Day 141

October 25 – Well the party was really over today.  The drive was uneventful, which was a good thing, just kinda boring with no “bang” at the end.  We arrived at the warehouse where we park at around 2:30 after stopping for a brief bathroom break for the driver and a snack for us both.

The RV was driven 8,952 miles this trip.  We were gone 141 days, our personal record.  We put 6,349 miles on the car, so we drove a total of 15,301 miles.  That’s a lot of miles.  We saw lots of new places, re-visited some favorite places, visited family and friends.  We experienced some nights in the 30’s and days in the 40’s.  There were windy days and places, and quiet and serene places.  There were glorious days filled with hot air balloons, and a few days of dreary rain and skies.  We experienced days we were exhausted and days that we didn’t want to end.  We met lots of new people and made new friends.  And when we came home, we came home to downed trees, stick and limbs, a sink hole, no landscape lights, but we still have our home.  We are very lucky people to be able to experience our GREAT United States and have our home survive a hurricane.  We thank our family and friends for keeping tabs on us and sharing our trip.  We don’t always know where the road will take us; we just know we want to be on that road.  The adventures are non-stopping, along with the repairs and RV issues, but that just adds to the adventure.  Thanks to everyone who took the time to follow us, it’s our pleasure to share our trips with you.

Now begins the challenge of getting our home back in shape and planning for next year’s trip.  So, we will be in touch when it’s time to be “On the road again”!

Final meal on the road

October 24 – It’s still been chilly at night and brisk in the morning.  This was a quiet Wal-mart.  We only saw one truck when we turned in last night and he was gone this morning.  There were very few customers when we went to bed and not many this morning. 

We got back on 84 and headed to Andalusia, AL where we were meeting a friend, Diane Holloway, who used to work with Bill at West Orange.  She lives in Kinston, AL and we agreed to meet around 10:30 but did not have a definite spot yet.  The drive was more of the same as yesterday and more cotton fields as well.  It is baled round like hay and shrink wrapped. 

When we arrived in Andalusia and spotted a partially defunct shopping center with a Zaxby’s on the side and thought that would be a good spot.  Bill called Diane and told her and within 10 minutes she arrived.  We had a really nice visit of almost 2 hours.  We each ordered some food, and it was a bit early for lunch but the visit was what it was about.  We really enjoyed our time and hope the next time she gets to Florida we can connect.

Time to drive the last leg for the day, down to Florala, on to Defuniak Springs and catch I-10 and head on into Tallahassee.  Our regular Tallahassee campground is just 1 mile off the interstate.  Once we got parked we realized we lost an hour when we hit Florida!  We made arrangements to have dinner with our good friends, Paul and Jean who picked us up around 6.  They took us to a nice and delicious Italian place.  Food was great and the company was even better.  We never have enough time to get all caught up.  They dropped us off and we said our goodbyes until December when we get together again. 

We watched Bull and 2 NCIS shows and called it a day.  Tomorrow is the sad drive home and then the “fun” begins!

Day 2 driving

October 23 – Another day like yesterday.  We left by 9:30, dropped off the trash and put a postcard in the mailbox and got back on I-20 for our 329 mile drive.  The scenery improved greatly as we had tall green trees and fields of green grass.  Traffic got less the further we got.  No big cities along the way as we crossed over into Mississippi and across the Mississippi River.

We couldn’t time our stops as well as yesterday so had lunch in a rest area and later stopped for fuel.  As we waited for our turn at the pump we had an older black man show us his photo in the military at Ft. Knox and his driver’s license and asked us for some help to get him and his wife back to Alabama.  We don’t normally cave but Bill gave him $5.  Later we saw him with a food bag headed back to his car.  Right after he left us a 40ish woman told us her story of their tire getting a piece of metal in it and the place next door was able to repair it but they were short $21 to repair it.  She looked pretty normal so Bill gave her $2.  He said all he had left was $20’s so he gave her what he had.  This has NEVER happened to us before at a truck stop and to have 2 in one stop was bizarre!

We took I-20 to Rt. 45 and then to Rt. 84.  RT 45 was 4 lanes and a rather ghostly road with

Cotton from the RV

very little traffic and the side roads just disappeared into the woods.  Then 84 was single lane, over hill and dale, passing though little towns and passing field after field of cotton.  We turned off into Monroeville, AL where we stopped for the night at Wal-mart.

Once I got the TV going and we had some iced coffee, we did our duty of going to Wal-mart.  The only grocery item I bought was 2 bananas.  We checked out the Clearance items but didn’t buy anything.

I heated up leftover fried chicken, veggie rice and steamed the last of the broccoli and we watched Big Bang Theory. 

My phone doesn’t have enough service to pull up Google so I wrote up the last 2 days of journal and will read and call it a night.

The Long Ride Home

October 22 – The party is over!  This is always the saddest day of the summer, the day when there are no more stops for sight seeing, the day we start just driving every day.  It’s pretty depressing.  Then to think of all the stuff we have to load up and take out of the RV, the cleaning of the RV, the 2 trips to Freightliner and Giant Recreation World.  But, it’s been another great adventure, pitfalls and all.  We met lots of nice people and visited with family and old friends.  It doesn’t get better than that.

We left Burleson, TX by 9:30 with 332 miles scheduled for the day.  Our route was I-20 so we were basically south of Ft. Worth and Dallas.  Since it was Sunday we missed the commuter traffic but there was still plenty for my tastes.  Once you’re out of the city, you ARE out of the city.  The drive was pretty tedious and we saw an overturned semi with trailer.  It looked like he might have had a blow out and got too far off the highway and literally tipped over.  Someone was unloading what looked like boxes of oranges and putting them on a pallet.  That’s a lot of boxes to unload by hand.

Later we saw on the other side of the median a car hit in the rear and 2 semi’s involved.  Sure makes me try to keep a vigilant eye as well as keeping my speed under control.

We combined our lunch stop with a fuel stop which works out well when it times out.  Then it was back on the road until we made it to Monroe, LA to what looked like a former KOA.  The office was closed but our reservation was in the case out front and we checked ourselves in to the Ouachita RV Park.  Pretty nice park and on a beautiful big pond. 

We had leftovers which hit the spot after a day of driving.  We watched Good Witch on Hallmark and read for a while.

BBQ - Texas Style

October 21 – No plans at all today!  Knowing we have 4 days of driving ahead I didn’t really want to do a lot today but laundry, track 3 missing packages, and journal.  I managed to clear up a lot of old emails that I just needed to follow up on and caught up with my journal.  Bill and I were on the phone with friends about our camping club.  The morning flew by and then it was lunch time. 

Finally Bill took the car in search of a car wash.  It was a disgusting mess.  I know it was driving him crazy and will probably look just as bad by the time we get home, but at least it will look good a couple of days.  I balanced my check book which is sometimes a challenge.

Bill came home with the knowledge of an Aldi’s near by!  I have missed my store all summer.  I figured we’d go out for dinner again since we won’t again until we get to Tallahassee. 

I decided on bar-b-que, well, we ARE in Texas.  Bill was in total agreement and Roscoe’s

Great brisket!

Smokehouse was on the same road that he was on earlier so he knew the way there. You place your order and pick up your order and find a seat.  We both had brisket with slaw but I had sweet potato fries and Bill had onion rings.  We both agreed it was some of the best brisket we’ve ever had.  He ate all of his but I have enough left for another meal. 

We stopped at Aldi and it felt so good to be back in one.  Of course, 2 of the things I wanted they were out of so we are trying a different candy bar.  I got my small Gala apples and Bill’s mixed sweet peppers.  I think we’re good until we get home.

We watched some TV while I finished this up and time to read for a while.

Landed in Burleson, Texas

October 20 – The drive today was only about 240 miles so we slept in and left around 9:45.  We made one fuel stop and had lunch from Wendy’s.  We went by way of I-35 and it was horrible!  It must have been about 40 miles of road work and heavy traffic and I REALLY don’t like barricades.  That’s the only time I get anxious when I’m driving and I was super stressed by the time we cleared them all.  The weather was overcast and dreary on and off, so that didn’t help matters.  We found out later when we met our friends for dinner that he could have given us an alternate route, oh well!

We parked at Hill Country RV Park, which is a Good Sam Park in Burleson, TX but we didn’t see how it got such a good rating.  Mostly park models trailers.  The spot is asphalt, pretty level, really long but it looks more like people live here year around and most of the places are pretty old.

We had time to shower and relax a bit before Pat and Ray were picking us up.  They took us

Bill, Kelly, Pat and Ray after dinner

to “Babe’s”.  There are several around I guess but this is the one they favor.  It’s a family style place and you pick your meat and they bring bowls of the sides:  biscuits, Italian green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn.  I passed on the potatoes, gravy and corn as I doubled on the beans cooked with bacon grease and the biscuits.  I picked fried catfish and I ate every piece of it.  Um, umm, good!  Everyone else had fried chicken and the portion is huge, ½ of a chicken, so Bill got to bring home his and their leftovers and 2 biscuits.  We ate and visited for 3 hours!  Ray kept asking if they needed the table and the waitress said we were fine.  It was really good to see them and catch up.  They’re actually friends of friends that Bill has known for 30+ years and I’ve gotten to know them when they came to Florida and we’ve stopped before to see them on our travels.  Such nice people, what a nice evening!

I was full and sleepy and totally NOT motivated to turn on the computer at all.  So I watched whatever Bill had on TV and then read until I fell asleep on the recliner.

A day in Fredericksburg, Texas

October 19 – After breakfast I dropped Bill off at the National Museum of the Pacific War.  It’s a huge complex including the George H W bush Gallery, Admiral Nimitz Museum, Pacific Combat Zone, Memorial Courtyard, Japanese Garden of Peace and the Plaza of Presidents.  To really absorb it all you need a couple of days.  Bill was there from 10:30 until after 3.  He really enjoyed it and got to meet some WWII vets. 

Our nice yard

After I dropped him off I went to an Amish store but didn’t buy anything, a German smoked meats store where I did buy some meats and then to Wal-mart.  Only picked up a couple of things there and headed back to the RV.  I stopped in the office to see what the problem is with the wifi. Of course he said his wifi guy wasn’t there but he’d reboot it and see if that worked.  Thankfully it did!

I managed to get a few blogs posted and my photos caught up.  I set up our newspapers to be delivered and our TV Weekly schedule.  Still need to get the wifi and TV back on.  I paid some bills and tried to get my scads of paper work organized. 

In addition, I did a load of laundry and found homes for a few more things that need to be better secured.  There is just so much space to go around!

Vereins Kirche

When I picked Bill up we discussed going to see Enchanted Rock but it’s 30 miles from town and I didn’t want to take the hour or more to go.  We stopped at the town square to see the replica of the Vereins Kirche, which is an 8 sided reproduction of the town’s first church. Now it has rotating exhibits on the history of Fredericksburg and Texas and the Immigration of Germans to the town and state.  It’s manned by volunteers, most of whom are descendents of the first German families.

Downtown buildings

There are tons of wineries and shops of course!  I had planned to visit some of the tasting rooms on Main Street but have no where to put any more wine or bottles, so I didn’t visit any, but Bill and I went to several of the shops.  Two are like old time (when I was a child) 5 and 10 cent stores.  They carry a little bit of everything and have nostalgia items that you used to get when you were a kid for a dime.  Now they are $4-$5.  I enjoyed my short trip down memory lane and did buy a few little things.

We stopped for Blue Bunny ice cream but were a bit disappointed that the coffee flavor wasn’t really very coffee tasting.  Bill got to sample all flavors of popcorn too.

One of the many beer and
wine establishents

Further down the street was a fabric store.  That was an awesome place!  A quilter’s dream, I’m sure.  I saw several patterns I liked but have no idea what I’d do with them so just enjoyed strolling around.  They did have a huge selection of oil cloth and had sample outdoor pillow covers made from it.  What a great idea if you have outdoor seating and you can just wipe the dust off with a damp cloth and not have to bring them in and out of the house or wash the covers so carefully.

der Lindenbaum

It was about 5 by now and rather than go back to the RV and then back to town for dinner we decided to be “old” folks and eat early.  I knew I wanted German and according to the reviews, der Lindenbaum was one of the better ones.  We were quite disappointed.  They do not have spaetzle at all, and that is one of our favorites.  Pretty much all of the meat choices are served with the same sides, sweet red cabbage, potatoes and pickles.   A basket of “mixed” German breads was extra and Bill ordered it thinking there’s be crusty rolls, but it was sliced rye bread.  It all tasted good but just wasn’t what we expected.

After dinner we did a little drive around town on some of the streets off the beaten path.  We stopped at the HEB grocery that I’d seen earlier when I was looking for the meat shop and I went in to see if they had a better selection of produce than Wal-Mart.  Of course they did!  What a great grocery store, puts Publix to shame!  It’s HUGE and each department is huge and the selection was huge (get my point?)!  I bought a few things and Bill was surprised how little I bought considering how long I was in there. 

Then it was home to the RV and readying up to hit the road again tomorrow.  Grey’s Anatomy wasn’t on due to the Charlie Brown’s Halloween special so I was back on the computer until time to read for a bit.

Non-eventful day, not always a bad thing!

October 18 – Hardly worth the time to write about today!  We did nothing but drive 276 miles.  We took our time this morning and we didn’t leave until 10:30.  There were a few early birds today but quite a few like us, not in a major rush.

We left on ¼ tank of fuel so about an hour down the road we stopped for diesel and to wash the nasty windshield.  It was another place that limits your fuel to $75 but Bill did it twice more to fill up. 

We stopped later for lunch and Bill talked to our camping club’s VP for a while about the upcoming campout that we will miss and to see how her trip to the UK went. 

At least the scenery became greener and more trees, as we saw more cattle, (even some belted Galloways), sheep, goats, ostrich and llamas. 

Once we drove through the city of Fredericksburg we knew we should have planned at least one more day here.  What a clean, well kept small city with tons of wineries, museums, and history.  It was established by German immigrants and have several German restaurants.  After we parked and settled in we drove back up the main street to scope things out.  We’re eating German tomorrow night! 

We came here because Bill read about a world class World War II Museum that he really wanted to visit.  I might do something else with my day.  He’s looking at HOURS there and that’s one thing that after about an hour I no longer have the attention span to do it.

We had our leftover meatloaf tonight and settled in with the TV and I had planned to do a lot on the computer but the wifi didn’t cooperate and I called the office but of course, it was after 5 and no answer and no call back.  I’ll call in the morning when I have a better chance to get someone.

Long day with a nice finish

October 17 – I forgot to change the clock forward an hour since we are now in Texas, Central Time.  I thought I got up at 7:20 and it was 8:20.  Oh well, it is what it is!  We had cereal and fruit and headed on down the highway!  Well, that was the plan, but I didn’t use the leveling legs last night so figured all was fine.  I kept getting error messages and lights flashing.  I kept retracting them and it was find for a while.  We went ahead and left but the lights kept coming on.   

View from Marfa lights view
center, nothing out there

We stopped at the viewing center where we saw the lights last night.  I wanted to see it in the daylight to see if there was a road or anything where the lights might be coming from.  This morning the park manager told Bill the Spaniards recorded seeing the lights in the 1600’s.  So those lights have been around for a LONG time!  The leveling legs were still acting up so later we stopped and I put them down and Bill lubed them and they still didn’t all go up correctly so I got out my hammer and gave the 2 problems a couple of whacks and they were find the rest of the day.

The drive to Big Bent National looked about like the drive to Marfa.  Lots of nothing!  The

Interesting plateaus

plan was to stay hooked up and do the loop road of the park.  There is a ticket booth at the entrance and we got in free with our Senior Passes.  In asking where would be a spot long enough to park in to have lunch, the ranger was kind of at a loss.  It was all build before big RV’s and the best option was the rest area right after her booth so that’s where we had lunch. 

The section we took was only 26 miles but it’s all 45 MPH.  At least there is barely any traffic but really not much to see unless you are in a car and can go on the gravel roads.  We stopped at the Panther Junction Visitor Center and they had a very good movie about the park.  There wasn’t much of a display but they have the fossil of a wing of a Pterosaur, the largest known flying animal.   The gift shop was nice and they have a US Post office adjoining their building so we stopped for a few stamps. 

We made a wrong turn out of the Visitor Center and you can’t just turn around the RV with

Lunch time in Big Bend

the car.  We drove about 10 miles before there was a turn out we could pull in, unhook the car, turn the RV around, hook the car back up and get back on the road.  The wildlife has certainly dropped off since we left Colorado.  However, we did see a roadrunner and a mule deer (and 2 coyote and a fox as roadkill). 

Next stop, Ft. Stockton, no, not to see another fort.  We like the campground there and have stayed twice before.  The drive was just as long and boring as all the roads in Texas have been.  Bill immediately pointed out that the campground was bigger and there were 2 Rv’s in line before us and 3 behind us.  They have added 50 new spaces, so business must be good.  Our space is a tad short but the place is full.  Once we settled in and I had a glass of wine, we walked over to the on property, Roadrunner Café for dinner.  They made some good chicken fried steak.  You don’t get any choices, it comes with mashed potatoes and Italian green beans and the biggest biscuit you’ve ever seen.  I take that back, you can choose brown or white gravy, but who chooses brown gravy? 

We brought the biscuits home for breakfast and I got busy on the computer while Bill washed and waxed the front of the RV.  Then we realized we missed NCIS as it came on at 7 not 8.  We did see Bull and NCIS NO.  I posted 2 more blogs and worked on photos.  

Fort and Marfa Lights

October 16 – Most of the trucks and RV’s had cleared out when I got up at 7:30.  It was COLD though, at 43 out.  Had to turn the heat on and get the chill out.  Once we got moving and had breakfast, Bill checked the tires and we needed some air.   We left about 9:15 and as soon as we got to the other side of town there was a small Pilot Truck stop.  It’s the first we’ve seen since before Santa Fe.  We filled the diesel, the DEF, the tired and cleaned the very nasty buggy windshield.  The whole ordeal took about 45 minutes.  We can’t pump our DEF from the pump as it’s on the wrong side of the RV.  Bill has to fill a 2.5 gallon container and poor it in and then refill.  He refilled it a 3^rd time for next time we get low.

The roads all day until we got into Texas we bumpy and jammed with truck traffic along 100 miles of oil fields, gas fields with NOTHING but tanks and drills and pipelines going in and “villages” of RVs or mobile home for the workers.  There is nothing out there, so I imagine those guys all make good money.  There must have been 20 miles of 2 foot wide pipe staged along the road and 1 foot pipe on the other side of the road.  It continues on into Pecos, TX and for a ways on the other side.

The hilly drive to Ft. Davis National Historic Site was a welcome change of scenery as well as the quality of the road.  The fort has many of the original buildings from 1867 although the first fort was established there in 1854.  There are several building in a sad state since they were built with adobe brick but once the fort was

Inside enlisted men's barracks

abandoned in 1891 and a lot of the wood flooring was scavenged and once the roofs gave way the adobe started to falter in the elements.  There are several buildings that have been refurbished and have displays and/or are restored to how they looked in their hay days.  Most of the buildings are just block outlines of where they were originally.  The Fort had a hospital that was later enlarged and the setting is beautiful against the Davis Mountains.

Once we completed our walking tour we dove the last short drive of the day to Marfa, TX, know for the Marfa Lights.  Bill’s sister Carole had told me of the many years ago.  I have been intrigued ever since.  There is no solid explanation for the lights.  They have been studied by scientists from all over the world.  The lights take different forms on different nights.  There is no guarantee you can see the lights but since so many trek to try to see them, a round building with parking was building at the viewing area people staked out.  The have soft lighting in the lot and the building even has rest rooms.  The back side, away from the road, is rounded with some seating and a short wall to encourage visitors not to venture out and get bit by snakes or poisonous insects. 

one Marfa light

We found our tiny campground, The Tumble In, and our space had been reserved.  I had paid when I made the reservation so they use a tiny vintage travel trailer as the “office” and you self register.  There’s a manager (camp host) on site and there’s a bathhouse and rec room of sorts with kitchen facilities and a washer and dryer.  I will say, they have the best wifi we’ve had over many places we’ve been.  Bill called me to come out when he was hooking up the water, electric and sewer.  A metal bracket that went under a tanklike part above the black and gray water handles and connection had began sagging.  We rigged it up with what we had on had, a 2 x 6 piece of wood and some small wood pieces.  He took photos to send to our mobile guy to ask about it.  One more thing!

I made chorizo and cheese quesadillas and salad for dinner and we got showered and left for the viewing sight about 9.  Bill had read that most people posted seeing the lights after 10.  Well, it’s 7 miles east of the campground and boy is it dark out there.  We took our chairs, jackets, blankets and a bottle of water and we sat.  We really didn’t know what we were looking for but even if we didn’t see the Marfa lights, God’s creation above us was truly

2nd Marfa light

a pastoral work of art.  Being so far from a city with light disturbances, we could see nothing but stars.  We could see the Milky Way and the entire sky was so cluttered with stars we could not pick out the big dipper or the little dipper.  Bill said that sky was worth the trip!  Well, we DID see the Marfa lights!  There’s a radio tower with a red light blinking that we found out is where you focus on.  Then there were appearing and disappearing white lights and a green light.  They’d move around and go completely out, then one might appear, then several, then none.  It was amazing!  We watched for almost an hour and headed back.  What an experience!  We drive that way when we leave tomorrow so we’re going to see what it looks like in that area in the day light.

Crazy lights next door

I am up extra late taking advantage of the wifi but still didn’t get caught up.  I had to find a place for 2 nights near Dallas/Ft.Worth as Bill has friends there he wants to visit.  Since the dates hit on a weekend the first 4 places I called were full.  We did find what looks like a good place at a reasonable price but it’s a bit further out than we planned.  So now our trip home is mapped out and all reservations are made.  We will be back in Ocoee on October 25.

UFO's are in the air....

October 15 – It was such a wacky day, I’m not sure I can remember it all!  After a quick cereal breakfast Bill went out to unhook and was playing with the neighbor’s dog, throwing Frisbees.  He really liked that dog and when I went out to do the brake light check the dog brought me the Frisbee, but I didn’t want to give the dog big expectations!  We drove the 2.5 miles back out to the main road at a snail’s pace and got on our way for the day.

Lava Rock fields we drove thru

We had planned to visit some more petroglyphs but I wanted to get in earlier to park for the night so we nixed it and went on towards Roswell, NM.  On the way we stopped for diesel at an Indian station with no attendant and could only get $75 of fuel.  That gave us a ¼ tank!  Bill went in the store to see if they had any DEF and bought just a 1 gallon jug since it’s overpriced in the jug.  Guess that’s why they don’t offer it at the pumps. 

As we approached Roswell we took the bypass by mistake so we had to detour around a bit to get back into downtown where the International UFO Museum & Research Center was.  Bill tried to call and see about parking for the RV but they don’t provide a direct line, they’re all “business” numbers.  Along the main street a truck of young people were waving at me and I thought it had to do with me being a woman driver but they kept at it and I pulled over and the DEF

compartment door was open.  Bill closed it and guessed he didn’t lock it earlier.  Lucky break for us!  When we got to the Museum we immediately realized we could not park in their lot so we took the side street where there were some businesses that are not open on Sunday, lucky for us. 

Since it was 12:30 we decided to have lunch first and the only thing within 2 blocks was Subway.  Not my first choice by any means, but Subway it was.  I had a salad that in no way compares with Wendy’s.  The museum was across the street and I knew Bill was not really interested but I’ve always been intrigued by the talk of  Roswell  and  the  aliens!  He  tends  to humor me so we paid our

admission, received our admission stickers and off we went.  I was slower as I was ready all of the old newspaper articles and signed testimony of people from 1947 when the report of tiny bodies with big heads and unusual metals and plastic was found and reported by a farmer a couple of days after the find.  He couldn’t just leave his farm work undone so he waited to go to town and report it.  He ended up being held by the military base as a “guest” for 5 days.  Mysterious he didn’t have a nickel to his name before the incident but after was driving a new truck and refused to discuss it with anyone in town.

The museum has a chronology of the events, the secrets, the testimonies as well as worldwide discoveries, information on Area 51 and reproductions of the “aliens”.  After about

10 minutes Bill came back to me and said he was going to the RV.  However, he ended up staying as long as I did and admitted that it was very interesting and would make believers out of people.  We took some photos and made the obligatory stop at the gift shop.

At the RV we had huckleberry ice cream sandwiches while Bill ran the car the required time.  We had 3 choices of exits, one of which looked like it might be a problem to make the turn onto the street towing, and the other two looked steep but Bill said just take it slow.  I took it slow and at an angle thinking it would not drop the front of the car down all at once in the low drain,

but we heard the most awful scraping so Bill had me pull over ASAP and he got out.   There went ANOTHER mud flap!  We had a devil of a time getting the flap off as the metal bar was wrapped up and down.  So with a hammer, wrench, screwdriver and ratchet Bill worked under the RV and I motioned the traffic around us.  One guy pulled up behind us and I motioned him around but he stopped and got out and offered help.  He and his wife are full-timers.  We had just gotten it off and were taking it apart.  We thanked him for the offer but the hard part was over.  We salvaged the rubber mat but hopefully my brother can find and help us make another one!

It was another boring drive.  It was beginning to look like Texas, lots of oil derricks and trucking to all of the facilities.  Then it looked like Georgia, with fields of cotton and groves of pecan trees.  Did we make a wrong turn? 

So it’s good thing we passed on the petroglyphs this morning as this put us behind schedule and we took longer in the museum that we expected.  Our final destination for the night was a Wal-mart in Carlsbad, NM.  Had our friends made the trip with us we’d have stayed in a campground for 2 nights and gone to the caverns, but we’d been before and are pretty ready to be heading home.  The driveway at the light entering Wal-mart was VERY narrow and cars were in the lane to exit and cars were behind me and I had to try and make the turn.  I held my breath and told Bill to watch the tow car as I was watching the exiting traffic and they could see I was getting in a pickle.  They started pulling to the side as I inched in and one driver held back until the lane cleared and let me make my left turn.  Then there were so many tanker trucks and one RV and Sunday evening shoppers that we didn’t think we’d be able to park.  I went to the designated side of the lot and there was nothing we could get into with the car so I U-turned in the loading dock and just as I complete my turn one of the tanker trucks left and we pulled in right behind him!  Lucky ducks again!

I took ground beef out this morning so I immediately put my meatloaf together and in the oven.  Then we relaxed a while with iced coffees.  I tried the power button again on the washer, no luck.  That was just ticking me off so I took the breaker panel cover off and turned the breaker off, waited, turned it on.  Then I reset both of the GFI outlets and tried the washer and “Yeehaw” the washer came on!  I guess last night I wasn’t being as patient or in the correct order.  So I started the load of laundry and then we went to Wal-Mart for the short list of things we needed.

I boiled a few new potatoes and enjoyed a glass of wine while they cooked.  Once the meatloaf was done I steamed some broccoli and we had dinner.  Bill said it was good meatloaf, so I guess my combination of leftover spaghetti sauce, Italian bread crumbs, dried mixed veggies and an egg did the trick.  We shared a little pound cake I’d frozen when I made them for dessert.

Bill called 3 upcoming stops for the trip home and 1 was full so I looked up another place for him to try tomorrow and I found places for the last 3 nights on the road for him to call tomorrow also.  Hopefully we can get in them all and have that chore out of the way.

Quite a send off

Nice good-bye

October 14 – I guess the balloons knew we were leaving so this morning they started at 7:30 and circled around the arena grounds in the most spectacular display!  And then we had 7, yes, 7 balloons land at the arena and at least 20 others just across the side and back fences.  What a finish to a great visit to Albuquerque.  Makes me want to make reservations for next year!  Bill came out

The last to land

and he and I both took so many photos on our cameras that we got warnings of no more space.  We were able to watch them take the balloons down and there were people all over today.  Photos are great but they just don’t show the “whole” picture.

With all the balloon happenings we didn’t leave until almost 10.  I was happy to see that the speedometer was working again but later in the day when we put the AC on, it was not cold.  Have to see if our warranty covers it since we know there’s a leak somewhere and the Freon is escaping.  It’s going to be a long drive home!

We zipped right out and headed to I-25 south and wouldn’t you know they had the ramp

Antenna we could walk to

closed due to all the fiesta traffic.  Crap!  You can’t exactly just turn around and find a way through town in the motorhome so we opted to go North and get off and back on going South.  Of course it cost us about 20 minutes in the process.  The traffic was horrible and sometimes at a dead stop until we passed the I-40 turn off.  Then it cleared right up and once we were out of the city there was NO traffic.  Of course, it was not the most beautiful scenery and it was boring but we sucked it up and headed on to our turn off in Socorro, NM for the 46 mile drive through less populated and smaller road to the Karl G. Jansky VLA.  That stands for Very

One leg of the Y

Large Array.  It’s run by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory.  It’s a group of 27 antennas that are 82 by 90 feet big and moved on railroad tracks and create the most adaptable, hardest-working telescope in the world.  It was super impressive and the documentary was excellent.  I can’t say I really understand how it all works but just the magnitude of each antenna and how they move them.  Fascinating!  You can watch the VLA film narrated by Jodie Foster, www.public.nrao.edu/gallery/beyond-the-visible-vla.

On the way out we spotted 2 antelope along their

Looking for lunch

road.  Then it was the 46 mile drive back to I-25 where we only went 7 miles before exiting to 2 lane road for our 120 miles to Tularosa, NM.  Bill called the campground, Mountain Meadows, to verify directions and she said not to use the GPS as it takes you on a road that will not get you to the campground.  So we followed her directions and we got there but, boy, IT IS OFF the main road for sure.  It’s small and there seemed to be several seasonals and the section we’re in are all short timers.  The camp host is a full timer and he’s just been here a month but plans to stay all winter.  Met our neighbor who she and her husband are moving here from NW Montana.  They gave up their nice summers for nice winters.

Thank goodness we had enough leftovers for a meal as I was tired!  We had some electric issues, meaning they put us in a 30 amp space, but the electric post says it’s 20 amp, so the AC kept turning off.  We ended up using our 20/30 pigtail and got 50 so the AC works at the same time as everything else.  I was going to do a load of laundry but the washer isn’t working.  I checked the breaker and the GFI’s but no luck.  Will see if we can see where the washer is plugged in and make sure it’s connected.  The dryer works find!  It’s always something.

We watched a movie and I downloaded the scads of photos I took this morning.  I really hated leaving!

Last day in Albuquerque

October 13 – I was up early and could hear the balloons on they way over.  They were really low this morning and there were some that we hadn’t seen before.  It’s funny how the currents make those at one height move so slow and at another height they scurry right along.  Bill got up to see them and said he was going back to bed but they kept coming and he never made it back to bed after all.

I made bacon with fruit and we ate the last package of the Bimbo Crispy Wheels.  Might look at home and see if they are carried there.  They’re made with a rosecake waffle mold and sprinkled with sugar.  Nice little addition to breakfast.  My mom used to have those molds but I don’t think she liked the hassle of making them.

We had a list of places to hit today and I think we got them all done.  First we hit 2 pawn shops and I was pleased to get good deals on a pair of earrings and a ring.  Then we stopped at a nursery that Kam and I found out about but never made there.  They had the best selection of succulents and in several sizes.  She was not able to Facetime with me to see them so I winged it and bought 4 I hope she likes.  They had a good deal on them and being a “senior” I got another 10% off.  What a deal!

Then we headed for the real shopping area where we stopped at World Market, Target, Sprouts (like a Whole Foods) and had lunch at the slowest Wendy’s on the planet!  I tried the Powerhouse Salad and think I’ll stick with Apple Pecan unless they have the special summer salads.

We made a quick stop at the RV to drop off the produce and bacon and headed across the interstate to the Sandia Casino where they were having a huge Arts and Crafts event.  We got parked and walked to the entrance where we discovered it’s a $10 per person fee to enter.  Needless to say, we’d rather use the $20 for something else.  I don’t recall ever going to an Arts and Crafts Show where you had to pay. 

The arena manager made arrangements for a guy to come pump out anyone who needed it this afternoon so we headed on home so we wouldn’t miss it.  Bill read for a while then went to get the car washed and I printed postcards and updated our expenses and waited for the guy.  It was VERY interesting.  The guy had never pumped RV’s.  Each owner has to do everything with the RV and he attached a heavy duty hose to the sewer connection and the other end to a 5 gallon trash can.  He turned the suction on in the truck and takes the truck hose and holds it in the trash can.  The arena manager made the trash can part and it was a pretty smart way to do it.

Bill got back right after they finished us and were at the folks next door so he did get to see the mechanics of it.  Then once they moved the truck he washed the front of the RV for our departure in the morning.  Once we were pumped I put in a load of laundry since we’ve run out of space.  With Kam here it created an extra set of sheets and big bath towel.

It was my turn to pick a restaurant and it was NOT going to be Mexican. I picked Crackin Crab and it was delicious.  It’s a seafood boil place with prices changing in accordance to cost.  I had chosen a different seafood place but they literally did not serve anything BUT seafood and that wouldn’t be fair to Bill.  Here he had chicken and I had a black mussel boil.  I did one pound and it came with a boiled potato and I added slaw.  I could have eaten 2 pounds!  They even provide a bib!  After dinner we went next door to Stone Cold Creamery and had some coffee ice cream with a mix in.  That’s a special treat for us as the price it kinda high in my opinion.  It was the perfect dessert though!

The ride home was uneventful and when we got back we called our friend Barry who was in the bad car accident.  He’s now in rehab in Henderson, NV but still has a long way to go.  He was happy to talk to us and we will plan to call weekly to keep check on him. 

Time to post a couple more blogs and pack Dell up for our departure south in the morning!

Thought I was done, then the fireworks at the fiesta started so I ran out to get some photos.

Day of rest and catch up

October 12 – Today was the BEST balloon morning!  The gigantic astronaut balloon came

down low just above the bathrooms next to us then it started rising to clear the trees.  And THEN, 2 balloons landed in the arena!  The first landed with just the 2 riders and bounced several times and the basket tipped over.  We watched the balloon deflate and then their chaser arrived and they folded and packed it up.  The second one came in smoother and the other people were still in the same area and ran over to grab the basket and the tether rope from the top and helped them not fall over!  How exciting!  Again there were over 100 balloons in the sky on this beautiful sunny morning!  Words can’t describe it!

We had no real plans today as I had a stack of bills to pay and phone calls to make,  journaling to catch up and photos to work on.  Bill did some stuff outside and we did a load of laundry and found homes for the new purchases!

He picked up a newspaper yesterday with the voting on all of the best foods and restaurants in town and wanted to try the best hamburger.  It’s a fast food place – Blake’s Lotaburger.  I told him there was one 2 miles from us if he wanted to go get lunch and he didn’t hesitate.  I ordered a single with mustard and pickle, just like Wendy’s.  Bill said they cook them while you wait.  It was no better than Wendy’s!

After my burger I made chocolate chip cookies and posted 2 blogs.  It’s still a beautiful day out, just a bit warm but not enough to have the AC on.  I took fish out for dinner and we talked about plans for tomorrow.  If we want to have out tanks pumped out we need to be here by 2:30.  Will see how things go!

We were down to 7 RV’s tonight but 4 new ones arrived after dark.  Three parked on the other side of us and one 5^th wheel took at least 6 attempts to park.  The spaces are narrow and the utilities are between each 2, so we have to run ours under the RV to the passenger side.  We weren’t sure if the guy was having trouble with the hook up or what.  Later we went out to see some of the fireworks and he has a toy hauler with the deck so that’s why he parked so far out and kept moving we guess.

The fish was delicious, with mixed rice and steamed green beans with dill krauter seasoning.  We each had 2 cookies for dessert.  They should last us a few days for the sweet tooth!

I watched Grey’s Anatomy, which meant Bill couldn’t watch one of his shows but hey, I don’t’ have but 1-2 shows that he doesn’t really watch and he had way more that I have to watch so I really don’t feel bad about it!

Again we didn’t last long after 10.  I wish I had time to read more during the day as my 30 minutes at night doesn’t get me too far into the story!

Kam's last day 😕

October 11 – What a beautiful morning!  Sun shining, a chill in the air and well over 100 air

balloons overhead!  It doesn’t get much better than this!

We didn’t have a lot planned today so I made Idaho sausage

 for breakfast and eggs, fruit and we shared a package of freebie Bimbo Crispy Wheels.  Everyone got showered and ready and we left for the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center.  Of course we had a stop along the way!  Kam found a place 

that had a huge selection of Talavera pottery and was a nursery called Jackaloupe.  She and I went in and she didn’t find what she was looking for but I found a wool woven table runner.  I went out to show it to Bill and to get my wallet and he came in and took a look around.  I think he would have made some purchases if we had room or need for anything.  What a super place! 

Acoma dancer

The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center was having a week of special events due to the Balloon Fiesta.  We had never been and it was on Kam’s list of places to see so it worked out perfectly.  We were able to watch 2 sessions of Pueblo dances.  The first was from the Acoma Pueblo and the second was from the Zia Pueblo.  The costuming is spectacular.  Many of the costumes have been in the family for 40 – 50 years.  There were also native craftsmen set up around the central performing area.  The building surrounds the performing area which is round (according to customs) in a circular fashion.  The museum is most of the circle, which was very well done and touched on many aspects of tribal history and life.  The rest of the building has convention/meeting space, a restaurant and gift shop.  Of course we checked out all of the merchants but didn’t buy anything and spent a good amount of time in the museum itself. 

The Cultural Center is on native land and next door they own a gas station where the price is about .20 less per gallon.  It was good timing as we needed to fill the car anyway.  Then it was look for a lunch spot that was NOT Mexican food!  On the way however, we side tracked to the original shop where the selection of Talavera was the best.  Kam got her wall planter and I got a soap/lotion dispenser!  We had lunch at a farm to table place, The Grove Café.  It was a bit pricy but the quality was excellent.  Bill and Kam had sandwichs served with sides of bread and butter pickles and kale salad.  I had a salad with goat cheese, beets, almonds and more!

The airport is way out of town on the south edge of town across from the Air Force Base.

Chevy on a Stick

  Kam’s flight was at 4 and she wanted to be there around 3 to re-arrange her bags so she wouldn’t have to check a bag.  She was leaving her planter to our care to get it home safely.  Near the Air Force Base is the “Chevy on a Stick”.  It’s one of those interesting roadside attractions.  There’s no sign or information about who put it there or why but we saw it!  The car is covered with various sizes and colors of ceramic tiles.  We don’t get the “stick” part!

It was a short zip around to the airport, it’s not a huge one but was easy to navigate and there was no back up at the Southwest drop-off.  We said our good-byes and off Kam went her way and we circled back out and crossed town to do some shopping near the RV.  I wanted some New Mexico wine that I like and can’t buy outside of the state.  The best price was at Total Wines so I bought several!  Then we stopped at Bed, Bath and Beyond for coffee and hit Wal-mart last.  It’s a complicated area and we turned around a lot as one Google Map put us behind Bed, Bath and Beyond instead of in front!  We figured Kam was in Houston by the time we got home!

As I put everything away I got out our leftover Mexican food and some leftover stuffed zucchini and eventually we heated it up and NO MORE MEXICAN for a while.  It was a big TV night so we watched Mr. Mercedes, then Bill watched Seals and Blacklist, and we watched Designated Survivor.  I worked on the computer while Bill watched and switched to crocheting during Survivor.  I tried to read a while after but that didn’t last long.  We were in bed by 10:30.