Posting from Fort Davis, Texas

It has been a few days since I posted — we have been staying at parks without internet access.

Tuesday, March 25

Yesterday we finally left Tucson. We spent a couple of hours at La Mesa RV while they worked on our coach leveling system. Eddie was feeling better, although far from 100%. The antibiotic was doing its work, but his allergies were still giving him a hard time. Interestingly, for the last few days there seemed to be a haze over Tucson and we saw on a local weather forecast that the pollen count was through the roof.

We left Tucson at about 2:30 and drove to an RV park halfway between Huachucha City and Tombstone. By the time we got there Eddie was breathing better. Today we drove the back roads from Sierra Vista to Columbus, New Mexico and Pancho Villa State Park.

Just after we crossed the border from Arizona to New Mexico we stopped in the very tiny town of Rodeo. Last year we had lunch at a café there, and we decided to stop again. A burrito at the café and a visit to the local art gallery were nice break from the open road and endless desert.

The campground, with electric and water, is set in a desert botanical garden and is a beautiful spot — except for all the dust. Everywhere dust! The sunset over the desert was beautiful!

New Mexico route 9, which we drove from the New Mexico/Arizona border to Columbus, runs very close to the Mexican border. We must have passed half a dozen border patrol cars along the route, and a three different places we passed outposts of some type that we presumed were manned by the infamous Minutemen "protecting" our border. The photo I took through the window of the RV is blurry, but you can see a tower, tent, and porta-pottys. The towers looked pretty high-tech — wonder who is bankrolling them?

Wednesday, March 26

A nice day of driving — but then it is easy for me to say as I "drive" the right seat. We continued along New Mexico 9, which run along the US/Mexican border, until just before El Paso, Texas. In El Paso we got back on Interstate-10 to get through the city limits. Once through El Paso we cut down to Texas route 20 for about thirty miles — the same route we took on the way out. When we turned onto 20 Eddie suggested we stop to share a burrito. He had an uncanny knack for picking places to stop for indigenous food — he can always spot a place that is local, busy, and serves excellent, and usually inexpensive food. Our medium sized burrito was delicious, and cost $.99 plus tax. Can't beat that!

This afternoon we arrived at Davis Mountain State Park in Fort Davis, Texas. The park is located in the southern reaches of the Rockies Mountains, and is at an elevation of 5,000 feet. It is sixteen miles south of the McDonald Observatory, an astronomical research facility of the University of Texas. We have stayed here twice before, once in our RV and last year we stayed at Indian Lodge, a beautiful, adobe WPA era hotel in the park.

The park is in a valley surrounded by mountain peaks. Tomorrow night I have to go "up" and take photos at sunset. Our plan is to stay here three nights, which means we will be here for Eddie's birthday on Friday. We are also planning to go to a Star Party at the observatory on Friday night, when telescopes are available for viewing.

As we were setting up camp site, we had company. These deer are very scruffy looking, and definitely look different than the deer at home on the east coast, but they are not the least bit skittish. After they walked away from our site, one of the deer practically walked up to an irish setter who was being walked.

Thursday, March 27

I am online at the Fort Davis Public Library. A small, but well stocked library in the town of Fort Davis, Texas. Eddie is also online, and has work to do, so as soon as I finsih posting I am going to take a walk in town, and visit the original Fort Davis fort! We've been here twice before, but I've never visited the fort. The next time I post I will add some photos of both the town and the fort.

Today is Easter Sunday, but it wasn't much of a holiday for us with Eddie still sick. This afternoon I drove over to the Mission San Xavier del Bac on the Tohono O'odham reservation. The first time we were in Tucson, in 2004, we were staying here at Beaudry for a Country Coach rally, and we rode our bikes to the mission. I wanted to go back and take some photos, since most of the photos from that first Arizona trip were lost in a hard drive crash.


Yesterday I read on a website that there has been renovation going on at the mission for several years, but during March and April the scaffoldings would be down, so it seemed like an excellent time for a visit. Unfortunately, the website was wrong! The afternoon light was not good for photos of the mission anyway, but I did get some interesting shots.


I was surprised at the number of people visiting the mission on Easter Sunday. Some were obviously tourists, but the majority appeared to be Mexicans or Native Americans visiting the church for prayer. The sanctuary is adorned with a statues of saints, and features a relining statue of St. Francis laid out as body in a casket.
Pilgrims come to venerate him and ask him to answer their prayers (prayers can also be submitted via the web at www.sanxaviermission.org/Saint.html).


On the grounds of the mission is a courtyard with craft shops and a row of booths selling Indian Fry Bread. The craft area is in disrepair, as it was during our visit four years ago. Two stores were open, and there was a Native American artists working in an outdoor booth. I asked him if I could take his photo, and he was most obliging. While he was working he told me that he was a modern Indian (his words) as he was using an electric drill and not traditional tools. I told him he was a modern man!

He said I had to see what he was working on — a silver piece with the Mission San Xavier del Bac etched on its face. A complete series of photos of the artist, Joe Begay, are posted on my Photo Blog.



After talking to Mr. Begay, I bought a fry bread taco and found a shady spot in a courtyard to eat it. Delicious, and way too much for one person to eat. Eddie and I always share snacks, and I missed not being able to share it with him.




Several very friendly dogs always seem to be hanging around the mission, and one of them followed me and stayed very close while I was eating. When I finished, without sharing it with him, he just wandered away.


The Tohono O'odham Reservation is sandy, desolate land. It covers almost 4,500 square miles, and there are three tribal casinos. Unfortunately, the casino earnings have not done much to improve the lifestyle of the residents of the reservation.

Tucson Life on Wheels is history…

The 2008 Tucson Life on Wheels Conference is over. My classes went very well — I think the "students" were pleased with my presentations and they went away knowing a little bit more about digital cameras and blogging.

Overall the conference was a good one — I should say it was excellent. The photo at right shows the attendees waiting for the opening session to begin.

The next Life on Wheels is in Bowling Green, Kentucky in May. We will be heading back to Florida in the not too distant future, and then on to LOW in Kentucky and finally home for some down time. Before we leave Florida completely we are going to spend five nights at Ft. Wilderness Campground at Disney World. We really enjoy camping there, and we will be able to make good use of our Disney World seasonal passes. The annual EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival will still be going on, so I expect some excellent photo ops!

Speaking of down-time, Eddie is one sick hubby. What we thought were allergies is a full blown respiratory infection. He visited the Tucson VA hospital twice, the second time being today when he was finally given antibiotics. Meanwhile the poor guy had to drive the RV from Pima Community College, where LOW was held, to the Beaudry RV Resort, about 10 miles away and through the city.

We had made plans to stay at another resort, Voyager, which is about another 10 miles south. On Monday we are taking the RV to Mesa RV Service to have them look at (and hopefully fix) our air leveling system (the RV life is great, when it all works smoothly). Mesa is across the street from Beaudy, and with Eddie feeling so bad, it made more sense to stay close.

One interesting fact about RV Resorts in Tucson. At least two of them that we know of, Rincon West and Voyager, are adult only — and they mean it! Children may visit, but except for holiday periods, they are restricted to the property, or RV site, of their hosts. They are not even allowed at the pool. I can't imagine such restrictions. At Travelers Rest in Florida children are allowed to visit at any time and it is nice to see them around and enjoying the park, and especially the pool!

I hope I will have better news to report soon!
Meanwhile, wishing everyone a very happy Easter!

Life on Wheels and other things…

After two days at Beaudry we drove the RV ten miles to Rincon Country West RV Resort. It was a slow ten miles! At 5:00 P.M. the traffic was awful and the short ride took over thirty minutes.

We had planned to go down to Sierra Vista for the weekend — the country down there is wide open and excellent for bike riding. However, the forecast for the weekend was cold and windy, so we decided to stay in Tucson.

We checked into Rincon on Friday night for two nights. Early Saturday morning a friend knocked on our door to tell us that there was water leaking from the RV — lots and lots of water! So a call was put in to Beaudry, we packed up the RV and retraced our route (less traffic on Saturday morning).
After about an hour wait, we got the RV back. We had had a heating coil replaced in the hot water heater, and when the tank was put back in place, a washer had not been replaced correctly. Luckily an easy fix, but definitely a royal pain.

On Sunday Eddie rode his bike around Saguaro National Park West. I followed by car and got to take a lot of photos of cacti. Saguaro cacti as far as the eye can see. Link to my Photo Blog to see a few photos that I have had a chance to work on, with more coming later in the week.

As I said the weather has been cold - and the mountains around Tucson (which are spectacular) have received a good amount of snow. I don't know how much, but it was neat to be in the desert and look up to see snow capped mountains!


Since Sunday afternoon we have been dry-camping at Pima Community College, Downtown Campus. Yesterday the Life on Wheels Conference officially opened, and in the morning the flood of participant began parking RVs. Today I teach my first class, with three more on tomorrow and one on Friday. I am ready and, I hope, good to go!

Biker Dog

This goes in the category of "Now I've Seen Everything." We were waiting to pick up our motor home from Beaudry service when I noticed a biker lady walking her small dog. She was an older woman, all done up in leather. Two large, chrome motorcycles were nearby. A little later I saw her sitting on one of the motorcycles with the dog in a bag — it looked like black leather to go with her outfit. She fit the bag around her waist so the dog was in front, and off they went!

Neither was wearing a helmet, so I guess you don't need one, by law anyway, in Arizona. I wonder if they both wear helmets in other states? I'd love to have seen them go by at 70 MPH.

This is a photo of the Beaudry RV Resort early in the morning. A nice campground, but over-priced. The going rate in Tucson, high-season, seems to be around $45 a night — which to my mind is a lot to stay in your own RV, using only a little electric and water. They have free WiFi, but it doesn't work well in the entire resort. The further from the main building, the less it works. We stayed here two nights because we were getting work done, but we wouldn't stay by choice. At least at Lazydays in Florida, when you have work done they let you stay overnight in your coach either in the work bays or the parking area.

Tucson

No photos for now, just a note to say we are in Tucson. We needed to have something in our RV looked at, and Baudry is a Country Coach service center. With some luck, we will be going to Sierra Vista over the weekend.

High Desert Texas & New Mexico…

Day # 9, and we are spending the night in Lordsburg, New Mexico…a dusty speck of a town in the high desert. Last night were in Van Horn, Texas, which was even dustier. Being in the high desert, the sun beats nice and warm during the day, but it gets cold at night.



We drove on I-10 for most of the last two days. The highway at time seems endless. Not far from Junction, Texas we passed a huge wind farm. We remember these giant windmills from first time we passed this way in 2004, and again last year — but it seemed that many more had been added since last March. At one point there were windmills as far as the eye could see.

This morning we made a short detour on route 20, which is just south of I-10. Probably the original road to El Paso, it runs very close to the Mexican border and the Rio Grande. The entire area appears to be extremely poor. We passed ranches and farms, lots of irrigation ditches and a number of orchards; pecan, I think!.

Junction, Texas

Day 7 in Junction, Texas — we stayed at a KOA RV Park located on the banks of the Llano River. We walked down to the river, and a group (is it a flock of ducks, a gaggle, or a group?) of about ten ducks were congregated on the banks of the river. For more duck photos jump to my photo blog.

An odd named town…

Today was spent in the Florida panhandle. We stayed on I-10 through Tallahassee and then drove the rest of the day on US 90, which parallels I-10. A nicer, more relaxed ride than the interstate. We stopped for the night — gaining an hour after driving into Central Time — in the oddly named town of De Funiak Springs. The campground is very small and located on a charming lake just north of town. When I called to ask if they had a space for us, the owner (the wife) told me to call when we were about five miles from town. I did, and this time her husband answered. He told me where to turn off route 90, and to call again. He met us at the next turn, and we followed his truck directly to our campsite. Because we were traveling through, he gave us the only pull-through site in the park, so we did not have to unhitch the car. He also told us to call on our way back, and they would save the spot for us. What a nice place to stay!

Building Codes

Along the Gulf Coast, in the area around Keaton Beach, houses are built on stilts — really high stilts. After the severe hurricanes of the first few years of the century, building codes were changed and all new, residential building must built seventeen feet above the waterline. Older homes were grandfathered, and new home that do not comply can not get insurance.

Sunset on the Gulf

After staying over a second night at Cummins Power South in Ocala — we had to wait for a part to fix our dash air conditioner — we got on the road at 3:00 and headed north on Florida State Road 27 towards the coast. Our destination for the night was a campground on the Gulf of Mexico in the little town of Keaton Beach. Eddie suggested this route instead of Interstate 75 and it was so much nicer.

The road to the campground took us through Steinhatchee — a beach town that with a lot of brightly colored vacation homes and resorts. From Steinhatchee it is seventeen miles of windy road to Keaton Beach, and we must have gone over ten minutes without passing another car.

The campground was right on the Gulf — as was our campsite. What a view.
As sunset approached a variety of birds were feeding in the water.

Sunset was spectacular, and it was even more amazing in the half-hour after the sun went down. The clouds looked as if they were on fire.

I took more photos, and I will post some of the best online as soon as I get a chance to "develop" them. Tomorrow we will head into the Florida panhandle and parts west.

I am sitting in Panera Bread in Ocala, Florida. I forgot to bring a camera (how could I do that?), so I can not share the experience with all of you. The place is packed. It is 8:45 A.M., which you know is early for me to be out and about. The people at Power South took our coach in at about 7:30, and we have already made a stop at Walmart to pick up a water hose we needed to replace. With luck we'll be on our way later today.

I was pleasantly surprised that Power South took our RV into the shop so early this morning. We didn't get up to Ocala until almost 6:30 last night, and there were nine other RVs at the overnight sights. There are room for ten rigs, but one RV was taking up two spots, so we had to dry camp overnight.

Since this is a pretty uninteresting post, I'm not going to send out notification — I'll wait until I have something of interest, and with pictures!