Texas

Well, because of the difficulties that Bob had in breathing at the higher altitudes in New Mexico, we are heading for lower ground. We headed straight down I25 and then south and east on I10. The weather is not getting better. As we drove we watched the HUGE BLACK clouds. In New Mexico they were over the mountains and it was kind of interesting. Here in Texas, we drove right into them. We stopped at a KOA in Van Horn Texas. Nice enough for a KOA. It is VERY windy. I can only hope that the weather will get better soon.

When we crossed into Texas we stopped at the visitor center. OMG. A very nice man greeted us and gave us about 5 inches of literature. If we happened to mention that something interested us, we got a brochure and also other tangential info, like other sights in the area. So when we got to this KOA, we spent about an hour going through the literature and trying to decide where to go next. Texas does not seem to have a lot of state or national parks in the center of the state where we are. We thought about going to the Lady Bird municipal park, but the reviews on it were not great. (We have free wifi here so we have been looking at the campground reviews while going through the literature.) We are still thinking of going to Fredericksburg because it has some interesting sights. But we might decide to just go stay tonight at a rest area and then spend more days in San Antonio.

We decided to stop at the KOA because the weather is awful, we wanted the power so that we had heat, and we could use their free wifi. But, this is not my favorite place to stay.

Several interesting aspects to the trip here. We got stopped again by the border patrol while on I-10. I think that makes 25 times in three weeks. It is still the case that we pull up, they look at us, ask if we are US citizens and then wave us on. But waiting in line for all of the other cars when this is happening on an interstate is difficult. Bob says it is "pissy" I say it is just time consuming for us.

While we were going through El Paso, the Mexican border was so close. As we were driving I saw many very sad looking houses scattered on a hillside just to our right. I thought what a poor town El Paso is. Then I realized that those houses were in Mexico. They did not look like they had power or running water. They had not been painted, probably ever. Then you looked to our left and saw the houses of El Paso and they were what you would expect for middle class America. (El Paso is much larger than I thought.)

Finally, one interesting item. On the interstate while we were in New Mexico there were almost no roadside businesses at all. The minute we crossed the border into Texas, we were in an area with hundreds and hundreds of businesses. It was a stark contrast. It started at mile 0 of I-10 in Texas. Bob says it has to do with the business climate in New Mexico. Whatever, it was startling to see so many businesses after having seen so few for so many days.

I have to go now because Bob tells me that he is worried about the wind and wants to do more to stabilize the trailer. Bye for now.

We are taking a weekend.

Bob was getting tired of traveling and sightseeing, so we are doing nothing today. We went into town and bought some stuff that we need to make a few small repairs. We have spent some time thinking about where to go next. Mostly we have just relaxed. This is a very nice campground and pretty quiet. It went down to 25 degrees last night, but it is up to 65 now. The sun was shining but there are now clouds coming in. The weather has not been kind to us on this trek.

So I have spent some time thinking about my reaction to this trip so far. First, it is great to be with my husband and just talking and experiencing things together. We have seen some wonderful sights and have met some very nice people. It is a nice way to spend some time. The trip so far has made me think about what is important to me. I am finding that I do not particularly want to see the things in the cities. Mostly I want to see the landscape. I don't know if that will be true as we get further east, but it certainly is true for here.

I am also finding that I am relaxing and just enjoying life. Several times I have found myself impatient about something and was able to talk myself into letting things be and waiting. It is life changing for me if I can do this. Right now Bob is caulking the sink so that it won't leak into the cupboard below and I am getting ready to wash some windows. Then I think a whole bunch of reading is in order. Maybe I will also take a walk. Nice to have a weekend. Thanks for the suggestion Stef.

We are now in New Mexico

Ok. So here is the update. We learned that staying at RV parks is not our favorite way to travel. We were not only smaller than all of the other trailers, we were so much smaller that the next largest was at least 2 or 3 times larger than we were. Many people stopped by and told us that they thought our trailer was cute, but they did not know how they could get by. Well, the reason we can get by is that we usually have a lot of our stuff on the outside of the trailer and it is not possible to do this in trailer parks. We have decided that we prefer to stay in state campgrounds. They are not only cheaper, but they are more what we like.

We visited Kartchner Caverns in Arizona. OMG. It was truly amazing. It will be one of the highlights of our trip. We learned about the geology of this area and got to see live and growing stalactictes. It was awesome. There was a very nice campground outside of the caverns and if we ever come back to this area I would prefer to camp in that campground rather than in the RV park.

In the afternoon we went to the Chiricahua National Monument. This was a recommendation from one of the women doing her laundry in the RV park. (This is a very good way to get recommendations - just start talking to people.) This was an awesome sight. The rocks from the volcanoes were huge and beautiful and I cannot recreate this in pictures, but I took many many. There was a short walk around the site, and Bob was not able to take the walk because he kept running out of breath, so I took many pictures. This was a very worthwhile trip. I now have a much better understanding of the formation of Arizona - and New Mexico.

We left the RV park and Arizona and headed for New Mexico. Our plan was to go to Columbus New Mexico and stay at the Pancho Villo state park. But the winds were very strong on the way there. There was a sandstorm so bad that they actually had shuttle vehicles to lead us through. When we got to the park we learned that the bathrooms were closed except on weekends (in order to save money). The combination of the winds and the bathrooms discouraged us from staying there - although it did look like a nice park. We left and drove into Deming - about 50 miles away. We decided that we did not want to just park the trailer. We wanted to camp and enjoy the outdoors. All of the RV parks there were narrow sites and we would have had to just stay in the trailer. We decided to keep looking. We headed toward Silver City. On the way we found a nice rest area and almost stayed there. But we decided to try the state park a few miles away called the City of Rocks. I was so gald that we did. It was gorgeous!!! It got very cold that night and we had no electricity and had to get by on our batteries, but it was worth it. In the morning we got up and took some walks. The elevation was about 5000 ft. and that made it very hard for Bob to breathe. If that had not been the case we would have stayed there for a couple of days. But we took our walks and then moved on. The rangers there were very helpful in directing us to other parks.

We drove to Silver City. This is a very artsy city with a history of mining and the home of Billy the Kid. Many mines in the area. There was a small and cute museum and many shops with "ART" noted on the sidewalk. There were local artists and some very lovely pieces, but more than we wanted to pay. On the other hand, we got a good recommendation for lunch and had the best Mexican food that I have had in a long time.

We left Silver City and drove over some very high and windy mountains and got to Truth or Consequences New Mexico. At the recommedation of the ranger at City of Rocks, we are staying at Elephant Butte state park. This is a very large park right on the Rio Grande river. (Did you know that the Rio Grande was in New Mexico? I did not.) It is a very nice park and allows us to put our stuff outside the way we like. We went into town to buy groceries and our only option was either a very small and expensive local market or WalMart. Yuck. We just could not go into Walmart.

We will stay here for a few days and then move on - looking for more good recommendations. this is great!!!!!

Benson Arizona

Wow.
So much has happened in the last two days. We spent the last days at Agua Caliente in very strong winds. We couldn't even sit outside. And it was starting to get colder. So we thought that we would do better moving east. Wrong! But more about that later. Yesterday morning we were all packed up and ready to leave by 8 am. But it was a stop and start leaving. First Bob realized that he did not have his hearing aids in. So we stoppped and opened the trailer and took out the hearing aids. Then I couldn't remember if I had secured everything, so we stopped again so that I could check. Then I couldn't remember if I had closed the vent on the top of the trailer. In all, we had to stop five times and open the trailer to make sure that everything was secured.

We did have an unusual challenge on this leg of the trip. From Sunday night at sundown to Monday night at sundown, it was my brother's yahrzeit (the anniversay of his death). We are supposed to light a memorial candle and keep it lit for 24 hours. We lit it at Agua Caliente and then carried it with us in the truck's cup container until we stopped for the night, then in the trailer. That was a true challenge.

Driving through California and then into Arizona I realized that there is really a lot to see in the desert, but it takes quite a while to realize what you are seeing. At first it all looks the same. It takes a while to realize that there are major differences in the cacti and in the ground and in the mountain. (The mountains in Arizona are lower but more rugged looking than the ones in California. The cactus is also lower and there is lots more of it. The ground seems to have a lot fewer rocks.) I will never really like it, but I can learn to appreciate it. I was also impressed by how fertile it is when water is added. The Imperial Valley was incredibly green in spots and then really barren in other spots. It all depended on the water.

One of the things that surpised both Bob and I were the number of times that we have gone through Border Patrol checkpoints. Nine during this week. They take one look at us, ask if we are US citizens and then pass us through. But lots of them. Undoubtedly this is because we were so close to the Mexican border. At times we could see into Mexico from I-8.

We drove through Yuma and did not see anything but RV parks - lots and lots of theml We tried to find the Arizona Tourist office, but could not. The most interesting thing about Yuma was a large billboard with a big picture of George W. Bush that said "Miss Me Yet?" Hmmm. Not me.

When we got to Tucson it was pouring!!!! - and it was rush hour traffic. Bob and I decided that we would stop at a Holiday Inn Express, but it was $100 a night. Not worth it. So we drove another five miles to Benson Arizona and we are parked in an RV Resort. It is not camping - it is parking the vehicle. We hooked up the power, walked a block to a great restaurant, and came back and went to bed.

Last night the temperature went down to 33 degrees. I think it is warmer in Portland. We are south, but we are at 3500 feel elevation. During the day today it got up to the mid 50's and was very sunny, but it was very cold last night.

Today we went to Bisbee Arizona, where we went to a great museum that talked about copper mining in Arizona and life in the desert in the early 1900's. It is a town that is surviving on tourism, but it is nicely done. I say that because we then went to Tombstone. Too too touristy for me. Nothing really but shops selling overpriced stuff that is not even local. They put on fake shows of the gunfight at the OK corral. Bob and I were both bored.

We then just started driving, not sure what to see next. We saw a sign to Colossal Cave Monument Park and went there. We took a tour of a HUGE cave (65 feet underground). That was definitely worth seeing. The paths, the handrails and the lights were put in place in the 30's by the CCC. What a good way to spend federal money.

We are now in the social room of this RV Resort. There are three very noisy tables of people (all over 65 years old) playing poker. Interesting. but not camping.

Pictures of the desert

I am just figuring out how to download pictures. I tried to get these on the last blog but couldn't. Here are pictures of the desert, including Bob hiking and our scooters.

Southern California

This is a different part of southern California. It is desert. It is dry and generally hot, although it has been windy and a little cool yesterday and today. Our campsite is great and we have met some very nice people. They have also given us some good tips on what to see next. The volunteers even brought us free camfire wood for a few nights. (The closest store is about 50 miles away.)

The campsite has no cell phone or internet coverage so it is hard to connect with people, but I suppose that it is nice as a start to be isolated. We are currently about 10 miles down the road from our campground at a private campgroud that has a laundry area - yes it is time to do laundry. They have free wifi so it seemed time to update my blog.

The drive here from Oregon and the Bay Area was long and tiring and it is good that we have just stopped for a week to make sure that everything works. (We are really spoiled in Oregon that we do not have the kind of traffic that they have in LA.) We spent one day on the scooters riding around, but there is not much here within scooter distance. We also spent one day driving to the Salton Sea. We actually drove all the way around - it took two hours. It was vey interesting because there was lots of green and crops on one side of the road but very dry and arid on the other side. Of course it is all due to irrigation. The irrigation canal was right next to the road. As far as we could tell there was lots of oranges, dates and grapes growing there. There were also lots of refrigerated trucks on the road to pick up and deliver all of the crops. But it was a nice easy drive.

At my insistance we turned off the road at a place called Bombay Beach - sounded good? Well it was very depressing. A very small area filled with old dilapidated trailers and shacks. Very poor. Apparently there had been a beach there at some point, but the beach now had a sign that it was closed.

Our campground has a regular pool and a therapy pool. We have spent some time in both - although a lot more in the therapy pool. The therapy pool is about 102 degrees and apparently (according to the sign) contains many minerals. Bob says that it does make his back feel better. I just plain enjoy it.

I have been pretty diligent about doing exercise and have even lost another pound. There are some great hiles to take. As we drive around or walk around I see more and more in the desert. People kept telling me that there was a lot to see - but it takes some time to get over the feel that this is barren and there is nothing to see. There are many off road hikes and campsites along the road.

Last night the wind came up pretty strong so we pulled in everything that could get hurt by the wind and even had dinner inside Fanny (the trailer) because it was so windy. This morning it is cloudy but the sky is clearning and it is getting warmer.

The next few days will be more sitting, reading and swimming. Then on to Arizona.

Bay Area

We had a good time in the Bay Area with Ira and Cathie. Saw Stef's friend Anna and her husband and beautiful baby. I may post pictures later. Right now we are in the southern California desert and there is no cell phone coverage in our campsite. We took the scooters and went about 4 miles and found another park where we had coverage.

The desert is beautiful and dry. The weather is very warm during the day and chilly at night. Bob got so tired driving here on Sunday. We made it from the Bay Area to just outside of San Bernadino. We just stopped in a rest area and got up early the next morning and took the back roads. We got to the campsite too early so we dropped off the trailer and went about 50 miles to the nearest town to buy groceries for dinner. Then we came back and it took about 1 1/2 hours to set up camp. We got all set up and went into the hot therapy pool. It was delightful! After we came out Bob was not feeling too good - I think too much therapy pool. We had dinner and barely made it to 8 pm before we fell asleep. It was a really good idea for us to take a few days and just rest before starting across the country.

Today we will just take it easy. A picnic at a cute park that has cell phone access and then back to the campsite for hikes and swimming. We stay here for a week. Lots of hiking and swimming in our futre.

It took us long enough to set up that I think we will try to stay for a few days and at each campsite and then do day hikes. We will see how that works.

Hanging out in the Bay Area

We are now here in the Bay Area with Ira and Cathie. We have spent a lot of time catching up and comparing grandbaby pictures and stories. It has stopped raining and the sky is blue and the temp is about 60 degreees. Very comfortable. The trailer and the pickup are parked in the parking lot and look like they are pretty safe. Last night we went out for dinner and had some really great Thai food. Just hanging out today and then leave tomorrow for Agua Caliente. I feel very mellow and laid back and am thoroughly enjoying having no appointments or responsibilities.

Bob wants everyone to know that I am still forcing him to exercise. In fact, yesterday at the campground I made him do it in what he calls rain. It was actually a very light mist, but we did get wet. It was funny watching people watch us. Maybe we will start a new trend?

We have started!

We have started. We took off and tried to think of everything. Of course, there is one thing that we already realized we forgot. (The battery for Bob's bike. He will have a hard time biking without it.) I am going to ask Scott to Fed Ex it to nephew's house. Hope that works.

You can see the picture of us as we were ready to leave. I had to ask Bob to get out of the truck in order to take the picture. The weather through Oregon was great. We went over the Siskiyou summit in bright sunshine. Then in about Yreka California it started to pour. It was not looking comfortable and we discussed whether we should stop or just keep driving. We decided not to camp in Redding because it was still too rainy and cold. We drove another 30 miles to Red Bluff and found a great campground just off the freeway. It is only drizzling now and a little chilly. We have not even unhooked the trailer. Bob is currently warming the chili that we brought with us. We will eat in a bit and then amuse ourselves. Bob wants to get an early start tomorrow and get into the Bay Area.

The trip down here is one that Bob and I have taken many times. The beauty of the Rogue Valley always amazes me. The starkness of Northern California is also amazing. I am glad that we are out of the mountains and ready to move through the valley.

We could leave today

Bob got the batteries all hooked up and charging. It took a while and we were both very happy that he did it here rather than on the road. I spent the day taking stuff out to Hank and Fanny and loading it up. It all fits! It even seems to be organized and easily accessible. We even stocked the refrigerator.

Last night nephew Ira called and asked that Bob and I stay for two days, rather than just one. I called San Diego county to change our reservation for Agua Caliente and they were wonderful. We also decided to stay there a little longer - for a whole week. I think Bob really wants to be in the warm and make sure that Fanny and Hank are working before we actually start going East. Since we have plenty of time, no problem.

We are so ready that we could leave today, but we are going to wait until Tomorrow!!!!

With all of the advance planning?

OK. So one of the things on Bob's to do list was to check the batteries on the trailer. He did so on Saturday and, after much discussion, we decided that we would get new batteries. Is anyone surprised that they do not make batteries in the same size as the ones that we have on the trailer? Of course not. Bob had to buy two larger size batteries. They are not just more powerful, but are also bigger dimensions. The battery boxes (I didn't even know there was such a thing like that until yesterday) that we had on the trailer holding the old batteries, were not big enough. Bob called the local auto parts store and they said that "sure" that had the larger size battery boxes. They did have ONE. Of course, we need two. They said they could get it delivered. I am not very trusting and said that we would go pick it up. They called another store and verified that they had the oversize battery boxes. We waited patiently while they actually verified that they had the oversize boxes. We drove across town in what is getting close to rush hour traffic. We get to the store and it is not the oversize battery box, but the regular size. They don't even apologize. URGGGG.

We stopped at another auto parts store on the way home and they did not have the larger boxes, but they said that one of their other stores had two. This store was right across the street from the first store that we went to. (URGGGGG). They did have two and so after driving around for about three hours we finally got the battery boxes and it was too dark to install them. Hopefully the weather will still be nice today and Bob can do whatever he needs to do the modify these and install the new batteries. Good that we did not wait until the last minute to check the batteries.

The rest of the plan for today is to stock the refrigerator in the trailer and finish putting things in drawers - and maybe even label the drawers so that we can find things later. Then on Wednesday we can take care of all the things that we didn't think about and maybe spend some final quality time with daughter and grandson.

Getting closer

It is starting to get closer. Today the weather was pretty nice, so Bob and I loaded the scooters on to the back of Hank (the Ford pickup). Bob had the idea that we should load then in with the front facing the end of the pickup. then he thought that the wind would not bother the back boxes so much. But, they just don't fit that way. So we loaded one, then unloaded it and reloaded it. We were pretty tired when we finished. It will get easier as we get better at this - I hope. We also loaded the chests that go in between the scooters and Bob chained them down and locked them in place. My only concern is that it will be such trouble to unload the scooters that we will not do it very often. I hope that won't be true.

Tomorrow we will go shopping for new batteries for the trailer. The old ones are getting weak and neither of us want to take a chance. Tomorrow we will also clean our house and do laundry - which means that we will be really close to being fully packed. It is getting closer.

Less than a week to go

It is hard to believe that we have less than a week to go before we leave. We have filed our taxes, we have gotten both Hank and Fanny serviced, Bob and I have gone to the doctor and gotten our prescriptions renewed and our bodies checked. (The really good news is that Bob has a clean bill of health. In fact the doc said that he had not seen Bob in such good shape since he started seeing him 20 years ago. I am sure that is all due to the exercising that he is doing at my insistence.) We have stocked all of the nonperishable food and found a place for it. I have taken all of the clothes and determined that we have room for everything. I have purchased a data thingy (highly technical term for being able to access the Internet on the road) and have installed it and determined that it works. We have verified that our prescription insurance will allow us to fill enough for 90 days so that we don't have to stop so often. We have gathered books, audio books, and (thanks to Libbi) some DVDs of TV shows. We still have a running to do list and the things on it now are things like "cancel Oregonian", "buy printer paper", "select wines to take." Periodically we think of something like we will not have a pencil sharpener, so we go and buy a pencil sharpener and stow it. We are almost ready.

I spent some time remembering how to download pictures on to the computer. I was even able to download a movie (of grandson of course) and post it on Facebook. I spent some time working with my MP3 player so that I could download pod casts. (I love NPR and have downloaded a list of every NPR station in the US, but I know that there will be some places where I cannot get NPR, so I will have some downloads ready to go.) I could download just fine, but it took my daughter to tell me where to find them. Thanks Stef.

We have had at least one interesting surprise. I have lost 17 pounds so far - only 5 pounds to go to my goal. That is not a surprise because I have been working pretty hard at doing that. The surprise is that although Bob has been eating pretty good including seconds on dinner and dessert every night he is also losing weight. (Must be the exercise - am I sounding a little repetitive here?) Yesterday he was amazed that he had lost 10 pounds - but even more amazed that his jeans and his underwear are now too big. So we went to Penney's today and bought some more underwear. (He can wear a belt on his jeans and we can find a place to buy smaller jeans if we need to do so.)

Also, because we will be spending a lot of time in the south, I figure we will see a lot of Civil War sites. I did learn about the Civil War in school (it seems like over and over again) but I remembered very little. So I bought a very large book (1000 pages) that is the history of the Civil War, including the politics at the time. (That could be the subject of an entire separate blog - politics during the Civil War period I mean). But I have now finished all 1000 pages and at least will have some sense of what I am looking at when I get to South Carolina or Virginia- like what is the significance of Antietam?

Scott will be staying in our house. He has moved some of his stuff in already - lots of plants in a house that does not get really good sunlight, but we found places for them. He came on Wednesday with his mom - who seems really nice. He will move in on Monday so that we have a few days with him to show him where everything is. It is amazing how many things I am thinking I have to tell him - like the disposal is pretty touchy, please don't scour my good frying pan, the shower works best if you have a low water pressure, don't use harsh detergents in my washing machine. I know he will do fine.

The weather looks like it is going to be cooperative - as much as it can be in February in Oregon. We are planning on leaving about 8:30 or 9 am in order to be across the Siskyou mountain summit by early afternoon. Actually, that is how we decided when we would leave. We calculated how far (300 miles) and average speed of 50 mph and figured that we wanted to be over the pass at about 2 or 3 pm. So, we settled on leaving at 8:30 or 9. (Bob may get really antsy and try to leave earlier - he gets that way when we are ready to go.)

We have memberships in a number of different camping clubs including Good Sam and KOA so that we can get discounts on the road. We have a wonderful resource called Woodall's which lists every campground in North America and describes the place - plus gives phone numbers. I am trying to be loose about this, but Bob keeps asking questions such as where do you want to stay the first night. So we went to Woodall's and found a number of good campgrounds in Redding California. It looks like we will spend the first night there and then head for the Bay Area and a visit with my nephew and his wife. We had hoped to visit their son and his wife and new baby, but the son has moved over the past week and now lives at Big Bear Lake. The elevation is about 7000 ft. It is really cold up there and they had a pretty good snow storm this week. In addition, we already know that Bob's lungs don't do well at high elevations. So, I am not sure that we will be able to see them. We will try. But I am really looking forward to seeing my nephew Ira - who just moved to the Bay Area.

We now have reservations at Agua Caliente, a campground in southern California, just above the Mexican border. We will get there on Sunday, 2/14, and stay for at least four days. Maybe longer if we are having a great time. Bob and I went there several years ago on a trip with my sister. The pool is a giant hot tub and very invigorating. There are lots of paths into the desert and places to explore. It will be a nice place to melt away the cobwebs and duck feet and get ready for the trek. The last time we were there the area had no cell phone access, so while we are there we will have to drive several miles into Julian, California to get calls and log into the Internet. But I think we can cope with that.

We are having dinner with good friends tonight. Then daughter, son-in-law and grandson, (and son-in-law's dad) are coming tomorrow for dinner. Grandson is almost a year and Bob and I will miss his first birthday. So we are adjusting the date and having a birthday party for him almost a month early. (I don't think it will scar him, but he might be surprised as he gets older and sees the various pictures of his "birthday party.")

Then we wait until Wednesday because that is the first day that we can refill our prescriptions. We should have the trailer all hooked up on Wednesday night and ready to go early Thursday morning.

Wow. This is getting really long so I will stop now. I will try not to wait so long before writing again. Happy trails.