Texas 2014

June 11, 2014

Bobby & Dennis played golf at Southern Hills Golf course, next to where we are staying.  He shot an 86, not bad for not having played in 3 weeks!

Snuf and the kids came over to coach around 9:30, then we went swimming until 11:30, when it was time to head to Tyler to take Lily to meet her paternal grandfather.  She's going to Disneyworld with them tomorrow....she's so excited.   

In between we did some shopping, met up with Nessa's in-laws and had lunch.   We ate at Loggin, it's owned by Johnny Manzels grandparents.   He's the 2012 Hiesman Trophy winner from TX A&M.  Food was nothing I'd right home about!

After shopping they dropped me off at coach and we agreed to meet at the Mexican restaurant in Gladewater for dinner.   Got to met Frank, Nessa's significant other....great guy!   After dinner we went to watch the extreme bulls at the Gladewater Rodeo grounds.  That was fun.   Hard to say goodbye, but we'll see them again in August.

 

June 10, 2014

The girls

Bubba, Lily, Snuf and Gracie

Headed to Gladewater where we’ll spend the next two days visiting with my sister.  She wants us to watch the bulling riding contest at their fairgrounds tomorrow.

We arrived around 1, after we got set up, we did the laundry and Bobby did a few chores on the outside of the coach.   Around 2:30 the family came over and we went swimming.   It was a little cool but felt good once we got in.  It’s a salt water pool, very nice.

Lily at Lake Hawkins

The family at Taste of Italy

After swimming, we got changed and headed to Lake Hawkins (west of Gladewater) to have dinner at Taste of Italy, which is located on Lake Hawkins.   The food was spectacular.   My sister had the soup, a cream cheese tortellini, which was delicious.   She told me how it’s made; I’m surely trying it in the near future.  I had Chicken & Shrimp Pasta and Bobby had Chicken Parmesan.   The family had pizza, it was excellent.  We had enough leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

 

June 9, 2014

Fort Worth Courthouse

Met family at their hotel, then went to breakfast at IHOP.   They wanted to go to Cabela’s, so we spent almost 4 hours looking around/shopping.   We bought an ammo box and an outdoor thermometer.   Big spenders today!!!

Courthouse in Fort Worth

The family left around 1 and head back to Gladewater….we’ll see them again tomorrow afternoon…decided to head to Gladewater and watch the extremely bull riding on Wednesday in Tyler with them.

Bobby and I came back to the coach and had lunch.   Around 3, we headed to downtown to look at the Old Fire Station museum….it was nothing to get excited about.  However our next stop was the old courthouse, it was built in 1895 and it was something  to look at.   There’s lots of pics to look at plus a small museum but the architecture is beautiful.  

June 8, 2014

Lily, Jo, Nessa, Gracie & Snuf at Stockyards

Since we stayed up so late last night, family was running slow and did not arrive until after 10.   Guess I wore out Lily and Gracie!!!

Once they got here, we went back to the stockyards and hit the remaining stores.   I had promised Lily that she could have whatever she wanted once we saw all the stores.   In between shopping, we did do the maze (Lily & I did it), it took us 13 min. to find all four letters (MAZE), that was fun, Bobby & Dennis helped direct us through the difficult parts.   

White Elephant Bar

We watched the cattle drive and gun fight one more time….Lily really likes those activities.   We also walked over to Billy Bob’s, one of the largest country western bars in the nation.   It is huge!   We decided just to have drinks and go get hamburgers on the main strip for a very late lunch/early dinner. Lily decided on a baseball cap that has a softball and says softball champ.   She won her division just a few weeks ago so it was very fitting.

Lily & Uncle Bob

After a very long day, we came back to the coach, Gracie (she’s only 11 months) took a two hour nap, while Snuf & I played games with Lily.  The rest of the family watched tv, napped, etc.   Around 6:30 Snuf, Vanessa, the girls and myself went to watch the cow roping.  It’s right behind the coach, so we just sat in chairs beside the motorhome.   Around 10, the family left and we agreed to meet at their hotel around 8 for breakfast.

June 7, 2014

Lily, Gracie, Snuf, Dennis, Nessa & Bobby

We are really close to downtown Fort Worth, so we decided to take a drive into the farmers market while we are waiting for my sister to arrive.   The farmers market was not what I expected; no fresh fruits or vegs,

mostly honey and stuff individuals made.

The family

Decided we’d go into downtown, as the farmers market it is about 1 mile from it.   Next we went to the Water Gardens (next to the convention center).   Beautiful park showing off 5 water features.  We then went into the convention center to see what was going on…the Republic Party Conference.   They asked us to come in but we politely told them we were just visiting.   We did not see any of the candidates but they did tell us that more than likely Ted Cruz would be running for President.

Next we drove down Houston Street and saw the old courthouse.   Did not take a tour since it’s almost time for my sister to arrive, so we headed back to the coach, more later. 

Family plus Mike & Cath..having dinner

Snuf arrived around 11:00 and I was so excited.   After our hellos, we walked over to the stockyards to watch the cattle drive, gun fight, etc.   Walked around some of the shops, watched the cattle drive, gun fights, etc. before we decided to go to the coach and have lunch.  Bobby fixed hot dogs, afterwards I went with the family to check into their hotel and then we went swimming.  After the dip in the pool, we came back to the coach.  By this time, Mike & Cath had arrived and then we went to dinner.  It was so nice that they could take time out of their schedule to join us.   We ate at Risky’s steak house, very good.  Then we went to the Rodeo….it was small but very good for being a local affair.

Came back to the coach around 10, then Mike & Cath headed home.   The family sat around and talked for another hour….long day for the two girls but they seemed to have fun….at least Lily did.  

June 6, 2014

In the stockyards

We made it to the Stockyards RV Park around 12:00.  Bobby realized he left the water pressure reducer at the rv park in Austin, so we went in search of a hardware store.   Came back around 1:30 and realized the electricity in the spot they gave us was not working.   Moved the coach over to another spot, we are the only ones here so far.   Got all set up and then had lunch.

In the dog house again

After lunch I went over to the visitor’s center…picked up several brochures to find out what we should see in the Fort Worth and Dallas areas.  Tomorrow, we’ll explore the stockyards with my sister and her family….so excited.

At about 3:34, we headed to the visitors center, want to watch the cattle drive.  It was pretty good, although small.   Afterwards we went to look at the longhorns up close and personal.   Big horns!!

Then we walked thru a couple of shops, not to many as we’ll do this with the family tomorrow.

Came back to coach and watched the movie 47 Ronin, it was excellent.   I needed to cool off, will be glad when I get used to the humidity.

June 5, 2014

LBJ Library

Started day by going to LBJ library….it shows the life of President Johnson plus tells a lot of the history during his presidency.  It’s a beautiful library /museum.   We then walked over to the TX longhorn stadium…couldn’t  get into see the field, as they were filming a movie.   Decided to walk to the TX Memorial Museum….it has fossils, stuffed animals, minerals, etc.  Four floors of interesting stuff to look at…the fossils and dinosaur bones were the coolest part to us.

Tony Hawks

We then headed back to the coach for lunch.   Watched the movie Sum of all Fears and then about 3:00 we headed back to downtown to find a place to watch the x-games.   Tony Hawks preformed at 5:00 and then the pro skateboards at 6:30.   This is the first time the x-games have been outside of LA in 12 years…it was an amazing crowd…I would say 4-5 thousand, maybe more.  We were fairly close to the ramp, so got some great shots.   It was extremely hot and at about 5:45, headed to the truck to get water.   We sat at the truck and drank water and then about 6:10, headed to 6^th street to listen to a band and have a drink.  Found “Friends” bar, had good music but drinks are expensive.    

We walked back up to the capital area and watched the pro’s skateboard for about 45 min.   By then I was tired and done with the heat, headed home, stopping along the way for Mexican dinner.

 

June 4, 2014

Bobby inside capital

Capital building of TX

Arrived in Austin around 11:30, short trip for us, took only about 2 hrs.   We are staying at the Austin Lone Star RV resort.   It's an older park but nice, it's about 10 miles south of Austin.   After lunch we took a trip into town, I wanted to see the capital.   Took a guided tour,  you don't get to see much, it lasts about 45 but you do learn the history of the capital.  Tomorrow we might take the self-guided tour.  I will say, it's huge.  The 4th tallest capital but the largest in square feet at 360,000 in the original building and the 1993 underground expansion added another 667,000 SF.   We saw the main building only....that's all the tour shows you!

University of TX

Outside Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits was our next stop, however it was closed.  Only open if a concert is playing.   Not what I was hoping for, since I wanted to see this country icon.  Maybe tomorrow, they have a venue but don't think it's country.   We did get to see Willie's statue...see pic of Bobby sitting next to him.

Next stop was the University of TX, it's right in the downtown area.  Parking is horrible and having graduation tonight, didn't help, so we just drove around and saw some of the highlights. Will see the museums, stadium, etc tomorrow.
 
June 3, 2014

Mr Austin

SAS Headquarters

Took a tour of SAS (San Antonio Shoes) factory.   This company makes everything by hand except one operation that stitches a design into the leather, they want to remain a personal specialized company unlike most other shoe company in the world.   They have two buildings at this facility and another facility NW of here about 3 hrs.   The shoes are make of top quality leather, no wonder they cost so much.  At this facility they sell their factory defects but still they are over $100 a pair.   When you see how much labor and time is put into a shoe, it makes you understand why....although I still did not buy a pair.

Court House

Mural at Market Sq

Once the tour is finished (about an hour), you can look around in their gift store, it's filled with gifts, candy, clothes, old time cars, etc.   You can purchase a bag of popcorn of 5cents and/or a diet coke for 10 cents.  What a bargain!

Afterwards we headed back into downtown where we walked around market square.   This facility has many Mexican shops that we strolled thru. We then walked over to the Old Governors Palace & City Hall.  

Spent the rest of the afternoon doing laundry, as we hit the road for Austin tomorrow.





June 2, 2014

The Alamo

River Walk

This was a history filled day.   First stop was the Alamo, it holds so much history, very interesting to see.  Hasn't changed since I was hear 15 yrs ago.   We then took a walk to La Villita, had small area with lots of history near the river walk.   They have an outdoor ampitheater, no concert to hear today. 

San Fernando Church

Mission Conception

Next we took a stroll along the river walk, ending up at the River place market.  It's basically a shopping mall with a food court.   Looked around at several stores and then head to the river boat tours.   Took the tour, it last approx. 45 min.   You learn a lot of history about the city, river, etc.   Well worth the price of $6.00.

Had lunch at the River place market, then we headed to the San Fernando Cathedral (Colonel's Bowie, Crockett & Travis are entombed here), stopping to look in shops along the way.   On the way back to the car, we looked in more shops.

Mission San Juan

Mission San Jose

We decided we'd see the four missions (Conception, San Jose, San Juan & Espada) on the way home.   The San Jose is the most beautiful (in our opinion) and most in tact.   The old side of these missions are very faded but still beautiful, but the insides are still very colorful.  They are still actively used for services each week.

We've been gone about 8 hrs and are tired.  Getting used to the humidity....if that's possible..lol.

June 1,2014

We arrived at Braunig Lake RV in Elmendorf, TX around 1:30.   We had planned to stay at the Elks on the West side of San Antonio, but they were more expensive than here and did not have full hookups.   We did wash the truck and windshield of the motorhome prior to arriving....boy did they need it!

Spent the afternoon resting, Bobby was worn out from washing truck, etc.   Met our neighbors, they have a new puppy...4 months old.  Thought about stealing him....so cute, Bobby said no!
Later we did go have ice cream at their social, yum!  Later in the evening, I went for a walk.  This is a nice park with about 300 spots.   Many are full timers.

May 31, 2014

TX White House

Graves of LBJ & Lady Byrd Johnson

Hard to believe we’ve been on the road for 2 weeks and only halfway across TX!  First stop was the Wildseed Farm; it’s one of the largest seed farms that produce wild flower seeds in the world.  It has unique gifts plus you can sample several items they make at this farm.  We tried salsa, jellies, honeys, etc. 

Next stop was the LBJ state park, ranch and historical site.   On the ranch, we had a guided tour of the TX White House.  What an excellent guide we had, he tells you all the details of the furniture, gifts they received, etc.   The two Johnson girls still come visit the ranch; they are allowed to sit on the furniture…lol.   One lives in VA and the other in Austin.  

President's Jet

Went to Junction City and had lunch at Ronnies, a BBQ place.   The turkey and beef were superb along their BBQ sauce leaves a lot to be desired.  It’s nothing like Sweet Baby Rae’s.   I should give them a bottle…lol.

Luckenbach stage..Thom Shepard

On our way to Luckenback, we stopped at a peach stand and bought fresh peaches…first of the season.  Will let you know how they taste.   Luchenback is famous for its country music visitors, Willie, Waylon, and our entertainer today was Thom Shepard….he wrote Private Ryan.   Had a couple of drinks, and then came home.   Long day, walk almost 6 miles.

May 30, 2014

Got up and took the coach over to a local truck shop, have a slow leak on the back passenger tire.   Found out it was just a stem, they took it off and all was fine, cost us $20.

Memorial to the Presidents

After we had breakfast, we headed to Fredericksburg, where we will spend the next two nights at the Oakwood RV Park.  I was starving, so we had lunch at Hilda’s, across the street from the RV park.   We then drove into town, found the Admiral Nimitz War Museum; it had an impressive display on wars, the individuals and ships that sacrificed their lives plus a wonderful display on the presidents.   

Admiral Nimitz Museum

They have a Lady Byrd Johnson park here in Fredericksburg, so we took a drive out there.   It has a golf course, tennis courts, nice RV Park, airport, etc.   

It was hot and sticky…ok, very sticky, so we came home so I could go swimming.   Pool is not heated, but was warm enough for me to cool off!  While I was swimming, I could see a lady working in the garden so after my swim, went to look at the garden.  She gave me 2 zucchini and 2 yellow squash.   Came home and made zucchini bread and ate one of the yellow squash.  Yum!!!

May 29, 2014

Fort Davis

Hobby-Eberly

We started our day by taking the self guided walking tour of the old fort.  This is one of the most intact forts in the USA.   They were just updating one of their exhibits and we were one of the first 20 to view it, it was a walking piece of history with many artifacts from many of the families that lived there.  

  

Next stop was the McDonald Observatory, where we took a tour of the 107” and the Hobby-Eberly (largest telescope mirror in the world) telescopes. These telescopes are located on the highest peak in TX at 6,791'.  Our tour guide moved the 107” around but did not open the view area as it would have heated up the lens, and that would make it inoperable for the evening testing.   Next time, we’ll definitely stay for the night star show.  

107" telescope

Pecos Pete

Got back to the motorhome around 2:00 PM, got it ready to travel and were on the road by 2:30.   Made it to Fort Stockton around 5:00 PM, where we park at Walmart.   We then drove into the downtown area, got pics of Pecos Pete the Roadrunner…very cool.   Afterwards, we went looking thru some of the local shops, bought a few things.   

May 28, 2014

Indian Lodge

Moving day, this time we are heading to Fort Davis, TX.   Our first stop was Pecos, TX, where we saw the “west of the Pecos” museum, which used to be a famous hotel.   Also read about Judge Roy Beam and how famous he was in this area.

Court House in Fort Davis

We continued on to Fort Davis, where we arrived around 2:00 PM, we’ve gone into Central time zone.   Had   First stop was the Indian Lodge inside the park.   Actually it’s a state park within a state park.   We are in Davis Mountains State Park (this park has cable TV…extremely unusually) and this is Indian Lodge State Park.  Only in TX!!!   It’s an old lodge that Teddy Roosevelt had built back in the 1930’s. We then drove to Purdy Ranch, they are having the Texas Star Party and we wanted to know if the public is welcome.   For $60 a person, you can come in, we elected not to go in.   We’ll see the McDonald Observatory tomorrow and that will be enough, although seeing the stars at night is awesome.

a late lunch and then went out touring for about 3 hours.

Lesser Goldfinch

Drove into town to look at Fort Davis, it closes at 5 PM and it was 4:15, so we did not stay, just took a few pics, we will come back tomorrow.   On the way home, stopped at a local ice cream shop and had scoop of ice cream…nice way to end the day!

Got home and settled in for the evening.   After dinner, I went for a walk, they have to bird viewing areas, so I went to get some pics, obtained some very nice pics of woodpeckers, etc.

The stars are beautiful here....no wonder the astronomers have come to this area.   No city lights!!

New Mexico

May 27, 2014

King's Palace tour

Took Bobby to see the pottery shop, have an hour to waste, before our tour.   Still did not buy anything, am I good or what?

So excited as we are taking our guided tour today!   Seeing the Kings Palace tour, oh my god was it amazing.   No wonder they call this the granddaddy of the caverns.   This tour shows you why….I’d highly recommend this to anyone visiting the Carlsbad Caverns.  Tour takes about 2 - 2 ½ hrs, so we came home to rest before we go back to see the bats fly out.

inside King's Palace

We arrived around 6:45PM to see the bats fly out, early but it gave us time to talk with rangers, etc.   The rangers start their talk at 7:30, giving you facts about the bats.   Yes they can hear and see, but usually elect to use their sonar instead.   The majority of them have not arrived from their winter breading grounds in Mexico, but at about 8:10, they start to fly out, it was not the swarm we had anticipated but still we thoroughly enjoyed seeing them.   We did learn that there are about 500,000 Brazilian bats that live at the caverns.   The mothers will begin delivering the pups in middle of June and they’ll learn to fly around end of July.   They eat their body weight (5 oz) in bugs (mostly moths) every night.  No wonder the farms like bats!   It was interesting to see but honestly thought we'd see a lot more bats than we did, next time, we'll come in July when there will be more to see.

May 26, 2014

Bobby hurt is back, so we’ll just stay around the motorhome and take it slow.   Elks are having a memorial day picnic, so we joined them.   They have a large swimming pool but water was to cool for us to get into….gosh we are spoiled!   Justin & Susan Crockett, we met them in Roswell (parked next to us), entertained us.   We invited them to come to Havasu and spend some time….hopefully they will.

May 25, 2014

The rustler

The cattle boss

Left Roswell around 9:00 AM, heading to Carlsbad.   First stop will be Artesia, want to do their walking tour.  They have many statues thru out their main street.   We stop at IHOP and had a quick bite, then continu   They have great statues depicting the cowboy and oil field eras.
 

The vaquero

Sally Chisum...the teacher

Back on the road around 11:30 and arrived in Carlsbad around 12:30, we’re staying at the Carlsbad Elks.   Around 2:00 PM, we headed out to Carlsbad Caverns.   Took the Natural Entrance tour, it’s about 1 ½ miles long but goes down 750’, tough on the old knees, but very interesting.   Once we got into the cavern, we took the Big Room tour (self guided).   By the time we finished, you realize why they call it the granddaddy of the caverns.   This was my 2^nd time here but 1^st time was 20 years ago.   Don’t remember the walk down being so steep…lol.

Got back to the coach around 6, later on I might walk down to the Peco’s river and take some pics of the sunset

May 24, 2014

flag football

Flag football

The weather was not looking good in Carlsbad, expecting golf ball size hail, so we decided to stay one more night.   With nothing planned, we decided to do our laundry and then we went to the “hike & spike it” tournament.  It’s a 4 person flag    Some of the teams are playing for a $15,000 purse while others are after trophy’s.   The 5^th wheel next to us has kids playing in the 15-19 yr old bracket.   They won 2 out of three games but at least they got the opportunity to play on Sunday in the finals.  

football tournament, the largest in the world.

  

May 23, 2014

Books at court house

Art from RAIC

First stop was the Chamber of Commerce, the lady their told us about a mural approx 6 miles South of town, we drove out and took pic.   There’s a fence, so only Bobby climbed over.   I did not want to get my skirt caught on the fence.

 Afterwards went back to the court house to tour their museum.   We had a local Sheriff give us a personal tour, which was very nice.   He explained so much to us, would recommend Scott to anyone coming to this area.

 

 We then attended the RAIC museum (saw lots of local art) and then we toured the UFO museum.   Here we learned about the incident that occurred back in 1947.  They still are unclear as to whether or not a UFO crashed NW of Roswell, but honestly from all the reports, something crashed.   Whether is was a UFO, still remains a mystery.

After lunch at the coach, we visited the history museum, which is in the White old home.  It’s a 5,000 SF home once owned by the White family.   It still has many original furnishings from the family, very interesting.

 May 22, 2014

Ruidoso Downs

Left Alamogordo, NM around 8:30 and headed to Ruidoso, home of Ruidoso Downs.   I was hoping to see a race, but they did not start until 1:00 PM.   I did not want to wait around, as a major thunderstorm is coming to Roswell and I wanted to be set up before it hit.   We walked around the race track, looked thru the hall of fame and the casino.   The casino has a replica of the jail that Billy the Kid made his famous escape from, it’s fun to read all the history that happened around this area.

We then made our way to Roswell, arriving around noon.   Got set up in the RV park and then had lunch.   Around 2, decide to take a drive thru the town.   It’s much larger than I had anticipated.   The New Mexico Military Institute is located here, which is a very large facility.   

Pat Garrett

John Cishum

Decide to look at the court house, it’s quite obvious that it’s old…the rotunda is beautiful.   When we went to go up the stairs, a gentleman informed us that no cellphones are allowed in the building, after taking them back to the truck, we continued inside the court house.   Wouldn’t you know it, no camera’s allowed.   The guard ask what I was going to do with my camera, told him take pics of the rotunda, he was gracious enough to allow me to do that, however I had to remain within his sight at all times.   He also informed us that we could not go on any floors since we had shorts on.   They don’t allow shorts, tank tops, thongs, etc.   We’ll come back tomorrow to see the museum and the old court house rooms.

They have two statues around the court house,  one of Pat Garrett (sherriff) and John Cishum (cattle rancher) on either side of court house.

Got back to the coach around 3:45, just in time, as the rain was starting…huge drops.   Certainly would get you soaked in a short amount of time.

 


May 21, 2014

Dunn Telescope

ARC telescope

We are heading to Sunspot, NM.  It's about 60 miles SE of Alamogordo up in the mountains off hwy 82 to visit the National Solar Observatory on Sacramento Peak.  We climbed to an elevation of 9,920, so we were tired while walking around.   At this facility you can't get near the telescopes, they are huge, but we had the opportunity to talk with a scientist from Hawaii about the Dunn Solar Telescope, they watch the activity of the sun through this telescope.   Its towers 136' above ground with another 228' below ground.  The size of this telescope is magnificent but we as visitors don't get to see anything through it.  We were lucky in that we were the only ones there, so this scientist spent quite a bit of time explaining the details of what their looking for, which is basically the hotspots on the sun and how they can create havoc on satellites, space craft, military stuff, etc.

Pistachios growing on a tree

Next stop was the Apache Point Observatory and the ARC 3.5 m telescope, we were lucky as an engineer was working on it, so we got a mini tour of it.   It works at night so we could not see it in action but the hangar doors were open.  At night the building moves on a track and exposes the entire telescope that tips up and points at the sky.  It has to be extremely dark, so no lights are allowed, not even a flashlight!   Believe me, you could see every star in the sky, no city lights within 30 miles.   Next time, we'll stay for the night show.

Giant pistachio

After looking at the telescope, we headed back to Cloudcroft, a typical mountain resort town.  Walked around the shops and then headed back to Alamogordo.   Once back in town, we toured a Pistachio Tree Farm called Heart of the Desert Pistachios & Wine.   This facility is extremely small for the amount of Pistachio's they produce, they have maybe dozen employees during their peak season of September thru December.  They have 12,000 trees, of which 90% are female trees and 10% mail tree.     We sampled several flavors but did not buy any....not our favorite nut.





We also went to the store next door to McGinn's, they have many more flavors than Heart of the Desert did.

May 20, 2014

White Sands Missile Range

White Sands NP

Left Las Curcses around 9:00 and headed to the White Sands Missile Range.  Here we had the opportunity to look at the missiles that have been tested at the facility.   It's a military base, so you have to get clearance and can only go to the museum and park where they have the missiles.  It was very interesting.

Next stop was the White Sands National Park.  We bought a round disk (sled) so we could play on the sand dunes.   A lot more work than I gave it credit for....guess this means I'm getting old!   Even though we waxed the bottom of the sled, it did not want to go down the hill.....might be that we are adults and weigh to much...lol.   We both did it eventually and had a good time, however, the walk back up the hill is a killer!

We then headed to Alamogordo, where we parked at the Elks.  We got settled in and then went to the club...they have a swimming pool, so we went for a swim.   It was wonderful!

Tomorrow, we explore Alamagordo.

May 19, 2014

We had a beautiful sunset last night, think we have some of that smoke from California as my allergies are horrible.

Fort Selden

Started out this morning going to visitors center and collecting stuff for me to read.   We then headed to Fort Selden, an old fort that protected this area.   Most interesting fact, General MacArther lived here when he was a young boy with his family.

We then went to the memorial park, they have a great dedication to the Bataan Battle from WWII.

Zuhl Museum

Next stop, University of NM, here we toured the Zuhl Museum, which is a fosil collection and visited the Chili Pepper Institute.  The museum was very impressive, institute I would not go back.   It's just a gift shop but they do sell seeds for all types of chili's included the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion, hottest chili in the world.

Last stop for the day was the town of Mesilla....it's

a very old Mexican town.   Lots of little shops, restaurants, etc.   We walked thru the shops and then had lunch at La Pasta, it was just ok...very bland in our opinion.   The interesting fact we learned here, Billy the Kid spent time in jail plus was convicted and put to death here.







May 18, 2014


Left Tucson after having breakfast at the Voyager Restaurant....it was excellent.

Hit the road around 9 with nothing planned since it's Sunday and most things we assumed would be closed.   Bobby drove to a rest stop just short of New Mexico border and then I drove the remainder of the trip.  It was very windy again but at least the traffic was light and no problems.   We arrived at the Las Crucses Elks around 2:30.

Fuel here is cheap compared to Havasu...$3.699 a gallon.   Hope it like this for the rest of our travels.

We'll spend two nights here....tomorrow, we see the local sites.

On the road again!!!!

Bobby decided to leave a day early so Friday night I was at a golf party and took my two girlfriends home and when I got to Gail Kennedy's home, my little car just didn't want to run anymore.   Parked it along side their driveway, in hopes it would start Saturday morning and we could be on our way.

Low and behold, it start right up....must have been to hot like us!   Obviously it didn't like to 111 temp.

We finished packing the casita, etc and left around 9 AM and arrived in Tucson around 3:30.  While coming into Tucson, the dirt devils were everywhere.  One actually came so close it moved the coach....glad Bobby was driving.

 While checking in the guard told Bobby the Preakness was getting ready to start.  We got TV going and got to watch the entire race.  Way to go California Chrome.

After we settled in, we headed to Costco...by now all the touristy things are closed, but we did drive past the bone yard.   Amazing how many old planes they have and why are they saving them?

The Voyager RV Park is an excellent place to stay....all the amenities you could ask for!  Would recommend staying here.

only two days until we leave...yeah!!!

Things are getting rearranged and finally items from casita will be loaded onto coach tomorrow.   It's hot....106 today...so glad we are leaving.  Although we are heading to the hot and humid southern part of the USA.

We'll keep everyone connect via Facebook and this blog.  I'm very exciting to see new areas of the USA.

getting ready to head towards Florida

Soon we'll be heading on our next adventure.   Plan to leave around 18th.  As most of you know, were heading to Vero Beach, Fl and then we'll head up east coast to DC and then back to Havasu.  We anticipate to be gone 4-5 months.  You can follow our trip on this blog & Facebook.

Will try and post every couple of days.