Church, Farewell and Prescott

Sunday morning the 4 of us, Larry, Joanne, Tom and I, decided to go to church services in Wickenburg. The emcee for the parade on Saturday made mention that he was the pastor at Hope Assembly church and gave a invitation to all that Sunday services would include the performer, Jack Jackson,(who was entertaining there on Saturday) and afterwards there would be a barbeque lunch. So that is where we went for church services. Being a Pentacostal church it was very different from the services that we are accustomed to. The services lasted 2 hours but the second hour was Jack Jackson performing. At the conclusion of the service a very nice barbeque lunch was served.
Monday morning Larry and Joanne packed up and moved on. It was nice being together the past few days and we were sorry to see them leave but they had been in this area for 2 weeks and had "hitch itch". We knew the feeling and bade them safe travels and we would be seeing each other after we all get back east. I then did a load of wash, Tom did some outside cleaning of the motorhome and then we went to Congress for lunch. Joanne and Larry had recommended a restaurant so we wanted to try it. We agree with them that the restaurant, Nichols West, is not much to look at on the outside but the food is really good.
Today, Tom and I went north to Prescott for the day. The drive up to Prescott is a very scenic drive going up mountains and seeing miles off in the distance. Of course as we were ascending the mountains the temperature was dropping several degrees despite the warm sunshine. Our first stop in Prescott was at the Visitor's Center. From there we went to The Sharlot Hall Museum. Sharlot Hall (1870-1943) was a poetry writer and had interest in frontier history. This museum has buildings, including Arizona Territorial governor's mansion, that are open for the public. The mansion is a rustic log building.

Eleven years later the Fremont House was built and the 5th Territorial governor lived in this house made of sawn lumber and much more modern than the previous "mansion". In a building displaying a vehicle collection there were a group of ladies doing quilting. Quilts are made and raffled off to help make money for the museum. From the museum we decided it was time to get some lunch so we stopped at a Mexican restaurant, El Charro, that was not the best but it satisfied the hunger pangs. Our final stop was at Sam's Club to restock.

Wickenburg and Gold Rush Days

Thursday morning (2/16) we pulled up stakes in Benson, said a fond farewell to Drew and Marti Moehlau, and moved west on I-10 to Phoenix where we picked up rte. 60 north to Wickenburg, about 230 miles.  We enjoyed our time in Benson but were getting anxious to move on.
Actually we are north of Wickenburg in the vicinity of Congress in the Escapee park, North Ranch.  Larry, my brother, and Joanne are here and we were able to get a site next to them.  It was good to see Larry and Joanne and their traveling companions, Sadie, a dog and 3 cats.  Thursday evening Tom and I went into Wickenburg for dinner at the Hog Trough, a barbeque restaurant.  Food was good and spicy.
Friday morning the 4 of us went into Wickenburg as this was the beginning of the Gold Rush Days celebration.  This area has an old gold mine that is now being rehabbed and maybe reopened as a working mine again.  There are also numerous gold mining camps and even here at this campground, prospectors looking for gold in this area.  By the old train station/visitor’s center there was some entertainment by a female country singer being done.  After a brief stop we continued down the street to the art and craft Artisan Faire where nearly 150 vendors set up in small tents selling their art and craft products.  We spent a little time looking around and then decided we needed to eat some lunch.  We went to a nearby restaurant, The Golden Nugget, and had a nice lunch.  We returned to the art/craft faire to check out the remainder of the tents. 
Today, Saturday, we went into Wickenburg to see the parade that was scheduled to start at 10 am. It was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and temperatures in upper 60’s to lower 70’s.  The streets were crowded with folks waiting for the parade.  We waited at an intersection that had a country singer entertaining the crowd until the parade got to our area.  An emcee was also present and when the parade passed through he announced who the various groups were.  The parade lasted about 1 1/2 hours and featured horse riding groups, civic groups, a few bands and government officials.

 As the parade ended we walked about a block to the Cowboy Café for lunch.  After lunch we drove out of town to the rodeo grounds for a rodeo scheduled for 2pm.  People were crowding into the grounds.  Tom spied a parking spot but when he attempted to park there a man block his entry into the spot saying he was saving the spot for someone that was to be coming to the rodeo.  After a few words the man continued to stand in the space and Tom stood his ground stopping the jeep  also blocking the space.  Eventually the other car showed up and decided he would park elsewhere.  The man blocking the space made some threatening remarks about flattening our tires so we made sure we had license numbers in case anything happened in that regard.   We entered the grandstand area, found seats  and enjoyed the rodeo.  A little more than 2 hours later when the rodeo ended we returned to the jeep and all was well.  A good day with a little unexpected excitement.

Valentine's Celebration and Tombstone

On Saturday, the 11th, we had plans to eat a Valentine's Dinner at the clubhouse here in the campground. There were 3 seatings and we chose to eat at the 5:30pm seating. So we met up with Drew and Marti at the clubhouse and dined with them. We had a choice of either prime rib or salmon which was selected when we purchased our tickets a few days before Saturday. Tom had the prime rib and I had the salmon and we both enjoyed our meals which also included salad, baked potato or fries, a vegetable medley and a cheese cake dessert. The meals that we have eaten here at the campground have been very good and the cooks (all volunteers) deserve a lot of credit.
Sunday we again attended the local Methodist church services and then went out for breakfast at the Horseshoe Cafe with Drew and Marti. We had heard that Tombstone was having a Wild West weekend so the four of us decided to go down to that wild west town for the afternoon. The Vigilantes, a group of re-enactors, were putting on skits depicting scenes from years ago when this area was ruled with gunfights.

We would watch the skits and then during the break times walked about the shops. Before leaving we went to the Crystal Palace for a late lunch.
Monday we didn't have anything planned but had somethings that needed to be done as laundry and housekeeping chores. It was a really nice day with warm 70 plus temperatures and bright sunshine.
Tuesday the weather made a big change. It was cloudy when we got up and the clouds continued through most of the day. Temperatures did not get out of the 40's. In the afternoon we were watching a movie on TV when we noticed that it was snowing even though the temperatures were above freezing. The ground was too warm for any accumulation of snow. It was also quite windy all day. Today was Valentine's Day and Tom had made reservations at a restaurant in Sierra Vista for us. As we traveled to Sierra Vista the wind had become calmer and the skies were beginning to clear. We even saw a bright rainbow off to the east. We ate at "My Big Fat Greek Restaurant" and had a nice meal- Tom had beef on skewers and I had chicken on skewers. The food was very flavorful. After dinner we went to the movie theater to see "Red Tails" about the Tuskegee airmen during World War II. Another good movie that both of liked.
Today is Wednesday and our last day in Benson for this year. We had purchased tickets a week or so ago to go to the Gaslight Theater in Tucson with others from the campground. Marti and Drew were going also and had asked us to go along with them. Adjacent to the theater is a restaurant "Little Anthony's" that is styled as a 50's diner with a menu of burgers, fries, malts and sundaes where we grabbed a lunch before going into the theater. The melodrama that we saw was called "The Two Amigos". Audience participated by booing and hissing at the bad guys and cheering the good guys. It was lots of fun. Bowls of popcorn are on all the tables for munching on during the performance. After the melodrama the cast did a Grand Ole Opry Olio impersonating Minny Pearl, Grandpa Jones, Porter Wagoner and others. The 2 hour show was lots of fun. Throughout the entire show a small group of musicians, a pianist, a drummer and a guitar player were playing music either as accomplement to the singers or as background music. The pianist was extremely outstanding as she banged out the music. This was indeed a nice ending to our time in this area of Arizona. Today's weather was much improved over yesterday- sunny, bright skies and temps in the upper 60's.
Tomorrow we are going to Wickenburg where we meet up with Larry and Joanne. We have been in contact but have not been together since Christmas so we are looking forward to spending some time together. Need to catch up on family news.

Tubac and Tucson with Friends

Wednesday evening I went to the Ladies night out here at the campground. The theme for the night was the 50's. Yes there were some poodle skirts there. The menu was hamburgers, French fries and chocolate malts. Unfortunately, the fries ran out before our table was served so we had potato chips instead and the malts could have been better but the hamburgers were really good. The best part of these nights is the entertainment which is just plan fun and zany. The final act was a group of men that did a"synchronized swim routine"- oh how funny, watching these men doing this routine. It was a fun night.
Thursday, Tom and I went to Tubac for the Arts Festival. The town has over 175 artists displaying and selling their wares. Really beautiful southwest art is on displayed. The streets were closed off to traffic and were bustling with people. I'd hate to see what that town will look like this weekend as the festival continues. We had a nice lunch at Maria's Grille- it felt good to sit down for a spell in the middle of the day. We did find a jar opener that we had been looking for to use to remove some light fixtures in the motorhome at one of the kitchen stores in Tubac. And I found a jacket I didn't think I could live without in another store. But we left the artwork behind for others to check out this weekend.
Today, Friday, we along with Drew and Marti Moehlau went to Tucson to meet up with Rita and Bill Fordham for lunch at the Silver Saddle Steak House. This was a mini Traveling Americans get together! Bill and Rita are staying at Palm Creek campground in Casa Grande so Tucson was about halfway for them as well as for the Moehlau's and us. We had a nice lunch and great time of catching up on everyone's happenings.

Bisbee, Douglas, and Cranes

Monday was a day spent at the campground doing nothing too exciting or interesting. Tuesday was a different tale as we struck out in the morning heading south on route 80 toward Douglas, a border town that is about 70 miles from Benson. We passed through Tombstone and on to Bisbee. We had spent time in Bisbee last year so we just passed on through but on the southern end of town there is an open pit copper mine,the Lavender mine, that is no longer being mined.

We stopped at an overlook area and took some pictures and tried to read the posted signs that were in a real need of being replaced.

And then we continued our journey on toward Douglas. After crossing the mountainous area south of Bisbee we found ourselves to be in a valley surrounded by distant mountains. Our first stop in Douglas was at the Visitor's Center where we watched a film about Cochise County.

Center personnel gave us some literature and we set out to see the town. Within walking distance from the Visitor's center is an old El Paso and Southwestern Railroad Depot that was built in 1913.

The depot is no longer used as such but was restored in 1992 and is now used as headquarters for the Douglas Police Department. Inside the building is a stained glassed dome area.

The Gadsden Hotel was our next stop. This old hotel was built in 1907 and then rebuilt in 1928 following a fire the previous year. It has been called the "Last of the Grand Hotels". The main lobby has twin staircases of marble and four pillars topped with 14K gold leaf, valued at $20,000.00 in 1929. Forty-two feet across one wall of the mezzanine is Tiffany stained glass mural.

Many dignitaries and celebrities have stayed at this hotel. The doors to the rooms are unusal with the room numbers in wood carvings.

It continues to be used as a hotel and seemed to have people coming and going as we were there. In the lobby a dog was lying around not bothering anyone and on the stair landing there was a cat- a big stuffed mountain lion. Quite a place to see!

Leaving the hotel we drove about the city. One unique feature of the city is a block that has 4 churches, one on each side of the block- a Methodist, a Episcopal, a Baptist and a Presbyterian. Ripley's "Believe It or Not declared it the only place in the world with this feature in 1930. The end of town that borders Mexico has tall fencing, an old and a newer fence, separating the countries.

The population of the town appears to be mostly Hispanics. After lunch at a local Mexican restaurant we left Douglas and headed north toward Wilcox on route 191.
We came to the town of Pearce that at one time due to gold being found in the area had 1500 residents, presently the number of residents is 15- what a change. There is a gold/silver operation in the area that is run by a company from Ontario, Canada.

Not too much further from Pearce we came to an area known as Cochise Stronghold. We had to drive off on a side road that soon became a dirt road to go to a National campground by the granite cliffs.

The granite cliffs were the hiding place for Cochise when federal agents were searching for him and later he died and was buried in this area. Once to the campground the roads were paved and the campsites were also paved although the sites seemed small. The dirt road to the campground would not be good for driving any sizable RV in order to get to the campground.

Back on route 191 we continued north. We had been told that Sandhill Cranes had a migratory roost in the area near Wilcox from December until March. A power plant along 191 had a bird watching area set up so drove into there. A local man was there also but hoping to get a picture of a bald headed eagle that had been seen in the area. This man directed us to a place by the Wilcox golf course. As we drove into the ponds by the golf course we saw the first of several flocks of cranes flying in to roost for the night.

Apparently there are different species of cranes that roost in this area. It was amazing at the numbers of cranes that were in the grasses by the ponds- and the noise that these birds made.

About sunrise the cranes leave the roosting area in search of food, and that is to be quite a sight, and then later in the day they return to roost for the night.
From Wilcox we drove back to Benson and I-10 making an ice cream stop before getting to the campground. Later in the evening Tom went to the clubhouse to play Texas Hold'em and I just kept the home fires agoing.
Today, Wednesday has been another laid back day. Grocery shopping, post office stop, a load of laundry and a Jeep lube job. This evening I will be going to the clubhouse for Ladies Night Out- more about that at a later time.

45th Anniversary

Yesterday, February 4th, was our 45th wedding anniversary. We started the day by going to a local restaurant, Reb's, for breakfast. From there we went down to Sierra Vista to attend the Cochise Cowboy Poetry and Music Gathering. This was the third year that we attended this gathering and we enjoyed it like it was the first. The Gathering is a 3 day event beginning on Friday evening. On Friday and Saturday evenings and Sunday afternoon there are staged preformances in a high school auditorium. Saturday from 10am to 5pm there are multple poetry and music sessions. We attended a night performance the first year we attended but found that we preferred the Saturday day sessions best. There are 8 areas in the school in which every hour from 10 am until 4pm there are 50 minute sessions set up for 3-4 preformers to recite their poetry or perform their songs. Attendees just go to whatever sessions they choose.

The music is primarily cowboy music (think Sons of the Pioneers, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans). Arvel Bird, a Native American violinist/flutist educated in classical music, performed music in a Native American and Celtic style. Two hispanic brothers, the Morales, performed music with a Classical Mexican style. Many of the cowboy/girl performers come from ranching backgrounds and their music and poetry is reflective of that life.

One preformer that I found to be an amazing entertainer was an elderly lady, Buckshot Dot.

We had seen her last week at a bookstore here in Benson and then she again preformed at the Gathering. I would guess this lady is well into her eighties and just an unflappable performer. In the session we saw her she had lost her list of the songs she was planning to sing so she just sang whatever came to her mind. Occasionally she would get mixed up or forget where she was in a song and would just start over making a joke of the incident.

                                                Our favorite performer is Bill Barwick.

He plays the guitar very well and has a deep, rich voice. We had first heard him on the internet some years ago and it was through that means that we first learned about this Gathering in Sierra Vista.
When we left the Gathering we stopped for dinner at La Casita, a Mexican restaurant. After dinner we decided to check out the movie theaters to see if there was a movie that we would like to see. "Extremely Loud-Incredibly Close" was playing so we killed some time by walking about the shopping mall until movie time. The movie was an exceptionally good film. Even though Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock starred in it, the boy actor, Thomas Horn, was the central character and did a great acting job.

Unbeknownst to us, someone had placed a bottle behind our tire and when we backed out of the parking lot we heard a pop, saw what had been run over and held our breaths that we didn't damage a tire. Luckily we made back to the campground in Benson without a problem. It was a good day. I almost forgot- for our anniversary Tom got me a pretty sapphire necklace (45th anniversary is a sapphire anniversary) and I got him a card.

Today Sunday, we again went to the local Methodist church for services that included communion this morning. Afterwards, friends Marti and Drew and us went to the Horseshoe Cafe for breakfast. Today being Super Bowl Sunday we spent the remainder of the day in the motorhome and are now watching the game.

A Relative Day in Tucson

Wednesday we spent the day in the campground doing laundry and other housekeeping stuff. In the evening we went into Benson to the Horseshoe Grill with friends, Drew and Marti. A nice ending to the day.

Thursday morning we went to Tucson to spend the day with my cousin Patty and her husband Braxton- the Cooley's.

After taking a walk about their outside patio/pool area admiring the different cacti and other landscaping plants, we starting catching up the latest family news and events. A little past noon we all went out to lunch at the Firebird Grille, located in a shopping mall, for a nice meal. We then had to walk to a Gelato store nearby for dessert of some gelato, of course. After dessert we stopped at a few stores in the mall before returning to the car and moving on. We had a nice ride through some beautiful desert country and up through Gates Pass. The Pass had some wonderful views (and lots of wind) of the city of Tucson.  Returning back to the Cooley's house Patty fixed a nice supper before we said good-by and headed back to Benson. We always have a good time being with Pat and Braxton.

Today, Friday, I attempted to call Larry to find out where he and Joanne were at this time. I thought I had called Larry but when I did not recognize the voice on the other end as Larry's voice I asked who was I talking to and found out that somehow I had called the Cooley's and was talking to Braxton. A senior moment or what?? After a good laugh I did finally call the correct number and learned that Larry and Joanne were in Havasu Lake, California but were moving to Quartzsite, Az. today. Later we drove to St. David, a small town south of Benson with a Benedictine monastary. The monastery are having bake sales on Friday beginning today. We went to the bake sale and bought a loaf of bread and 2 pieces of an apple-nut cake or bar, that we ate there. Leaving the bake sale area we saw several beautiful peacocks strutting about the grounds. We did stop at the chapel and went inside but a choir rehearsal was in progress so we did not linger long. (St. David aside from having a monastary is known as a Mormon community.) Leaving St. David we returned to Benson to go to the post office to pick up some mail and a grocery store stop. After returning to the motorhome I made a Chili Relleno casserole, a recipe that I had gotten from a newsletter of the local church. The casserole was very good and simple to prepare. We did a short walk about the park before it got dark. Today has been sunny but it was windy and little cooler than the past several days but temperatures were still in the 60's. Can't complain.

Copper Mine Tour

Yesterday, Monday, was spent here at the campground. First item of the day was getting moved to a new site as the owners to the site we were on were coming into the park. We moved from site 70 to site 73(- and the owners on 70 are still not in the campground on Tuesday). Oh well we are moved to a site that is just as accommodating. Then a load of wash was done, a walk about the park, and a ride into town to a quilt shop and Walmart. The campground had a pork roast dinner that we went to and it was really good- large serving of pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes with gravy, vegetable medley, roll and butter and ice cream with cake for dessert- not bad for $7.50 per person.

This morning, Tuesday, we drove north about 50 miles to an open-pit copper mine, Ascarco Mission Mine. We got there about 10:30am and were able to get on a tour at 11am. The tour guide explain a few things and then we got on a bus that took us to the mining area.

At the edge of the open pit we got off the bus, watched the acivity in the mining area and took pictures.

Back on the bus we rode to the mill and again got off the bus and then went into a viewing area to the mill. Extracting copper from the rocks is quite a process as,I think I have this right, out of a ton of rock about 40 pounds of copper is obtained. Other minerals are also obtained in the process, silver being one that over a million dollars of silver is mined per month which pays for the company's electric bill.

Leaving the mine Tom and I drove to a nearby town, Sahuarita, and had lunch at El Charro restaurant. A good choice as it had nice atmosphere and good food. After lunch we drove into Tucson to get some goodies from Trader Joe's. Returning to Benson and our "home" we chilled out for an hour and then we went to the Methodist church for a spaghetti dinner which was yummy. Tonight, Tom has gone to the clubhouse to play Texas Hold 'em. Last week he came in second and is hoping to do as well or better tonight- we'll see.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday

Friday, we went to Karchner Caverns just north of Benson. We had gone to these caverns last year but just did the "Big Room" tour. So this year we took a second tour the "Rotunda and Throne Room". These caverns are about the most protected caverns other that allow tours. Tour guides lead the tours and you must stay on a paved walkway and should you touch something other than the railing along the walkway you must inform the guide so that place can be marked for special cleaning. This cavern is part of the Arizona Parks system. Leaving the caverns we drove on down to Sierra Vista, getting an ice cream cone and then returning to Benson.

Saturday was a lazy quiet morning for us. In the afternoon we again went down to Sierra Vista to the movies to see "The Decendants", a good George Clooney film. Returning back to the campground we went to the clubhouse for an evening of dancing, socializing and listening to music of "The Partners", a couple of country singers/musicians.

Sunday started off with going to church services at a small Methodist local church about a mile from the campground. We attended services at this church last year. Friends, Marti and Drew Moehlau, also attended services with their 2 young great-grandsons. After service we along with the Moehlau's minus the grandsons went for breakfast at the Horseshoe Cafe, a great place for breakfast. Afterwards we returned to the campground where we had a note attached to the motorhome informing us that we would have to move to another site as the leaseholders to the lot we were on were returning to the campground. Tom went down to the office and was told we could wait until Monday morning to make the move. We then went to a bookstore that specializes in books of the southwest, Singing Wind, that was having a Cowboy Poetry and Music get together this afternoon.

This bookstore is located outside of Benson back a dirt road on a ranch. Chairs were set up outside and inside the house/store.

                                Entertainment consisted of Ed Newman (singer/songwriter),

                             Buckshot Dot (singer/songwriter/storyteller), Joan Baeza (storyteller),

                                                        Dean Cook (singer/storyteller),

                                   and an 82 year old lady named Nancy that did roping tricks.

                                          A fun and different way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Warm Weather

Yesterday, Wednesday, after taking our morning walk about the campground we went for a drive around the town of Benson.  We had seen a notice here at the campground about a Poetry and Music get together this weekend at a bookstore located outside of town on a dirt road so we checked out that area for a possible something to do on Sunday afternoon.  We then rode south to Tombstone.  There seemed to be lots of folks walking about the town.  It was a nice day with temperatures in the upper 60’s.  We grabbed a bite to eat at a café and then walked about.  I enjoy going into the stores that have the western clothes.  Don’t buy anything but it is interesting to see clothes that are not seen in the east.

After getting back to the campground our friends, Marti and Drew,  called asking if we were going to the clubhouse for a light supper followed by a movie.  Since we were going they said they would stop by to pick us up.  We had pulled pork sandwiches and popcorn.  The movie was a Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts film called “Larry Crowne”.  It was an enjoyable evening.

Today we didn’t do much at all.  We took a morning walk around the campground and later in the evening we took another walk up the hill to where a water tower is located.  It was quite a climb but a great view of the campground and the mountains way off in the distance.  Drew and Marti stopped by this afternoon and spent some time chatting with us.   It was nice and warm today with temperatures in the 70’s.  The temperature drops down at nighttime – last night it got down into the 30’s and tonight it is to get down into the 40’s.  We have to have some heat on in the night but once the sun comes up it becomes quite warm inside and windows need to be opened.

Alamogordo, New Mexico/ Benson, Arizona

Saturday we were hearing about a wind storm that was coming from the west and could be south enough to be in the Alamogordo area. When we went to bed that night we had not had any strong winds but about 2am we felt the wind. We had some rocking of the motorhome and sounds of slider awnings flapping. Upon rising Sunday morning there were still some winds but we heard the worst was north of the area we were in. We left Alamogordo on route 70 to Las Cruces where we picked up I-10 that took us to Benson, Arizona, 315 miles. Wind did cause some problems with driving the motorhome on route 70 but Tom was able to control it fairly well. A little after 3pm we were settled into a campsite at SKP Saquaro park. We were able to watch the last part of the Ravens/Patriots playoff game and, sadly, the Ravens lost. Marti Moehlau, friends that are in this RV park, called to say that she and Drew would drop by in the morning.
Monday morning was a busy morning. Tom had sent an application in to join the Elk's Club here in Benson so a member of that organization, also named Tom, stopped by for visit and to talk about the Elk's. While he was here Drew and Marti stopped by but didn't stay long as they had groceries so they said they would be back later in the day. Before Tom from the Elk's left his wife Betsy stopped by so we had a nice visit with her also. After the visitors left we ran into town for lunch at Wendy's and to pick up a few groceries. After returning Marti and Drew stopped by and we had a real nice visit with them. Marti and Drew gave us a rundown of the activities here at the campground. Marti had called us several days before we arrived about getting tickets for a dinner for this Monday evening but we were unsure exactly when we would get here. Tom had checked with the office in the morning and was told there were no more tickets.
We did go down to the clubhouse after the dinner to listen to the entertainment. Johnny Bencomo was the entertainer, a musician that plays an 18- string guitar and has a easy-to-listen-to voice. He played and sang for 2 1/2 hours. The cost for this was just a pass of the hat and he was worth every cent he received plus.
Today, Monday, we have just been catching up on some housekeeping chores this morning. For lunch we went into town to Palatiano's, the special was a Greek spinach pie which we both ordered. For $7.25 we had a cup of soup, spinach pie with a chicken breast and pita bread and dessert of bread pudding with rum sauce. It was more than I could eat so I had to get a doggy bag. The food was delicious and the cost unbelievable.

Caverns and White Sand

Yesterday, January 20th, we spent most of the day in Carlsbad Caverns.

We went in the Natural Entrance Route, a 750 foot descent that swiches back and forth for much of a mile. This route ended at a rest area in one direction or to the Big Room Route in another direction.

We stopped off at the rest area for a restroom break and a snack of a shared sandwich before going into the Big Room. The Big Room Route was was 1 1/2 miles long but was fairly level walkway. The Big Room, by far, is the most beautiful route covering over 8 acres of formations.

An elevator returned us to the above ground level. It was an enjoyable day even though we had been through the caverns several years ago.

This morning we left Carlsbad traveling north to Artesia and then east to Alamogordo to visit the White Sands National Monument. The trip started through flat country but after turning west we encountered some hills. At one point we were in a valley that had farms and a creek with real water running (in this part of the country most riverbeds are dry). We then began a gradual ascent through more hills and began seeing snow on the hillsides

When we reached the town of Cloudcroft we were over 8600 feet in elevation. The descent from Cloudcroft to Alamogordo was much greater than the ascent as it was 6% grades most of the way.

We were pleased with the way our new motorhome handled this trip. The 152 mile trip took us about 3 1/2 hours. When we got to Alamagordo we checked into Boot Hill RV Resort (Passport rate $16.71), a very nice RV park. After eating lunch we took off in the Jeep to White Sands National Monument.

                       Our first stop was at the Visitor's Center where we watched a short film.

We then drove the Dunes Drive through the park. The Dunes Drive goes 8 miles into the heart of the dunes. The dunes look like snow drifts along the sides of the road.

Kids were on the dunes with the disk type sleds sliding down the dunes like sledding in snow.

The disk sleds can be purchased at the Visitor's Center Gift Shop for $10.00 and then if returned $5.00 is refunded. We walked around some the dunes. This white gypsum sand is extremely fine almost like flour and so white.

The surrounding mountain rocks contain gypsum and it is from that source that the sand is created. This 275 square miles of gypsum sand is the worlds largest gypsum field. Like all sand dunes the dunes are constantly moving and changing with the force of the winds. Before leaving the park we took a mile hike on the Dune Life Nature Trail, a trail that had signs posted along the way about the plants and animals that are common in the dunes. A very interesting place to visit. Sand is not allowed to be taken from the park and riding over the dunes is forbidden.

We returned back to Alamogordo and ate dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, La Hacienda, which we enjoyed. As we were driving to a shopping mall to find a salon where I could get a haircut we received a call from Larry. He and Joanne are in Santa Fe, they are working their way west on I-40. He encountered some strong winds in his travels today.
I did get my hair cut and then as we returned toward the campground we stopped at a Pastachio nut shop- pastachios are grown in this area. We didn't buy any as they were more expensive than what we are able to purchase at other places, isn't that often the case?
After the walking through Carlsbad Caverns yesterday and then today the White Sand today Tom and I are suffering with soreness in our legs muscles.

January 19, 2012 Change of Plans

Yesterday, Wednesday the 18th,  we continued our travels across I-20.  We stopped in Abilene for fuel and then thought we would grab a bite to eat for lunch.  Across the street from the gas station was a shopping area that set back from the road but a Wendy’s was along the road  and appeared to have a connecting parking lot from Wendy’s to the shopping area.  Tom turned into the Wendy’s and sure enough the parking lots did not connect so around Wendy’s we drove and luckily Tom was able to manipulate the motorhome around and back out to the main road once more.  We then spied an empty parking lot next to a Chili’s restaurant where we were able to park and then we had lunch at Chili’s.  By the way we got diesel fuel at a Fina station for $3.69, the best price around as other stations were about $.20 a gallon higher.  We stopped for the night at Whip In RV Park in Big Spring, Texas, a distance of 338 miles.  The weather was sunny and temperatures were in the upper 60’s dropping into the 30’s during the night.

We had planned to continue west on I-20 but when we looked at the next leg of the trip we realized that campgrounds are few  until El Paso.  El Paso was well over 350 miles, a distance greater than we like to travel in a day.  So we decided to leave I-20 and go to Carlsbad, New Mexico.  This morning we left Big Spring, Texas on I-20 and shortly we got on  route 87 to La Mesa, Texas and then route 180 to Carlsbad, New Mexico-195 miles.  Traveling through Texas and into New Mexico we passed by fields that were being prepared for cotton planting, saw several cotton gins, a large peanut processing plant as well as oil wells and natural gas pumping stations-and a few small towns.  When we got to Carlsbad RV Park we realized that we had crossed into mountain time so we gained an hour.  The weather here is wonderful with temperatures reaching 80 or above.  After setting up and eating some lunch we went to the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens which is located outside Carlsbad on a hill that overlooks the city.  The 1.3 mile pathway goes through different types of desert vegetation and passes by native animals as Mexican wolves, javelinas, bison, mountain lions, bobcat, elk, pronghorn as well as birds and reptiles.  It was a nice way to spend the afternoon in this wonderful weather.  Before returning back to the motorhome we stopped at Lowe’s (Tom always needs something from Lowe’s) and the Walmart to get a few groceries and some medicine for the nasal congestion that Tom has been suffering with since Alabama.  We plan to stay here for 2 nights before moving on west.