We couldn’t seem to decide on our route. Each day we looked at the weather and changed our mind about how far north or south we wanted to go. The fact that the weather to the east of us was dreadful did not help. We thought about going to Big Bend or Falcon State Park to stay warm, but low to mid 90’s seems to be a bit too warm. As I wrote the above we were sitting in El Paso, TX. You would think this is about as far south as you can get, but traveling east we could take US 90 and really go south or further on we can pick up I 20 heading toward Dallas. Eventually we needed to know whether we would continue even further north toward I 40 or stay south and come up I 59 or I 75.

Amazing! as we pressed on east on I 10 past Van Horn and Ft Stockton with the idea of reaching Junction by 6 PM or so I spied a sign I had seen several times before., Sonora Caverns and with that sign was another advertising Sonora Caverns RV Park We had been on the road 6 or 7 hours and the idea of a cavern and a campground seemed like a great idea. Both highway signs listing camping had no indication of this campground. None of our campground guides list it and the only reference we found was in the “Next Exit” with a mention that it was 8 miles off the exit and no other information. As we pulled into the drive a family member(?) greeted us, told us how to get into the pull through campsites and said we could pay in the morning with our cavern tour.

We were all alone in the campground for 30 minutes.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

While we were setting up, a tow truck pulled pickup truck pulling a fifth wheel camper into the campground spotted them in a campsite and left. This is not the best way to arrive in a campground that is 50 miles from no place. We eventually met the travelers a father, son and son-in-law from England. They were hauling the fifth wheel and a U Haul trailer behind a rental car from Baja to Miami, this day they had made negative 30 miles. It being Friday night 50 miles from no place they had bought the replacement parts they thought they might need to repair the 1984 Ford pick up which had been sitting and rotting for 10 years in Las Vegas.

We wandered up to the lodge/shop/entrance to the caverns to scope out the situation and discovered that they were starting a tour in fifteen minutes with a party of two. On the spot we decided to delay dinner and go on the 1 ½ to 2 hour tour at 6 PM rather than waiting. WOW!!!!

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

We have been in many public and private caverns and experienced many disappointments, but this cavern is one of the most beautiful we have been in and, once past the dormant areas that had been vandalized in the early years, we saw more formations and areas covered with a great variety natural formations than either of us can remember.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

From Winter 09 Vol 2

This is one of the few caverns that is warm and humid, the temperature was high 70’s and the humidity was said to be 98%.

We returned to the surface and walked down to Gee 2 and could see our neighbors deep under the hood of the old truck. They were to remain there until late into the night. In the morning we heard the truck engine sputtering and roaring and when we spoke they seemed satisfied that they were going to go on down the road after they had a chance to tour the cavern. We pulled out and will not get to hear the next chapter of their story. We rolled on to Jim Hogg Park, an Army Corp of Engineers facility (COE) near Georgetown, TX just north of Austin. We are visiting with Patrick and Leigh Rainwater and will move on Monday to Livingston, TX where we will have our own Sedar and take some time to see Houston.

I guess we have made some decisions at least for the next week.

A week later and I haven’t gotten around to posting this yet. It has been pouring on and off and this is the first rain day we can remember in a couple of months. We settled into Rainbow’s End, the Escapee home park in Livingston, TX with the idea that we would take a day trip into Houston, 75 miles to the south, and be settled for the beginning of Pesach (Passover) with full hookups in familiar surroundings.

From Winter 09 Vol 2

We had no idea of finding other Jews to share any of the holiday with, which would be a very strange holiday for us. The second afternoon here we were sitting in the sun reading when a woman came from the financial planning office on the adjacent street corner and asked if we would witness a will signing. As we walked in we noted a lot of Jewish material on the walls and bookshelves. Our initial reaction was mixed as this is evangelical country and their professed love of Israel leads many to adopt Jewish symbols for their own. However as soon as Dave opened his mouth the sounds of Long Island filled the room and we knew we had found something rare, Jewish residents in Livingston, TX. We found out just how rare on Friday night when we were invited for Shabbat dinner with the entire Livingston Jewish community, all six if them plus some spouses.

We took our first run into Houston and went to the Rothko Chapel, the Cy Twombley building and the Menil Collection plus the Houston Center for Photography. We also saw the Richmond Hall installation of Dan Flavin. Of course in the Menil Collection there was a Donald Judd and several John Chamberlins. The collection also includes an extensive collection of surrealists although there were no Dalis on display. We spent five hours or more in these exhibits and then went over to the Museum of Contemporary Art which had an exhibit based on puppets. It was apparent that the subject was misleading to parents who thought it would be welcoming for children. There were warning signs at the entrance, but we still saw young children going though with their parents. The show is very strong and much of the material is clearly not suitable for children, some not for me either.

We plan to go back to Houston to visit a woman who Carol met and befriended on an interminable shuttle from LAX to our children’s home a year ago. Then we have set a route through Selma and Montgomery AL to continue our exploration of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. From there it seems that all otherwise reasonable routes to Charlottesville require that we pass though Atlanta and so it will be.

As we pulled out of Death Valley we knew we were beginning the trip back east to Rochester even though we still had six weeks or so before our planned return. The usual questions confront us, northern route, Colorado, Kansas and so forth or a more southerly route. We had already set ourselves more northerly than usual by going to Death Valley so we vamped by going to Boulder City NV again. This still leaves both the southerly and northerly routes open. I really had to fly to Rochester for a few days and we decided that Phoenix would be the better place to fly from, Carol did not want to hang out near Vegas again. So we sat and booked reservations, me from PHX to ROC and back and us to Jersey Boys while we were near Las Vegas. We really did not want to hang out for three days either in Boulder City or Phoenix so we ended up stopping in Wikieup AZ which is half way between Kingman and Phoenix along US 93, another way of saying almost no place.

Dazzo’s Restaurant and RV Park was about as rustic as you can get. Check out the pictures on Picasa We pulled in not knowing what to expect and found a pleasant place to spend some time and to explore the surrounding desert by car and on foot. It was a treat to have the large old Saguaro cactus right near our coach with many birds occupying the holes. We took several drives on dirt roads using GPS and little else to find our way. Although we never got lost we did get tangled up a couple of times and were grateful to have all wheel drive and plenty of clearance. We never ate at Dazzo’s largely because Carol felt sure that there was no way to be comfortable that the veggies had not been cooked with the meat, or on the same grill. I must admit that the sandwiches were tempting and we had a report that their pizza was superb.

Eventually we had to move on to Phoenix so I could fly to Rochester on Sunday the 22nd. This brought us to a very different sort of “camping” experience. We pulled into Sun Life RV Resort in the midst of more huge resorts than I wanted to know exsted. This place has over 700 sites many of which are occupied by “park models” trailers not unlike the house trailers from the 60’s, but much more high end since these are winter resort escapes and not permanent homes. We have all the amenities and a price to go with them. I must admit it is nice having a fitness room and a billiards room and a very large computer room and pool and, and, and.

The best part is the resources of the Phoenix area. We have been to Taliesin West, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation home and school and today we spent most of the day in the Phoenix Art Museum. Yes they do have a Donald Judd piece mounted. They also have the Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe show “Charting the Grand Canyon”, and so much more. They also have a lovely cafe where we had lunch. We wrapped up the day with a visit to the State Capitol Museum.

I guess in all of this I forgot to mention our trip with Dan and Beverly Armstrong to Organ Stop Pizza. Check out the site yourself http://www.organstoppizza.com/ The ambience is Theater Organ and the pizza is pretty good too. Carol lost a necklace there and when she called, it had been turned in and they held it for us to pick up tonight on our way back from Phoenix.

The weather to the east of us and to the north looks dreadful so we still don’t know what our route will be. Monday we will have to decide before we start the engine. Hope we see an opening in the weather by then. Pesach will be on the road, just the two of us this year unless fate intervenes.

We have done this before, but it was a while ago and there is a lot to see and do in Death Valley. We arrived late afternoon on Wednesday the 11th. We had to stop in Barstow for fuel, propane and an Outlet Mall. My clothes have gotten frayed, stained and tattered over the years. Carol had her usual lousy shopping luck, getting only pair of jeans that almost fit. I had better luck replacing some beloved but holey jeans a couple of frayed shirts and worn out shorts. We still look disreputable, but clean and not worn out disreputable, for a day or two.

Shortly after setting up in Sunset Campground across from the store and really just a level place in the desert with room for 1,000 campers we were stranding around looking over the premises when Dean and Jane (Cross and Ecclestone respectively) stopped by to chat. First we made plans to get together for happy hour the next day, then we agreed to meet in the morning and go off on a hike together. They suggested a hike up a wash to Willow Creek and not having our own plans we agreed, a hike is a hike. We went off in two cars and had a great hike to a desert water falls. After resting for a bit we gathered at G-2 for Happy Hour which lasted a bit longer than that. We agreed in the end to go off in their Jeep for a rough road excursion in the morning. We left at 10:15 and returned at a bout 6 PM. We had ventured up Hanaupah Canyon, 15 miles or so of really rough road, and then hiked back in more than a mile up a canyon into the mountains looking for the remains of a cabin and two mines. We didn’t find those but did find two wonderful friends.

Death Valley is raw desert. One needs to take the time to look closely and the ground and the blooms. There is so much color that it seems to shade towards brown or gray, but that merely is the blend of all the hues of the rainbow in the soils and flowers. Looking closely we saw many different flowers in bloom and the soft greens of copper and reds of iron and yellows of sulfur, not to mention the white of the alkali salt flats. We are once again camping at the lowest point in North America. The campground is at 190 feet below sea level. We have been lower at the Dead Sea but we were not camping there, just swimming. Hmm, Death Valley – Dead Sea, there must be something about being below sea level that leads to this kind of naming.
Saturday morning we went to the Visitor Center at 10 and got on line for the first time since getting here. After picking up email and letting the family know we had not vanished from the face of the earth, we returned to Gee 2 to find Jane and Dean just passing and we agreed to meet after lunch for a drive up to Ubehebe Crater, about 40 miles to the north of the campground. We had been there eight years ago, but I wanted to go back. When we finally arrived, 2,000 feet higher than the campground it was windy and it felt cold. It looked even colder because people were gathered on the rim in winter coats, scarfs and gloves. Carol and Dean decided that it was too cold and windy for them so Jane and I set off for the upper rim of Ubehebe Crater and then for the rim of Little Hebe. The distance was not great but the slope of the trail was vertiginous. I think we climbed another 600 feet in less than a mile and the car was seldom out of sight. It was not really cold – maybe in the high 50’s and climbing kept me warm even in shorts and t-shirt.

We regrouped at their Damon coach for happy hour at about 5 PM. we were joined later by Sgt Major of the Army Ret Richard Voice. If I choose to believe half of his story, he is a man to be reckoned with. Not least, he claims to be a Congressional Medal of Honor holder. I will check that out on line before publishing. Checked out: he is a great story teller and a teller of lies.

The next day Jane and Dean were tired so we set out to hike Golden Canyon to Zabriske Point and return. The altitude gain is something like 1,800 feet in a couple of miles from the parking lot at Golden Canyon to the height of the Point. In Golden Canyon we met Margaret and Kirwin Johnson (I may have that name spelled wrong) on the trail. They had just climbed down from Zabriske and were headed up. As we hiked our paces matched and our interest in the outdoors as well. At some point we invited them t o join us at Gee 2 for Happy Hour along with Jane and Dean. It is getting to be a party. The trail to the top was well marked and hiking with people who had just come down gave us confidence in the route. For the return we chose to follow the Gower Gulch Loop which is essentially unmarked. Just follow the Gulch. Once in it there is very little choice about route. The decent was a bit more gradual as the Loop added about a half mile to the return and did not have to approach Manly Beacon as we had on the way up. Along both routes we saw evidence of mining activity from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. How those men worked in that environment and thought they could profit is beyond imagining. You have to hike in the region to understand just how obsessed they must have been.

As the gray water tank filled and the freshwater tank emptied it became apparent that we needed to move the coach and the food supply was getting limited and the nearest real shopping is 90 miles away. We said goodbye to our new friends whose email addresses are on this list now and moved. On to Boulder City, NV.

A quick broken parts story with a happy, if expensive, ending. The way we tow the car requires an extension hitch which lowers the tow bar six inches relative to the coach hitch. A year and a half ago I tried to remove the tow bar assembly and found one of the locks frozen and the stinger of the tow bar frozen into the extension. I decided I didn’t need to remove the tow bar after all 🙂 And so we have traveled for close to 30,000 miles with no problem. At some point, I think in Las Cruces, a passing RVer mentioned that the extension appeared to be bent. I decided he was wrong and continued on through the desert, into LA and only then did I become aware that it was indeed bent. I tried to remove the frozen lock to no avail. I tried to pull out the tow bar to no avail. What to do? It happens there are two Camping World stores in the Las Vegas area. The store in Henderson had in stock the very hitch part I needed but no mechanic time. The replacement is much heftier than the original and should last more than the 60,000 miles we have put on the first. Las Vegas RV, the other store, had a mechanic available immediately and they began work within minutes after our arrival. First they cut the hitch lock – a 5/8 inch steel pin – to move the whole assembly from the coach. Then they had to cut the 2” opening with the stinger for the tow bar away and then use a maul to separate the parts. The only real casualty in this was the Tow Defender, a screen to keep stones from hitting the car, which has caused endless problems since I installed it. Both of its pivot pins were broken as the mechanic tried to free the tow bar. Rather than try to fix it again, I had them discard it. I have the highest praise and thanks to Ray, the service manager, and the mechanics who resolved this for us in under an hour and had us on the road in time to reach Canyon Trails RV in Boulder City the same day.

The Sauters moved on and we rolled forward into their camping area taking over the very nice campfire circle their predecessor had built and some of their firewood. This was made easier by our need to service our holding tanks and get some more freshwater. Which meant we had to move the coach anyhow. The water was still low, but the temperature was rising and overnight lows were moving into the 50’s.

We explored several areas we had never been to in the 4 or 5 five years we had been coming to the area. We finally found the turn off for Mittry Lake, an unmarked dirt road running along an irrigation canal right across from the access to YPG. We arranged to pick up mail at the Christian Service Center on Ferguson Road. We had drven by the turn off many times and had actually pulled in to the area once, but had no idea what services they offered. Mail service is good!

We had heard of the Castle Dome Museum, but had never thought to go there for no reason we could explain. The drive of 10 miles over a barely improved dirt road was a great introduction to the area. Castle Dome is a distinctive mountain top that can be seen for miles around. It sits in the middle of an area that has been mined for gold, silver and lead from the mid 1800’s though the early 1960’s. The most recent claim was filed in 1973. When the mining collapsed the Interior Department took control of all the land that was not subject to active claims and began to remove all signs of development. The founders of the Castle Dome Museum went out into the land and moved buildings and abandoned equipment onto their land. There is now a fairly complete mining ghost town preserved and watched over by a corp of volunteers who live on the outskirts in their RVs. We spent 2 and a half hours there and will go back on our next visit. I will post some pictures on Picasa soon.

The previous day we had returned to the Martinez Lake area and the NWR (National Wildlife Refuge) to reprise a hike in the Painted Desert. This is an area where the ground is colored by volcanic dust in greens, reds and deep brown reflecting different mineral content of various eruptions. It is geologically interesting and quite beautiful. We enjoyed both the hike and the driving way back on 4wd dirt roads to see this area. There are many turnoffs to headlands overlooking the Colorado River which defines this area. On our return to paved roads we explored the lake Martinez area and decided we were not thrilled with the idea of coming there to stay in the future.

Meanwhile at Senator Wash the water was beginning to refill the reservoir. We decided to hike around it while we could still use the exposed shoreline to avoid having to go way back into the desert to get around to the North Shore. This hike took over three hours and it was not as level as you might think. The reservoir has many bays and it was not possible to stay on the shore all the time so we had to hike up out of the shoe area to cross the points and then back down to the shore. Eventually we found ourselves stymied and had to bushwhack up a donkey path to find our way to the top of the dam to continue the hike. This hike whetted our appetite for more. We had talked to George and Linda several times – they were in slot 1 at the very far end of the beach where it would be tough to set up a motorhome, but their trailer fit quite nicely. George had been looking at the mountains to the west and decide to hike out to them. He reported that it was a nice hike so we decided to try it ourselves. The only direction we had was “hike towards those mountains, there is a mine up there.” So we set out to “hike to those mountains.” First we had to cross the LTVA (Long Term Visitor Area) and that brought us to a wash (arroyo, wadi, pick your terms). As we surveyed the sides of the wash we noted a trail down into it and up the other side. We spent the next 2 hours following this trail to the mountains and then up a ridge line where we could see a car and a couple hiking further up. They were rock hounding (looking for turquoise) and we talked for a while before finding a convenient perch for our picnic, we always carry lunch in our hydration packs. By the time we got back to G 2 we were ready to kick off our boots and put our feet up with an adult beverage.

After catching our breath we began the preparations to break camp and head out the next day. After a two week stay we had plenty of stuff out of the compartments. The inflatable kayak was snugged up to the coach, the bikes were in riding condition and we had gone riding and all of the comforts were scattered around the campsite. It took about 30 or 45 minutes to put it all in condition to move.

Move to where? We wanted to go to Borrego Springs in the Anza Borrego Desert, but had been informed that the desert flower bloom season had started and all the campsites were reserved. We decided to head for Borrego Springs anyhow since this is one of the few areas in the country where there is open camping anywhere you can find, off a designated road and not too close to water (what water?). Sure enough all the campgrounds were full when we got there, but we picked up maps of the area with suggestions of where we could find like minded desert boondockers and soon found ourselves near the Peg Leg Smith Monument with several other Rvers. Nice place. No amenities, no charge. We will dump our holding tanks in Los Angeles when we get there. Since our arrival we have had two days of strenuous hiking and back road driving – this park is the reason we had to have an AWD vehicle with reasonable ground clearance when Carol’s car needed to be replaced. We have used all of its capabilities this trip. The short list is Calcite Mines, Palm Slot, The Slot and Hawk Canyon. Each of these entailed a drive of 1 to 4 miles over dirt tracks and a hike of half to 4 miles as part of the experience. There is still much to do and see, but we will save it for another time. We are preparing to leave for Los Angeles in the morning as I write.

. . . picking up where I left off . . .

The Calcite Mines were developed in WW II to provide calcite for lenses for war time applications. They are slots or crevices in the mountain top. The road was rough and we parked the car 2 miles in and hiked the remainder of the way. A car similar to our RAV4 passed us as we hiked and we met the occupants at the top. The driver had made the trip before which gave him an advantage over us. We enjoyed the climb and spent some time on the summit with views of the surrounding mountains and desert and the Salton Sea. On the hike down we met some young men at a place where the road crossed a large wash. They said we could hike down the wash rather than retrace down the road. With no idea where we would come out relative to the car, we started down an amazing canyon with a series of slots that were just magnificent. At the bottom we located a road (donkey path?) that seemed to head towards where the GPS said we would find the car. A short very steep climb brought us back to the car. We drove back down the road we had driven up and took a right at the bottom before going back up to the highway. This brought us to the entry to Palm Slot, another slot canyon. After pause for lunch which we had packed, we walked through this exquisite slot and retraced to the car.

Although we had had enough hiking by now, we set off for Fonts Point, four miles up another dirt road. This provides a over view of the Borrego Valley and the mountains that surround it. We returned to G-2 and collapsed and read for a while before going into town for Mexican dinner and a show “American Song Book” a review of as much Rogers and Hart as you would want to enjoy in an evening. The performers were Sherri Roberts, vocalist and David Udolf, pianist. We really enjoyed this break from books and videos.

The next day we decided we needed to hike one more slot canyon, this one is known as simply “The Slot.” Another long desert dirt road brought us to a cliff edge. First we took a side trial to a bluff overlooking Hawk Canyon, the floor of which we visited later in the day. We retraced to the car and walked over the edge of the cliff to scramble down a path that led to the bottom of the slot. This slot was longer than the others and was so narrow that I had to move the car keys to a different pocket to negotiate some of the crevices. We returned the way we had come and took the car to Hawk Canyon where we had lunch. Through out these two days we were overwhelmed with the desert flowers in bloom. We never went to any of the special sites people travel for hundreds of miles to visit to see the blooms, but we saw everything they were seeing, just not a two minute walk from a highway. We saw a field of desert lilies and lupine and all the flowers that were listed in the guide. There were acres of yellow and purple flowers and in places the ground was carpeted with orange and yellow flowers that were too small to see as individuals and barely visible unless you looked down at an angle with low angle sunlight. It was a shame to leave, but we were headed to Los Angeles to see the grandchildren so leave we did.

We have been staying with Azriel and Avtalyon for two nights while Miriam and Yechiel have a break to go sea kayaking and tour Hearst Castle. During the day on Thursday, while the boys were in school, we went to downtown LA to see the Walt Disney Music Hall and MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art. Our membership in Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester got us in to MOCA and we went first to the rotating exhibit of the permanent collection. When we entered the room we both stopped and started laughing. That room is dominated by several large pieces by Donald Judd and John Chamberlain. This snapped us back to Marfa TX a month ago. The world really is smaller than we know.

Enough! We have dinner with my cousin John Levey tomorrow night and on the 11^th we will have to decide where we are going.

I guess I haven’t written in a while. We toured several houses with Joanie and found one we might have loved if we were looking for a four bedroom house to live in with space for everyone to visit and room for our coach and a friend’s coach as well. Price was not the killer. We realized we are not looking to furnish a new house nor are we prepared to close our home in Rochester. We really want a place for the coach and at $400 a month plus electricity for a pad in a campground who needs to own land and pay taxes and do upkeep. Glad we looked, glad we did not make a foolish decision (for us), glad to move on.

We waited to hear from Richard (Richard’s RV Service) about our convection/microwave oven. And we waited, and we waited. Finally, a week and a day after he took it he appeared with our repaired convection/microwave oven at 5:30 on Friday night. By 6 pm he was gone with a bad check from us. . . oops. Carol got her hands on my money market checkbook and wrote a check on it to Richard.. She does not have signature authority on that account. Called Richard and arranged to leave him a good check with the campground office before we left.

We were finally free to head for Senator Wash. You can locate it by entering it into Google maps or just do a Google search for it. We are in the south shore camping area where we have stayed a couple of previous times. We are on the shore of a pumped storage reservoir just above the usual high water area. When we arrived the water level was about 30 feet from the high water mark and we set up camp about a foot or two above that. This seemed to be at about the usual low water mark . As we approached the camping area we were concerned because it was Saturday of the three day President’s weekend and from past experience we expected the place to be mobbed. We were both relieved and dismayed to find plenty of space for us. Where is everyone?

We have been here five days as I write this and the weather has been cool and there have been high winds and even some rain. Since we arrived they have continued to drain water out of the lake and so far as we can tell there has been no pumping to refill it. I am looking across the lake bed and see nothing but mud flats from where I am camped across to the far share. Yesterday we walked across the flats on our way back from a long walk. None of the beach camping area is on the water at the moment. I am sure that by this time next week we will have water up to the high water mark a few feet from the wheels. We have had the company of Kurt and Margaret Sauter from British Columbia since we arrived. They are not related to my assistant, Kathy Sauter Meintel. Kurt is Swiss and a Canadian citizen. He has a delicatessen on Shuswap the tourist area halfway between Vancouver and Calgary and gets away for the winter because business falls off significantly when the tourists and summer residents leave. As I write they are packing up to move on, having overstayed their allotted two weeks in this particular Short Term Visitor Area (STVA in government speak). We will miss their company, but there are others we have met who we have spent time with in past years.

I am hoping to post this today with a stop at the Yuma Proving Grounds (YPG) near where we are camping. This is a US Army proving ground for a lot of military vehicles and track mounted weapons. Also the Golden Knights parachute team practices here. We have free access to the base and many of its facilities and the bowling alley has free wifi available. So we will see if we can get on line there a little faster than here. Otherwise I may try using my phone as usual. 

We got distracted when we arrived on the YPG grounds.  Paratroopers were falling out of the sky all around us.  We took our lunch and chairs to the patch of public land  between the three landing areas and watched as the Golden Knights, the 82 Airborne, and the navy Seals took turns jumping out of planes and hitting the marks in the middle of their respective fields.  For a grand finale, well not finale as they do this once an hour from 0900  to 1530 five days a week, all the teams put up a total of 20 jumpers who fell from 6,000 feet while forming a large formation before breaking and opening their chutes.  Great fun, we watched one full cycle and wandered off to do other things.

The water is rising in the lake.  We may be on a lake shore again soon.

Sometimes things work out the way you least expect. Carol’s new computer came on Wednesday the 4^th and I thought we could be gone by Friday at the latest. Wednesday, as I noted, we had some interesting electrical occurrences with the water heater and the microwave. It turned out that the microwave was not a self repairing failure. Thursday we discovered that although the lights would light and the oven made the right noises, things did not get hot. Discussion with Samsung Tech seemed to indicate that the magnetron (the thing that makes the microwaves) was broken. The shocking news was that it was still covered under the original 10 year parts only warranty. Who’d a thunk? Then there was the matter of finding someone who could do the work and Samsung has no service support people anywhere near Las Cruces. Phoenix here we come! 

But wait a minute, that truck over next to the fifth wheel behind us says “Richard’s RV Service” maybe he will have an idea. In the meanwhile we have been searching the web for a new Convection/Microwave Oven to fit in our cabinet, no more than 24 inches wide. Not One! Richard listened to the tale of woe and looked at the oven and offered to call a local repair man who does this sort of stuff to see if he wanted to even look at it. The short answer is, 30 minutes later Richard brought his power screwdriver on board and undid the 6 screws on the front of the machine and slid the entire unit out in a matter of a couple of minutes. It has sat on two metal brackets with indented places for the feet for five years of hard road, secured by 6 little screws driven into the wood surround. We are waiting for the repaired unit to be reinstalled Tuesday. Then we will be off, slowly.

The weather has deteriorated. There is not a sign of blue in the sky, the winds have been nasty and the temperature peaked in the mid 60’s this morning and has dropped off to the low 50’s this afternoon. I know you northerners would think this is springlike, but here it feels like winter. The gray is too familiar, it feels like February. . . in Rochster.

What are we doing for entertainment? Well, we have spent the last couple of days moving all of Carol’s data from the Mac to the PC and installing the necessary software. The real issue is replacing Adobe Photoshop with The GIMP. $700 or free which sounds like a better option? We are going to go with The GIMP (that is an unfortunate name, it stands for GNU Image manipulation Program). If Carol absolutely can’t stand it, back to Photoshop.  We have taken a hike in White Sands National Monument and we have biked down to the Rio Grande River, about 5 miles from our campground. We have met with a realtor and will be doing some sightseeing with her on Monday. Although we are not in the market, we have come back here repeatedly and keep saying we might want a place here, so now is the time to take a look and see if we can find what we want. That will be hard because we don’t know what we want. It will have land so we have space for our coach and maybe a guest or two; it may have a house, or not. It will have some decent views, which are not hard to come by here. It will provide us with some entertainment and something to talk about. Neither of us is really ready to buy anything, but you never know.

The Kelter Zeitlin family have left for Rochester for Zvi’s (that’s Zvi Zeitlin, Leora’s father) recital in Kilbourn Hall. They have caught the best of what Rochester has to offer for weather at this time of year. We expect that they will be back some time on Monday. It is unlikely that we will get to see them again this trip, but I am sure Carol and Leora will talk before we roll out of here. You never know!

ENOUGH!

A couple of days ago Carol informed me that the shower water was tepid. This is rather astonishing given that the water heater is set to “scald” and has no temperature controls on it. This is how a 10 gallon water heater can provide as much hot water as your average 40 gallon home water heater, you just use less and add plenty of cold. Not great for kids, but ok for those of us adults who are supposed to be able to be careful.   But I digress.   Clearly if the water from the water heater was tepid, it was not working.   I immediately turned on the gas fired portion of the heater so my shower would be hot, but that did not resolve the issue of why the electric portion of the heater was not working.  I checked every fuse panel in the coach looking for something that was wrong or at least said water heater.  I found nothing.   All breakers and fuses were just fine.  Understand that getting to some of these can result in severe contortions, without the driver door I have no idea how I would reach the fuses above the driver’s left foot. As it is I have to stand on a step stool on the ground and lean in the open door, but I digress again. Having crawled under and into a number of places I had not known existed I determined that it was beyond my capability to troubleshoot much less fix.   Time passes.  Just as I was about to find out who to hire to fix this I opened the cupboard doors where the switches are and noticed that the last person to switch from Microwave (keep that thought in mind) to Water Heater had left the switch in the unmarked mid position, neither microwave nor water heater was on! This switch ensures that we do not attempt to use the microwave and the water heater at the same time, as the current draw would exceed our electrical system’s capability.  This is the second time this has happened in almost five years of ownership.

Tonight we had a failure that is less explicable.  Carol was ‘waving potatoes for dinner.  The cycle completed and the ‘wave went dark.  The control panel lights and the interior light would not light and there was no response to the control panel.  Knowing right where to go now, I checked the circuit breaker for the ‘wave and it was not tripped.   I pulled the plug and used my circuit tester to verify that there was indeed 120 volts at the outlet.  Stymied, I guess the microwave is kaput.   I go to the Samsung web site and am defeated by typical badly engineered consumer website design.   Nothing is straight forward not even the model number which is slightly different than that which is on the ‘wave itself.  I determine I will call in the morning, but I know there is nothing that can be done, it is broken and there is no warranty on a five year old microwave.  I’ll have to buy a new one.   Or will I?  When I gave up on my troubleshooting I left the ‘wave unplugged since, if it isn’t working it is better not to take the risk of fire.  For one last time I plug it in. It lights up with the installation screen, do you want to use KG or LBS? We are back in business for the time being.

Stay tuned for the next installment.

We have driven in and around Alpine, Marfa and Fort Davis, TX, several times and people have told us there was a lot of great art to be seen, but where! No one could give us any clue. So Monday, Jan 26, we drove 26 miles into Marfa to search for ART. Although we have been through in Gee 2 with tow’d attached and maybe once in the tow’d we had never come in late morning with the intent of really searching. As we walked around the central area of Marfa we noted that the name Judd appeared on many building, taking this as a cue we walked into an office under the words “Judd Foundation” and found ourselves talking to a conservator for Donald Judd Foundation. By now the name was poking at very old, long unaccessed memory cells. Rather than my trying to tell you about Donald Judd, the Chinati Foundation or the Marfa area myself I will let their websites and photos of the installation speak for themselves. I cannot show you my pictures as I signed a release that I would not publish them in any form, for the privilege of taking them. Them’s the rules. First “The Block” and Donald Judd http://www.juddfoundation.org/spaces/marfa.html next the largest art installation we have ever seen is at http://www.chinati.org/ . On Wednesday we managed to get to Chinati in time for the the 2 PM tour which includes among other installations a Flavin installation that occupies 12 large barracks (actually six U shaped buildings with separate entrances into each leg of the U).

Although we drove back and forth between Alpine and Marfa several times and did a U turn to visit a winery, we never more than noticed a curious block building at the roadside on US 90 until we were flying by a 62 mph westbound for Las Cruces in the motorhome. As we went by this time we both noticed that it appears to be a very smart shop and the sign says “Prada Marfa”. There is no parking lot! For much more on this and on Donald Judd follow this link http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99130809 (do click on the “Listen Now” button if you haven’t heard this) which by some wild coincidence was broadcast this morning January 31, 2009.

After that drive we pulled Gee 2 into the parking area of The Chinati Foundation to continue with the 10 AM tour which includes much of Judd’s work – the 100 aluminum cubes in two “Artillery Sheds” and much much more. To complete the tour we had to drive into town and park the entire rig! To enter the Chamberlain building with yet another huge intense permanent installation. We had also toured The Block on the previous day and by now we were thoroughly worn out and ready for lunch and a quiet ride to Las Cruces. Lunch was at the Food Shark an old step van with a serving window under a huge permanent shed that is also home to a farmers market and benches that looked like they were designed and built by Donald Judd himself. If you are there it is an interesting lunch stop right in the center of town, next to the railroad tracks.

As I write we are in Las Cruces and have had a delightful Shabbat dinner at the Kelter Zeitlin home with much family present and arriving and leaving. Marianne Zeitlin’s brother Hesh and his wife Bernie were there from north of Truth or Consequences so we finally got to meet them. This morning there was a chorale concert of the NM All State Elementary School and Middle School Chorales on the university Campus. Amalia (Zeitlin, if you are keeping track) was performing in the Middle School chorale and we were delighted to be able to attend and listen to these two wonderful chorales perform. Tonight we are off with Leora and Stewart to El Paso for the El Paso Chamber music concert. Wow! We are finally catching up with our recent drought of fine music and adopted family.

First, here is a link to my pictures from December 21, 08 to late January ’09 (it may be too subtle click on the word “link” it is the link).

We returned to Austin for the 8th time to spend a weekend with Leigh and Patrick Rainwater. On Friday we spent some time at their home before heading out to dinner, a special dinner at Eastside Restuarant to celebrate Patrick’s birthday. Saturday Morning we cleaned up and made minor equipment adjustments. We picked up Leigh and Pat for lunch and a round of Austin galleries and then dinner at Chueys a long time Austin favorite. Somehow, a week later, I cannot remember what I had for dinner that night, but I do remember that I was very happy with my choice and cannot wait to go back there. Sunday was to be the day of a long ride. Of the four of us only Patrick, who was raised in San Antonio, had ever done the entire Mission Trail. There are actually five Missions that date to the 1700’s, the Alamo is at one end of the chain and the other four are spread out like beads over a sixteen mile stretch. We had all seen the Alamo so we set out to see the other four and the only 18th century European style aqueduct in North America near Mission Espada. The pictures of the mission and their grounds can be found at the picasa link above. We completed the tour in time for a late lunch and we followed Leigh’s choice to the Liberty Bar in a broken down industrial neighborhood, almost under the interstate in a building that leans so badly that it seems to be a miracle it is standing. The food was up to the recommendation and we would all highly recommend a visit there if you get to San Antonio. It isn’t cheap, but good food seldom is these days. To round out the day we took a decidedly out of the way route back to Gruene and the Gruene Hall, reputed to be the oldest active Texas Dance Hall. The music was free and the drinks were inexpensive, We did not get our money’s worth at that stop. The music was not dance hall music and the crowd had too many small children and too many smokers!!!! (that will end soon). Once again we learned that there is a lot to do and see in the Austin area and plenty we have yet to get to. We’ll be back.

We decided to hang in Austin a couple of days waiting for a replacement bolt for the Tow Defender, failure number three, I’ve about had it. Anyone out there want to try a used Tow Defender designed to keep the rocks off your towed vehicle and the mechanic in business? It is for sale at 75% off new price, after I get it fixed this last time. The part never arrived and we arranged to have it forwarded rather than invest another $40 in staying just one more day. We had waited for the mail so we ended up rolling out at 3 PM on Wednesday. This limited our choices of destination for the day to Fredericksbirg, a place we have stopped at several times. Carol announced that this stop would serve to renew our supply of orange peelers and provide a chance to stock up on some interesting salsas and hot sauces. We did not want to go back to the campground we had stayed at last so we threw darts until we chose Oakridge RV just south of town on 16. It is a delightful park and we decided to stay two nights so we could backtrack in the car to the Lyndon B. Johnson Ranch and Johnson City. The ranch house is newly opened since Lady Bird’s death, she had life use of the residence when they made the gift to National Parks. We understand that over the next year or two more and more of the house will be restored to the way it was in the ’60’s when it was the Texas White House. LBJ spent a quarter of his presidency working here. The office has been restored to the way it was minus the red shag rug. Lady Bird had changed it to parquet and asked that it be kept that way (the rug is in storage should someone change his mind).

We stopped in town to do the shopping mentioned above plus a new fry pan and returned to the campground to prepare dinner. I began preparations for departure the next morning and I was in front of the coach taking down the sunscreen while a new neighbor was busy setting up in the adjacent site. He said he and his wife were headed out to Wal Mart and they got in their truck and drove off only to return in less than five minutes. I was still outside and suggested to Max that I had never seen a shorter shopping trip in my life. He said their was a social hour in the Rally hall (generally a large bare room rented out to groups who want to hold a rally) and that was far more important than shopping. He invited us to come along as it was an Escapee Rally (Chapter 11) and all are welcome. Being Escapees we accepted the invitation to social hour. We ended up staying on for the weekend with the Alamo Chapter of Escapees and joined the chapter at the business meeting. Carol became a song leader and together we became known as the dancing couple. I also learned to play the spoons. The theme was Redneck Wedding and we had a ton of fun. They are a bunch of really great people.

We moved on after the “hitch up breakfast” this morning and are settled in Alpine Texas (use your google earth to see where). We are no longer planning to camp in Big Bend this year. Just a change in mind. It seems I thought Carol wanted to go there and she thought it was my idea.

We got up with the bird songs on Monday and after showers and breakfast we took a couple of mile round trip walk up to the abandoned town site of Rocky springs. Finally we left for the final miles of the Trace into Natchez.. Foiled! Route 61 has exits from the Trace marked North and South, but there is no sign to indicate that the Trace itself continues if you follow the sign for North and stay to the right.. As we wandered through Natchez following signs for the Visitor Center we found the southern terminus of the Parkway. What a let down, it just ends. There isn’t even a sign that says, “The End” or “The Beginning” for that matter. We drove north on the Trace to where we had left the Parkway so we could say we have now driven all the length of it and then stopped for lunch.

Next we headed back through Natchez to pick up a bridge to Louisiana to continue our trip west (the Mississippi River was in our way). As we rolled, we decided to see if we could stay the night in the Natchitoches (for those whose memory is short or new to this blog that is pronounced Nakatish) Wal mart. After a bit of a skirmish with Germaine (the GPS) which resulted in my driving the coach right through the old brick paved Historic Main Street which was never meant for as big a vehicle as Gee 2. We determined that we could stay at the Wal Mart, but really didn’t want to since we did not want to be in Natchitoches without enjoying the town, which would have meant leaving the coach unattended for several hours, and the parking lot was really busy and on a very busy main street. (deep breath to recover from the run on sentence) As we thought about it we decided that maybe we could get to Nacogdoches, TX (same tribe, different location) where we were planning on a tour of the ForeTravel Motorhome factory. We rolled on.

As we neared our destination in the dark once again we failed to heed Germaine and then we did pay attention it was to our dismay. According to good old paper maps we were to stay left onto Rt 59 when it split off from Rt 84 which we had been following for many miles. At the junction, Carol could not read the paper map in the dark so we stayed on Rt 84. Almost immediately the GPS began its “Recalculating” routine and we knew we had blown it. I thought to try a U turn to recover, but not being able to see how deep the ditch on the far side was, I hesitated. Germaine came up with an alternative. We followed instruction to a FM route (in Texas that is Farm to Market and could be most anything). Then she called for a turn onto a four digit CO (county) route, I began to get nervous. An approaching pickup truck flashed its headlights repeatedly, this announced the end of pavement and indeed the end of the road. There was a turn and Germaine urged us on. The road was narrow and dirt. Had we not driven the road to Dan and Malena’s many times I would have stopped and broken the tow and backed out, but we are used to dirt farm roads, we kept going convinced that this route must return us to US 59, Germaine said so. The cows did not immediately agree. We encountered three of them wandering the road as if it was theirs, which it was! They did not wish to moove out of our way. Finally they let us pass and we continued for 2 more miles wondering if this road actually would continue as promised. It did, We got out onto US 59 and found our way to the ForeTravel plant where we found one of the 70 hook ups with water and electric, in the parking area and collapsed for the night.

In the morning we saw the construction of a high end motorhome. They build the entire chassis and body as a single unit. They buy many parts, but the chassis, body, cabinetry, upholstery and all the wiring are done right there. We are convinced that our next motorhome will be a ForeTravel. They are amazingly well constructed and all the cabinets are solid wood and they pour their own solid counters and floors. All the plumbing fixtures are high end residential and the attention to detail is very high. We did take a test drive and that really sold me. Of course, having only driven diesel twice for a grand total of 10 miles, I am easily impressed.

Later that day we left for Livingston, TX, Escapee’s Rainbow’s End home base, knowing we would find a warm welcome. We are settled comfortably for three days when we will leave for Austin to spend time with Leigh and Patrick. Today I found that the vent cover on the bathroom vent was disintegrating and I needed some other spare parts, so we stopped at Joel E West RV and picked up the parts I needed. After an extended shopping trip to Wal Mart, we returned and I changed out the vent cover, replaced the porch light cover and had a beer. Enough of this work stuff. I needed a break at 5 PM.

More when we leave Austin for . . . oh we haven’t gotten to that yet.