Sunday, April 04, 2004
We had a great visit with Malena, Dan and the kids for three days. We were not waiting impatiently for Goliath to be repaired, rather we were enjoying ourselves. For some pictures from our visit you can go to Dan’s web site http://www.madjic.net/mar04-visit/ If you follow the link to http://www.madjic.net/burning-grass/you will see one of the entertainments we had while visiting.
One treat we had Sunday night was a visit from Ed and Gretchen Robb. If you go to the March 15 posting you will see a picture of a couple in front of the Alamo. These are Gretchen and Ed. Ed is the sheriff of Albemarle County and Gretchen is a horse person. We had spent the day in San Antonio with them based on a friendly greeting among four strangers in a parking garage. In that brief interchange we determined that we had a common interest in the Charlottesville area. We had not posted this information earlier as we were expecting Dan and Malena to get a surprise visit from the Sheriff. As happens to all of us the Robb’s return home resulted in instant immersion in the daily life that had been put on suspense and Ed did not get a chance to pull off his surprise visit.
We called during our visit and they were able to come out for just an hour, which stretched a bit as they got acquainted with Malena and Dan. We hope to visit them many times in the future as we travel through Virginia.
Goliath was ready on Tuesday and we picked it up at C Moses Cadillac at 3 PM after a pleasant drive through the mountains of West Virginia, a some what extended drive because we missed our turn onto I 64 as we were southbound on I 81 and a further delay at the craft center for lunch once we knew the work would not be completed before 3. The run home was uneventful, we spent the night in a WalMart parking lot in Clarksburg WV and were rolling by 6 the following morning. We had plenty of RV company that night.
At home we unloaded all of our possessions from Goliath in preparation for the trade. This was a far greater undertaking than I had imagined. It was a not too mini moving day. With everything empty and cleaned up we took Goliath to Meyers for one more attempt to get the cruise control working, for the next buyer, under warranty.
Now we are preparing for Pesach.
We do not have a name for the new motor home yet. Watch for a blog with a new name when we venture out on the roads of North America sometime this summer.
One treat we had Sunday night was a visit from Ed and Gretchen Robb. If you go to the March 15 posting you will see a picture of a couple in front of the Alamo. These are Gretchen and Ed. Ed is the sheriff of Albemarle County and Gretchen is a horse person. We had spent the day in San Antonio with them based on a friendly greeting among four strangers in a parking garage. In that brief interchange we determined that we had a common interest in the Charlottesville area. We had not posted this information earlier as we were expecting Dan and Malena to get a surprise visit from the Sheriff. As happens to all of us the Robb’s return home resulted in instant immersion in the daily life that had been put on suspense and Ed did not get a chance to pull off his surprise visit.
We called during our visit and they were able to come out for just an hour, which stretched a bit as they got acquainted with Malena and Dan. We hope to visit them many times in the future as we travel through Virginia.
Goliath was ready on Tuesday and we picked it up at C Moses Cadillac at 3 PM after a pleasant drive through the mountains of West Virginia, a some what extended drive because we missed our turn onto I 64 as we were southbound on I 81 and a further delay at the craft center for lunch once we knew the work would not be completed before 3. The run home was uneventful, we spent the night in a WalMart parking lot in Clarksburg WV and were rolling by 6 the following morning. We had plenty of RV company that night.
At home we unloaded all of our possessions from Goliath in preparation for the trade. This was a far greater undertaking than I had imagined. It was a not too mini moving day. With everything empty and cleaned up we took Goliath to Meyers for one more attempt to get the cruise control working, for the next buyer, under warranty.
Now we are preparing for Pesach.
We do not have a name for the new motor home yet. Watch for a blog with a new name when we venture out on the roads of North America sometime this summer.
Saturday, March 27, 2004
St Patrick Day, 2004. I’m not sure what that has to do with anything accept that we saw plenty of green today. The grass was green, the trees were budding green and all along our route there was Spring to be seen. We had no trouble getting out of Hidden Oaks, but would make a note to anyone RVing in the Baton Rouge, LA area to avoid that park which, for good reason, will not be found in any guide except Passport America. They had been flooded to a depth of a foot the week before we got there. We learned that this is a regular occurrence and it does mess up the park. I guess that would be ok if they seemed to have done any repairs.
As we moved up Interstate 55 we pulled into the Mississippi welcome center as we crossed the border. We pulled in next to a large bus conversion unit painted deep red. As such things happen I got to talking with the driver and we exchanged pleasantries and a couple of RV stories and went on our way. I had shared with him that we intended to drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway and he was not familiar with it. We took MS 98 to 84 to 61 to pick up the Parkway and proceeded to make the stops we thought would be intereaasting and skip the ones we remembered as having been interesting once. As we neared Jackson we faced a choice. The Parkway takes a detour on a couple of Interstates to get through the Jackson area. We decided to make up our own alternate to get to a Flying J on the east side of the city for fuel. Carol offered to let me have the wheel back ahead of time. Arrgh! The traffic was terrible and congestion was building for rush hour. We missed the exit for the Flying J and had to recover to get back on the Parkway. As we struggled through this traffic we noticed the big red bus in the flow. Somehow we got back on our route, got into an information center and located a gas station that we could maneuver in, just barely. After all of this as we pulled out on to the trace we were two vehicles behind the bus.
We were headed for a local campground just off the Parkway and we ended up following the bus into the campground. There we met Paul and Shar whose rig it is. There were no pull-throughs available and Paul’s rig, with the car on a tow dolly was not easy to get into a back in space. We agreed to stick together for the night and headed north to another campground, Ratliff Ferry, where we found adjacent pull through spaces and got to talk some more.
They had bought a used interstate bus and are 80% of the way to converting it into a very nice motorhome. He once was a bus driver and has the hat from that former job. It is quite nice and we enjoyed seeing it, but it is not for us.
In the morning we set out together heading south for a couple of miles to Cypress Swamp Trail. Paul expressed concern about exiting to the north and decided to drive down to a more open turnaround. As we got back from the walk they had pulled into the parking area and were on the boardwalk section of the trail. As it turned out their major problem was Shar’s absolute terror of snakes. She could not set a foot beyond the boardwalk for fear of snakes. Having a friend or so with similar reactions to the legless creatures we were sympathetic. They set off down the road with our having two possible rendezvous, one for tonight in Tishomingo State Park and the next for Musicland KOA in Nashville, TN on Friday. Tonight did not work out because the campground has no pull-through sites. We will se what happens on Friday. We should have our furnace fixed by then. We are not freezing because it isn’t that cold and we do carry a small electric heater that takes the chill off on a 45 degree night. We do need to be someplace with electric to run the heater. Thus no dry camping until the furnace is fixed.
Ok, right, it is Wednesday night as I write this (March 24). Paul and Shar never did show up. On our way to Nashville we stopped at the overlook at the Double Arch bridge called Bird Song Hollow where we spent 36 hours last year in a snow storm. It is much prettier in Spring dress.
We got tickets to Grand Ole Opry and had a grand ole time. It was two and a half hours of Country. Blues, vocal and even some instrumental. All mixed in with live commercials, this is a live radio broadcast, and some of the most awful cornball humor. “ I grew up poor and every one around me was poor. How many of you filled your gas tank today? You know what poverty means.” In the mean time we had spent the day doing serious shopping for a new RV.
Saturday morning we set out for Indianapolis to see the Lovenheim’s in there home north of town which we had not seen yet. We stopped in Bowling Green, KY to spend some time at the National Corvette Museum across the street from the factory where they are built.
We then stopped at an RV dealer outside of Indy to see what was available. Our sense of what is and is not acceptable is getting pretty finely honed. This was another NOT and we drove on to the Lovenheims under the belief that we had plenty of time. We had failed to note the change to EST someplace in Kentucky and arrived at their home with hardly time to park Goliath at the curb and change into less skuzzy clothes for dinner. While in Indianapolis we did some museums and we went to the Zoo which has a fairly new butterfly exhibit. Here are a couple of the butterflies: 
and we spent a lot of time talking.
We also went shopping and got to within a washer/dryer of buying a new Southwind 36E. It had one and we did not want it. The full cycle time approaches 4 hours for a small load and the additional weight is a factor as is the need to take special precautions when winterizing. They were prepared to remove it and put in some shelves, but we decided we did not want to start out with rebuilt cabinets. After all their telling us they were close to losing money on the deal they dropped the price $4,000 when we pulled out of it. I suspect there is more room in the negotiation.
Leaving the L’s we headed southeasterly to get to Malena and Dan’s by the worst way. Sitting here in Natural Bridge State Resort Park, KY we started mapping our onward route. Oops, there is no good way to continue along the Combs Mountain Parkway and get anyplace. It ends at a couple of backwoods KY mountain roads that I don’t want to spend three days on. We will retrace back to I 64. Maybe, before we get to Dan’s I will get to post this. Maybe not.
Not tonight, Thursday. We are in the parking lot of Tamarack Artisan Center at exit 45 off I 77 in West Virginia. We spent the morning hiking around Natural Bridge
before setting out for Charlottesville, VA. We stopped for lunch at Miguel’s Pizza Place which is a center for rock climbing in the area. He charges $2 to pitch a tent in his field. and serves a very nice pizza. Tamarack Artisan Center is as far as we felt like going, about 250 miles in the afternoon. We picked a sort of level spot in the RV parking lot and went in to see what they had and to get permission to stay. Permission was granted and the material for sale looks excellent. We will go back in the morning for breakfast and some final shopping. We are feeling a little upset since when we got back to Goliath to move to s slightly more level area the engine grunted and would not start. I called road service and they suggested we wait until the morning since we are content where we are for the night and see if it will start then. We had planed to dry camp and it turns out that while we were the first to arrive tonight, there are many other RVs stopping here. In part this is because that none of the camp grounds in WV are open before April 1 at the earliest.
As for why Goliath won’t start there are two anthropomorphic explanations. This is the second time while headed home with a nearly empty refrigerator that this has happened. Thus Goliath wants to stay out and not head home. The other is obvious; I started negotiating to trade Goliath while seated in the driver seat. Nah, this is a machine not a person with personality. Something is bound and will be freer in the morning when it has cooled off. Or I will call Workhorse Road Service back to come and fix it, on them. My warranty has another 1807 miles or 21 days before it expires.
Saturday, at Dan and Malena’s: Goliath did not start in the morning. We had it towed 50 miles back to Charleston, WV (sound familiar? Last year it was 50 miles back to Columbus OH.). It is in the lot of Moses Cadillac where we hope it will be ready to roll on Monday or Tuesday. Workhorse is paying the tow and repair again. While we were setting this in motion, I was also finishing negotiations to buy the new Southwind by Fleetwood. I probably paid a few bucks more because I was sitting in the broken down coach while doing it. At 4 PM we got in the tow’d and headed for Dan and Malena’s arriving at 8:30. The less said about the day the better. We did learn that Dairy Queen is every bit as mediocre as you might imagine. Even their ice cream leaves much to be desired – like taste.
Watch for the wrap up to this trip later in the week as we finally arrive home whenever Goliath is ready to roll.
As we moved up Interstate 55 we pulled into the Mississippi welcome center as we crossed the border. We pulled in next to a large bus conversion unit painted deep red. As such things happen I got to talking with the driver and we exchanged pleasantries and a couple of RV stories and went on our way. I had shared with him that we intended to drive up the Natchez Trace Parkway and he was not familiar with it. We took MS 98 to 84 to 61 to pick up the Parkway and proceeded to make the stops we thought would be intereaasting and skip the ones we remembered as having been interesting once. As we neared Jackson we faced a choice. The Parkway takes a detour on a couple of Interstates to get through the Jackson area. We decided to make up our own alternate to get to a Flying J on the east side of the city for fuel. Carol offered to let me have the wheel back ahead of time. Arrgh! The traffic was terrible and congestion was building for rush hour. We missed the exit for the Flying J and had to recover to get back on the Parkway. As we struggled through this traffic we noticed the big red bus in the flow. Somehow we got back on our route, got into an information center and located a gas station that we could maneuver in, just barely. After all of this as we pulled out on to the trace we were two vehicles behind the bus.
We were headed for a local campground just off the Parkway and we ended up following the bus into the campground. There we met Paul and Shar whose rig it is. There were no pull-throughs available and Paul’s rig, with the car on a tow dolly was not easy to get into a back in space. We agreed to stick together for the night and headed north to another campground, Ratliff Ferry, where we found adjacent pull through spaces and got to talk some more.
They had bought a used interstate bus and are 80% of the way to converting it into a very nice motorhome. He once was a bus driver and has the hat from that former job. It is quite nice and we enjoyed seeing it, but it is not for us.In the morning we set out together heading south for a couple of miles to Cypress Swamp Trail. Paul expressed concern about exiting to the north and decided to drive down to a more open turnaround. As we got back from the walk they had pulled into the parking area and were on the boardwalk section of the trail. As it turned out their major problem was Shar’s absolute terror of snakes. She could not set a foot beyond the boardwalk for fear of snakes. Having a friend or so with similar reactions to the legless creatures we were sympathetic. They set off down the road with our having two possible rendezvous, one for tonight in Tishomingo State Park and the next for Musicland KOA in Nashville, TN on Friday. Tonight did not work out because the campground has no pull-through sites. We will se what happens on Friday. We should have our furnace fixed by then. We are not freezing because it isn’t that cold and we do carry a small electric heater that takes the chill off on a 45 degree night. We do need to be someplace with electric to run the heater. Thus no dry camping until the furnace is fixed.
Ok, right, it is Wednesday night as I write this (March 24). Paul and Shar never did show up. On our way to Nashville we stopped at the overlook at the Double Arch bridge called Bird Song Hollow where we spent 36 hours last year in a snow storm. It is much prettier in Spring dress.
We got tickets to Grand Ole Opry and had a grand ole time. It was two and a half hours of Country. Blues, vocal and even some instrumental. All mixed in with live commercials, this is a live radio broadcast, and some of the most awful cornball humor. “ I grew up poor and every one around me was poor. How many of you filled your gas tank today? You know what poverty means.” In the mean time we had spent the day doing serious shopping for a new RV. Saturday morning we set out for Indianapolis to see the Lovenheim’s in there home north of town which we had not seen yet. We stopped in Bowling Green, KY to spend some time at the National Corvette Museum across the street from the factory where they are built.
We then stopped at an RV dealer outside of Indy to see what was available. Our sense of what is and is not acceptable is getting pretty finely honed. This was another NOT and we drove on to the Lovenheims under the belief that we had plenty of time. We had failed to note the change to EST someplace in Kentucky and arrived at their home with hardly time to park Goliath at the curb and change into less skuzzy clothes for dinner. While in Indianapolis we did some museums and we went to the Zoo which has a fairly new butterfly exhibit. Here are a couple of the butterflies: and we spent a lot of time talking. We also went shopping and got to within a washer/dryer of buying a new Southwind 36E. It had one and we did not want it. The full cycle time approaches 4 hours for a small load and the additional weight is a factor as is the need to take special precautions when winterizing. They were prepared to remove it and put in some shelves, but we decided we did not want to start out with rebuilt cabinets. After all their telling us they were close to losing money on the deal they dropped the price $4,000 when we pulled out of it. I suspect there is more room in the negotiation.
Leaving the L’s we headed southeasterly to get to Malena and Dan’s by the worst way. Sitting here in Natural Bridge State Resort Park, KY we started mapping our onward route. Oops, there is no good way to continue along the Combs Mountain Parkway and get anyplace. It ends at a couple of backwoods KY mountain roads that I don’t want to spend three days on. We will retrace back to I 64. Maybe, before we get to Dan’s I will get to post this. Maybe not.
Not tonight, Thursday. We are in the parking lot of Tamarack Artisan Center at exit 45 off I 77 in West Virginia. We spent the morning hiking around Natural Bridge
before setting out for Charlottesville, VA. We stopped for lunch at Miguel’s Pizza Place which is a center for rock climbing in the area. He charges $2 to pitch a tent in his field. As for why Goliath won’t start there are two anthropomorphic explanations. This is the second time while headed home with a nearly empty refrigerator that this has happened. Thus Goliath wants to stay out and not head home. The other is obvious; I started negotiating to trade Goliath while seated in the driver seat. Nah, this is a machine not a person with personality. Something is bound and will be freer in the morning when it has cooled off. Or I will call Workhorse Road Service back to come and fix it, on them. My warranty has another 1807 miles or 21 days before it expires.
Saturday, at Dan and Malena’s: Goliath did not start in the morning. We had it towed 50 miles back to Charleston, WV (sound familiar? Last year it was 50 miles back to Columbus OH.). It is in the lot of Moses Cadillac where we hope it will be ready to roll on Monday or Tuesday. Workhorse is paying the tow and repair again. While we were setting this in motion, I was also finishing negotiations to buy the new Southwind by Fleetwood. I probably paid a few bucks more because I was sitting in the broken down coach while doing it. At 4 PM we got in the tow’d and headed for Dan and Malena’s arriving at 8:30. The less said about the day the better. We did learn that Dairy Queen is every bit as mediocre as you might imagine. Even their ice cream leaves much to be desired – like taste.
Watch for the wrap up to this trip later in the week as we finally arrive home whenever Goliath is ready to roll.
Monday, March 15, 2004
I don’t think I have mentioned ice cream in these journals. This is a most important food group for our long term survival. It is a rare evening that passes that we don’t have some ice cream before cleaning up and going to bed. Having said this, I must be sure that you understand that the subject of selection of ice cream is a major issue in our household. First there is the choice between low fat (ugh) and the real stuff, you know the premium brands with extra fat. Next there is the choice of regular flavors or special flavors with included chunks of stuff (preferably chocolate or peanut butter. Finally there is the issue of brand. All of this comes to mind because we have been in a deadly rut since leaving Long Beach. While there we found that Dreyers had a “Limited Edition” ice cream, Cinnamon Stick Swirl, on the market. Any Cinnamon flavored ice cream is a treat and usually hard to find. For that matter it is usually found only in places that serve apple pie and is only available with the pie. I won’t even go there, yet. Anyhow, we have been finding this flavor in Von’s and Safeways as we have moved slowly easterly.
Tonight we have apple pie, so we will pass on the ice cream, I think, since it is really too much of a good thing. The pie is from Stout’s Cider Mill in Wilcox, AZ. It is very good and I can highly recommend a stop at Exit 340 off I-10 in Arizona should you happen by here (it is worth a bit of a detour – say a couple hundred miles).
We went though there on our way to the Chiricahua National Monument, in the the Coronado National Forest in South Eastern Arizona (almost to New Mexico). I will try to eliminate most of the oohs and ahs there were expressed as we climbed from 4000 feet to almost 7,000 in 8 miles through rugged and beautiful rock formations. They had opened the road an hour before we got there. All of the rain we had seen was snow above 5,000 feet. The road was clear with only a few rocks that had been broken loose form the walls by the freeze thaw cycle, and we made the top of the road easily. We did very little hiking because we were the first and the trails were buried in snow and we were unprepared for the raw chill in the air. What we saw was magnificent and we hope to return in slightly warmer weather another year. On our way back to Benson we made a detour to the Apache Energy Company Wildlife Reserve to see if there were nay Sandhill Crane stragglers. There weren’t. As Carol pulled one of the fixed mount telescopes down to an appropriate viewing level she looked through and found that by sheer chance she had centered on a large hawk on a post out in the reserve. It may have been either a Swanson’s hawk or a Ferruginous hawk, the latter is quite rare and endangered in this area. This was enough excitement and returned to Goliath to do some online work and then to make dinner.
Today, Saturday, found us looking for birds in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. We saw a fair number of birds and met some interesting people. The funkiest spot we got to was Fairfield. This ghost town turned out to be more populated then we expected. The ADOT decided that the turn off was too close to an overpass so they relocated it some 250 yards East. This required the construction of new parking area and then the BLM got into it and decided that the buildings that remained were a hazard so they moved in to stabilize them and provide new interpretive material and improved trails. We will have to come back next year to see what they have done. Right now it is a bit of a mess and hard to see. Our route took us back through Bisbee one more time. This is the latest we have been there, and the first time in March. The place really comes to life on a warm march day. Lots of shops and galleries are open and the place is jumping. We left with some goodies and present, but did not stay for dinner. We will come back again next year, I am sure.
Reading that over, I realize left out the start of the day at Amerind Foundation on Dragoon Road in no place AZ. Up a series of dirt roads off an Interstate exit with nothing around, not even a gas station, we drove into this parking area with a couple of beautiful buildings. First we took some time with their art gallery. This collection is mostly the personal collection of William S Fuller and is eclectic with a focus on western art by mostly eastern artists. Then we went to the main collection which is a mix of contemporary Native American work, archeological finds and older work from the Fuller collection. Like the apple pie, this is worth a 200 mile detour. Actually from Tucson none of this is more than 80 miles or so to the east and then a bit south.
Today we are going back to Cochise Stronghold. The birding should be good and the hiking is great.
All of this seems a bit pale right now. We learned this morning that a friend of very long standing died after a nasty long illness. Gerald “Gerry” Album died on March 9 (as near as we can learn) while awaiting a liver transplant. We first met in 8th Grade at Monroe high School. Carol knew him before that because he was one of her Dad’s prize violin students. I do not have the words to express what I am feeling. We were part of a group that enjoyed life together and enjoyed good parties and good jokes and some things that will have no meaning to those not part of the inner circle. Even later friends did not share “the face” or other things that go back very far in our relationship. Although we have not been close in recent years as our lives have moved apart, we will both of us miss him and wish Holly and the children all the best they can find for themselves.
The way we learned of the loss encompasses the kind of nomadic life this country is making possible. Our friends in Indianapolis called after they heard from a friend in Albany, NY who heard from a friend in Rochester. We then called friends in Long Boat Key who responded to the message from Park City, UT. If we work on it we may be able to incorporate some other states and at least one European country. The sad part is we get to see one another much less often now than in the past.
Resuming where I had left off: After we left Benson we sought to retrace our steps of last year. We wanted in particular to stop by running Horse Gallery and to visit the Catwalks along 180 in NM. The gallery was right where expected to find it, it had a closed sign up. Monday must be a dark day for the gallery as everything else looked like it was a going business. We drove on to the Catwalk, which is actually a trail along a high energy stream that was developed for mining in the late 1800’s. The miners had built an aqueduct of pipes along a mile of this stream to carry water with an adequate head to the mill. For access they had built a catwalk on top of the pipes. The mill failed, but the pipes and catwalk remained. The Department of Agriculture (!) has taken over the area and created a lovely park with new catwalks leading to the upstream end of the pipe. Most of the pipe is gone, but the 1.1 mile walk (and return) is wonderful. The stream and its canyon are very rough and stark and it is hard to imagine building a pipeline the length of the walk.
When we had arrived in the trailhead parking lot we had settled down for lunch before making the hike. In order to prepare my lunch I needed the microwave which meant starting the generator. This was not to be. It started and then died immediately. Noe of the usual trouble shooting worked and we made do with alternatives for lunch. This crimped our plans for later however. We were planning on boondocking (staying away from any prepared campground) and this is much more comfortable with a source of AC power. No generator means no significant AC power. We do carry a small inverter to power a computer or coffee grinder (very important), but that draws battery power.
As we drove on we debated where to go. We loved City of Rocks State Park last year and it seemed to be within reach so I called to verify that there were electric sites available. There were two. We drove, and we drove and we finally got there to find that the last electric site had gone 10 minutes earlier. Being in the middle of no place at 6 PM we selected a wonderful site among the rocks
and prepared to make do on battery power. Come morning there was still plenty of juice to grind my coffee and run the water pump for our wash up.
I was still concerned about the generator so we pulled out early in the morning for a short drive into Las Cruces and RV Docs where I had made an appointment to get the generator serviced. They did a normal annual service, replacing all the filters and the sparkplugs and viola it works fine. It is a finicky little monster.
We stayed a couple of days to do the galleries and to hike in Aguirre Springs State Park again. It is wonderful to make that climb with the Whites Sands National Monument and the proving grounds spread out below like a toy. The sun was brilliant and the snow when we got above 6,000 feet was white and crisp and the temperature was warm enough that I climbed in shorts and a tee shirt. We came back to the car tired and happy. We did not find the tarantula on the road again this year, but it was not for want of looking. If you don’t get the reference, check out my pictures from 2003.
While we were in Las Cruces we also continued our hunt for the perfect upgrade to Goliath II. There is a dealer very close to the campground and we went to see what they had. We saw a used 2003 Southwind by Fleetwood that caught our fancy. It had just about everything we are looking for and only a couple of frills that don’t interest us such as a built in satellite dish. WE sat with the salesman and were prepared to close a deal when we learned that another salesman had taken a deposit on it while we were putting the numbers together. This unit had now been sold three times in five days. The first two buyers could not get financing. We were not prepared to wait to see if this buyer could get the financing. We left on good terms with Jeff, but we will not be buying from him. We now have a gold standard to compare everything else we look at as we shop.
On Thursday the 11th we left Las Cruces and realized that we are on the homebound leg. We are spending the night in a picnic stop along US 90 just east of Sanderson, TX. You will need a Texas road map to find this wide spot in the road, it is east of San Antonio by 200 miles or so and 30 miles from the Rio Grande. We decided to stop at 5:30 local time as it was getting dark and the rain has been fairly continuous all day, as forecast.
The generator has given us the electricity we needed to make dinner and we will run the furnace and such on batteries tonight. The generator vibrates the coach pretty well and the threat of CO is too great to risk.
From Sanderson we decided to go to San Antonio and see the sights. We called ahead, this is Texas spring Break and everything is filling up, and got a spot at the Admiralty RV Resort. This is a bit upper class for us. Manicured lawns, paved parking spots for Goliath a registration office, activity center that would do well in most good hotels and it was raining. I washed Goliath and this brought the rain we thought we had left behind down on us. After a restful night with not much rain we went into San Antonio. Of course the two things one needs to do there are see the Alamo
and walk on the Riverwalk. As we left the parking garage we met a couple and got to exchanging home towns and such and before you know it we spent the day together. They are not even RVers. Did I mention it rained? The rain was not heavy just sort of persistent. We put on rain coats and took them off, but there was no thought of leaving them in the car. Oh yes, if you are in San Antonio do go to the Alamo, but be sure to go to Goliad also (see earlier remarks). Riverwalk is neat for walking and shopping and even eating. I would not consider either of these reasons to go to San Antonio, but then again it was raining.
The next morning we decided we had best save some Texas for another trip, but we wanted to get from San Antonio to Lafayette, LA without passing through Houston. Look at your map, this is not a trivial thing to do. We cut south of Houston and took 6 down to Galveston where we took a left on to 87 which goes on to LA after taking a large ferry across the ship channel. We are getting good at ferries. This lead us to Port Arthur and eventually to Holly Beach, LA (actually there is only one Holly Beach in the US, We found a lovely campground on the beach, Tides Inn RV Resort.
We set up and then walked a bit in the rain to the store because we were out of ice cream. When we woke up Carol asked me why the furnace fan was blowing and no heat was coming. This was a very good question. After trying a number of things the furnace fan no longer blows, at all. We have an appointment in Nashville on Friday for a repair. It is a good thing this rain is not cold.
We wandered the day along National and State Byways, through bayous and swamps and forests and we even saw a couple of birds new to us. Here is the Little Blue Heron:
We stopped in Baton Rouge for an oil change and then drove on to Hammond where we located a Passport America campground (half off for us cheap skate members). It is less good than most. I hope the rain desists for the night so I won’t need a tow to get out of here. We are parked on grass.
Tonight we have apple pie, so we will pass on the ice cream, I think, since it is really too much of a good thing. The pie is from Stout’s Cider Mill in Wilcox, AZ. It is very good and I can highly recommend a stop at Exit 340 off I-10 in Arizona should you happen by here (it is worth a bit of a detour – say a couple hundred miles).
We went though there on our way to the Chiricahua National Monument, in the the Coronado National Forest in South Eastern Arizona (almost to New Mexico). I will try to eliminate most of the oohs and ahs there were expressed as we climbed from 4000 feet to almost 7,000 in 8 miles through rugged and beautiful rock formations. They had opened the road an hour before we got there. All of the rain we had seen was snow above 5,000 feet. The road was clear with only a few rocks that had been broken loose form the walls by the freeze thaw cycle, and we made the top of the road easily. We did very little hiking because we were the first and the trails were buried in snow and we were unprepared for the raw chill in the air. What we saw was magnificent and we hope to return in slightly warmer weather another year. On our way back to Benson we made a detour to the Apache Energy Company Wildlife Reserve to see if there were nay Sandhill Crane stragglers. There weren’t. As Carol pulled one of the fixed mount telescopes down to an appropriate viewing level she looked through and found that by sheer chance she had centered on a large hawk on a post out in the reserve. It may have been either a Swanson’s hawk or a Ferruginous hawk, the latter is quite rare and endangered in this area. This was enough excitement and returned to Goliath to do some online work and then to make dinner.
Today, Saturday, found us looking for birds in the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area. We saw a fair number of birds and met some interesting people. The funkiest spot we got to was Fairfield. This ghost town turned out to be more populated then we expected. The ADOT decided that the turn off was too close to an overpass so they relocated it some 250 yards East. This required the construction of new parking area and then the BLM got into it and decided that the buildings that remained were a hazard so they moved in to stabilize them and provide new interpretive material and improved trails. We will have to come back next year to see what they have done. Right now it is a bit of a mess and hard to see. Our route took us back through Bisbee one more time. This is the latest we have been there, and the first time in March. The place really comes to life on a warm march day. Lots of shops and galleries are open and the place is jumping. We left with some goodies and present, but did not stay for dinner. We will come back again next year, I am sure.
Reading that over, I realize left out the start of the day at Amerind Foundation on Dragoon Road in no place AZ. Up a series of dirt roads off an Interstate exit with nothing around, not even a gas station, we drove into this parking area with a couple of beautiful buildings. First we took some time with their art gallery. This collection is mostly the personal collection of William S Fuller and is eclectic with a focus on western art by mostly eastern artists. Then we went to the main collection which is a mix of contemporary Native American work, archeological finds and older work from the Fuller collection. Like the apple pie, this is worth a 200 mile detour. Actually from Tucson none of this is more than 80 miles or so to the east and then a bit south.
Today we are going back to Cochise Stronghold. The birding should be good and the hiking is great.
All of this seems a bit pale right now. We learned this morning that a friend of very long standing died after a nasty long illness. Gerald “Gerry” Album died on March 9 (as near as we can learn) while awaiting a liver transplant. We first met in 8th Grade at Monroe high School. Carol knew him before that because he was one of her Dad’s prize violin students. I do not have the words to express what I am feeling. We were part of a group that enjoyed life together and enjoyed good parties and good jokes and some things that will have no meaning to those not part of the inner circle. Even later friends did not share “the face” or other things that go back very far in our relationship. Although we have not been close in recent years as our lives have moved apart, we will both of us miss him and wish Holly and the children all the best they can find for themselves.
The way we learned of the loss encompasses the kind of nomadic life this country is making possible. Our friends in Indianapolis called after they heard from a friend in Albany, NY who heard from a friend in Rochester. We then called friends in Long Boat Key who responded to the message from Park City, UT. If we work on it we may be able to incorporate some other states and at least one European country. The sad part is we get to see one another much less often now than in the past.
Resuming where I had left off: After we left Benson we sought to retrace our steps of last year. We wanted in particular to stop by running Horse Gallery and to visit the Catwalks along 180 in NM. The gallery was right where expected to find it, it had a closed sign up. Monday must be a dark day for the gallery as everything else looked like it was a going business. We drove on to the Catwalk, which is actually a trail along a high energy stream that was developed for mining in the late 1800’s. The miners had built an aqueduct of pipes along a mile of this stream to carry water with an adequate head to the mill. For access they had built a catwalk on top of the pipes. The mill failed, but the pipes and catwalk remained. The Department of Agriculture (!) has taken over the area and created a lovely park with new catwalks leading to the upstream end of the pipe. Most of the pipe is gone, but the 1.1 mile walk (and return) is wonderful. The stream and its canyon are very rough and stark and it is hard to imagine building a pipeline the length of the walk.
When we had arrived in the trailhead parking lot we had settled down for lunch before making the hike. In order to prepare my lunch I needed the microwave which meant starting the generator. This was not to be. It started and then died immediately. Noe of the usual trouble shooting worked and we made do with alternatives for lunch. This crimped our plans for later however. We were planning on boondocking (staying away from any prepared campground) and this is much more comfortable with a source of AC power. No generator means no significant AC power. We do carry a small inverter to power a computer or coffee grinder (very important), but that draws battery power.
As we drove on we debated where to go. We loved City of Rocks State Park last year and it seemed to be within reach so I called to verify that there were electric sites available. There were two. We drove, and we drove and we finally got there to find that the last electric site had gone 10 minutes earlier. Being in the middle of no place at 6 PM we selected a wonderful site among the rocks
and prepared to make do on battery power. Come morning there was still plenty of juice to grind my coffee and run the water pump for our wash up. I was still concerned about the generator so we pulled out early in the morning for a short drive into Las Cruces and RV Docs where I had made an appointment to get the generator serviced. They did a normal annual service, replacing all the filters and the sparkplugs and viola it works fine. It is a finicky little monster.
We stayed a couple of days to do the galleries and to hike in Aguirre Springs State Park again. It is wonderful to make that climb with the Whites Sands National Monument and the proving grounds spread out below like a toy. The sun was brilliant and the snow when we got above 6,000 feet was white and crisp and the temperature was warm enough that I climbed in shorts and a tee shirt. We came back to the car tired and happy. We did not find the tarantula on the road again this year, but it was not for want of looking. If you don’t get the reference, check out my pictures from 2003.
While we were in Las Cruces we also continued our hunt for the perfect upgrade to Goliath II. There is a dealer very close to the campground and we went to see what they had. We saw a used 2003 Southwind by Fleetwood that caught our fancy. It had just about everything we are looking for and only a couple of frills that don’t interest us such as a built in satellite dish. WE sat with the salesman and were prepared to close a deal when we learned that another salesman had taken a deposit on it while we were putting the numbers together. This unit had now been sold three times in five days. The first two buyers could not get financing. We were not prepared to wait to see if this buyer could get the financing. We left on good terms with Jeff, but we will not be buying from him. We now have a gold standard to compare everything else we look at as we shop.
On Thursday the 11th we left Las Cruces and realized that we are on the homebound leg. We are spending the night in a picnic stop along US 90 just east of Sanderson, TX. You will need a Texas road map to find this wide spot in the road, it is east of San Antonio by 200 miles or so and 30 miles from the Rio Grande. We decided to stop at 5:30 local time as it was getting dark and the rain has been fairly continuous all day, as forecast.
The generator has given us the electricity we needed to make dinner and we will run the furnace and such on batteries tonight. The generator vibrates the coach pretty well and the threat of CO is too great to risk.From Sanderson we decided to go to San Antonio and see the sights. We called ahead, this is Texas spring Break and everything is filling up, and got a spot at the Admiralty RV Resort. This is a bit upper class for us. Manicured lawns, paved parking spots for Goliath a registration office, activity center that would do well in most good hotels and it was raining. I washed Goliath and this brought the rain we thought we had left behind down on us. After a restful night with not much rain we went into San Antonio. Of course the two things one needs to do there are see the Alamo
and walk on the Riverwalk. As we left the parking garage we met a couple and got to exchanging home towns and such and before you know it we spent the day together. They are not even RVers. Did I mention it rained? The rain was not heavy just sort of persistent. We put on rain coats and took them off, but there was no thought of leaving them in the car. Oh yes, if you are in San Antonio do go to the Alamo, but be sure to go to Goliad also (see earlier remarks). Riverwalk is neat for walking and shopping and even eating. I would not consider either of these reasons to go to San Antonio, but then again it was raining.The next morning we decided we had best save some Texas for another trip, but we wanted to get from San Antonio to Lafayette, LA without passing through Houston. Look at your map, this is not a trivial thing to do. We cut south of Houston and took 6 down to Galveston where we took a left on to 87 which goes on to LA after taking a large ferry across the ship channel. We are getting good at ferries. This lead us to Port Arthur and eventually to Holly Beach, LA (actually there is only one Holly Beach in the US, We found a lovely campground on the beach, Tides Inn RV Resort.
We set up and then walked a bit in the rain to the store because we were out of ice cream. When we woke up Carol asked me why the furnace fan was blowing and no heat was coming. This was a very good question. After trying a number of things the furnace fan no longer blows, at all. We have an appointment in Nashville on Friday for a repair. It is a good thing this rain is not cold.We wandered the day along National and State Byways, through bayous and swamps and forests and we even saw a couple of birds new to us. Here is the Little Blue Heron:
We stopped in Baton Rouge for an oil change and then drove on to Hammond where we located a Passport America campground (half off for us cheap skate members). It is less good than most. I hope the rain desists for the night so I won’t need a tow to get out of here. We are parked on grass.Friday, March 05, 2004
JOURNAL ENTRY
Since I shipped off my PC we have been out of communication in every way. The next morning, Friday the 27th, we got up and decided it was time to move on after all. The way we developed our plan was that without the IBM it would be difficult to get the Mac online, the phone cable is legacy serial and there is no serial port on the Mac. My new phone has a USB cable but we have not set it up yet so. . . . let’s go where it doesn’t matter anyhow. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument there is no phone service. For that matter as we discovered when we got here, most of the payphones have been removed too.
The monument is located south and a little west of Tucson, directly on the Mexican border. One of the prettier drives has been closed because it runs right along the border for almost 30 miles. They say they will reopen it when the fence is completed. Why is our fence on the Mexican border any different than Israel’s fence on the border with the West Bank? The issue here is very high illegal cross border traffic. The Park Service estimates that some 200,000 illegal entries occur annually in this thirty-mile stretch of border. Their concern is for the damage done to the environment by the many people traveling through here with no regard for the environment.
Anyhow we arrived and set up in a lovely camp ground surrounded by cactus and desert wildflowers and birds.
We do not have most of the amenities we are used to. There are no hook ups at the campsites. That means we must depend on our batteries to drive the furnace and all other electrical items on board and we are limited to running our generator from noon to 4 PM. So far so good. We also are dependent for fresh water from our fresh water supply tank, 70 gallons, and waste water running into our two holding tanks, again so far so good.
In case you are wondering what an organ pipe cactus looks like, here is one with Carol for a size reference:
This is the only place in the United States where this cactus grows naturally. It thrives on hot sun and even here grows mostly on southern slopes.
While I am at it here are a couple of Gila Woodpeckers on a Saguaro cactus on the next site over from ours:
In the morning we will be leaving and will stop to empty the full and fill the almost empty. We have decided to return to Benson, AZ where there is a good RV park we know and where we can be near both Tucson and several other places of interest. The birding is really great in this part of Arizona. Part of the plan is that I expect that the computer will be repaired and returned to Kathy in the next week and she will be able to forward it to me while we are there. In the mean time I hope to get us on line to post this and check email before too long.
Several days later: I have an idea for something I have not seen advertised, yet. While in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM) I had to be at the motorhome at noon to start the generator and than had to make arrangements to be sure it was shut down no later than 4 PM. The generator has a remote starter on the dashboard. It seems there should be some item that could be inserted into that circuit with a timer to start it and shut it down at preset times. It almost seems trivial. It could even have a sensor to be sure the generator is operating and restart once or twice if it fails. Sounds like a small business to me, but I am not an engineer.
I am feeling like Noah again. This time we are in the Sonora Desert and it has been raining on and off all day. Yesterday we had a bit of a break and went into Tucson to see some galleries. This is our third time through here and the first time we have gone into the city. The Tucson Museum of Art is really wonderful. It is built in a block of old city homes that have been restored and modified to house the collection and provide gallery space. We enjoyed both the collection and the space. The contemporary collection left something to be desired, but the Latin American work, the Pre Columbian and the special collections are wonderful. We also enjoyed the Corbett House, one of the buildings, which has been nicely restored recently. It is furnished entirely in Mission Furniture from Roycroft. It was really something to come out here and see all that great furniture from East Aurora, NY.
We had a bit of difficulty locating other galleries in the area. The Southwest Gallery Guide only has three entries for Tucson and we did not have time for the University of Arizona gallery. We went to the Etherton Gallery, the only other in the guide, and found a great photography gallery. The current show was fine and the collection of photo giants in the storeroom really set our mouths watering. They provided guidance to other galleries we could get to and we did go. The Baithe Indian Gallery has a fine collection of Native American work, masks from Port Hardy, BC where we picked up ours and from all the other tribes throughout the country. The glass gallery next door was nice, but we are really spoiled when it comes to glass.
Today, or today as I write anyhow, we ignored the weather and went to Biosphere 2 which we have wanted to visit since our first trip here two years ago. It is not easy to get to. It is 25 miles north of Tucson, well west of our current location, on a road that is a major commercial strip for at least ten of those miles. I think we passed four or six major malls on the one road. Once we got out in the open it was still quite a ways to the turn off for the complex. In short, Biosphere 2 was conceived as a proving ground for extended enclosed living as on a space station where there is no ability to resupply. Here is part of their explanation:
Construction started in the later ‘80s to enclose 3.5 acres under glass and bring in many of the major environments of the world.
There is ocean, rain forest, desert and transition. In 1991 the first team of eight, four men and four women were locked in for a two year mission. For a variety of reasons, they started running short of Oxygen after about six months and they had to inject some from the outside. The two reasons we heard were extended cloudy days in January and a microorganism in the soil that consumed too much oxygen. In any event, they lasted out there mission and the next mission, scheduled for a year, evacuted after six months. In case you are wondering, the first Bioshpere is the earth. After the two missions, there was no more funding for that kind of research. Columbia University was contracted to manage the facility and use it for research. They invested a lot of money and two years ago completed a $10 Million housing complex for students. This was the place we set out to visit. Our arrival at the visitors entrance was inauspicious as there was a notice of new management. It seems that on December 23, 2003 Columbia pulled out with all of its equipment and the management has been Decisions Investment Corp which is operating it as tourist site for the time being. I suspect that this company is a creature of Mr Bass who owns the land and the structure and is looking for a new partner. I hope this does not reflect what will happen to Biosphere 1.
This building is the largest sealed environment in the world. The floor and side walls are 1/8 inch stainless steel welded into a tight seal and the thousands of panes of glass are all bonded into a tight seal. The structure has two lungs to enable the volume of air to change as the temperatures change. Here is the entrance to South Lung:
It is altogether impressive and I must admit a very sad sight to see it serving no real purpose.
We returned to our cozy motorhome and found the computer waiting at the office. The rest of the day was devoted to catch up and dinner prepared by Carol in one of her creative moods. This is always a treat and usually has its surprises. I was dragooned into lighting the oven for maybe the fifth time in three years. Hmm, dragoon is a fun word, we are just a few miles from the Dragoon Mountain Range here and will probably get there in the next couple of days, if it ever stops raining. In the mean time the next day, Thursday, we got the oil changed in the tow’d and then drove to a book store we had picked up brochures on both of our previous times through here and never visited. This is a good thing, because too many visits to Singing Wind Bookshop could result in a seriously depleted bank account and an overweight motorhome. The shop is located on a ranch well outside of Benson and up its own dirt road. Getting there was an experience and once inside it was hard to leave. There is a lot of southwestern material as well as fine women’s sections and good coverage in any other area you might choose to name, even good mystery books. We had fun and escaped after an hour or so without spending more than the cash in our pockets, a good thing because she takes no credit cards and we did not have a checkbook with us. This is on our list for a stop our next time through these parts.
Since I shipped off my PC we have been out of communication in every way. The next morning, Friday the 27th, we got up and decided it was time to move on after all. The way we developed our plan was that without the IBM it would be difficult to get the Mac online, the phone cable is legacy serial and there is no serial port on the Mac. My new phone has a USB cable but we have not set it up yet so. . . . let’s go where it doesn’t matter anyhow. In Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument there is no phone service. For that matter as we discovered when we got here, most of the payphones have been removed too.
The monument is located south and a little west of Tucson, directly on the Mexican border. One of the prettier drives has been closed because it runs right along the border for almost 30 miles. They say they will reopen it when the fence is completed. Why is our fence on the Mexican border any different than Israel’s fence on the border with the West Bank? The issue here is very high illegal cross border traffic. The Park Service estimates that some 200,000 illegal entries occur annually in this thirty-mile stretch of border. Their concern is for the damage done to the environment by the many people traveling through here with no regard for the environment.
Anyhow we arrived and set up in a lovely camp ground surrounded by cactus and desert wildflowers and birds.
We do not have most of the amenities we are used to. There are no hook ups at the campsites. That means we must depend on our batteries to drive the furnace and all other electrical items on board and we are limited to running our generator from noon to 4 PM. So far so good. We also are dependent for fresh water from our fresh water supply tank, 70 gallons, and waste water running into our two holding tanks, again so far so good. In case you are wondering what an organ pipe cactus looks like, here is one with Carol for a size reference:
This is the only place in the United States where this cactus grows naturally. It thrives on hot sun and even here grows mostly on southern slopes.While I am at it here are a couple of Gila Woodpeckers on a Saguaro cactus on the next site over from ours:
In the morning we will be leaving and will stop to empty the full and fill the almost empty. We have decided to return to Benson, AZ where there is a good RV park we know and where we can be near both Tucson and several other places of interest. The birding is really great in this part of Arizona. Part of the plan is that I expect that the computer will be repaired and returned to Kathy in the next week and she will be able to forward it to me while we are there. In the mean time I hope to get us on line to post this and check email before too long.
Several days later: I have an idea for something I have not seen advertised, yet. While in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument (OPCNM) I had to be at the motorhome at noon to start the generator and than had to make arrangements to be sure it was shut down no later than 4 PM. The generator has a remote starter on the dashboard. It seems there should be some item that could be inserted into that circuit with a timer to start it and shut it down at preset times. It almost seems trivial. It could even have a sensor to be sure the generator is operating and restart once or twice if it fails. Sounds like a small business to me, but I am not an engineer.
I am feeling like Noah again. This time we are in the Sonora Desert and it has been raining on and off all day. Yesterday we had a bit of a break and went into Tucson to see some galleries. This is our third time through here and the first time we have gone into the city. The Tucson Museum of Art is really wonderful. It is built in a block of old city homes that have been restored and modified to house the collection and provide gallery space. We enjoyed both the collection and the space. The contemporary collection left something to be desired, but the Latin American work, the Pre Columbian and the special collections are wonderful. We also enjoyed the Corbett House, one of the buildings, which has been nicely restored recently. It is furnished entirely in Mission Furniture from Roycroft. It was really something to come out here and see all that great furniture from East Aurora, NY.
We had a bit of difficulty locating other galleries in the area. The Southwest Gallery Guide only has three entries for Tucson and we did not have time for the University of Arizona gallery. We went to the Etherton Gallery, the only other in the guide, and found a great photography gallery. The current show was fine and the collection of photo giants in the storeroom really set our mouths watering. They provided guidance to other galleries we could get to and we did go. The Baithe Indian Gallery has a fine collection of Native American work, masks from Port Hardy, BC where we picked up ours and from all the other tribes throughout the country. The glass gallery next door was nice, but we are really spoiled when it comes to glass.
Today, or today as I write anyhow, we ignored the weather and went to Biosphere 2 which we have wanted to visit since our first trip here two years ago. It is not easy to get to. It is 25 miles north of Tucson, well west of our current location, on a road that is a major commercial strip for at least ten of those miles. I think we passed four or six major malls on the one road. Once we got out in the open it was still quite a ways to the turn off for the complex. In short, Biosphere 2 was conceived as a proving ground for extended enclosed living as on a space station where there is no ability to resupply. Here is part of their explanation:
Construction started in the later ‘80s to enclose 3.5 acres under glass and bring in many of the major environments of the world.
There is ocean, rain forest, desert and transition. In 1991 the first team of eight, four men and four women were locked in for a two year mission. For a variety of reasons, they started running short of Oxygen after about six months and they had to inject some from the outside. The two reasons we heard were extended cloudy days in January and a microorganism in the soil that consumed too much oxygen. In any event, they lasted out there mission and the next mission, scheduled for a year, evacuted after six months. In case you are wondering, the first Bioshpere is the earth. After the two missions, there was no more funding for that kind of research. Columbia University was contracted to manage the facility and use it for research. They invested a lot of money and two years ago completed a $10 Million housing complex for students. This was the place we set out to visit. Our arrival at the visitors entrance was inauspicious as there was a notice of new management. It seems that on December 23, 2003 Columbia pulled out with all of its equipment and the management has been Decisions Investment Corp which is operating it as tourist site for the time being. I suspect that this company is a creature of Mr Bass who owns the land and the structure and is looking for a new partner. I hope this does not reflect what will happen to Biosphere 1. This building is the largest sealed environment in the world. The floor and side walls are 1/8 inch stainless steel welded into a tight seal and the thousands of panes of glass are all bonded into a tight seal. The structure has two lungs to enable the volume of air to change as the temperatures change. Here is the entrance to South Lung:
It is altogether impressive and I must admit a very sad sight to see it serving no real purpose. We returned to our cozy motorhome and found the computer waiting at the office. The rest of the day was devoted to catch up and dinner prepared by Carol in one of her creative moods. This is always a treat and usually has its surprises. I was dragooned into lighting the oven for maybe the fifth time in three years. Hmm, dragoon is a fun word, we are just a few miles from the Dragoon Mountain Range here and will probably get there in the next couple of days, if it ever stops raining. In the mean time the next day, Thursday, we got the oil changed in the tow’d and then drove to a book store we had picked up brochures on both of our previous times through here and never visited. This is a good thing, because too many visits to Singing Wind Bookshop could result in a seriously depleted bank account and an overweight motorhome. The shop is located on a ranch well outside of Benson and up its own dirt road. Getting there was an experience and once inside it was hard to leave. There is a lot of southwestern material as well as fine women’s sections and good coverage in any other area you might choose to name, even good mystery books. We had fun and escaped after an hour or so without spending more than the cash in our pockets, a good thing because she takes no credit cards and we did not have a checkbook with us. This is on our list for a stop our next time through these parts.
Wednesday, March 03, 2004
With gratitude to IBM for quick service and to Pato Blanco Lakes RV for having a decent internet connection, I am back on line. The cracked screen was repaired in a day once I got the machine to them and gave them a credit card to apply the charges to. The comedy of errors with Airborne getting the machine is not to be believed. They were instructed to drop off and pick up at the office. I found the box at the door of Goliath after a day of hiking. Thinking nothing of it I packed up the computer and took it to the office the next morning and called for pickup at the office. I never thought that the driver would not look at his instructions. He knew where Goliath was and when we were not there he left a note and drove on. The genius on the phone promised a late pickup without being able to reach the driver. Needless to say he never appeared. After a rather furious phone call, I was promised a pickup the next day AT THE OFFICE. I took no chances and plastered instructions to the driver on the door of Goliath. When we got back that night, Thursday, the computer had been finally picked up.
Today, as we left, I left instructions to the driver on Goliath's door to leave the 'puter at the office. That was where I found it.
Pato Blanco lakes is well beyond the reach of a local Tucson call and they are not in Verizon territory, but they offer access to their own ISP by dialup. This is very nice of them and is one of the reasons we are back here.
I will post a more complete blog either later tonight or tomorrow. We plan to be here a couple of more days.
Today, as we left, I left instructions to the driver on Goliath's door to leave the 'puter at the office. That was where I found it.
Pato Blanco lakes is well beyond the reach of a local Tucson call and they are not in Verizon territory, but they offer access to their own ISP by dialup. This is very nice of them and is one of the reasons we are back here.
I will post a more complete blog either later tonight or tomorrow. We plan to be here a couple of more days.
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
Noah here! Not Forty Days and Forty Nights, but 2.28 inches in two days. That may not sound like much, but the average annual rainfall is 3 inches. That is like Rochester getting 70 inches of snow in two days. We were lucky because when it finally stopped we had a dry, well no standing water, way to the road. Most of the campground was submerged in standing water. There is no real drainage where there are no crops. As we learned the next day when we went to Cooperative Extension Service (or its local equivalent) for a tour the fields which are well drained. The Institute is located on a working farm. We were unable to have the tour because all of the access roads were either flooded or so deep in mud as to be impassable for ordinary four wheel drive vehicles. We will be returning for our tour of the irrigation system and the wetlands areas on Thursday.
We sat out the rains Monday onboard Goliath with books and computers and conversation. and no desire to venture out into the rain. As we learned, many roads were closed due to washes flowing over them and in areas that had been burned last fall the danger of mudslides was very great. Tuesday we went to the farm tour and after spending some time with the leader we stopped by an independent bookstore to restock our reading materials. We found a great selection of used paperbacks, rather I did, Carol was being pickier than me and did not fair as well. After returning to Goliath to stow the books and eat lunch, we set out into the Anzo Borriega State park area to see some sites we had noted as being worth trying to get to. There are two causes of uncertainty. In the best of conditions the roads are not the greatest in a conventional four door sedan and the rains might have made them even more treacherous.
Our primary goal, it turned out, was Fossil Canyon. This area is supposed to be quite laden with fossil shells. For that matter the road off of Old 80 (also called Imperial Highway) is called Shell Canyon road. We drove to the end of pavement and after determining from the map and the use of the GPS that the distance rest of the way was not more than a mile or so, we left the car and set out on foot. The hike was a lot of fun and we might have taken the car further in, but did not regret having left it. We reached the points we had set out to see and were a bit disappointed. The only shells we saw were hundreds of shell casing from target shooters of all kinds including shotgun shells from a bunch of skeet shooters who had littered the place with their clays and a collection of vinyl records that they must have used as targets. I am sad to report that these shooters were real pigs. Many places in California are desecrated by people with no sense of the environment. They don ‘t even clean up after themselves. I suppose I could extend that canard to the rest of the country, but I expect better from this state that has elected such a great new governor. Oh yes Gasoline out here is now $2.19 a gallon.
We returned from our trip to dinner on board and my attempting to destroy this computer. I set it down, closed, right in my path to the front compartment and then stepped on it in my stocking feet. The screen has a lovely crack in it and when I have done tonight’s writing and posting I will pack it into the box provided by IBM and return it to their repair facility for a new screen. I expect to be out of commission about 7 to 8 days. Carol and I will get to fighting over her Powerbook. She will win. It is hers!
Today we went off to Julian. This is an historic gold mining town in the mountains that rather than become a ghost town became the center of the apple industry here and it specializes in feeding tourists some of the best apple pie to be had. Every shop has its own apple pie and each claims to be the one that made Julian famous. There are plenty of nice shops with all kinds of things to look at and even some to buy. We traveled by route 2 which eventually parallels the old Butterfield Overland Stagecoach line. I have not provided a map as has been requested, because I haven’t figured out how to show you what we did. If you call up mapquest and look at the Julian, CA area you ought to be able to get a sense of the area. Julian has now had two major forest fires stop at the edge of town. Last fall the huge fire consumed 27,000 acres of a nearby national forest and left only 450 acres untouched. Many locals lost everything in these fires, the town is not in great economic shape and the loss of recreational opportunities is keeping away the tourist trade.
On the way there I wanted to stop at the highway pull off to see my favorite highway marker which reads “This is the desert, there is nothing here. Nothing” but when we got there the Border patrol had set up shop there to inspect all the passing traffic. I did not want to try their patience so I merely drove on. There are no pictures in this posting because I have not got anything that is really interesting in a photo. If you want to see the SoCal mountains with snow starting at 6000 feet, you really need to be here. It just does not photograph well to reduced to a size I can upload at 14.4. Likewise, from a roadside position it is nearly impossible to properly photograph the Blue Angels practicing overhead, as they do here daily.
I am going to quit here so I can post this and have time to eat some of that wonderful apple pie we brought back with us together with Cinnamon ice cream. We are delighted to here from any of you by email or phone. Both our cell phones are always on and we mostly have service. I’ll not post the numbers here as others can get to this blog, My assistant Kathy knows the numbers and how to reach us.
We sat out the rains Monday onboard Goliath with books and computers and conversation. and no desire to venture out into the rain. As we learned, many roads were closed due to washes flowing over them and in areas that had been burned last fall the danger of mudslides was very great. Tuesday we went to the farm tour and after spending some time with the leader we stopped by an independent bookstore to restock our reading materials. We found a great selection of used paperbacks, rather I did, Carol was being pickier than me and did not fair as well. After returning to Goliath to stow the books and eat lunch, we set out into the Anzo Borriega State park area to see some sites we had noted as being worth trying to get to. There are two causes of uncertainty. In the best of conditions the roads are not the greatest in a conventional four door sedan and the rains might have made them even more treacherous.
Our primary goal, it turned out, was Fossil Canyon. This area is supposed to be quite laden with fossil shells. For that matter the road off of Old 80 (also called Imperial Highway) is called Shell Canyon road. We drove to the end of pavement and after determining from the map and the use of the GPS that the distance rest of the way was not more than a mile or so, we left the car and set out on foot. The hike was a lot of fun and we might have taken the car further in, but did not regret having left it. We reached the points we had set out to see and were a bit disappointed. The only shells we saw were hundreds of shell casing from target shooters of all kinds including shotgun shells from a bunch of skeet shooters who had littered the place with their clays and a collection of vinyl records that they must have used as targets. I am sad to report that these shooters were real pigs. Many places in California are desecrated by people with no sense of the environment. They don ‘t even clean up after themselves. I suppose I could extend that canard to the rest of the country, but I expect better from this state that has elected such a great new governor. Oh yes Gasoline out here is now $2.19 a gallon.
We returned from our trip to dinner on board and my attempting to destroy this computer. I set it down, closed, right in my path to the front compartment and then stepped on it in my stocking feet. The screen has a lovely crack in it and when I have done tonight’s writing and posting I will pack it into the box provided by IBM and return it to their repair facility for a new screen. I expect to be out of commission about 7 to 8 days. Carol and I will get to fighting over her Powerbook. She will win. It is hers!
Today we went off to Julian. This is an historic gold mining town in the mountains that rather than become a ghost town became the center of the apple industry here and it specializes in feeding tourists some of the best apple pie to be had. Every shop has its own apple pie and each claims to be the one that made Julian famous. There are plenty of nice shops with all kinds of things to look at and even some to buy. We traveled by route 2 which eventually parallels the old Butterfield Overland Stagecoach line. I have not provided a map as has been requested, because I haven’t figured out how to show you what we did. If you call up mapquest and look at the Julian, CA area you ought to be able to get a sense of the area. Julian has now had two major forest fires stop at the edge of town. Last fall the huge fire consumed 27,000 acres of a nearby national forest and left only 450 acres untouched. Many locals lost everything in these fires, the town is not in great economic shape and the loss of recreational opportunities is keeping away the tourist trade.
On the way there I wanted to stop at the highway pull off to see my favorite highway marker which reads “This is the desert, there is nothing here. Nothing” but when we got there the Border patrol had set up shop there to inspect all the passing traffic. I did not want to try their patience so I merely drove on. There are no pictures in this posting because I have not got anything that is really interesting in a photo. If you want to see the SoCal mountains with snow starting at 6000 feet, you really need to be here. It just does not photograph well to reduced to a size I can upload at 14.4. Likewise, from a roadside position it is nearly impossible to properly photograph the Blue Angels practicing overhead, as they do here daily.
I am going to quit here so I can post this and have time to eat some of that wonderful apple pie we brought back with us together with Cinnamon ice cream. We are delighted to here from any of you by email or phone. Both our cell phones are always on and we mostly have service. I’ll not post the numbers here as others can get to this blog, My assistant Kathy knows the numbers and how to reach us.
Sunday, February 22, 2004
We took a scenic route down Pacific Coast Highway to I-5 to CA 76 into the mountains then on to CA 79 through Julian, CA. This area was subject to massive fire damage in last summer’s fires, but the town itself survived. The fire appears to have burned right to the edge of the town. We continued on 79 to I-8 in the rain, and then a rainbow appeared,
and on to Rio Bend RV and Gold Resort outside of El Centro. This is primarily an agricultural area. There are vast corporate farms spreading over the entire area and the irrigation network defines the grid of roads that make up the transport in the area. Within an hours drive in any direction there are plenty of interesting areas to explore.
Today we set off for the Tumco Mine. This is one of the first gold mining areas in California. It dates back to 1849. We drove almost to Yuma, AZ on I-8, then north on Ogilby Road (you won’t find this on any map you are likely to have) to the Gold Mine area. A short drive over dirt brought us to a parking area and trailhead. This was in the midst of Hedges which was the mining town that served (or serviced) the area. We set off with water, cameras and the Magellan GPS to see what we could find. Almost nothing remains of Hedges and the most prominent remains are the old mine shafts a cistern and the remains of the cyanide treatment works, used to extract the gold. The current name, Tumco, is derived from the name of the company that acquired the area after WW I, The United Mine Company. They are still currently working part of the mine and extracting gold not far from where we were hiking.
The weather was wonderful, clear and sunny with temperatures in the high 60’s, perfect for hiking. The sun was ringed with a full circle rainbow most of the afternoon; I believe that is called a “sun dog.” They are wonderful to see and are seldom visible as full circles. We returned to the car after a couple of hours and had lunch, which we had packed in advance, well really Carol prepared the lunch, I carried it and ate it.
While we were at lunch a young man came down from the mine area and we started talking about the area. He is a ghost town enthusiast and had with him a book that described Hedges and the history of the area. He showed us pictures of the area when it was active and it was clear that although we were on a barren plane, there had been a thriving town that offered all the vices needed by the miners. We left the area satisfied that we had seen what was to be seen. The RVs boon-docking there have an exciting area to visit.
The drive over back roads back towards El Centro took us through the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. This area covers miles of dunes and is covered with off road vehicles of all sorts, from classic dune buggies to four seat dune buggies to SUVs and ATV’s and dirt bikes.
There is no part of the area that is not covered with tracks. Just across the road the sand is untouched. A quick look at the map revealed that that is a designated bombing practice area and there is good reason for the off roaders to stay out. I must say we could use more bombing practice areas, if that is the result. All those vehicles tearing up the landscape with gasoline at $2.19 a gallon really seems very wasteful of many different resources. I know I make my own contribution to the apparently needless recreational use of gasoline with Goliath, at those prices I may have to find more direct routes for Goliath and do more exploring in the tow’d.
We had word in the last couple of days of the death of an old and dear friend and mother to our friend Margie Lu Perlman, Sarah Elizabeth Goldblatt was a sweet person with a wonderful skill to bring drama to children and children to drama. While she was able she never seemed to rest and always had another project under way. When she retired from directing the drama programs at the Temple B’rith Kodesh school she became a leader of the TBKers, a group of temple members that meet regularly for lunch and speakers every week. Her absence has been noted for many years, but now Carol and I feel the absence more deeply yet. We extend condolences to Margie Lu and David.
We are experiencing rain on our roof as we sit there this evening. The forecast calls for steady rain for the night with a total accumulation of 2 to 3 tenths of an inch. Somehow I think we can go out in this rain and not get too wet.
and on to Rio Bend RV and Gold Resort outside of El Centro. This is primarily an agricultural area. There are vast corporate farms spreading over the entire area and the irrigation network defines the grid of roads that make up the transport in the area. Within an hours drive in any direction there are plenty of interesting areas to explore.
Today we set off for the Tumco Mine. This is one of the first gold mining areas in California. It dates back to 1849. We drove almost to Yuma, AZ on I-8, then north on Ogilby Road (you won’t find this on any map you are likely to have) to the Gold Mine area. A short drive over dirt brought us to a parking area and trailhead. This was in the midst of Hedges which was the mining town that served (or serviced) the area. We set off with water, cameras and the Magellan GPS to see what we could find. Almost nothing remains of Hedges and the most prominent remains are the old mine shafts a cistern and the remains of the cyanide treatment works, used to extract the gold. The current name, Tumco, is derived from the name of the company that acquired the area after WW I, The United Mine Company. They are still currently working part of the mine and extracting gold not far from where we were hiking.
The weather was wonderful, clear and sunny with temperatures in the high 60’s, perfect for hiking. The sun was ringed with a full circle rainbow most of the afternoon; I believe that is called a “sun dog.” They are wonderful to see and are seldom visible as full circles. We returned to the car after a couple of hours and had lunch, which we had packed in advance, well really Carol prepared the lunch, I carried it and ate it.
While we were at lunch a young man came down from the mine area and we started talking about the area. He is a ghost town enthusiast and had with him a book that described Hedges and the history of the area. He showed us pictures of the area when it was active and it was clear that although we were on a barren plane, there had been a thriving town that offered all the vices needed by the miners. We left the area satisfied that we had seen what was to be seen. The RVs boon-docking there have an exciting area to visit.
The drive over back roads back towards El Centro took us through the Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area. This area covers miles of dunes and is covered with off road vehicles of all sorts, from classic dune buggies to four seat dune buggies to SUVs and ATV’s and dirt bikes.
There is no part of the area that is not covered with tracks. Just across the road the sand is untouched. A quick look at the map revealed that that is a designated bombing practice area and there is good reason for the off roaders to stay out. I must say we could use more bombing practice areas, if that is the result. All those vehicles tearing up the landscape with gasoline at $2.19 a gallon really seems very wasteful of many different resources. I know I make my own contribution to the apparently needless recreational use of gasoline with Goliath, at those prices I may have to find more direct routes for Goliath and do more exploring in the tow’d.
We had word in the last couple of days of the death of an old and dear friend and mother to our friend Margie Lu Perlman, Sarah Elizabeth Goldblatt was a sweet person with a wonderful skill to bring drama to children and children to drama. While she was able she never seemed to rest and always had another project under way. When she retired from directing the drama programs at the Temple B’rith Kodesh school she became a leader of the TBKers, a group of temple members that meet regularly for lunch and speakers every week. Her absence has been noted for many years, but now Carol and I feel the absence more deeply yet. We extend condolences to Margie Lu and David.
We are experiencing rain on our roof as we sit there this evening. The forecast calls for steady rain for the night with a total accumulation of 2 to 3 tenths of an inch. Somehow I think we can go out in this rain and not get too wet.
