Hi from San Angelo, Texas! We're parked at a pretty little KOA on Knickerbocker Street. Don't ask where that is; our GPS found it for us, though! The drive ydy was pleasant, with many wildflowers to see along the way. We lunched at Pizza Hut's buffet, stopped at a rest area to walk around a bit, and then finished the drive, arriving in the mid-afternoon.
I went walking with Maddy around a mountain that's right across from the KOA. On the other side of the mountain is a lovely lake, surrounded by pretty houses, each of which has a dock, boathouse, etc.. My main complaint was that I was really thirsty! I don't generally bring water along for my routine 40-minute walks, but I do drink a bellyful before I go. Well, on this walk, there was a woman pushing a stroller and that baby's sippycup was looking very good to me. LOL!
Dinner was Manwich with artichokes and freshly sliced tomatoes, followed with cookies. Mmm!
This morning we have already done laundry, and I have my inbox down to 19 items, most of which are some lingering student assignments I need to go through before awarding Certificates.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Big Bend National Park
Hey there!
Enough people are writing "where are you?" messages that I thought I'd better update you. Actually I've been dying to sit down and blog, but there are two reasons that I haven't:
1) I've been too busy absorbing (and photographing) scenic splendor!
2) In the entire Big Bend area (far west Texas), there IS no internet access!
So here I am! From Van Horne, we drove on down to Presidio and stayed the night near Terlingua, just up the road from the Study Butte Landfill. I am thinking that I remember that Study Butte was on the Superfund Cleanup list, so Maddy and I walked the road to the now closed landfill. I can't find it on the EPA list, but that doesn't mean that my memory is faulty.
Big Bend was awesome. We drove there via Big Bend Ranch State Park, which afforded us amazing views of its own. Arriving in the park early, we drove down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. This is scenic splendor at its finest. We stopped at every pullout and just soaked it up. Here are some shots:
They call these Mule Ears... and it's easy to see why!
The non-working windmill at the Sam Nail Ranch:
These panoramas ... how fine PS CS3 is at panoramas! I think better than CS2 was. As with all my photos, I really hope you'll click these, so you see them a little bigger.
We drove all the way to Santa Elena Canyon and we both did the hike into the canyon!
When we began to feel the overload of scenic wonders, we headed off to the full-hookup campground at Rio Grande Village. Sure.. it's just a parking lot, but we did appreciate the A/C on these very warm afternoons/evenings!
I just love photographing flowers, and I love the extreme colors of the desert plants:
More pics later!
Enough people are writing "where are you?" messages that I thought I'd better update you. Actually I've been dying to sit down and blog, but there are two reasons that I haven't:
1) I've been too busy absorbing (and photographing) scenic splendor!
2) In the entire Big Bend area (far west Texas), there IS no internet access!
So here I am! From Van Horne, we drove on down to Presidio and stayed the night near Terlingua, just up the road from the Study Butte Landfill. I am thinking that I remember that Study Butte was on the Superfund Cleanup list, so Maddy and I walked the road to the now closed landfill. I can't find it on the EPA list, but that doesn't mean that my memory is faulty.
Big Bend was awesome. We drove there via Big Bend Ranch State Park, which afforded us amazing views of its own. Arriving in the park early, we drove down the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive. This is scenic splendor at its finest. We stopped at every pullout and just soaked it up. Here are some shots:
They call these Mule Ears... and it's easy to see why!
The non-working windmill at the Sam Nail Ranch:
These panoramas ... how fine PS CS3 is at panoramas! I think better than CS2 was. As with all my photos, I really hope you'll click these, so you see them a little bigger.
We drove all the way to Santa Elena Canyon and we both did the hike into the canyon!
When we began to feel the overload of scenic wonders, we headed off to the full-hookup campground at Rio Grande Village. Sure.. it's just a parking lot, but we did appreciate the A/C on these very warm afternoons/evenings!
I just love photographing flowers, and I love the extreme colors of the desert plants:
More pics later!
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Carlsbad Caverns
Today we left Artesia's SKP Ranch and drove to the town of Carlsbad. We got groceries and then continued on to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We took the elevator down into the cave and then.. had lunch! LOL! $12 for a ham and cheese, chips, and Oreos and a coke in a cave. After lunch we did part of the Big Room Loop, and I took a few pics. Even fewer were good enough to show.
How do you like that shot of Michael? I thought that looked a little too much like a breast for him to not give it a breast exam.
After our cave visit, we headed off toward Van Horn, Texas KOA. The drive was sooo beautiful, as we passed the Guadalupe Mountains, many wildflowers, and drove under a crystal clear blue sky. The other plus: It's warmer down here! We got to a high of about 65, and, while there were a few gusts, it was manageable.
This KOA is very nice, with popcorn and lemonade for guests, and a "Kafé" where we had supper. I walked with Maddy after supper, much to our mutual joy. :)
How do you like that shot of Michael? I thought that looked a little too much like a breast for him to not give it a breast exam.
After our cave visit, we headed off toward Van Horn, Texas KOA. The drive was sooo beautiful, as we passed the Guadalupe Mountains, many wildflowers, and drove under a crystal clear blue sky. The other plus: It's warmer down here! We got to a high of about 65, and, while there were a few gusts, it was manageable.
This KOA is very nice, with popcorn and lemonade for guests, and a "Kafé" where we had supper. I walked with Maddy after supper, much to our mutual joy. :)
Friday, April 13, 2007
Life in the little Navion
We had planned to meet friends in Albuquerque, but they were out of town, at a rally in Texas. So we enjoyed another dumb day. We went to the Camping World store and got a couple of things. We did laundry and I fixed a good dinner that was enough to last us for 3 nights -- penne with an alfredo sauce, chicken and peas.
Yesterday we braved the winds to drive down south toward Carlsbad, NM. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a desolate and deserted rest area along the highway. The goal was to heat up some soup in the MW, but the generator wouldn't start! When it was cranking, the LP detector was squawking. It's a propane generator... We'd noticed a few days before that some of our coach lights were sort of dim when we were not plugged in. Hmm...
So we had peanut butter on crackers as we drove on to Roswell. And when we got to Roswell, we found the NAPA store, handy, since our batteries are NAPA!
The store on East Second St, was super to us. Josh and Shep went out of their way for us, testing the batteries (both bad), cleaning up the mess that they had made, and putting in new batteries. And the clincher? They were still on NAPA warranty, which we had not even dreamed. No charge for any of the work, the batteries, or anything!
And it works now. YAY! Maddy and I went walking in Roswell while Michael watched them work. While it was fairly windy there, it was warm enough and a pleasant and interesting walk. This is the town where they thought aliens had landed back in 1947. Everywhere you go they have little aliens in the store windows, UFO museums, inflatable aliens standing in the store's doorway, etc..
We left Roswell when we had our repair done and headed on southward. Our goal was Carlsbad, but when we got just south of Artesia, we saw a sign for an SKP park. We have belonged to SKP for a long time, but had never actually stayed at an SKP park. $10 per night + electricity, level clean sites, and people who offer hugs! Yes, they do have snakes, and they are out, it is said, but we have not seen any yet.
Michael beat me at dominoes again last evening and then today I'm just doing email and we're watching mindrot on tv.
Here are some photos of the inside of our li'l Navion. Eddie is under our bed, with it in its upright position. This is above the cab.
Here's Maddy in her crate, which is on the lower bunk in the back of the RV. We also have the kitty litter and petfood bins back there.
Michael is on the phone here, talking to Suzanne:
This is my lamp! When we're driving, we keep the curtain wrapped around the stem, to keep it from falling.
Yesterday we braved the winds to drive down south toward Carlsbad, NM. Along the way, we stopped for lunch at a desolate and deserted rest area along the highway. The goal was to heat up some soup in the MW, but the generator wouldn't start! When it was cranking, the LP detector was squawking. It's a propane generator... We'd noticed a few days before that some of our coach lights were sort of dim when we were not plugged in. Hmm...
So we had peanut butter on crackers as we drove on to Roswell. And when we got to Roswell, we found the NAPA store, handy, since our batteries are NAPA!
The store on East Second St, was super to us. Josh and Shep went out of their way for us, testing the batteries (both bad), cleaning up the mess that they had made, and putting in new batteries. And the clincher? They were still on NAPA warranty, which we had not even dreamed. No charge for any of the work, the batteries, or anything!
And it works now. YAY! Maddy and I went walking in Roswell while Michael watched them work. While it was fairly windy there, it was warm enough and a pleasant and interesting walk. This is the town where they thought aliens had landed back in 1947. Everywhere you go they have little aliens in the store windows, UFO museums, inflatable aliens standing in the store's doorway, etc..
We left Roswell when we had our repair done and headed on southward. Our goal was Carlsbad, but when we got just south of Artesia, we saw a sign for an SKP park. We have belonged to SKP for a long time, but had never actually stayed at an SKP park. $10 per night + electricity, level clean sites, and people who offer hugs! Yes, they do have snakes, and they are out, it is said, but we have not seen any yet.
Michael beat me at dominoes again last evening and then today I'm just doing email and we're watching mindrot on tv.
Here are some photos of the inside of our li'l Navion. Eddie is under our bed, with it in its upright position. This is above the cab.
Here's Maddy in her crate, which is on the lower bunk in the back of the RV. We also have the kitty litter and petfood bins back there.
Michael is on the phone here, talking to Suzanne:
This is my lamp! When we're driving, we keep the curtain wrapped around the stem, to keep it from falling.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Painted Desert
On Sunday, we went to the Painted Desert and toured the Petrified Forest National Monument. The Painted Desert was born from -- this is the abridged version -- a violent uplifting of layers of rock. After the uplifting, erosion made the hills that remain look painted. Painted Desert is a landscape much like that of the North and South Dakota Badlands.
The Petrified Forest came about because -- again, the short version -- ancient trees were washed down into a stream in a huge flooding deluge. They were buried under millenia of silt, which gradually worked its way into the wood, depositing minerals, and made these trees into rock!
Native Americans made this area their home and made their marks via petroglyphs at various locations throughout the park. This one rock is covered with over 600 petroglyphs and is called "Newspaper Rock."
Yesterday (Monday), was a "dumb day" for us. I played with photos, we ate KFC, and we drove over to Winslow to Walmart for some hunting/gathering. I do have to insert a little commentary about our Walmart trip. This is a "super" Walmart, so after we got our plastic bins and lightbulbs, we picked up some food, too.
One of the things we picked up was a 12-pack of beer. When we got to the cashier, though, we were asked for ID -- both of us. Well, if that were not already funny, I didn't have my ID with me, since I'd left it in the RV -- waaay out at the edge of the parking lot. They would not sell us beer because they have to have ID from everyone present.
Now... how stupid is that? They claim that it's to prevent people from buying alcohol for minors, but does anyone think that a) I'm a minor; or b) that such a policy will have ANY effect on alcohol consumption by minors?
The store manager (yes, I did take it that far) said that, even if a family with children were wanting to buy alcohol, all the adults have to present ID, but the kids don't. But if a kid touches the alcohol while it's in the cart or whatever, the sale will not be made.
I told the manager that I actually like good rules. But stupid rules need to be changed, and this is a stupid rule.
The clincher: I had to return to the store to exchange some of the bins that we'd gotten. I took my ID and decided to get the beer. The store manager was there and told me that I could not buy beer, because my husband was not present with HIS ID (which he had already shown). The clerk who did the return rang up the beer anyway. Thank goodness for some sanity in a really insane store.
Ok, let's end this with some pretty flowers, since it is, after all, spring! This one was in the Petrified Forest:
And these I shot at Far Horizons before we left Tucson:
Today we drove through fierce winds to Albuquerque, NM. It's still hugely windy, and it feels like I remember some winter days in Indiana, though... it is in the 50's and that's not real winter, I know. ;)
The Petrified Forest came about because -- again, the short version -- ancient trees were washed down into a stream in a huge flooding deluge. They were buried under millenia of silt, which gradually worked its way into the wood, depositing minerals, and made these trees into rock!
Native Americans made this area their home and made their marks via petroglyphs at various locations throughout the park. This one rock is covered with over 600 petroglyphs and is called "Newspaper Rock."
Yesterday (Monday), was a "dumb day" for us. I played with photos, we ate KFC, and we drove over to Winslow to Walmart for some hunting/gathering. I do have to insert a little commentary about our Walmart trip. This is a "super" Walmart, so after we got our plastic bins and lightbulbs, we picked up some food, too.
One of the things we picked up was a 12-pack of beer. When we got to the cashier, though, we were asked for ID -- both of us. Well, if that were not already funny, I didn't have my ID with me, since I'd left it in the RV -- waaay out at the edge of the parking lot. They would not sell us beer because they have to have ID from everyone present.
Now... how stupid is that? They claim that it's to prevent people from buying alcohol for minors, but does anyone think that a) I'm a minor; or b) that such a policy will have ANY effect on alcohol consumption by minors?
The store manager (yes, I did take it that far) said that, even if a family with children were wanting to buy alcohol, all the adults have to present ID, but the kids don't. But if a kid touches the alcohol while it's in the cart or whatever, the sale will not be made.
I told the manager that I actually like good rules. But stupid rules need to be changed, and this is a stupid rule.
The clincher: I had to return to the store to exchange some of the bins that we'd gotten. I took my ID and decided to get the beer. The store manager was there and told me that I could not buy beer, because my husband was not present with HIS ID (which he had already shown). The clerk who did the return rang up the beer anyway. Thank goodness for some sanity in a really insane store.
Ok, let's end this with some pretty flowers, since it is, after all, spring! This one was in the Petrified Forest:
And these I shot at Far Horizons before we left Tucson:
Today we drove through fierce winds to Albuquerque, NM. It's still hugely windy, and it feels like I remember some winter days in Indiana, though... it is in the 50's and that's not real winter, I know. ;)
Saturday, April 07, 2007
Meteor Crater
Today we drove up the road to Meteor Crater! This was an interesting and fun time, with lots to do. We walked around, took pics, read about how the crater was made (by a meteor!), and even ate lunch! A friendly couple took a photo of us, and I took lots of pics of the crater, rocks, etc..
I made this panorama from shots I took. Please click it!
Then we drove on up to Holbrook, AZ, where we're staying at the fine KOA.
Here are some pics of some of our friends. Bob and Leatha are from Far Horizons.
We visited Bob and Patti in Gilbert, AZ.
We visited John and Leilani in Sun Lakes.
I made this panorama from shots I took. Please click it!
Then we drove on up to Holbrook, AZ, where we're staying at the fine KOA.
Here are some pics of some of our friends. Bob and Leatha are from Far Horizons.
We visited Bob and Patti in Gilbert, AZ.
We visited John and Leilani in Sun Lakes.
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