We are off

test		We are off, again we chase the sun, straight south we'll check out good old Destin. It's year 7 for the RV
4/3/06	Day 1 - Off to an early start, about noon, roaring down Rt. 37 only to notice that we forgot our purse, so we sat in the Truck stop while one of us went back to get it. Made it to Bowling Green, KY.
4/4/06	Up and at'em, off to Opp AL. and the Frank Wright State Park, just in time for American Idol... Wow! Full hookups in a State Park?, even cable.
4/5/06	Hunting for breakfast we find Destin after several hours, a horrid little place with billions of people! The park is full so we moved on to Navarre Beach, nothing special but it's pushing 80F.
4/6/06	Sun up, great day, have to come to the reality that grocery shopping must be done, but first it's a pool day.
4/7/06	Too crowded so we moved 1 hr down the road, the lady in the GPS went insane in Pensacola. Every 100 yds on the beach they're building a Condo, especially in Perdido Bay. Landed in Gulf Shores,AL. Signs of Ivan remain.
4/8/06	First threat of rain, now blue skies, so a lazy day.
4/9/06	Sunday Pool day and Seafood, as in MLS sits at pool JW bikes and tinkers, then it's off to dinner.
4/10/06	Pool day and Seafood
4/11/06	Pool day and Seafood
4/12/06	Away from Gulf Shores, but first a short cut!, the RV gets a lift across Dauphin Bay, off to find Vinton, LA again. Will we fit?			HOW Much? Finally, cheap gas, fill'er up.
4/13/06	We push through Houston, evil intense traffic, then through San Antonio, more traffic. ML lets GPS pick route, then goes with directions from the book, GPS knew what is was doing. Arrive at Blazing Star, nice but no Voyager!
4/14/06	Down day, just rest, temperature = 104, Talked to Neighbor they sold house and live here, and work here, RV=Monaco Diplomat.
4/15/06	Just another day in the sun
4/16/06	Sunday Easter! and more sun
4/17/06	Off to the River Walk, nice place, well done, took boat ride, ate lunch, did shopping, and of course visited the Alamo, Mexico's first invasion. A second tragedy at the Alamo occurred this day in 2006, I lost my hat at the Alamo.
4/18/06	The humidity moved in so we're moving out, first a call to Wal-Mart to renew prescript's, and we rotated the tires on the Jeep, then to Wal-Mart for pills and groceries. Then off to Bandera, The Cowboy Capital of the World, town 40 mi away. Cute place as everyone waits for rain, it won't! happen. JW tries to coax Jeep into cool waters, but she's yellow!
4/19/06	Went downtown Bandera, had brunch at the OST (Old Spanish Trail) restaurant, then some light shopping, lots of cute stores, spent evening with George and Joan and their dog 'Scooter', seemed like we had a lot in common, and by-golly it did rain.
4/20/06	The rains came, with tornado warnings, junk from the tree buried the RV and Jeep, ran over the sewer hose as I broke camp, and it hailed serious stuff. Off to Fort Stockton, where the skies were clear again.
4/21/06	Bright morning, so we clean up after the devil tree put droppings all over everything. Then it's off to Guadalupe Mtns. ML followed a water truck, so we got mud all over the vehicles again. Found camp site just under Hunter Peak, the highest point in Texas, Top of Texas. A horse changing site for the Butterfield Trail, Butterfield had a contract with the Gov to deliver mail to St. Louis from SF, most agree it was a scam, the civil war canceled the contract. Went hiking on Smith Sprint Trail, viewed land we just crossed, and came across Harry the horny toad.
4/22/06	Sat Morn, such a clatter as 50 or so kids, and family's and serious hikers assault the mountain. Moved on the Carlsbad Caverns, hiked 2 miles 750ft down in the Big Room. Then off to Alamogordo to see the White Sands area,		Lots of Strange views
4/23/06	Sunday Thirteen miles south of Alamogordo is the white sands National Monument, had a little lunch, this is a lot of gypsum (calcium sulfate, CaSO4 ).
4/24/06	More tourist stuff, yet another space museum, Van Braun and the boys finally got the USA off the ground, the secret was keen insight into the obvious. Then a tour of Pistachio factory, Finished the day with drive to Deming, NM
4/25/06	Good Old Deming, http://www.demingchamber.com/ The Mimber Indians were here looking for the wheel, of course no luck. Deming has a plan. http://www.cityofdeming.org/
4/26/06	Steeped in history from the placement of the Silver Spike marking the country's second transcontinental railroad here to the outposts along the Butterfield Trail, as in Guadalupe Mtns.
4/27/06	Not much happening, road bike back to Denny's to get my hat, can't lose two hats. Drove out to talk to man from Colorado who just retired to Deming, he spent 38 working for Coors. Dinner at the Rancher's Grill, last time for that.
4/28/06	I Caught some bug, another bad tooth ache, why does this only happen in NM? Bad weather, 60 and windy, as in windy! I sleep through the real winds according to ML.
4/29/06	The weather got better, I got better, so is was off to a wine tasting flight at Saint Clair Vineyards. www.stclairvineyards.com They told a story of man bringing in a new Gasoline tank to be filled with "Bulk Wine" for a big party. Also www.southwestwines.com; Of course we had to buy a few bottles of our favorite, then it was off to the store to buy a wine cooler chest for storage. we did tacos, laundry and the NFL Draft.
4/30/06	Sunday. Enough of this big city life, tomorrow it's off to the back country. But first a visit to Palamos, Mexico, and The Pink Store. Poncho Villa attacks US in 1916 @ Columbus NM.
5/1/06	Big Day, moved 52 miles up the road to Silver City, NM & got staged to drive to the Gila Cliff Dwellings.
5/2/06	A long drive up over some mountain vistas to find the home of the Mogollon (Muggy-own) Indians, it's in the Gila National Forest, But first a drive by of the Santa Rita Open Pit *Copper Mine*, (Chino Copper Company) big hole in the ground, maybe bigger than the Grand Canyon. Seven walled in caves, home to 40 Indians.
5/3/06	So we pull out of Rose Valley Ranch RV park and moved 150 miles down the road and we arrive at the Voyager in Tucson which seems like home, away from home.
5/4/06	The weather is perfect, the top comes off the Jeep, JW fights the wireless connection all day while ML relaxes at the pool. Then a stupid movie named RV and dinner at Chuy's.
5/5/06	Pool day, JW rewires the cooler in the pantry.
5/6/06	ML a little under the weather, so it is a nap day. Then a late dinner.
5/7/06	Sunday Puzzles, read books, go to pool. JW washes the Jeep and Explores
5/8/06	Wrestled with configuring rented Wireless Client Bridge.
5/9/06	We won the battle with the wireless, but while Tucson remains peaceful and pleasant a mini wind burst ripped the neighbors awning off his motor home, as our awning never fluttered in the light breeze just 50ft away.
5/10/06
5/11	Went to Pizza Hut, after watching hundreds of Pizzas being hauled out and put into a truck, we ask, they were supplying pizzas to the State Prison, went to movie.
5/12
5/13
5/14	Sunday Mother Day
5/15	A little cloudy, yep, clouds in Tucson! So we put a little cleaner and wax on the RV.
5/16	Yips!, rain in the mountains, still great weather, no rain. So we put more polish on the RV. ML gets a hair cut and heads out to the Massage Centre
5/18	Signed up for another week, the skies have cleared and things are back to normal. Romano's Macaroni Grill was the scene for a great dinner.
5/20	It's Happy Birthday for ML! and she has a plan for a night out, a movie, a Casino, and Wendy's. Boy, I am glad I brought my excitement pills.
5/21	Brawleys Restaurant for Breakfast, MLS plays with Birthday present, MP3 Player and counts winnings from the Dessert Diamond Casino, she uses the place as her personal ATM machine., twice in a row she wins in the first 5 min, while JW scores '0'.
5/27	Well, it seems a week has slipped by, ML has been going to the pool everyday at 9(am) for exercise classes. Met a nice couple, Lori and Alton, but our schedules didn't match and they have moved on. We are signed up for a Pot-Luck on Monday. Last night was dinner at Casa del Rio. JW continues with biking, walking and pool laps. Finished waxing the RV, in the process the door mat ended up covering the hot water heater, while I was inside it burned, marked the RV, and created quite the odor.
5/31	Break Camp and head for Sierra Vista, Pueblo del Sol "closed as we arrive", so had to move on to Tombstone Territories.
6/01	Took Jeep high in to the Coronado National Forest(5000ft), walked a little of the Slavin Trail, then met a trailsman camping with two horses and his wife, they said I was the only car he'd seen this week. He has lived in the area all his life, he said this is the driest he'd ever seen, we hear this every year, maybe it's because it's the desert. JW calls the oxen to the front as serious obstacles appear. Expect to meet Judy and Ron tonight at Corral.
6/02	It was great catching up with Ron and Judy, so today we head for I-40 via Albuquerque, but first isn't the VLA Antenna near Socorro, we confirm with help from the Internet, so we pull up for the night with a plan to run 60 mi. west to the visitors Center in the morning. But we found a private campground.. Sun sets, lighting and rain but all in the mountains.
6/03	We get away at 9am, and arrive at VLA Antenna , camera has dead batteries, didn't bring backup, none at gift shop, I take photos with phone, but delete all but one by mistake. Some days just don't workout. Jeep gets close to listen and hopefully make CONTACT, "phone home JW". Jody is gone, only her picture on the bulletin board. Spent rest of day clearing Albuquerque to Moriarty on I-40Faded and worn but not torn, I dropped my New Orleans "Lets Roll" hat in the trash as I bought a new Very Large Array Antenna Telescope hat. Another run in with the police, just after making a U-turn in an intersection a cop pulls me over, lights and all, comes to the window and explains I did nothing wrong!, but sparks are coming out from under the Jeep!, What?, Oh , dragging the safety cables again, then on to dinner.
6/04	Sunday An easy drive puts us in Amarillo Texas, where they grow everything under the sun. Not corny enough for Kansas. Out on the town @ Big Texan http://www.bigtexan.com/ Now we lost a Hubcap, again.
6/05	Sunday school on the Prairie, http://www.crossministries.net/; and today is a littel example of technology today, after taking pictures at cross, and traveling down the road again the pictures are downloaded and place on the web page, a rest area has a sign "wireless" so we stop and send Email with pictures and the Internet address about the Cross Ministries, and 5 minutes later we are on the road again. Found Keystone Lake campsite.
6/6/06	Tuesday, 6/6/6, and we traveled a Bridge too Far, Wakeup to Cloudy, Rain, Bugs, Mud, Humid, now I remember why I like the West. So we're running from the weather again. MLS spots a Salvaged / Used RV Parts sign so we pull-in and get a new Hubcap, very hard to find a match. 400 miles gets us to the Casio Queen in St. Louis, dum-de dum-dum
6/7	No winners at the Casio Queen, so we push on, it's 1925 miles from Sierra Vista to Newark, and 400 mi from St. Louis, home at 8 pm after stopping at Misty's for the Mail.

	Last good weather Click for details