nowhere--10 miles OUTSIDE the hamlet of Tombstone, AZ. Our intention was to camp in Kartchner Caverns State Park tonight, just as our intention was to camp in Usery Mountain Regional Park last night. Twas not to be.

Parks are full to overflowing this time of year--snowbirds are still here, spring break has sprung, the weather is prime, and no reservations are accepted. The protocol is amazing--people dry camp in the overflow parking lot to queue up at 9AM the next day to see if they can get a spot for that night. Meh. We don't queue. But we did dry camp at Usery Mountain last night and it was not bad at all. After 3 nights at Mesa Regal--land of claustrophobia and 2000 nosy neighbors--we were happy to have quiet and some space around us, even if it was just asphalt on one side and desert on the other.

But when we got to Kartchner Caverns today at 1:30 and it was still full (probably snowbirds taking their 14 day maximum), we ditched the state park idea and headed to a highly rated commercial campground: Tombstone Territorial RV Park. A very nice place--all 9s and 10s. Nick, of course, hates it because it's all gravel and desert, but it's really nice. Lots of room, scenic vistas, nice pool and hot tub, which Lisa enjoyed tonight.

So, to catch us up visually, here are the Cubs game photos. Some are from the Brewers' home stadium; some are from the Cubs' Hohokam Stadium, where they've played for 57 years (and are in danger of leaving, much to the chagrin of Mesa, AZ).

Note that the sausage races were at the Brewers' stadium.....

Lovely time watching the games. First game: 12-3, Brewers. Second game (and much better Cubs squad): 12-4 Cubs over Reds. One thing I learned: keep your eye on the ball in these "intimate" stadiums. Fly and foul balls can come at any time.

And here's the actual owner of the Cubs, getting beer for his buddies and sitting in the bleachers on the visitors' side like the rest of us. Kinda cool.

One of the more colorful regulars, Mark the Beer Man.

We had a great visit with our dear friend, Peg, during these great, sunny days at the ballpark. When she flew home Sunday, we took ourselves a-sightseein' in Phoenix and went up to to Scottsdale to Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture school in the desert. I visited once before 20+ years ago and loved my second visit just as much or more. Lisa really enjoyed it, too. He's quite a character, Mr. Wright. Such a visionary. To think that he accomplished 1/3 of his famous works between the age of 70 and 92--it's remarkable.

He built Taliesin West after a bout of pneumonia that almost killed him at age 70. He spent his winters in Arizona thereafter and lived to the ripe old age of 91 or 92--can't recall. He worked up until 5 days before his death. And he had synesthesia--his particular brand of it was hearing music (particularly Beethoven) as he designed spaces. And he was such a visionary-- he designed a bank with a drive-through window and pneumatic tubes 25 years before those were in use. He created affordable housing, office buildings, museums, grand homes, and a lasting legacy via the architecture school. He constantly invented, tore it down, and invented again. He always inspires me. A few photos....

Wish we could take the once a month Friday night tour--this guy "breathes" gasoline-fueled flames!

I'm pretty pleased with this iPhone photo:

And this one, too:

But this was just for fun. Check out the details....

And then today (Monday), after boondocking at Usery Mountain's overflow parking lot (and seeing the appeal of the real camping spots!), we headed south. Had to stop at the grocery to get "bland diet" foods for Nick, who is on his third day of icky digestive upset, shall we say. No improvement yet, but suffice to say that he loves his boiled hamburger/cottage cheese/white rice concoction. He's not too pleased with the Pepto Bismal, though....

We also made a stop at La Mesa RV in Tucson for halogen lights and a marker light cover that somehow fell off, after we took the scenic side road (77) down there. Thought we'd see Biosphere on the way, but we misread the map and missed it. Ah well. Another day. We did find a Sunset magazine restaurant recommendation for lunch, though: El Guerro Canelo for the Sonoran hotdog. At $2.29, a bargain, but also delish. Hot peppers, beans, lots of different sauces, and a pillowy soft bun. We each had just one, but noted that most folks had multiples ;-)

Off to explore some Old West stuff--Boot Hill, old mines, and, of course, art galleries.

And This Evening's Entertainment IS...

2010-03-12T20:28:00.001-08:00

...Julie and Lisa backing into their tiny RV space. We had an audience of at least 6 men, most smoking cigarettes, with Nick barking his head off (making me unable to hear Lisa's directions) and each of them telling me what to do. This does not make me happy. Then, we were accosted by several off-leash dogs in the dark as we took our evening constitutional. Cannot wait for a state park!

Will post Cubs pix after tomorrow's game. Used a different lens on my camera today--got some good shots--but the game stunk. (Brewers 12 Cubs 3 when we left in 7th inning.) We'll see what happens with a different squad tomorrow.

It Was the Best of Times...

2010-03-11T20:09:00.000-08:00

Scored our first Roadfood.com find today--Vantastic Donuts in Glendale, AZ. Tried to just buy 2, but the gal insisted I would be stupid to pay extra for two and that six was a better deal. Old-fashioned buttermilk. Yum. Also on the excellent side of the ledger: meeting up with our dear friend from Chicago. She was soaking up the 65 degree warmth after their terrible winter. We had a good time catching up tonight and supping in the nearby Toby Keith Bar and Grill. Sorta like a country Hooters. But very cute kids working there and actually pretty good food. You just had to look past the gang prevention task force at the front door.

But the big oh dear is our accommodations. Good location--only 9 miles (which is just around the corner in Phoenix terms) from our friend's hotel and the Mesa ballpark--but OMG. Over 2000 sites-- permanent mobile homes and snowbirds. Overwhelming. And claustrophobic. And not all that dog friendly. We are only allowed on 2 perimeter streets, so we can't even walk the dog and gawk, which is a fun pasttime in these crazy places. It's always fun to see how folks trick out their spots and rigs for long-term stays.

The really unfortunate part is that they mixed us overnighters in with the permanents (this hasn't been the case at the few other "resorts" we've stayed in), so we're paranoid about disturbing folks as we hook up at night.

We knew we should've stayed at the regional (or state?) park at Usery Mountain--our kinda place--but we were afraid to be so far out on the edge of town driving back each night late, or at least in the dark. We plan to head there on Sunday to get us some nature, though.

In the meantime, we expect to have a lot of fun at the Cubs' games. First one tomorrow over in Phoenix at the Brewers' home stadium--we'll be the visitors. Then Saturday we'll be closer to home at the Mesa stadium, the Cubs' "home" field. We are very excited. That'll keep us from focusing on the "worst of times" location....

Tailwinds

2010-03-10T17:02:00.000-08:00

We got a late start yesterday and only traveled to Bakersfield, and then we decided to make the trip to Phoenix in two days, rather than one long one. Turns out that was a good idea.

We passed through four different kinds of weather today:
Fog in Bakersfield but lovely wildflowers
Snow atop Tehachapi Pass
Bright sunshine but huge winds through Barstow
Back to snow in Kingman, AZ

The little iPhone tried to keep up with it all.

The best part of today was the tailwind. As we glided across the California desert, pushed by steady western winds and barely having to use the gas pedal, I was reminded how very many tailwinds we have in our lives. Like our lovely neighbor who offered to bring in our trash cans yesterday after we waited and waited for it to get picked up (and our guy forgot us!). Like our families who gently (usually) push us to become the people we are today. Like our spouses who tackle the jobs we hate to do and thus make our lives so much easier.

Now I understand the Irish blessing even better:

May the road rise to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face.
And rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of His hand.

Next Trip: March 9

2010-02-24T19:05:00.000-08:00

We set sail in less than two weeks! Tentative route, which takes us to some national parks that we keep missing, namely Big Bend in Texas and Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.

We also want to NOT miss a few places from previous trips, e.g., Bisbee, AZ, Catwalks National Recreation Area in New Mexico, Vicksburg National Military Park in Mississippi, Pagosa Springs in Colorado. Also will be nice to revisit a few nice spots (Hot Springs National Park and Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada, for example) on our way home. Depending on mileage, we may need to detour back through our favorite, Albuquerque, for an oil change at the great Freightliner place we found last fall. Who knows? Other than Cubbies spring training games in Phoenix the first weekend out and the Roadfood festival in New Orleans at the end of the month, the schedule is clear till May Day, by which time we would like to be back home.

View Larger Map

January Plans Redux

2010-02-01T10:59:00.001-08:00

We canceled the MLK Day trip to Big Sur due to the big winter storms that started blowing through that weekend. Having lived in the area for 20 years, we know better than to tempt landslides on Highway 1 in January. (Plus, cloudy gray days don't make for great boondocking with solar panels.)

We did take Rocksie out a few times this month: twice to our new San Jose RV repair place. Fabulous service--they worked for months and ended up getting our broken rear window replaced for free by Atwood. Yay! That's at least $1000 savings. We also driveway camped in a Bay Area friend's driveway one night so that we could attend a dinner party. Not a good plan to drive the 3+ hour drive home late at night.... So, we did sort of "camp" once this month. That makes last December the only month we didn't sleep in the RV since we bought it a year ago. Not too bad.

We've rescheduled our Big Sur trip for this month, after I get back from FL parental visit this week. (Groan... I have to fly there....)

An update for those inquiring minds ;-)

January Travel Plans

2010-01-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

Well, we decided to opt out of the Quartzite trip after all. Just can't get excited about the destination and our travel plans are shaping up for the spring. So, we've decided to FINALLY head south on Highway 1 (yes, we live here and have owned the Navion for almost a whole year now and haven't been down there in her yet) and camp at Kirk Creek Campground, a National Forest Service site right on the ocean. We are having excellent weather right now (high 60s), but who knows what it'll be like in 2 weeks. Boondocking in January--bring it on!

Looks like the big spring, off-season trip will start in early March: 2 Cubs games in Phoenix with our best friend from Chicago on the way to Roadfood Festival and Lisa's sister's bday in New Orleans. Parental visit and who knows what route back to the West Coast by early May.

Debating Quartzite....

2009-12-05T10:19:00.000-08:00

Tempted to go to the big RV show (and V/N tech rally) at Quartzite, AZ in mid-January. Eager to learn more and maybe get a few products for the RV (an awning for the dining room window, for example, and perhaps help installing single-handle faucets), but not eager for the desert experience of Quartzite. Hmmm. Maybe we can add some southern CA sites to lure us on a 2-week trip? California camping is not actually our favorite--state parks (even cruddy ones) are $50/night now and CA weather in January will likely be stormy (El Nino year). Hmmm. Thoughts?

A possible route:

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Fall 2009 SW Trip Wrap Up

2009-11-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

Well, we've regained some house-based normalcy again (it sure took a few days) and have been reflecting on our most wonderful trip--the first trip without a single deadline or firm itinerary. We loved it!

The trip stats:

Distance: just about 5,000 miles in 40 days.

Average camping fee: $22.50 (which reflects only 4 free nights, lots of $14-20 state parks, but also a few doozy nights at $30-55!)

Maintenance: yikes. This trip wins for priciest maintenance outlays: new headlight bulbs, tires, oil change (with oil and fuel filters). But I will always remember Tire Rack with its reasonable 2-day FedEx shipping, should we ever be in need of new tires whilst underway.

Mileage: Hovering slightly below 15 mpg this trip. Didn't get great mileage given the tire problems and fall winds we faced on many days. We also traveled heavy this trip, with holding tanks and souvenirs ;-)

National Parks and Monuments: Boy, did we visit a ton of these!
1. Pipe Springs National Monument
2. Grand Canyon National Park North Rim
3. Mesa Verde National Park
4. Canyon de Chelly National Monument
5. Petroglyph National Monument
6. Navajo National Monument
7. Bandelier National Monument
8. Salinas Pueblo Missions National Monument
9. Guadalupe Mountains National Park
10. Carlsbad Caverns National Park
11. Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge

Moral of the story: our national parks and monuments are always must-sees: educational, beautiful, and often inspirational.

Favorite State/County Parks: Lake Pleasant northwest of Phoenix--fantastic views. Brantley Lake State Park north of Carlsbad for coziness and ease of camping. Abiqui Dam (Corps of Engineers) for natural setting. Valley of Fire State Park (Nevada's first state park) for best facilities in most unusual setting. Coral Pink Sand Dunes for awesome hiking--Nick loved those dunes.

Best green chile cheeseburger: Manny's Buckhorn for balance of flavors (Double Eagle in La Mesilla in Las Cruces for hottest chiles).

Fanciest meal: Ojo Caliente's new restaurant/wine bar

Best meal value: Ghost Ranch lunch for $8 all-you-can-eat salad bar and lovingly made soups. But wait: those free pancakes at the KOA were pretty hard to beat.

Favorite Roadfood stop: The Range in Bernalillo (or Pasqual's in Santa Fe?)

Most educational tourist attraction: Los Alamos History Museum (or maybe the dowsing demonstration at the New Mexico Farm and Ag Museum. No wait: Pipe Springs National Monument. Or maybe Ghost Ranch. Yikes, but we learned A LOT on this trip.)

Most challenging activity: Hiking down into Carlsbad Caverns via the Natural Entrance (followed closely by the tire debacle)

Biggest surprise: Earthships outside of Taos for Julie; Chimayo for Lisa. Or maybe the free camping in a great campground at Navajo National Monument. No, it had to be the coyotes surrounding our RV at 5AM.

Biggest tourist trap: Four Corners. This is unambiguous.

We've already listed the must-go-back-and-see places in an earlier post--and we will. What a great part of the country and especially beautiful in the autumn. We'll see what we think in the winter/early spring if we're able to get back there.

Home!

2009-11-24T17:45:00.001-08:00

Found a great new overnight spot in Bakersfield last night: A Country RV. Easy on/off freeway, immaculate grounds, and pristine showers (for Lisa). Nick enjoyed having an enclosed dog run to play in after 2, 10-hour driving days. Poor guy. But he sure knew when we were getting within 10 miles of home today ;-) He snapped out of his passenger coma and got down off his dinette perch when we started down Carmel Valley Road.

We are all happy to be home. Our 1800 square foot house feels ENORMOUS (and needs cleaning!), but wonderful. We got all unpacked and have even started playing with where to hang/put the neat art we got along our trip. Danger, though. Martha the New Mexican cow skull can NOT sit on the floor of the back deck with our cactus collection. She must, unfortunately, hang HIGH up on a wall somewhere. Nick thinks she's a giant chew toy. Seriously. So, now we know the skull is a REAL skull at least....

Will do a wrap up post in the next few days. First, laundry, cleaning, and COOKING with real pots and pans.

Arizona {Hearts} AT&T

2009-11-22T18:29:00.000-08:00

We pulled over 500 miles today, most of which was "in network" on AT&T. I think AT&T does not like New Mexico, but it loves Arizona. We were up and out of Oliver Lee SP by 8AM today. Interesting park, but full of partying tent campers and, as we noted yesterday, rocks. Time to go. So, we hoofed it on I-10 till noonish (around Lordsburg, NM) and then impulsively headed north on US-70 because we'd had enough interstate. Lovely ride up to Globe and the part of US-60 that we weren't able to take earlier this year. We LOVE US-60. Made it through Phoenix--we wanted to push beyond it on a Sunday--and to a delicious county park about 30 miles north. Note for fellow RVers: Stay at Lake Pleasant. Full hookups, $20, views to forever. We finally got sort of level as the sun was fading. We could see hot air balloons far off in the sunset, mountains, and tons and tons of saguaros standing guard over us. It was worth the extra detour to stay here, rather than a snowbird RV park. (We aren't over 55 anyway and so many of the RV parks in AZ have age restrictions.)

We pushed hard today and will do so again on Tuesday--we'll cut NW up to Kingman, then over Tehachapi down to Bakersfield, which makes Tuesday's trip a 4-hour cruise home. Plenty of time to clean the house and grocery shop and cook the feast on Thursday. (I'll try making Mom's stuffing in the 2-quart $12 Walmart crockpot in the RV another year.) Just keep your fingers crossed that we can get the #*$&! propane company to come out and relight our pilot lights on Wednesday. Tough to cook a turkey without the gas.... But I could always use the grill. Good to have a Plan B.

We are seriously talking about coming back to the southwest again soon--maybe in January for the View/Navion Tech Rally at Quartzite? (Icky place, but great people and products.) Maybe for spring trip to SW NM sites that we missed? Who knows? We haven't invented 2010 yet, but will put this in the pot. We want to visit Bisbee, AZ, for the mine tour; Tucson for a Sonoran hot dog at El Guero Canelo; Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture school, Taliesen West, in Phoenix; Sedona for a Pink Jeep tour; the Catwalks in western NM (metal catwalks bolted to the canyon walls--they were old gold mining equipment!), Silver City and Gila Cliffs National Monument, and the rocky state parks we just couldn't stomach this week: City of Rocks SP and Rockhound SP (where you can keep whatever semi-precious stones you find/"mine") near Deming.

Without further adieu, a catch-up on photos from the last week.

CARLSBAD CAVERNS: Natural Entrance
For those of you who have always been fit, it probably is a big yawn, but for someone like me who has not been athletic, it was a feat to tackle a hike labeled "strenuous" and with tons of warnings. Turns out it was Lisa who was freaking out as we descended the VERY steep trail into the dark, humid (90% humidity) cave.... Both of our legs were a bit sore the next day, but what a blast to actually descend without an elevator almost 1,000 feet below the surface. Hyperventilation was avoided, but after we took a second trail around the actual cave, we were happy for that elevator. (All cave photos were on the iPhone; I didn't want to manage the big camera with the slopes and dampness.)

GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS NATIONAL PARK
What a lovely park this is, out in the middle of nowhere (literally)! We actually drove back down to the park from well north of Carlsbad so that we could dry camp here and do some of the hikes. However, the camping STINKS! Just a parking lot. So we didn't end up staying but we did do a few of the shorter trails (since we'd done the cave the same day!). This place looks like a dry, rocky, inhospitable place; turns out that the reason it's a national park is that there's a "bowl" inside the jagged mountains that catches any rain and is bursting with biological diversity. We got a small taste of the diversity (all kinds of cool bugs and birds and mammals) without hiking the 3000 feet up to the "bowl":

ROSWELL, NM
These folks are just proud of their wacky reputation. We love it.

The lady at the Visitor Center insisted. She did. Really.

BITTER LAKE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE (near Roswell)
Well, we missed Bosque del Apache, but we found another, possibly better, spot: a national wildlife refuge. The visitor's center was brand new, gorgeous, with lovely displays. The park has 110 species of dragonflies--who knew there were such robust wetlands in New Mexico? There are deep artesian springs in this area--lots of water, reeds, protective hills, and no predators. Perfect place for birds. On the day we visited, around 24,000 sandhill cranes (the peak). Gorgeous. But unfortunately, some of the nature trails were closed because it was a hunting day. (In a wildlife refuge? Whatever.... But I've now got a killer craving for duck.)

LINCOLN, NM
Quite the wild west town--the entire place is on the National Registry of Historic Places. Had a really great lunch (another great green chile cheeseburger) at a historic hotel and a nice stroll down this old street.

Drove through the mountains down through Ruidoso (another place to put on the must-visit list for the next trip) to Oliver Lee State Park outside of Alamagordo. A very funky park, but up a hillside with commanding views of all the jagged mountains down around Las Cruces. I realized how very much I like the cottonwoods/river valleys. There wasn't a tree in sight.... Part of the cause for homesickness, I think.

Now here's a sunrise saguaro photo, courtesy of Lisa, who was out walking the dog today.

We {Heart} Roswell, but Hate AT&T!

2009-11-21T16:11:00.001-08:00

Short post to let y'all know that we have been having a blast.

--Loved the Caverns and took the scary Natural Entrance in. Adored Brantley Lake SP.
--Loved Roswell (again). Can't wait to share the photos.
--Explored Billy the Kid Scenic Byway, including Lincoln.
--Must go back to Ruidoso when it's warmer.
--Overnighting tonight at Oliver Lee SP. Got the last spot.

We are now thinking we might abandon the SW NM touring for another day (we WILL be back--love this state) and head home in time for Thanksgiving. Lots of snowbirds and the upcoming holiday week have us worried about our strategy of no reservations. Plus, we love the high desert, but all 3 of us have sort of had our fill of rocks.

Now, AT&T is another matter. They asked us not to use the iPhone when we are "off network" and we have been "off network" for a week. So, I'm using the laptop on roaming mode to make this quick post and check email. I need to have a long chat with them about prohibiting me from using my phone, which we need for family updates, checking weather, mapping, email, locating a laundromat and grocery store, geocaching, etc., etc., etc.

Lots of photos to post...at some point when AT&T won't threaten me. We may wake up tomorrow and feel OK about staying in NM this week (Silver City, Deming, et al), or we may hotfoot it west. We'll see. I have to admit to pining for my own washing machine.

The Mesilla Valley

2009-11-16T15:33:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, we finally tried geocaching. Found it pretty quickly (it was an easy one!), but think we might be hooked.

Then we drove down to Las Cruces via NM 187, instead of I-25, taking a scenic country lane through Hatch (chile capital of the world). Love the little roads. Got to see field after field of red chiles, acres of pecan groves with golden leaves, cotton fields, and lettuce fields--very colorful red, yellow, white and green. Toured the New Mexico Farm Museum, a AAA "gem." It was indeed really neat.

We attended a dowsing demonstration, led by a 39-year Army veteran (and a civil engineer). Wow. I found out that I have a knack for it, so I spent $10 and bought a little booklet, some L rods, and a pendulum, and intend to practice this every day.

We visited the resident blacksmith, big Bertha the demonstration milking cow, and learned all about NM agriculture. Interesting factoid: one bale of cotton weighs 500 pounds and can produce 1200+ T-shirts, or 2000 socks, or 275 pairs of jeans. There was also a special exhibit on the history of NM schools....

Got the laundry done along with some necessary chores, and then Monday we decided not to drive. We were able to walk about 1.5 miles to the old plaza in Mesilla. A beautiful plaza, lots of neat shops, and a really great lunch.

When we got back today, we met Navion owners FROM GREENCASTLE, INDIANA. They saw "DePauw" on Lisa's sweat pants and stopped to say hello. Talk about a small world. And they're V/N Yahoo! group members, too.

We plan to head out early tomorrow for Carlsbad Caverns and another state park.

Of Chloride and Chlorox

2009-11-15T07:15:00.000-08:00

Let's see...to catch up...we spent our first non-moving day on Friday at Elephant Butte State Park, waiting out the 25-35 mph winds blowing through with the big storm that was delivering snow up north. Temps were lovely here, though--near 70--so we managed two good-sized hikes. Walking up the sand dunes from the lake against the wind, with tumbleweeds attacking, is not much fun, though. But it sure is pretty here. The Rio Grande is dammed here and the water is a lovely shade of green. We even saw wild pumpkins clinging to their withered vines. (Nick took a yellow, tennis-ball-sized one--of course--back to our campsite.)

New Mexico has some of the nicest state parks you'll find. We opted not to buy the annual pass, as we aren't staying enough nights to make it worthwhile (it's something like $250/year and makes every night only $4; it's $14 otherwise), but just love the electric and water hookups for that nice, low price. Most have recycling (a rarity on the road, unfortunately) and shower facilities. But we are glad to be self-contained:

Saturday we toodled up to Chloride, NM. What a trip back in time and into the boonies this was. We passed through Cuchillo, which we thought held some tourist attractions (per the Las Cruces Visitor Bureau), but alas the town was in serious decline. (And the Bureau denies any responsibility for accuracy--lovely!) We did see some fun things, though:

The view into town (see the police car looking like a speed trap?):

There are dummies inside the car, which I couldn't capture, but which made us laugh out loud.

These folks don't have much of a town, but they do have a sense of humor (another sign said, "Welcome to Chloride. Now Slow Your [picture of a donkey] Down!") and a pretty little church.

As we kept traveling up and up in altitude and farther out and out into the boonies past a whole lot of hunters and lots of blind curves at cattle guards marked for 10mph, (and they MEANT 10 mph), we were getting discouraged. What if Chloride was as big of a bust as Cuchillo? We pressed onward.

What a find.

The town of Chloride, once population 3000 during the silver boom, is now home to 10 full-time souls. 10. And two of those souls have made the town a labor of their love. They were weekenders for many years, bringing up groceries to the old folks in town every Friday night, until they were able to retire (he from IBM) and move up full time. (Keep in mind that the nearest anything is well over an hour away.) They bought the two remaining historic buildings in town from a real old timer (many folks were in their late 90s and were able to tell tales from the old days--the town shut down as a town in 1923).

One building, which was once one of 9 saloons in town and had become the school at one point, is now an artists' coop, featuring the work of 30 "local" artists.

Some things were pretty crafty (a "cake" made of ribbons and silk flowers ;-) and some things were really quite accomplished. The quilts--wow. The photography? Stunning. We ended up buying 2 paintings for our still-bare walls at home, a cowgirl necklace for Lisa, and a Christmas ornament made by our sales lady. They had told us on the way in that it was "Yuletide in Chloride" weekend (!), so for every $25 purchased, you got a special treat. We declined to take all that we had "earned," but we did take a peanut brittle and a fudge. Unreal. These ladies know how to make candy. And the pecans in both were local and harvested this fall. So fresh.

Then, the REAL treat began. The woman who'd done the restoration gave us a tour of the next-door museum. (The sign on the front says that if no one is around, go down 3 doors and knock.)

This building was the mercantile for the area and had simply been shuttered in 1923, with everything in side left as it was. The bats and rats had free run for 60 years and along came this retired couple to clean it up. They spent 3 years shoveling and hand cleaning (with Chlorox bleach or just even damp cloths) the amazing items inside--all of which have been restored and actually work! I've never seen a McClaskey credit machine (made in Dayton at turn of 20th century). An ingenious, fire-proof, and semi-automated device made for keeping each customer's credit record and printing out daily receipts. I've been searching the web a bit, but can't yet find anything on this. Really interesting contraption. Suffice to say, we were in this museum for quite a while, like kids in a candy store, asking questions and listening to the most fascinating stories. (I was reminded of the antebellum house in Mississippi, in which the 80+ year old owner and restorer gave us all his stories ;-) People are just amazing with what passions they follow and share with the world.

So, our visit was definitely worth that washboardy, winding, and beautiful drive. And put this on your list, Nancy :-)

We ended up heading back into T or C for lunch at the Full Belly Deli (the name turned out to be the best thing about the place) and walking around the funky little downtown's first annual "Hot Springs Festival." The festival was intended to accomplish many purposes: provide vendors a closed street on which to sell all manner of tchotchkes, provide tours of the 10 hot springs downtown (we missed that tour, unfortunately), honor the almost-centenarians in town (?), and generally provide live music, a beer garden, and a bouncy house. We do love small town festivals. Ended up buying one more souvenir. (I think we have shopped more on this trip than any others because we aren't driving like madwomen every day.) Can't believe we did it. And I didn't get a photo before Lisa packed her (her name is, inexplicably, Martha) away. We bought a bleached old cow skull. Yup. Sure did. Can't wait to find the right spot for her when we get home.

As the afternoon wore on, we decided we needed to find a new state park. (The last one had been ruined by a hideous family moving in next door to us. The husband was some kind of Neanderthal beer belly redneck, the helpless wife got dragged for walks by the untrained beast of a dog, the little girl threw tantrums wailing at the top of her lungs, AND--get this--they tied up the dog and left it outside ALL night. Did you know that the car horn doesn't honk when the engine isn't on? Yes, I got a bit steamed with the dog's barking at one point and tried the horn....)

So, we found another state park gem just a bit down the road: Percha Dam, also known for its birding possibilities. (We've heard tons of interesting ones, but really haven't seen too many.) These are just iPhone photos, but they capture the pretty late afternoon, autumnal light here:

Goodness, but we love fall travel. Gorgeous weather, clean air, colorful leaves. We are in the perfect spot right now--high of 60, no precip. Albuquerque is having a wintry mix today. Glad we got out of northern/central NM when we did.

Today, we're off to Las Cruces, since Lisa has made a request for civilization and possibly a movie theater and we need to do laundry again. Think we'll go back to the resort we stayed at last November--the one with the concierge, hot tub, and nice library/laundry room combo. We found out that we can actually walk to a historic plaza from there (Old Mesilla) and maybe, just maybe, we'll get our hair cut!

And happy 87th birthday, Dad! Calling soon....