2/18 Tue Well now, the taxes are cooked, it looks like
snow and I ask why am I still here! But I look outside and it's a
level 2 county emergency, there is a 100 mile long traffic jam in Cinci,
and the RV is stuck in the parking lot. We are Trapped! |
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2/19 Wed. A call to the snowplow man and the
RV is free! Load it up and On the Road Again, all clouds, 37 in Nashville, but
no snow. |
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2-20 Thu. Rain, Rain. Spent night at Hot
Springs, AR, "childhood home of President Bill Clinton".
Went to the movies, saw "All About Schmidt". |
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2-21Fri. More Rain. Toured Bath Row at Hot
Springs. Forgot to take camera with us. JW wouldn't pay for
baths, so we took off for TX, Drove past Dallas and Fort
Worth. Saw the sun try to peek through once, but didn't last.
Supposed to be clear for week-end. |
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2-22 Sat. Pushed on to Ft. Stockton, cleared
the rain, pork dinner, met guy from CA. with rat dog for a pet. Fuel pump
on RV now screaming! for help, everybody closed ,so push-on. |
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2-23 Sun. Arriving at Big Bend NP, SW of West
Texas, which is in the no fly zone, power companies use main resource.
Blue Sky, 77F, call home for things forgotten. 3 Buses of 8th graders
from Houston. |
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2-24 Mon. Climbed ridge that overlooks campsite,
and across Rio Grande into Mexico. NPS just had a
controlled Burn that got out of control. Chisos Mtns. in background.
ML loses new hat to the wind from the top of overlook. JW
goes off trail, endures lions, rattlers, scorpions, cactus and sharp rocks
to recover hat. |
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2-25 Tue. Walked to the Boquillas Canyon,
Mexico crossing closed. Lots of Geologists. MLS lost Camera, JW rescued it
from the lions and bears. Dinner at Chisos Basin Lodge. Saw Fox running
around at night. |
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Boquillas |
2-26 Wed. Broke camp, drove 40 miles to Camp
Cottonwood, at Castolon: No hookups, no generators! Ghost town. |
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Notch in mountain ridge cut by Rio Grande. (Rio Bravo) |
2-27 Thu Walked Santa Elena Canyon, Tuff Canyon
and Mule Ears View. And the pigs came at night and the turkeys in
the morn. |
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2-28 Fri Drove to Lajitas, got ripped
off! Moved on |
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3-1 Sat Roping & Stuff. to Celebrate Texas independence, did I miss something?. Arrived Presidio, TX, poor deserted
town with great weather, signed up for 4 days Nothing to do but enjoy the
weather, go to town to the Dollar Store, warsh the RV |
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3-2 Sun .More of the same, did laundry , made
some phone calls. Airstream group staging for Mexico |
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3-3 Mon Met Neighbors, lots of Input,
more about Yuma. Lots of sun & heat!, may look for a cloud today.
Washed Christine, inside and out, ain't she pretty in the morning sun! |
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3-4 Tue. Decision day, to move on or not to
move on, the question of the day. |
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3-5 Wed Signed up for 3 more days, Presidio is
near Marfa, source of Mysterious Desert Lights, in the picture you can see
a real unidentified object, the locals call it a cloud! |
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3-6 Thu More unsuccessful searches for a cloud.
Met man from Marfa, the lights are real, any clear night. Rode bike to the
high desert for a view of campsite. MLS got nails done at Lorena's |
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3-7 Fri Date night, no Movie for 300 miles, MLS
went to Post Office, did laundry. 'Got Rocks' brought over tomatoes. |
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3-8 Sat MLS bought new shoes, we went to lunch,
and grocery and a pass through the Dollar General Store then off to Marfa
to see the lights. Border Patrol says "Nice Vehicle". Not a clear
night, no lights, but interesting! |
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3-9 Sun Off to McDonald Observatory in Fort
Davis, again
interesting. Met man who was USAF at Marfa, he had a buddy who flew a plane and
another buddy
chased the lights on the ground. They could never get close, they come and go too
quickly. Camped in Van Horn |
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Biggest Something, Sun spots! |
3-10 Met chemist, now a KOA short order
cook, .... we are now being stopped by Border Patrol again, I wrapped a
towel on my head just to see what they would say. Now driving across
New Mexico to Benson AZ.
Striking distance to Ron and Judy's
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3-11 Tue Happy Birthday #62 to Jimmy!
Where is my Golden Eagle Card? Now it is off to Tombstone to check
out the evil deeds of Wyatt Earp, and Boot Hill.. |
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Four down at the OK corral
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3-12 Wed Chiricahua Monument trails, hiked to
canyon bottom and back on Echo Canyon trail, then to Hereford, then to
Sierra Vista, AZ to get stuff! |
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3-13 Thru Stay another day, a real town!. Went
to Ron and Judy's for dinner and chat at their new house, really nice. |
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3-14 Fri One of Those days, replaced front
wheel hub and bearing on Christine, went to rotate RV tires, 3 bad tires
had to be replaced, fixed flat tire on the bike, ML tried to make it a
pool day, but NO SUN!, what happened? there is talk of rain? |
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3-15 Sat Moved on to Tucson, big deal, 60 mile,
Exit 264, Beaudry RV, 2 million RV's, & a Campsite. Weather still
great. |
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Goodbye to Sierra Vista! |
3-16 Sun Windy, Cloudy and mixed rain,
went to San Xavier Mission and to Local Casino to keep out of the rain |
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3-17 Mon More clouds, move on to Eloy and camp
at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Went into Mexico, war zone is the
only explanation for this mess, illegals dressed in parkas carry plastic
shopping bags and are all staged in a nearby park for the nights border
run, the Border Patrol has closed roads to gain an advantage in the chase.
Border Guard tells us they will close the border when Bush announces we
are going to war. That's closed like you are NOT coming home! But only for
three days. We are literally straddling the border as Bush speaks. Mary
Lou is called out for taking pictures of entry gate, guard demands
to see pictures, turns out this too is a crime. Darkness falls, border
patrol seen on every horizon with search lights scanning, there is a
knock on the door, Pedro wants to know if we are his ride? Illegals scurry
about the campground's shadows, campers cruise about like shuttle
buses. The skies clear, a full moon lights the desert floor, the sun
rises and all is calm for another day.
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Corny as corn in Kansas
Approved pictures
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3-18 Tue head for Yuma, where the wind is only
50 mph? Spent the day at Organ Pipe Cactus National Mon., drove and hiked
the desert, then moved on to Ajo, old copper mining town, 38 miles up the
road. |
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3-19 Wed Made it to Yuma, may stay a week. |
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3-25 Simply fantastic, just hanging,
waxed RV. Planning an excursion to Mexico. Most everybody is from
Washington State. |
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3-29 Saturday Still in Yuma, but many are
leaving, chatter around the pool is that the men want to go and the women
want to stay because it's still cold to the north. Did the pool party, the
mall, the swap meet, the casino, surveyed the foothills for potential home
sites, and met a couple from Wash. that just bought land and plans to
build in the foothills. AZ has too many places that seem attractive to
live. Last night it was Prime rib and Lobster night ,
right here in Yuma. |
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3-31 Mon Well just bumming around, gee we have
to run the AC in the afternoon, still soaking up the rays. |
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Lets see, black jack to red queen.
Smoke in Baghdad, DJI down 250., Still have to pay the bills.
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4-1 Tue Repaired Patio light, some of us went
to the pool, and found available sites in Foothills. Explored for
and found 13709 S Ave 14 1/2E. Next to Barry Goldwater Range... |
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4-2 Wed Off to yesteryear, Los Algodones Mexico,
100 pharmacies each with 100 employees, not to mention 2 complete pairs of
trifocals for $109, blankets, leather, jewelry and other mass
produced stuff. |
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Margarita
lunch,
Wall of prescriptions, Need a Pill? |
4-4 Fri Ghost town, every day more people pack up
and head for home, concluding their 6 month stay. We are scheduled till
the 10th, then we head North. Mean time Mary Lou takes Christine exploring
in
the desert in search of a view and some prime land, Rule #1: Stay out of
the bushes. Found a view after an hour or so, but then noticed it was already in use. |
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4-5,7 Went to visit Dale and Bette at their
Foothills lot, great place. Then a pool day, a bike ride, a walk,
and I had cloud watch but none to be found. However, we'll hit
the road Thur. moving toward Phoenix. Bonita Mesa RV Resort is Spanish for
noisy birds and trains. War is on TV and lots of military overhead
here with bombs in the distance. |
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4-8 Tues Wal-Mart for food and ML got
nails done. Afternoon was pool for ML and JW is still trying to win
the war. |
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4-9 Wed Took a walk along canal, afternoon at
the pool. Carefree day. |
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4-10 Thur Moved to Pleasant Harbor in the
NW Phoenix area. JW had the blahs, went to bed. ML did pool. |
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4-11 Fri ML to pool. JW bike. Went
to see "Anger Management" |
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4-12 Sat Spent day and night with Libby &
John Daws. |
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4-13 Sun Moved to McDowell Mt. County
Park, near Fountain Hills. |
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4-14 Mon Visit some old friends Bob and Anthi
Houston. in Scottsdale. Spent night with them. |
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McDowell
Park. |
4-15 Tue Needle Rock, a drive through river
beds, and just plain desert then a little Shopping.
How old is the guy?
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4-16 Repaired bike carrier. Head out for NE Arizona,
Beautiful drive out Rt. 87, spectacular views of Four Peaks, met man who
was at Pagosa Springs last year, same time we were there, very small
world. Camped at Holbrook, ready for the Petrified Forest and Painted
Desert, and the wind.
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4-17 Thur Toured Petrified Forest and Painted
Desert, Lunch at Painted Desert. Camped at Grants NM. |
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4-18 Fri Heading home. Camped
at Elk City, OK. Here we had a little rain from a nearby storm.
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4-19 Saturday Still headed East.
Stopped at Oklahoma City Memorial. Just happens to be 8 year
anniversary. Camped at Springfield, MO . Tornados chased ML as
she drove through Oklahoma, 10-20 miles back but right on course. |
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4-20 Sunday Easter on the
road. Camped at Greenfield, IN |
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4-21 Monday Home Again,
cloudy and cold. |
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