October 27, 2008

Tuesday 27~~~ This morning we drove to Phoenix, Arizona, we arrived there early afternoon. We set up camp and spent the morning watching TV and enjoying the beauty of Arizona. Kent took Sharon to the airport to catch a plane to Salem for a surprise visit at home. He wants to spend some time in Arizona and Nevada before he heads home, so this works for both of us. Sharon has a three hour lay over in San Francisco arriving in Portland about midnight. She called Jeff and Pammy to pick her up at the airport. The rest of the kids don't know she is coming home and will be surprised to have her home for the big Halloween party they are having at her house. It was a long day and I was pretty tired when we got home.

October 25 & 26, 2008

Saturday 25~~~We are staying in Mesa, Arizona for a few days, the weather here is so nice and no wind. We leave the door open most of the time for Pepsi to look outside. This morning we went sight seeing, stopping at "Cracker Barrel" for a breakfast lunch. From there we went to the "Casa Grande Ruins Nat. Park to see the largest structure from the Hohokam times, the Spanish explorers called it Casa Grande (great house). This ancient building is four stories high and 60 feet long and its walls face the cardinal points of the compass. A circular hole in the upper west wall aligns with the setting sun at the summer solstice. Other openings align with the Sun and Moon at specific times, this is how they knew when to do the planting, harvest and celebration. Who were these people who watched the sky so much? They lived in permanent settlements, made pottery and traded, they diverted the river water through many canals for irrigation for their crops. They made use of all the desert has to offer for survival. The mysterious Great House was completed about 1350, this period of people lasted until the 1400's, when the Hohokam culture ebbed throughout the region.When Missionaries arrived in1694, they found only and empty shell of the once flourishing village. The big old house suffered a lot of damage over the years from Vandals and the elements, in 1892 the Casa Grande became the Nations first archaeological reserve. We enjoyed the video they showed of the progress over the years in maintaining and preserving the Casa. (Pictures)
Sunday 26~~~ We spent the day at home today, catching up on the laundry and cleaning house. After lunch we drove to one of the casinos in the area. It wasn't that great of a casino, so we didn't stay long. They are building several new casino's in this area, they need some, they are old and in need of updates for all the money they are making off the people.

October 24, 2008

Friday 24~~~I have to write a funny story about the camp ground we stayed in yesterday. When we got home from our trip to Mexico, the park owners were driving their golf cart through the parking lot and about 6 cats were following them on the run. I noticed that there were more cats coming up behind so I grabbed the camera and followed the cats. By the time I got across the lot to where they were all running, there was 17 cats with more coming, eating cat food on pieces of card board. The owners have a large plastic can full of cat food and they drive over there to feed them at night. I talked to one of the residents who is staying full time in the park for a few months and I asked her why they didn't neuter or fix the cats, rather than feed so many. (pictures) She told me that they have over 50 cats and they feed them in 3 different locations, all of them are Ferrel cats and are so wild you can't get near them. One cat got in one of the campers storage compartment with her 3 babies who barely had their eyes open. They found her and had to have the owner remove her. We laughed at how much trouble we think Pepsi (our rag doll cat) is, then think of 50 more of him. Yipes that would be a nightmare!! Today we drove to Tuscon, Arizona, We saw a sign on the freeway that said "Shakespeare Ghost Town" ahead 4 miles. We thought it might be interesting to see, so we pulled off and followed this dirt road for about 4 miles. Some people say you can't take big campers to off the road to see things!! Wrong!!! We pull our rig almost any place we want to go, sometimes we wonder why we did when we have to turn around to get out. Kent does such a good job and Sharon is good at walking behind to tell him how far to go and when to turn. We left the camper at the top of the hill and we walked down to the town. It was an old mining town in its day and the guide was just leaving when we got there, they do group tours only, but he told us the story of the town which was quite interesting and we were on our way to our next stop which was the"Saguaro National Park". The saguaro has been described as the monarch of the Sonoran Desert as the supreme symbol of the` American Southwest and as a plant with a personality. The saguaro cactus growth is extremely slow, after 15 years the saguaro may be barely a foot tall. At about 30 years saguaros begin to flower and produce fruit. By 50 years it can be as tall as 7 feet. After 75 years it may sprout its first branch or "arms". By 100 years the saguaro may have reached 25 feet. Saguaros that live 150 years or more attain the grandest sizes, towering as high as 50 feet and weighing 8 tons, sometimes more. The video we watched was well done with the beauty of the desert. Kent was really tired when we arrived at our campsite around 5PM. I fixed him a meat loaf dinner with some of the great beef from the Cattleman's Restaurant. After dinner we made a large batch of Carmel corn in the microwave. Yum Yum!!!! Tomorrow we are headed to Phoenix. We are still picking up the stickers from the park we were in a few days ago, it really wakes you up in the morning when you step on one in one of the carpets.

October, 23, 2008

Thursday 23~~~We arrived at our campground in Anthony, New Mexico early, so we ate lunch and drove to"Chamizal National Park, where we watched a video of the long-standing dispute over the location of the International boundary between El Paso, Texas and Mexico and who owned the piece of land that was created by the meandering of the Rio Grande. Presidents Truman and Eisenhower both tried to work out a dividing agreement with no success. When Kennedy became president he knew it was necessary to come to a friendship agreement with Mexico because Castro was becoming an Allie to Mexico. Kennedy met with the President of Mexico and they worked out a deal for the two countries to share in the expense of restraining the Rio Grande within a concrete channel, which acts as the permanent border between the two nations. More than 5000 people residing in the disputed area were relocated at the expense of both governments, this is what is called the Chamizal National Memorial celebrating Mexican_American friendship and goodwill. The Mexicans loved President Kennedy, he died before it was complete, so President Johnson signed the final contract. We had heard that Juarez, Mexico is real dangerous to go to as the drug lords are fighting and killing each other and it is not safe. They won't attack you, but you might get caught in the cross fire. We talked to one of the National Parks workers, (a Hispanic) and he said Mexico is losing so much money on tourism, the Mexican Police are working hard to control it. He told us what entrance to not go through and what part would be safe, so over the border we went. Sharon was very leery of it all, especially when we realized the two of us and one more man were the only Caucasians in the town. There was a lot of police but we didn't stay very long, we bought some Kahlua and came back to the States side. Then Sharon breathed better. The town is really in a depression with no tourist coming across to spend money, the restaurants are all empty and there was no one on the streets buying anything. It was like the movie Tombstone with all the streets empty and you walking around made you feel spooked. I am sure it is fine to go to, but we decided we aren't going to go there again.

October 22, 2008

Wednesday 22~~~ We were on the road by 8:30 this morning headed for the Guadalupe Mountain National Park. The drive was beautiful and we are still commenting on how different this state is compared to what we thought it would look like. So much brush and trees and hills. We expected flat bare land with cactus and no hills. The mountains were so pretty with the early morning sun shining on them. (pictures) Our next stop was the Carlsbad Canyons in New Mexico. We took the self guided tour, there was dim lights all over the cavern, you ride an elevator 700 feet to the floor of the cavern. The cave was created drop by drop of water with nature and the chemistry of the soil and gases from the air and billions and billions of drops of water, the cave formations have taken place. Starting back 1000 years ago when the American Indians entered the entrance of the cave and left drawings on the cave walls near the entrance. In the 1800's settlers discovered the cavern, discovered by the spectacle of hundreds of thousands of bats rising up out of the natural entrance in the evening. Tours began over the years and in 1923 word of the cave reached Washington DC and the next year it was proclaimed a National Monument and in 1930 it became a National Park. The cave was beautiful to see and it was warmer in the cave than it was outside where the wind was blowing about 30 miles and hour with a wind chill to go with it. We were glad we drove out of our way to see it. From here we drove to Fabens, TX. to the Cattleman's Steak House for the best steak dinner we have ever eaten. It is a large ranch that raises their own Beef, ages it, and prepares and supplies the steaks in the restaurant. They sell hamburger and steak tips for $1.50 a pound and it is 90% lean meat. We filled our camper freezer with it. They also have RV parking so that after dinner you can just walk to your RV and stay for the night. The camping is free and as guests you can tour and enjoy the grounds and animals. They have one electrical outlet on a pole by one space and if you get there first, you get it. It is only 15 amp, but it was enough to run the TV. Some friends of ours told us about it and this is the 3rd place they have recommended and all 3 were great. Several movies have been filmed on this property, one was "Courage Under Fire, a war one with Meg Ryan, The movie set left all the war props from the movie,(jeeps, artillery) and all the stuff they use in movies. On Saturday night they have trucks with cover wagon tops and they take their dinner guest for rides to see the movie set. Another movie is "Saving Jessica Lynch" and "Extreme Prejudice" and probably about 5 more. They have all kinds of walking paths with all kinds of animals and everything is so neat and clean. The best part is it is all free, just have a great dinner and enjoy the rest. There is a path to the lake and there is all kinds of seating benches to sit and watch the geese and wild life. We wish we had more time to just enjoy the beauty and serenity of the ranch. If you go to Fabens, Texas, be sure and go there, you won't be disappointed.

October 21, 2008

Kent trying to get some close up inside scoop about the McCain campaign. At least that is what he told me???
Tuesday 21~~~ We were determined today we were going to get an early start on the road as we had a lot of miles to travel. I have to write a funny story of what happened to us before we left the park. Kent asked if I had my phone (he always asks, part of our check list, so we don't have to stop and get things from the trailer) We couldn't find it, so he called my number. The phone rang in the front seat, so I looked in my purse, no phone, he must have called my # 8 times and every time I thought I could hear where it was, it quit ringing. Kent told me to get out and he looked in the front seat, I started looking in the back seat, Then the ringing was there , I was sure it was in the box of mail, so I took it out of the truck and it wasn't there but the ringing followed me. To make a long story short, I remembered where the phone was now, I put it inside my bra, as my hands were full when I left the trailer and that was why it was everywhere I looked. Kent didn't think it was too funny at first, but when we looked back at how we were tearing the truck apart to find where the ring was coming from, made it pretty funny. Old age has its moments and a lot of them we have to laugh at. When we got to our camp ground there were very small thistles all over. We had to pick them out of our shoes with a pair of tweezers. You couldn't see them until it was too late. We stayed in Van Horn, Texas tonight it is a nice park with lots of room.

October 20, 2008

Monday 20~~~ We drove to Johnson City to the State Park where we watched a neat video of the life of Lady Bird in the most comfortable theatre of any national park we have gone to. She was a very hard working first Lady and did a lot for the Nation during her years in the White House. Next we drove to the"Western White House" where LBJ spent one fourth of his presidency there. Anyway that is what the tour guide told us, it is so beautiful, I can see why they would want to spend so much time there.The President used to do a lot of busisness if the yard under the shade of the live oak trees that are so huge. They have chairs sitting thee as they used to when he was President. The Johnson's donated a portion of the ranch to the National Parks and it is still a working ranch with the fattest Herefords running the range. (Picture) The ranch house is a very comfortable looking home that they have left furnished with all of the Johnson furniture and personal touches. (picture)It looks like they might just be out riding around the pasture. They had three trailers that were for communications to the White House and any thing else the president needed to be in touch with. (picture) There was a smaller home there also that was the home of the secret service. (Picture) They have all their old cars on display. The President and Mrs. Johnson had visions of their property going to two Parks. Their hope was these historical properties on both side of the Pendernales River would be preserved for local communities and the visiting public. Texas Parks and Wildlife operates the state park on the Pendernales River opposite the ranch. The National Parks administers two areas; the LBJ ranch and sites between Johnson City, 14 miles east. Together the two parks working together have accomplished their wishes and it is still a working cattle ranch. We stayed in Junction, Texas that night, it was a long day with a lot of driving and touring. Have I said before how big Texas is???? ha No wonder the Texans have everything BIG!!!!

October 19, 2008

Sunday 19~~~ We have heard from so many people how neat the River Walk in San Antonio is, so today we had lunch there, they made fresh guacamole right at our table. It was so good, I think I will be making it fresh from now on. After lunch we took a boat cruise down the canal that takes you under quite a few streets in the town. It was fun to see all the people and activities that were going on at the River Walk. Next we walked to the Riverfront Mall and spent some time looking around there. By now it was getting quite warm outside so we headed home, we made popcorn for dinner, ( we were still full from lunch) and we watched television. (pictures)

October 18, 2008

Saturday 18~~~
Today we drove to San Antonio, Texas to see the historic "Alamo". The Alamo stands as a reminder that for 13 days in 1836 men gave their lives for the independence of Texas The Alamo is right in the heart of downtown San Antonio, that surprised us. I guess all the pictures I have seen of it was taken before the town had grown so large. I thought it would be like most National Parks and be out on the wide open prairie. The land that surrounded the Alamo years ago is now all kinds of museums, a library, court yards and more, today the grounds and buildings present a serene environment where visitors can enjoy and learn about nearly 300 years of history. Before we went to see the Alamo, we went to the Imax Theatre to see the movie, "The Price of Freedom." It was the story of why the Texans fought the Spanish for the Alamo in 1836. The Texans had less than 200 men and the Spanish greatly out numbered them, the battle lasted for 13 days before it ended with only a dozen survivors who were woman and children. Also killed in the battle were the famed frontiersman Davey Crockett and Jim Bowie who with the rest of the defenders felt the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas and they were ready to give up their lives rather than surrender to General Santa Anna. They requested help several times from Sam Houston who refused to come to their aid. History is indicating Sam Houston was a coward but the state of Texas has named a town in his honor (Houston, Texas) and they feel he stayed away so General Santa Anna's army would be weakened and they would save Texas which they did and this is where the famous saying "Remember The Alamo" saying comes from. While the facts of the siege of the Alamo continue to be debated, their is no doubt what the battle has come to symbolize. People will always remember the Alamo as a heroic struggle for freedom, with overwhelming odds. For this reason the Alamo remains hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

October, 17, 2008

Friday 17~~~~We left Houston early today and the calico kitty was over visiting Pepsi early this morning. Sharon fed her a good breakfast and we had to carry her away so we could leave. Our drive was about 150 miles, it is a beautiful day in sunny Texas. We arrived at our campground early afternoon and after we got set up, we took off sight seeing. We drove to one of the old missions here, the "San Jose" built in 1720. They gave us a tour and it was so interesting. Early missions were unwalled communities built of wood or adobe. later, because of tensions between northern tribes and mission occupants, the structures were encircled by stone walls. The mission was built as a defense from the Indians to protect 250 or more people inside a 27 acre fort. It had 87 two room dwellings for families, (picture) they grew crops and raised livestock outside of the fort. They cooked in brick ovens outside of the home, several families would cook together in one oven. (picture) They had a grist mill inside the fort which is still working grinding flour, we watched it grinding wheat flour when we were there. (picture) There were a number of these missions built farely close together The size if this complex bears witness to San Jose's reputation as "Queen of the Missions." The massive stone walls were so thick, they put port holes in them and the mission residents learned to use firearms and cannons to defend themselves from enemy attacks. The success of a good mission fort is having a good water supply and the San Jose mission is still using the water from the well preserved system completed in 1745.

October 16, 2008

Thursday16~~~~We drove in the rain this morning to Houston, The Lone Star State of Texas. (picture) We are only spending one night here, it was too far to drive to San Antonio so we stopped for the night. Texas is a very big state to drive through, it is 800 and some miles across. Our campground is run by an older couple, the lady is just a sweetheart, but her husband must eat grouchy pills several times a day. We had called and made reservations with the lady, when we got there she had gone back to their house to lay down as she wasn't feeling good, which meant we had to deal with Smiley :) Kent doesn't deal with his type of person very well, and soon he was acting almost as bad as Smiley. We finally got checked in and set up. This camp ground had several cats running around, so Pepsi had a great time laying on the floor in front of the door rubbing noses through the screen with a calico female cat who has some babies almost weened. She was such a sweet kitty, and her meow was so quiet compared to Pepsi's yowl. Sharon thought she looked pretty thin, so she fed her on the top step of our RV, so she could stay close to Pepsi. Pepsi was so excited over her company he wouldn't even eat his dinner, he just sat by the door and looked at the calico cat. We sure hated to close the door that night to go to bed.

October 15, 2008

Wednesday 15~~~This is our second day in Duson, Louisiana. Duson is a small town with a population of about 500 about 5 miles from Lafayette We have our mail sent to a small town Post Office in care of General Delivery. This way we think the postal person will take better care of our mail. We picked up some mail yesterday when we arrived and did some odd things around the 5th wheel.
We had made a reservation to take a 2 hour Swamp Tour, we arrived at the swamp to get on a Flat bottom boat to go deep into the swamp and Bayou. We learned the difference between the Swamp and a Bayou. The swamp dries out and grass grows on the bottom, it is on the edge of the bayou. A Bayou is a stream of moving water flowing from the river, there is always water in the bayou. The river boat held 12 people, it is a flat bottomed boat built specially for swamps where the water is sometimes only 3 inches deep. The guide spoke very fluent French for French on the tour, it was very interesting to hear them talk. There are a lot of tree stumps in the water that the boat bumps into a lot of algae and plant life. We enjoyed seeing the different flowers that grow in the swamp and the different birds. The most exciting thing of course was seeing the alligators big and small. They are so hard to see as they blend in so good with the logs and growth. He told neat stories about how they catch alligators to sell, they hang a whole chicken from a tree with a large hook inside the chicken attached to a cable. The higher they hang the chicken the larger the gaiter they get, the gaiters smell the chicken and they jump clear out of the water to catch the bait. When they check their lines the next morning, the alligator is there with the cable holding him. Alligators sell for $45.00 a foot, so the longer, the more money.
After our tour, we ate lunch at a small deli that made the most delicious Cajun fried shrimp. It was $10 for 16 shrimp, fries, potato salad and a lettuce salad. What a deal!!!!!!!!! and oh so good!!!!!!! Next we drove around town and we went through some antique stores, Sharon wanted to see what kind of antique furniture they have here. We drove home and fixed dinner and watched TV the rest of the evening. Tomorrow we leave for Houston, Texas.

October 12, 2008

Sunday12~~~ When we made our reservations for the campground in New Orleans, the lady said we could check in at 9 AM if we wanted to, so we got there early and we were off touring the city early in the day. We thought we knew what to expect concerning the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, but we were shocked to see so much devastation still there. It looks like some of the problems must be with the insurance companies, because some of the homes were beautifully redone with new paint, siding and roofs and then the houses on both side if them were still trashed. We wonder if maybe those houses didn't have homeowners insurance or a poor insurance agent. There are so many businesses that have not reopened and probably never will, one was a bank about 4 stories high, (2nd picture) the damage didn't look all that bad. On the outside some of the homes looked good, but you could see in the door or window that all the walls were stripped of sheet rock and there are just the studs all over. It looks like a hopeless situation with probably no money and knowledge of where to begin and maybe the lost of ambition to try. The picture of the foliage growing over the house is very common here, anything left without care soon is grown over with vines and leaves. After we looked at some of the housing situation, we headed for the French Quarters and Bourbon Street. We had a terrible time finding a parking space,(the bikers have no problem) but when we did, it was a good one right in the heart of Old New Orleans. We even walked to Church as it was close by, we got to see the above ground cemetery as it was close to the church. All the graves are in tombs, as the water level is so high they can't bury below the ground, the cemetery's are very old and whole families are buried in the same tomb. Kent thought they needed some maintenance done there, but I thought it was so beautiful with the elaborate, old styles of tombs. The cemetery's are closed on weekends, so we took a couple of pictures through the gate and we couldn't show much. We had dinner here in the evening after dark, Kent had fried shrimp with dirty rice. It was a spicy dish and he said it was very good, I had Gumboil with a side salad. It was so good, I think I will make it for us some night for dinner. I asked the waiter what the guy across from us was eating, as it looked so good,the waiter told me it was red beans with rice. He said that on Mondays, every family serves red beans with white rice for dinner. It is just a custom they do and he said we always have them at the house on Mondays. They cook the beans all day usually with a piece of pork of some sort. We finished up the evening walking all over the busy streets listening to the music and watching the guys on the balconies try to get the girls to lift up their shirts and they throw them a beaded necklace. New Orleans is a fun place that I think everyone should go see sometime in their lifetime. There is a lot of old history there and great stories.