White Sands

Today we left town to drive to White Sands National Monument (WSNM).

We drove thru the San Augustin pass (elevation 5,710 ft) between the Organ mountains to the south and the San Augustin-San Andres mountains to the north, and on our way down to the Tularosa Basin we saw a sign for the White Sands Museum and Missile Park. We detoured and signed in, after going thru a NCIC check and being photographed.  We couldn't drive in so after showing our temporary passes at the gate, we walked to the museum.

The White Sands Missile Range (WSMR) is run by the army and the base is the size of a small town. It is in a dry area which averages 10 inches of rain per year. During the summer, temps range from a high of 90-102 degrees to lows between 65 and 75 degrees. They say the climate is quite comfortable despite the high summer temperatures because of the low humidity.

Inside the museum, they had exhibits showing the civil war campaigns of the Union and Confederate Armies throughout the Southwest as well as the (Apache) Indian Wars. After reading the cause of the Indian Wars, I was on the side of the Apaches. We also meet a couple who were there to see the missiles and who had come from WSNM. They had paid the $20 entry fee and still had the entry receipt, which is valid for a week. They offered it to us, and we gratefully accepted.

It was interesting to us that, just like with the Border Patrol, dogs played a big part in recovering missiles and missile parts. Read all about them in the picture below.

From WSMR we continued the drive to WSNM. From the entrance it looks like nothing spectacular, just low sand dunes filled with scrub. But once you go in about two miles, you start driving on sand, rather than asphalt, and from there on it is simply gorgeous. The White sands of the basin cover 275 square miles and is the largest gypsum dunefield in the world. 115 square miles of the dunefield are protected within this monument. It is so large that the astronauts are able to see it from space.

It is not only wide, but deep. If you dig at the shallow spaces between the dunes you would still hit sand 30 feet below. There are about 4.5 billion tons of gypsum sand here, enough to fill 45 million box cars, a train long enough to circle the Earth at the equator over 25 times.

We walked out on the dune boardwalk and learned of the flora and fauna in the desert, then drove around for almost another hour looking at the beautiful dunes. We also picked up some trash some ignorant folks threw out of their car.

Las Cruces, NM

We left our campground this morning and back-tracked 3 miles to Blue Beacon to have our RV washed. We were only in line for about one hour, and we were done. And only $37! Last year it took me an entire day to wash and two more to wax it. But what a difference! Now it not only runs well, but looks great as well.

We left there and drove for an hour and got to Las Cruces around 2 pm MST. Set up and are plotting our next two days excursions. This is our view thru the windshield.

We found a wood-fire grill restaurant and had a great dinner. Also found a country dance hall open every night and think we'll try it out tomorrow evening.

Last Day in El Paso

Last night was our last in El Paso. We drove to the National Border Patrol Museum at noon.

The Border Patrol was originally started in 1904 as a part of the Department of Commerce and Labor to prevent illegal entry of Chinese immigrants under the Chinese Exclusion Act. It started in El Paso, but the 75 agents patrolled as far west as California. In 1917, they were given horses and authorized by Congress as mounted inspectors. Today's Border Patrol was founded in 1924 under the Department of Labor with two stations, El Paso and Detroit. They were involved with halting not only illegal immigration but also liquor smuggling during prohibition. FDR consolidated the bureaus of immigration and naturalization to create the Immigration and Naturalization Service in 1933. It was moved to the Department of Justice in 1940 at the outbreak of WWII. After 9-11, it was transferred to Homeland Security and merged with Customs. It has been involved with the most famous incidents in modern US history: the admission of James Meredith to the University of Mississippi in '62; the siege of Waco; the Mariel boatlift; Cuban missile crisis, and more. They have supported 24 foreign countries and have trained their agents. From 75 agents in 1904 to 19,887 agents in 2017, it is one of the largest law enforcement agencies in the US, and has a budget of almost $4 billion.

I particularly enjoyed learning so much about the BP, more than I knew when I worked for INS in Vermont for 13 years. The museum mostly had displays from the southern border but did include the northern border efforts in several displays. They showed the aircraft used, the high-speed pursuit vehicles they used, their K9 group and their tactical unit, one of the most highly decorated and used tactical force in US law enforcement. Overall it was very rewarding to see.

After that, we went to the El Paso Holocaust Museum, started in 1994 by Nazi Holocaust survivor Henry Kellen (1915-2014), who settled in El Paso after entering the US.

Henry, his wife and nephew escaped Auschwitz while his mother and nephew's mother remained and were killed. The museum was very well done and was a very somber and sobering experience. It is the 3rd or 4th such museum I have attended, and each leaves me sad and in awe that almost every country in the world knew of the events but chose not to intervene for years, essentially giving Hitler the go-ahead to continue the genocide.

Before dinner, I made arrangements for our two next stops. Not easy, as many of the places are booked well in advance and had no openings. But we persevered and now have arrangements for the next 7 days. After dinner,we spent an enjoyable hour in the campground's hot tub and finished season 4 of "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix. One more season to go.

Mexico without a Passport

Before I forget again, I just wanted to mention that on the way to El Paso we had half a tank of fuel left. So we stopped in Van Horn. As I mentioned previously, we paid $3.27/gallon. But the Pilot/Flying J station was $3.39.

So our luck: the fuel station around the block from our campground is only $2.43/gallon. 96¢ per gallon cheaper than Pilot and 84¢ /gallon less than we paid. That's almost $40 we could have saved. But who's to know what's down the road.

Okay, enough sour grapes although we did buy some grapes today. 😁 This town has 7 Walmart supercenters, 9 Walmart food marts, and two regular Walmarts. I'm in heaven!

We were going to go to the Holocaust Museum today. Closed! The Tigua Indian Cultural Center. Closed! The Border Patrol Museum. Closed!

So we went to Chamizal National Memorial. 

It is run by the National Park Service which has a really cute mascot.

The memorial commemorates the peaceful settlement of a dispute between the US and Mexico that resulted from the natural change of course of the Rio Grande between the cities of El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. The request for a settlement of the dispute was made by President Juárez of Mexico to President Lincoln, and the order to resolve it was made by President Kennedy and the treaty finished after his death by President Johnson. It is located on Cordova Island, also known as Isla de Córdoba, and is not a true island, but is located on both sides of the current channel of the Rio Grande in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1899 the United States and Mexico dug a channel across the heel of the horseshoe-shaped peninsula to control the flood-prone Rio Grande, but left the original riverbed, which wound to the north around the island, as the international boundary. Thus the 385-acre tract was part of Mexico, though it lay north of the Rio Grande, for most of the twentieth century. During prohibition Cordova Island was a notorious haven for smugglers; it was almost completely surrounded by American soil, but lay outside the city limits of Juárez. The famous Hole in the Wall, a saloon and gambling parlor, flourished just a few yards from the border in defiance of United States and Mexican authorities, before it was finally torn down in January 1931. In 1963 the treaty that settled the Chamizal Dispute transferred 193 acres on Cordova Island to the United States in exchange for an equal area further downstream. In the 1990s the channel of the Rio Grande bisected the old island from east to west, and Interstate Highway 110 crossed it from north to south.

Anyway, enough history. The memorial is the actual border between the two countries on the islands. On one side you are in the US, on the other you are in Mexico.

Nancy walked onto the Mexican side (without a passport, customs, or a bridge to cross). As soon as she did she got this message from T-MOBILE, our cellular carrier.

But you know, we still haven't seen the actual Rio Grande! Maybe tomorrow.

Am I Really That Old?

Nancy and I went to dinner last night at a real restaurant. Not one of those chain restaurants. The food was okay although we had to keep reminding the waiter what was supposed to be included with each order. He would deliver half a meal, we'd remind him, and he'd bring one thing he missed, but not the rest. So we'd remind him again. Definitely in the wrong business.

When I went to pay with Samsung Pay, I had to tell the young cashier "No, this is not Apple Pay. It works differently." That's when she zinged me with "How do YOU know about this stuff and I don't?" I never felt old until then!  I felt like saying "I may still be old tomorrow, but you'll still be stupid! "

Anyway, we looked online for things to do here, and my gosh, what a lot is going on! This is a happening place. Theater (Jersey Boys, Kinky Boots), sports events, music recitals, old movie showings like "The Maltese Falcon" , food events, museums, jewelry shows, the list just goes on and on. 

We got so tired seeing all that was going on that we stayed in all day and watched "Grace and Frankie" on Netflix while Nancy did laundry. A really tough day!

Tomorrow we are going to a few museums (Holocaust museum,Tiqua Indian Cultural Center, etc). I have to wait until Tuesday to see the border patrol museum, the only one of it's kind in the US. 

Well, going to extend our stay here for a few more days so we can do all that, then back to "Grace and Frankie" . Have a good night!

Mission RV Park, El Paso

We got up late this morning, by design, packed up, then went to IHOP for breakfast. We got back and closed up the RV, and left at 11:15 am. But before we got completely out of the area, we side tripped to the meteor crater of Odessa, the second largest meteor crater in the US. What a disappointment. The crater when created was 115 feet deep. Over the centuries, with the blowing wind and soil movement from rain, it is only 5-6 feet below the surrounding area. 

We went into their "museum" which had meteor fragments from other sites around the world, and only three stone-size fragments from the local meteor. The local meteor has never been recovered as it lies 170 feet below the surface. All-in-all somewhat informative but overall a disappointment. We plan to visit the largest crater in the US on this trip, which is in Winslow, AZ. But they did have a great sign there, which caused us NOT to circumnavigate the crater.

We got back on I-20 and took it to where it merged with I-10 and from there I-10 was called the Texas Mountain Route, winding thru the outskirts of the Davis mountains. Folks out here aren't very environmentally conscious. We saw three things in abundance all along the side of the road, and came up with a title for a country western song: bags, buckets and dead deer. Honestly, plastic bags in the weeds, red, green and grey buckets, and too many dead deer. But the mountains were beautiful, especially since coming out of the flat plains.

We passed the road to McDonald Observatory but there would be nothing to see in the middle of the day. Passed the road to Big Bend NP but wanted to continue on our journey so we bypassed going there, saving it for another trip. Drove by Fort Hancock and Fort Davis, imagining the cowboys droving cattle thru this area in the 1880s.

Very happy to say we had no RV problems and was even able to accelerate on the hills. We arrived at our campground for the next several days, Mission RV Park around 3:45 pm MST (5:30 pm for those of you in the East. Stay warm out there, be careful of the snow. Our weather has been going to 58 during the days and dropping as low as 26 at night).

Our Final Night in Odessa

Well, it's finally happened, we're free to go. The final part arrived at 1 pm and it was installed within 45 minutes. Test drove the RV and it's like a new machine. Very happy with the result. Although the repairs were unexpected and expensive, it didn't cost as much as last year. Here is a picture of the replaced pipe along with some shots of the holes. Amazing those small holes could keep us from getting full power.

We had three things we wanted to accomplish before we left: fuel up, dump our tanks, and get the RV washed. We thought that we'd start with the wash and go from there as each place we needed to go was across the street from each other. We sat at number 16 in the line at Blue Beacon (the truck and RV wash) for 50 minutes and only moved three truck lengths, so when we got to the"last chance to exit" road we left. We had to get everything done and back to Cummins to pay for the repairs before 5pm when they closed.  If we couldn't pay we'd have to stay the entire weekend. So we went across the street to Love's, fueled up and dumped the tanks. When we were done, we looked across the street at the line and if we had stayed we would still be number 8 in line. But two out of three ain't bad. We'll check the wash in the morning, and if there is a long line we will try in El Paso.

Here is a shot of the blue sky in Odessa and what gets pumped into the sky, pretty much all night and day.

Here are two pictures of a "small" fracking machine. (I had to blackout the company name before posting).

It cost $1.2 million dollars, and the company uses almost a dozen of them at once when fracking. (Fracking is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks, boreholes, etc. so as to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas.) 

Cummins creates the engine for them and they are maintained here. This one is a 50 liter engine. They currently have 78 and 96 liter engines. The newest one they are creating is 120 liters. Here are some stats on this "small fracker". Then project what the larger ones are capable of.

50 liter engine

Uses 120 gallons of coolant

Uses 154 gallons of oil (see the two 50 gallon drums in the picture)

Operates at 1900 RPM

Is 16 cylinders (equivalent to 16 of the engines in our RV)

Produces 2850 horse power with 7000 pounds of torque.

WOW!!

A Third Night in Odessa

This morning we got up ready to head out after a short installation. Not to be! Our air filter arrived sometime between 10 and 10:30 am. Installation took until 2:30 (with a lunch break). Then came the test drive, and guess what? No error code, but they heard an air leak. Upon checking further they found a hole in the turbo something-or -other. When the turbo applies pressure so the RV would pick up speed, it was going out the hole instead. They said that is probably the cause of our low speed when going up hills and a surging when in 2nd and 3rd gear. (Imagine a short burst of acceleration then slowing down, and repeating this every two seconds. Enough to make you sea sick!)

Cummins tried to call Tiffin Motorhomes to get the part but were unable to reach them. So they called Freightliner who had the part and could deliver it tomorrow. This installation will require them to access the motor from the access panel in our bedroom. Assuming the part doesn't arrive until 10 am again, we will need to spend a 4th night here since we assume a few hours to remove/replace the part, and El Paso is a 4 hour drive from Odessa.The campground where we have reservations in El Paso has been very accommodating as I have to call them every day to postpone our arrival. 

Getting to know where everything in Odessa is, even if there's nothing to do here. Can hardly wait to see the bill! I might have to go back to work. 

A Second Night in Odessa

Last night we went out to dinner. Took us over a half hour to find a place that didn't serve Mexican. Wound up at Pizza Hut. We ordered spaghetti with meat sauce. They should have called it straw and meat sauce. Apparently they bake it, but it was so cooked the spaghetti crunched or turned to powder. We couldn't complain. I mean we tried, but it took us 35 minutes to get the waitress back to our table. At that point, we just paid and left.

We had a good night, got up, turned over the RV for further diagnostics. Then we went to breakfast. In case you ever come to Odessa, know that they don't have restaurants, everyone takes their time, and nothing opens before 10 am, except for taquerias. After driving again around and around we were surprised to find a Denny's. Our food, eggs, took a 1/2 hour to get to us and it was cold. When they brought our food, the waitress took our drinks. I guess only one part of a meal at a time is allowed.

Odessa is a town that during bust times has a population of about 100,000. During boom times it goes to 500,000-1,000,000. It's biggest employer is Haliburton, a fracking company, but there are many other oil companys here, and a Family Dollar Store distribution center. Also many banks and churches of all denominations. Get it? Both have many denominations 😀

There are lots of pump jacks and wind turbines here. We didn't understand why some work and others sit still. The explanation we received: the smaller pump jacks are for water, the larger ones for oil. Each is on a schedule and is dependent on production demand. The wind turbines must work on the same principle, but why they wouldn't be working to produce electricity all the time escapes me. They have scores of turbines here, and there is a billion dollar project to build more.

Cummins replaced both parts, the turbo oil drain pipe and the lifter pump, finishing at 4:45 PM. Took a test drive and rechecked the ECM codes and there were none! Yeeha! Tonight we are spending the night hooked up in their parking lot and tomorrow they will change our air filter, we'll pay, and finally be on our way again.

Turbo Oil Drain Pipe

Location of Pin Hole

Lifter Pump on the backer plate

Off Route

Typical of our travels, we had to change our itinerary. While at Fort Stockton we noticed the front of our car had something sprayed on it but it was too dark to figure out what. It was obvious, however, that it was coming from the RV. So we made a request for service at Cummins in both Odessa and El Paso, as we weren't sure where we would be going.

I crawled under this morning, thinking the drain on our fuel filter wasn't tight but it was. I looked around and saw that there was oil leaking from somewhere but I couldn't see exactly from where. When Odessa called we made an appointment, hauled tail up there and that is where we are.

We got here at 11:30, they took our rig in around 2:30, and discovered a pin hole in our turbo oil drain pipe. They suggest it was corrosion from salt. Of course, that part isn't something kept in stock so it was ordered from Dallas and will be here in the morning.

I mentioned that I also thought we were lacking power from our engine. We could be going up a moderate incline at 65 mph and crest it at 55 mph or less. So they did some diagnosis, not yet completed, and the computer analysis gave a 559 code, one of those generic codes that say something is wrong without saying what. So further analysis indicated we have a weak lift pump. The pump assists in getting fuel into the injectors and should run at 15-20 psi, with a minimum of 11 psi. Ours was at 3.5 so we said replace it. Yep, that also had to be ordered.

When they moved the RV out of their building and into the parking lot, both the troubleshooter and the service supervisor said it sounded as if one of the injectors was "missing" or misfiring. That will be checked out further in the morning.  So here we sit in their parking lot, but at least we are in the RV. They hooked us up with 30 amp electric for the night, and tomorrow they are going to replace the parts and continue the diagnostics. We feel we want everything not working to be repaired or replaced one time rather than having to keep stopping all the time. 

Fort Stockton, Tx

Marjorie came home Saturday and we went to lunch with her, mom, Ron, Jenn, Jeff and his 3 kids, Ben, Josh and Madelyn. Sunday we drove around looking for a power cord for our GPS, as Cocoa chewed the one we had in half, and we didn't have enough time to order one online. No luck finding one.

Next we planted an orange tree and a blue spruce, then began packing for our departure on Monday, today.

We departed at 11:39 am CST and drove 315 miles to Fort Stockton, where we are spending the night.

 Nice rolling hills and buttes along the way, but it was a little tricky as we had a constant 20 mph crosswind from the south with occasional higher gusts. The wind will remain with us all night.

Tomorrow we are heading to El Paso where we will spend a few days looking around.

BTW, we had a real chill here when we arrived. The temperature was 71 degrees, down from a high of 84 (no, we don't miss the cold and snow at all).

Did You Miss Reading This?

It's been 12 days since our last post and there's a good reason for that..um, I think there is anyway! Nothing has been going on that's reportable. Well, here it is anyway.. As you know,  Rob was taken to the hospital with aspirational pneumonia. Marjorie has been staying at the hospital for the past two weeks, sleeping in a side chair by Rob's bed for the past week.He has been getting transfusions, antibiotics, etc. He is doing much better and is being transported back to the care facility today.  He still has some congestion in one lung, but that is minor compared to what he has been through. So, for the most part, we haven't been doing very much. We have been taking mom to her doctors' appointments, helped brother Ron get his computer updated and instructed him on how to use it with his new camera, planted two rose bushes, a lime tree, and once we find a spot for it, an orange tree. But Marjorie will be home tomorrow, Saturday, so we get to spend a day or two with her before we continue on our journey.

To give us something to do, Wednesday night we went dancing in at Gruene Hall in Gruene. The band was loud, the floor small, and the dancers rude, especially some young punks who did mainly the Lindy Hop and dominated the dance floor, with little regard for dance etiquette or other dancers. We were there with friends Margaret and Erich Weese.

On Thursday Nancy and I drove to Fredericksburg, (a beautiful little town but very expensive to live in) about 60 miles away, and went to the Nimitz Museum and the National Museum of the Pacific War, among other things. Admiral Chester A. Nimitz, the Commander-in-Chief of the Pacific fleet during World War II was born here in Fredericksburg in 1885, and raised by his Grandfather as his father had died before he was born. The home they lived in they opened as a hotel, which is now the Nimitz Museum.

Bronze of Admiral Chester Nimitz

All around the museums was a memorial park displaying pictures of military participants during WWII and the ships that were involved. There was also a display of U.S. Presidents from Roosevelt forward who were members of the military. The ship that George H.W. Bush took off from on the day his plane was shot down was commanded by Admiral Joseph J. Clark,  a Cherokee from Oklahoma, and the first native american graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and first native american Admiral in the navy.

Also were guns and howitzers on display to show the power of the navy and army in the Pacific. One of the ships they had equipment from was the USS Foote, one of three ships named after Civil War Admiral Andrew Hull Foote (1806-1863), who we believe to be one of Nancy's ancestors. Here are some pictures of the mast  and the Mark 15 torpedo tube from the ship.

Thursday night we joined Margaret and Erich again at The Watering Hole in New Braunfels for some more dancing. Great band, good dancers, and had a great time. Now we are waiting for Marjorie to get home Saturday. 

A Week Later

Well, here it is a week since my last post. I'll try to fill you in on everything. Marjorie's (my sister) WiFi kept cutting out ever since the cable company worked on  a pole across the street. They "made improvements", one of which was forgetting to reconnect her WiFi for two weeks. Then they had to make around 4 visits here to the house, the last of which we were here for, to basically replace every wire and connector from the pole to and including inside the house. Finally, I replaced their all-in-one router/modem with two separate devices, reconnected their security cameras and now things seem to be working fine (fingers crossed).

I installed a weather station outside that Nancy and I purchased for them, replaced a screen and then installed a screen protector on their outside door so their dogs don't destroy the screen when they jump on it to come back inside.

We met with Bev and John, friends from Butler Missouri, who were in San Antonio for a few days on their way to winter in Port Aransas. Friday we joined them on the River Walk and took the boat tour with them. Then on Saturday we visited them at their RV park where I helped John configure his drone, a Christmas gift to him from Bev.

On Sunday we went to visit Rob (Marjorie's husband) at the care facility in Austin. Rob has Lewy Body syndrome, similar to Parkinsons. He was congested and they had done a chest x-ray to see if he had pneumonia. He was wheezing a little while we were there. We then stopped at Ron's (my youngest, but not young brother) home in San Antonio to watch the second half of the Eagles-Bears game. During the last two minutes of the game Marjorie got a call that Rob was taken to the emergency room, so we left right away, missing the infamous Bears kick that won the game for the Eagles. We were dropped off at the house and Marjorie and Mom drove back to Austin where Marjorie spent the night and is still there at this writing. Rob is on meds and is holding his own.

So that's our last week. Not a lot, but enough to keep us going. Oh yeah, except for the 75 degree weather the past two days. East Coast eat your heart out!

Happy New Year

To one and all. Nicky and Keith had what looked like a great NYE dance, the Spurs beat the Celtics 120-111, Betty and Bill spent NYE in Roanoke on their way home from Nashville, Walt Crowder got out of the hospital and is doing better, and we went to bed before midnight. How 'old' is that?

And the saga continues. When one of the ladies who went to the basketball game with Nancy and Marjorie met them here at the house, she announced our passenger rear tire on the car was flat. Too late to do anything about it, it will stay that way until Wednesday. 

Nothing much else going on. Just want to wish all of our family, friends, acquaintances, and our country the best, most prosperous, healthy New Year, and that all your desires, dreams and inclinations come true.