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Jack and I have been having a load of fun on the road. Yesterday we left Las Cruces and drove about an hour to the White Sands Missile Range Museum. We had to park Ruby outside the gate and walk into the base. On the way in, we had to show our ID's.
The museum is all outside, so it was good that the weather was great. I got a few pictures:
This one looks like a flying saucer, and it was flying over Roswell!
Here's a panorama that I put together using 5 shots:
These were shot inside a missile launcher:
After we left the Missile Museum, we visited the White Sands National Monument. Why is it called White Sands? Because of the snowy, bright-white, soft gypsum sand that drifts into massive dunes here! These dunes can move up to 30 feet a year, necessitating plows to keep the roads passable. Here are some photos that I took there:
We spent last night at the Alamogordo Community RV park. It was a good park, clean, and quiet. We walked from there a mile up the road to Golden Corral, where we feasted. We were exhausted, collapsing into bed before 10.
This morning, we walked to Denny's for their breakfast. Then we went to Lowe's and Home Depot, there in Alamogordo, looking for a turnoff for the hand-held shower in the RV. We have not yet showered in the rig, since the campground showers have been fine.
On up the road, we stopped at the Pistachio Tree Ranch, where we got some treats and took these photos:
Jack drove for a bit:
Next, about 30 miles from there, we visited the Three Rivers Petroglyph Site, a BLM-managed park containing over 20,000 of these rock pictures. I will have a collection of the photos from there for you tomorrow!
Yeah! We finally got OUT of Tucson today! It took a long time for us to get going because of the "perfect storm" of all the big changes. Getting the new RV, having a new guy in it, and just putting it all together has been a big deal.
Yesterday's last minute chores included going to the AZ BMV to get our vehicles de-registered. Then we went to State Farm to take off most of the insurance on them. This little step will save each of us some considerable money.
Last evening, we ended up going out to dinner with Donna and Al at Claim Jumper. It was sort of a last minute decision, but it turned out to be lots of fun. Then we got to bed early in the RV, and then awakened just at the break of dawn.
This morning, we had just a few things to haul out to the RV, some cleaning to do in the house, and we had to unhook the utilities for the house. Then we had to get the rest of the stuff put away in the RV, unhook, and get OUT!
And that's what we did. Then we didn't leave town immediately. We went to Mimi's for breakfast, which was really good! Then we went to the church so that Jack could return a book he'd borrowed. Then.. finally! We headed down Houghton to I-10 and we were gone.
Tonight, Ruby is parked just off I-10 at Hacienda del Sol RV Resort! Have a look at the Where is Janee Now? link over to the right, and you'll get to the site that shows exactly where Ruby was and what time, at our last communication with a ham radio station that does APRS and connects with the internet. Anyway.. there we are! Click the Satellite link and you can see where we actually were, when the woman was leading us around to our camp site!
It's been windy today -- very windy -- but it seems to have calmed a bit this evening. We went on a nice walk when we arrived here, walking over to the neighboring RV dealer, where we walked through the lot, looking at some RV's, just for fun. Tonight, we're sitting and catching up on bills and email, enjoying our RV park's free WiFi!
*YAWN* This has been a long, busy day. We've had our fun, too, and we got a lot done, but we're still no way near ready to actually pull out of here. Major things that we've yet to do include these:
* Getting foam covers for the front windows (to protect our new blinds from the sun)
* Putting our outside stuff in
* Cleaning out the fridge and putting the stuff either in the RV, in the trash, or with our neighbors who are staying
* Packing up our clothes, food, important papers, computers, and other stuff I can't think of
* Unhooking the water and electric and "summerizing" the cottage.
Today we did the laundry, loaded a ton of stuff, went to run a few errands, canceled the cable, and talked to an opthamologist about Jack's eye.
What's going on with that is that he burst a small blood vessel in the white part of his eye. While this is something that's common and not serious, it does make the eye look ghoulish. He is feeling a bit of discomfort, because it has bled enough to swell the sclera, so he has a foreign body sensation. Anyway, the doctor's office says not to worry, that 14 days is a normal recovery time from this sort of thing. They said that they would see him if he insisted, but that they were sure of what he has and that there is nothing that can be done for it.
So.. we're going to spend the night in the RV tonight -- exciting! :)
Happy Easter, to those of you who celebrate it! Today that included me! We had intended to go to sunrise service, but we sort of overslept. Instead, we went to the pancake breakfast, served in high style by the youth of the church. Then we went to the 10 am service, which was good.
After church, we changed clothes and set to work right away, getting things ready to go. We redid the under-couch area making 4 large bin-drawers there. With all the stuff that we are used to carrying, we needed some more storage!
Another project for today was getting the amateur radio outfit installed, and that went swimmingly. I got the antenna installed up high, on the cabover window. Actually, the antenna itself is not screwed in yet. I wanted to be sure that the glue for the through-the-glass installation is set well first.
I use the radio for APRS, which is Automated Position Reporting System. This little techno marvel works like this: I have my little radio hooked up to a GPS unit and to an antenna (with a small amplifier). The GPS tells the radio where I am. The radio automatically sends my position out to the ether, and it is, I hope, received by a station that has an I-Gate. This station then automatically sends my position onto the internet!
What next? You click on the Where is Janee Now? link over to the right! This takes you to a site that tells you where we are, as long as we're in the RV. Starting tomorrow, I am hopeful that we have the antenna installed and the location should be available for you to see!
We went to a nice little party today over at Vickie and Earl's. Food and lots of laughs made for a fun time for all of us!
This evening, Jack and I did more work, getting things put into the RV. And one of us is sleeping out there tonight -- Eddie, our cat! I like to give him a little extra time to be in the RV before it starts moving! He loves this RV, just as he loved the other one. He had his dinner, a bath, and a nap!
