Good-bye February!

Yes, another month gone . . . and I must say that Randy and I made the most of it. It's hard to believe that it's just been one month since we left the Plantation in Alabama. Since we've left, we've:

• visited New Orleans and the French Quarter;
• got a taste of Cajun Country in Louisiana;
• met up with RVing friends in south Texas;
• toured one of our president's homes;
• caught up with a former student; and
  
• blazed new trails (for us) in New Mexico.

WOW! We have packed a lot into just four weeks. No wonder we're enjoying some down time here in Deming, NM.

And that's certainly what we did today. Well, we did do a bit of housekeeping chores: laundry, vacuuming, bathroom cleaning and financial updates. But, that was all done by noon and the rest of the day was a whole lot of nothing. Oh, yes! Randy took a nap and I cross stitched!

By 4pm I felt like it should be 10pm!! Not sure why, but the afternoon just dragged by. I needed to do something, so we took a drive into downtown Deming (not much to see). I wanted to find the local Curves, the church we're going to attend on Sunday, and also grab something for dinner. We accomplished all three tasks, I'm happy to say. But, it was still only 5pm and neither of us was hungry, so we got a couple of subs from Subway to take home.

Now we're watching a movie we recorded awhile ago. That's it for today. Hope your Saturday was more exciting than ours! ;)

Until the next time . . .

Arrival at Dream Catcher RV Park, Deming, NM

We left The Ranch at 9am, ready for a five and a half hour trip west. We were sure just want to expect as we had to travel over the Sacramento Mountains and would be going from an elevation of 3500' to almost 9000' at the highest in Cloudcroft, NM and back down again.

As it turned out, it was a very pleasant drive. The climb up the mountain was an easy one, very gradual. The scenery was beautiful.

As we got higher, we saw snow - and I got excited! Yes, I know it's February and snow is common in February, but you have to remember that we had left 70, almost 80, degrees just a couple hours earlier and here was snow. It was weird.

Then, we got to Cloudcroft, a small town that probably gets most of its business in the skiing season. It reminded me a lot of western Maryland. We stopped there for a bathroom break, stretch our legs and let Blackie take a walk. It was chilly - 50 degrees! We had dropped more than 20 degrees in just a couple of hours. Very strange.

On our way back down the mountain, the temperature warmed back up to a nice 72 degrees. Aaaahhhh . . .

We stopped just outside of Cloudcroft for a look across the mountains to the White Sands area. The view was beautiful.

Continuing on our way, it was an uneventful trip, which is always nice. We made one last stop at the White Sands National Monument. This park was created to preserve the gypsum dunes which is one of the natural wonders of the world. They take up 275 square miles of desert. If you didn't know better, you'd swear you were on the beaches of Pensacola, FL! There is an 8 mile scenic drive that you can take through the park, but we didn't do that since we were towing the rig. I got some good pictures from the road.



After leaving White Sands, we had a little more than an hour until our destination. We made one last stop at MickeyD's for a quick lunch. We arrived at Dream Catcher RV about 3:40pm and were all set up before 5pm.

This should be a relatively laid-back week. There are a couple of things we want to do while here, but mostly it'll be a relaxing stop. But, I'll come up with something to write about, I'm sure! :)

Until the next time . . .

Took a Break Today

The plan for today was to go to the Living Desert Zoo. Well, plans change. Randy & I both felt like having a lazy day instead. My legs are STILL hurting from that walk down into the caverns on Tuesday. Yeah, call me a wimp if you want, but make that walk first and then tell me what you think! ;)

Anyway, we did a whole lot of nothing today, which was kinda nice. The weather was warm once again but we also had the fierce wind back. I went for a walk around the park (since I wasn't doing anything else and hadn't been to Curves all week) and when walking westward I was fighting the wind. It was WINDY!! Hey, did I say it was windy today? :)

During my walk I took some pictures of various sites. Since this is a co-op and not just a campground, the site owners really personalize their sites. Some have built small buildings called "casitas" which are used as extra rooms and they are as individual as their owners. Others have the usual sheds, still others have fences and shrubbery and yard art. All of them are very neat and well-kept. Thought I'd share them with you.

Typical RV site

Casita on site, but no RV

With RV & casita

Fancy casita - looks like an old mission to me

His & Hers?

After my walk I went up to the clubhouse for the Stitch and B**ch session. I'm not kidding - that's what it's called! I thought it might be fun, so I took my current cross stitch project and stitched away for the next hour. The women were welcoming and there really wasn't much b**ching, just a lot of talk about who has come into the park and who hasn't.

The rest of the day was spent watching TV, reading, watching the wind blow the flags around and hoping the satellite dish stayed up! ;)

We're supposed to leave here tomorrow and travel to the western part of the state to Deming. The only reason we won't leave is if the wind continues to blow at 40 to 50 MPH. We have to travel over some mountains, so that wouldn't be fun with a fierce wind. Right now, though, the forecast is for the winds to subside. We'll see in the morning.

Until the next time . . .

Guilers-1; Aliens-0

To put it mildly, Randy is a complete Sci Fi fan. So, being just 50 miles south of Roswell, New Mexico, you know that means we had to visit that town.

Driving into Roswell, there is no impression that it is any different than any other small town. Once you're in downtown, the alien presence make itself known - in boutiques, t-shirt shops, souvenir stores, etc. Then, you come to the UFO Museum and you know you've arrived.

The actual "Roswell Incident of 1947" happened on a farm just northwest of the town. The museum incorporates all aspects of UFOs: sightings, movies, TV, explanations of the different categories of encounters, etc. Of course, the first exhibit is all about the Roswell incident, giving a timeline of the week it happened.

It is a very interesting exhibit, I have to admit. There are many, many witness affidavits from folks who first talked to the farmer who brought the parts of the flying saucer to the authorities; from authorities, and from the farmer himself. There are also affidavits from adult children who were told the story as they were growing up. You'll also find statements from military officials who were part of what is now considered "The Cover Up." One of the statements I found most intriguing was about the nurse who supposedly assisted the doctors who examined the aliens who crashed. She gave such specific information about them that it makes you wonder. Click on the pictures below for a closer look. I took just a few pictures because so much of it was letters, newspaper articles and such. You'll find more on our Webshots site.

Other exhibits were interesting as well: pictures of sightings from all over the world, explanation of crop circles and pictures of them; and statements from astronauts, presidents, military officials, and world leaders on their belief in alien life as well as their sightings.

Randy & I came away feeling like we had been challenged in our thinking about alien life. Not saying that I totally believe there is life on other planets, but I gotta say some of the exhibits really gave me food for thought. Interesting . . .

We've been having phenomenal weather - it was in the high 80s today! We're told this is unusual for this time of year, it's normally in the 60s. We had to have the A/C on today!! Not too shabby for February. :)

Tomorrow is our last day here; Friday we move on to southwestern New Mexico to Deming. We plan to visit the Living Desert Zoo tomorrow as it's supposed to be pretty cool. We'll see!

Until the next time . . .

Carlsbad Caverns

As most of you know, Randy is very unassuming and easy going, so much so that he doesn't often express a desire to do anything specific. But, one of the things he really wanted to do on this trip was to visit Carlsbad Caverns. And today was the day we did that.

Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures once we were underground because of the lighting, or lack thereof. For me, these caverns weren't much different from others we've visited, but Randy really enjoyed himself - and that's all that matters.

Great view

We elected not to take any of the guided tours, but did the two self-guided ones. The first being just entering the caverns, the Natural Entrance. The pamphlet warns visitors that walking into the caverns versus taking the elevator down is physically demanding. I figured they exaggerated the warnings as often happens, but no, they didn't. It was, at times, very VERY steep walking. You also walk along deep crevices which, if you have vertigo or get disoriented easily, can creep you out. In the last couple of years, I have found that I fall into that last category. Heights never used to be a problem for me, but now . . . ugh! So, we walked very slowly down into the caverns. it's about a mile and a half and took the hour and a half the literature promised it would. I was very glad when we were at the bottom.

Looking down

Looking up

It's funny at the bottom of the caverns there are bathrooms and a snack bar! Not what you expect to find 754 feet below the earth! But, I was grateful for both. :)

After getting some water for me and coffee for Randy, we set out for our second tour of the Big Room. This is the largest room in the Caverns, taking an hour to walk the 1.2 miles around it. One of the exhibits is the "Bottomless Pit" which is actually 140 feet deep. You'd think it was bottomless, however, 'cause you sure can't see the bottom. Of course there were the many stalagtites, stalagmites and columns in their various forms. Randy noted how amazing it is that water and minerals can become such formations.

Another good day; seeing some of the gorgeousness of our country, great weather (80s!), and being together. Doesn't get much better than this!

America the Beautiful

Until the next time . . .

Walking Tour of Artesia, New Mexico

One of the things Randy & I love to do is take a walking tour of the area we're visiting. Armed with a brochure to guide us, we meander along the route, stopping where we wish and skipping those places that don't interest us. We found that Artesia had a walking tour so we decided to do that today. The weather was forecasted to be gorgeous so to be out in it would be a treat.

We started out with a good breakfast at The Chaos Cafe. Great name, huh? We didn't know anything about it, but at 10am there were still plenty of cars in the parking lot, so we figured it must be decent. It was very good and VERY reasonably priced. Nothing like a yummy breakfast to start the day!

Artesia is a small town with lots of character. It dates back to the 1880s when pioneers settled here because of the wonderful artesian water system. After a couple of other names, the town became Artesia in 1903 and officially incorporated in 1905. When oil was found in the water wells in the 1920s, Artesia also became part of the gas and oil industry, which continues today.

We also found out that New Mexico is one of the leading states in dairy farming. Who knew? You just don't think New Mexico when you think milk and cheese. :) But, New Mexico is the 10th largest state in milk production and 8th largest in cheese production. Artesia has one large dairy farm, with many more found in the surrounding towns.

Throughout Artesia are bronze sculptures that were commissioned to depict the town's history. There are two, with a third one to be installed this summer, that tell the history of the Cattle Drives that helped to settle this area. They are "Trail Boss," "The Vacquero," and "The Rustler." The Rustler is the last to be completed and has yet to be installed. We did get to see the model of it, however, and it's pretty cool.

Around the Trail Boss are placques telling the story of the Cattle Drive and Charles Goodnight's part in them. Charles Goodnight is a direct ancestor of our nephews, Kenneth & Matthew, and I thought it was pretty cool to read about him. The chuckwagon got its name from Charles as he invented it while serving as a cook on a cattle drive. Get it? Charles - chuck. Well, I thought it was cool. Also, if you've heard of the Goodnight Trail leading from Texas to the west, that's who it gets its name from.

Trail Boss

The Vacquero

The Rustler model

Another very impressive sculpture is called "The Derrick Floor" and was erected in honor of all those do the very dangerous work on the oil derricks. It is a huge piece of work; the figures being 125% of life size! You almost feel like the workers are going to jump off the derrick and speak to you.

There were other sculptures as well which were interesting. The Visitors' Center is located where the original train depot was. The original structure was burned in a fire in the 1940s and this building was restored in 2000 for use as the Visitors' Center.

We had a great day exploring Artesia. There is much to see and do in this small town. If you find yourself in the southeastern portion of New Mexico, stop in!

This is what we got see this evening - not too shabby!

Tomorrow we're going to Carlsbad Caverns. More fun to come!

Until the next time . . .

A Sunny Sunday

The plan for the morning was to go to breakfast, church and the grocery. We were going to church in Artesia which is about 20 minutes north of us, so we figured we'd find a place to have breakfast somewhere along the way. We did just that; had a good breakfast and were done in plenty of time for the 10:15 worship service.

Well . . .we got to the church at 10am and quickly found out that the service didn't start until 11am. I was a little annoyed because I had checked their website and saw that they had a new service time of 10:15. We were invited to go to Sunday School, but didn't feel comfortable doing that since we were only here for a week. I told the gentleman that their website said their service was at 10:15. I wasn't nasty, but I'm sure he knew I was annoyed. We decided to drive around, to look for a couple of places we needed to find and then come back for the service.

**I found out this evening when I checked the website again that I had inadvertently found the website for FIRST Baptist Church of Artesia instead of FAITH Baptist Church of Artesia. I feel like a jerk and wish I could go back and apologize to the guy. The only difference in the two churches' websites are ".com" and ".org" - wonder how many other people have done that. Just proves to me once again that I need to check my arrogance at the door, better yet I need to get rid of it altogether!!**

We mailed a couple of cards and found a place to get our propane tank filled, then headed back to church. After attending worship service, which I enjoyed and Randy thought was okay, we went to WalMart to do a little grocery shopping.

Back home, Randy was very industrious. He gave Blackie a bath, washed the dishes from yesterday, and checked the RV batteries. He earned the nap he took! :) I was less industrious, to say the least. I played around on the computer and watched TV.

After our dinner of spinach quesadillas this evening, we went up to the clubhouse for the monthly birthday/anniversary dessert social. We sat with some "neighbors" from South Dakota. We share the same mail forwarding service in Emery. Whenever we see SD license plates that begin with 34, we know those folks probably have that service. We enjoyed sharing stories with Jack & Sally as well as the desserts we ate. As always, RVers know how to eat!

It was good day - beautiful, sunny skies with some wind and 70 degrees. Seems it's windy here most of the time. Guess you get used to it. But, anytime you get temps in the 70s and it's February, ya gotta love it!

Looking forward to exploring some more tomorrow. We'll see what we can find to share with you!

Until the next time . . .

It's Been a Loooooonnnnggg Day

And I mean, LONG! We woke up this morning, at 3:30 AM!!, to some ferocious wind blowing! It was pretty rough. We were going to settle back into bed and try to go back to sleep when Randy remembered we had put the laundry outside! He went to check on it to see if it was still there and all I could picture was my underwear flying around the campground! Wouldn't that be pretty?

Now, I can hear you all thinking, "What the heck was their laundry doing outside anyway"?? Well, you see, we gather up the laundry the night before I'm going to do it and set it outside in the basket so I don't have to haul it out there at 6am and wake up Randy and the neighborhood. The basket is usually pretty heavy and it's easier for Randy to do it than for me. Especially when I'm putting it on the roll cart I use to transport it to the laundry room.

Anyway, thankfully, no underwear was hurt in the making of the windstorm last night. :)

Of course, once Randy had been out in the cold, checking on laundry and also finding that our satellite dish had blown over, he was wide awake. So, he settled in the family room to watch some TV. I tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't happening. I joined Randy in the family room.

We found out that Good Morning America, weekend edition, comes on at 5am here. So we did have something to watch. :)

After a couple cups of coffee, I decided to go on and get the laundry done. I had four loads in the washers by 6:10am. Not bad. I was on my way back to the rig by 8am with all four loads washed, dried and folded.

The rest of the day has been very lazy, to say the least. I did do some cross stitching, played the dulcimer for about an hour, and walked Blackie around the park. Oh, and I also made dinner and pumpkin bread. I guess I wasn't as lazy as I thought! Randy got the satellite dish back up and running. We both took naps; mine being much shorter than his! :)

How's that for excitement? Bet you're wishing you were here! :) Until the next time . . .

The Ranch, Lakewood NM

We left Fort Stockton, TX at 8:55 this morning, ready for a short 3 hour drive. Yeah, well . . .

We had stopped just an hour up the road at the Flying J in Pecos (yes, we WERE just west of the Pecos!) to fuel up both the truck and our stomachs. Back on the road, there we were just traveling north on US285 and there it was: a sign informing us that we were too heavy to cross an upcoming bridge and we needed to detour around it. Well, that added about 35 miles to our trip which translated into an additional hour! So much for our short drive.

Oh, well. It's all about the journey, right? :) Plus, I realized that we were going to pick up an hour because we'd be crossing into Mountain Time once we got into New Mexico. So, all in all, we ended up arriving about the time we'd expected.

We are set up for the next week at The Ranch, an Escapees Co-op. This park has the reputation for being the friendliest park in the system. Not wanting to be disloyal to the Plantation, but from what we've seen so far, the folks are pretty darn friendly! Every person we met as we were registering and then setting up invited us to happy hour. And we did attend and were heartily welcomed. Nice.

Lots of outings are planned for the coming week. Looking forward to sharing them with you!

Until the next time . . .

Traveling to New Mexico

Pretty boring day, actually. We left San Antonio a few minutes past 9am and headed northwest on I-10, having a six hour drive ahead of us. The plan was to stop for the night in Fort Stockton, TX.

It was an easy drive. The highway was a smooth ride, thank goodness. A nice change from the horrible road conditions on I-10 in Louisiana! All we could see for miles was Texas countryside. Every once in awhile we'd see a house, but not many. This was our view for the entire trip:

Oh, and then for a few miles we saw windmills and every so often some oil rigs. Here we saw both:

That was it for the day! We'll have a short day tomorrow, just three hours to Lakewood, New Mexico. We hope to stay in the Escapees Park there. I say "hope" because Escapees Parks don't take reservations, so we're going in blind. Not in my comfort zone, but hey we're retired! We'll figure out something!

Until the next time . . .

Drive through the Texas Hill Country & LBJ's Ranch

Oh, the weather was PERFECT for our day's adventure; blue skies, sunny, temps heading to the upper 70s, gorgeous. :)

We left the rig about 9am and drove north to the Texas Hill Country, our first destination being the Lyndon Baines Johnson State Park. This is the location of the LBJ Ranch where his Texas White House is located. Three years ago when we were in this area, we toured LBJ's boyhood home and settlement in Johnson City. So, it seem logical to tour the ranch this time around. This is such a great deal - it's a free driving tour with the tour of his home costing just $1 per person.

The drive from our campground to the state park took close to 2 hours; not a big deal when the scenery is beautiful and the weather gorgeous. We pulled into the park and got our map and went on our way. The Pedernales River divides the park from the ranch and meanders along the road.

The drive through the ranch is actually a tour of LBJ's life. The first building you come to is Junction School, a one-room schoolhouse which LBJ attended at the age of 4 years old.

Just a few yards down from the school is a reconstruction of the home in which he was born. The original home was built in 1889 and the reconstruction took place in 1964.

Across the street from LBJ's birthplace is the family cemetery. It is shaded by a beautiful live oak tree. LBJ's headstone is the tallest in the cemetery with a planter of flowers beside it that marks the grave of Lady Bird. Her headstone hasn't yet been made as her daughters are still in the process of designing it.

From the cemetery, the drive takes you through pastureland where you see horses and the Hereford cattle that were LBJ's joy. The cattle are the descendants of the original herd. The ranch has continued in operation since the days of LBJ.

A stop at the Show Barn gives you an up close look at some of the livestock - horses, cattle, goats, and sheep. We got a chance to talk with one of the horses, a few of the cattle and a couple of goats. One of the goats was so cute - when I walked away, he started whining. I came back and talked to him a bit more and he actually stood up with his front legs on the fence and talked back! I loved it.




From the Show Barn, you drive through more pastureland along the airstrip that LBJ had built to the Texas White House. The Visitors' Center is located in the hangar building. It's no longer used as a hangar because the planes got bigger and couldn't fit in it.

The guided tour of the house and grounds isn't much, actually. You're given the history of the six cars still on the grounds. Apparently, Lady Bird liked to drive herself everywhere and the Secret Service had to follow. LBJ had a hunting car, a couple of "regular" cars, and an amphibious car. He must have had a wicked sense of humor because he would try to outrun the Secret Service in his cars and, when in the amphibious car with a passenger, he would holler "The brakes are gone!" as it headed into the nearest lake.

Amphibious car
Hunting Car
Now that Lady Bird is no longer living, the house is being renovated for tours.

Right now all you can go in is LBJ's home office. It has all of the original furniture in it - including a recliner with the Presidential Seal!

The grounds are gorgeous, running right up to the Pedernales River. The Live Oak in the front yard is the oldest tree on the property, at least 400 years old.

There's also a grove of Live Oaks under which LBJ held his famous BBQs. Many a world leader ate BBQ there. :)

As you can tell, we totally enjoyed our time at the ranch. If you're in the area, I highly recommend you take a couple of hours and take the tour.

It was a little past 1pm when we left the state park. We continued our drive through the Hill Country, heading to Fredericksburg. We spent some time in Fredericksburg back in 2006 when we were in this area. Randy was looking forward to some good German cooking, so we stopped and had lunch at Wheeler's. He had sauerkraut, red cabbage, German potato salad and sausage. He thoroughly enjoyed his meal. :) I was boring and had soup and a sandwich - but it was good! We didn't spend any time in the town since we had done that previously. We wanted to continue our drive.

We drove south on SR 16, coming to Kerrville. I was disappointed to find that Kerrville wasn't quaint like Fredericksburg. That was what I had expected. Now, we didn't venture off of SR 16, so maybe we missed something. But, we did get fuel for $2.05/gallon! :)

While we drove on, we saw all kinds of livestock on the ranches along the way, some expected - others not so much. Of course we saw cattle, Longhorns and others; horses, some even miniatures; goats, sheep, and pigs. The unexpected were camels and llamas! We also saw lots of beautiful homes and when we couldn't see the homes, we saw the entrances to them. I told Randy that sometimes the entrances were more elaborate than the homes!

We got home about 5:30pm. What a long day! But, we had a great time. This is a beautiful area and there is much to do.

The next two days are travel days. We'll stop in Fort Stockton for the night tomorrow and get to Lakewood, New Mexico on Friday. The Ranch in Lakewood, an Escapee Park, will be our home for the next week.

Until the next time . . .

Change in Plans

We had intended to go up to the Texas Hill Country today and tour LBJ's ranch and home as well as drive through the area. But, the weather was not cooperating. It wasn't cold, but very overcast and rainy and just not great weather to go out exploring. So, we stayed home and will go out tomorrow. It's supposed to be very nice tomorrow.

Laziness set in today since we had no plans. :) I did manage to file our taxes, though! It really wasn't much of a feat - we have no deductions and don't have to file a state return. Just go to Turbo Tax online and complete the questions, and voila! Our return is e-filed. For free!! Gotta love that. And the best part? We're getting a refund. Nice.

The rest of the day was spent as usual when we hang out at home - TV, computer, reading, and cross stitching.

Looking forward to tomorrow. Oh, and I will let you see THE most cutest Valentine ever!

Until the next time . . .

Downtown San Antonio

Today's weather wasn't the best - cool and overcast - but, we persevered and made plans to go downtown anyway.

First I hit Curves and got that out of the way. Have I mentioned lately how much I abhor exercising?? If not, I've said it again. Anyway, enough whining. Once I got home and got myself ready, we headed out the door. Our first stop was Denny's for breakfast. You know, I keep wanting to really like Denny's 'cause I do like their food, but it seems like every one of them feels dirty. I don't think they are, they just feel like it. Oh, well, we enjoyed our food and didn't die from it so . . .

We went first to Market Square because the campground manager told us it was a great place to visit and an easy place to park. Only $6 for the day - not bad! When we walked into the plaza, I felt like we had walked back into Progreso, Mexico, WITHOUT all the crowds and vendors in my face. :)

The shops were full of typical tourist stuff - t-shirts, jewelry, hats, knickknacks, etc. We meandered through most of the stores, giggling at some of the items. We found a thimble for Reagan (we pick them up everywhere we go for her collection) and a bracelet for me. Of course, I purchase a bracelet at the only non-Mexican shop in the place! Supposedly all the items were handmade by Guatemalens. I don't know if that's true, but I sure like the bracelet.

Leaving the Market, we walked through a nice park that sits next to the hospital There was this mural on the wall of the hospital - I thought it was pretty cool.

We continued our walk through the city toward the Buckhorn & Texas Ranger Museums. Rod & Deb told us this was a must. The Buckhorn is also a saloon and dates from 1881. The bar is actually from the original site on Dolorosa Street. The current saloon and museum is located on Houston Street. In the old days, a cowboy could trade a drink for a set of deer antlers. It seems that tradition is still in effect from the looks of all the antlers hanging from the ceiling.

The building also houses many rooms of wildlife from across the globe. I have never seen so many stuffed animals (and I don't mean the toys!) in my life.

There's even a sea life exhibit where every kind of fish and sea creature is on display. There is also a room in which vintage firearms, cowboy tack, and other Texas paraphernalia can be found. There's a bunch of chairs made with deer antlers!

A new attraction to the Buckhorn is the Texas Ranger Museum. This museum came about from the combined efforts of the Former Texas Ranger Association and the Buckhorn Museum.

You can learn about the early history of the Texas Rangers, peruse displays of specific Rangers who excelled in their jobs and walk through a recreation of old San Antonio that helps you feel what it was like to be a Ranger in the Old West.

We had fun looking at all the exhibits, sitting in the saloon enjoying a drink like the cowboys did, and poking through the Curio Store to see if there was anything we couldn't live without.

We finished our time downtown by walking back to the truck via part of the Riverwalk. What a wonderful day!

If you'd like to see more pictures from our adventure, click here.