Back in Schertz

Our last several posts have been vague as to our location on purpose. Since we were actively travelling based on avoiding cold weather and snow, we wound up moving further and further south. We missed half the places we had planned on going to see because of the weather, and eventually found us backtracking on our westerly route. Southern Arizona, New Mexico and west Texas, namely Fort Stockton, the home of the world's largest roadrunner.

Our purpose in being vague was so that we could surprise my mom and sister by just showing up at their home here in Schertz especially since we had shown them our original plans and stated that that path would not bring us back here.

So on Sunday we left El Paso and drove to Fort Stockton. While there we toured the remains of the Fort and the place it took protecting the San Antonio-San Diego Trail during the mid-1800s. It was the home of the Buffalo Soldiers who played a great part in defeating the Apache, then the Comanche tribes. The fort was built here because of Comanche Springs, a body of water the Indian tribes used for water (very alkaline), as well as nomadic animals, such as the buffalo. The Springs produced over 6 million gallons of water every day.

Next we visited the Annie Riggs Museum. This was a building purchased for $4000 by Annie Riggs in the late 1890s who converted it into a hotel. It was lucrative, as many cowboys would come to town with their cattle and needed a place to stay. They could stay for 50 cents for one-half a bed per night (they would have to share the bed with other cowboys). The Hotel was on a hillside, and the breezes that blew up the hill, the coolness from the water, and the adobe walls made the rooms very cool. The springs provided entertainment for the area as it not only provided water but swimming and swim suit pageants.

Annie owned the hotel until 1931 when she died. In 1955 her children turned the hotel over to the Historical Commission and it became a museum, showcasing the appliances and way of life of a frontier hotel, as well as displays showing the history of the area and the progression of the town. The sad part is that Comanche Springs no longer exists. A vineyard to the West of town and a pecan farm to the East divert all the water. All that left in it's place is a community swimming pool.

After we arrived in Schertz, we walked into Marjorie's home. She was asleep in her recliner, but when we woke her but asking where we "register" she started screaming with joy. Literally! I wish I could have taped it for America's Funniest Videos.

So we went to dinner and later that night we kind of did the same thing to Richard at the airport, although he didn't get as excited as Marjorie. He had flown in that night to visit for two weeks.

RV Driver Needed

This is Nancy writing today.We drove from West Texas to Central Texas. High winds blowing the entire way. We've been on the road so long that Mark is not my favorite person and I might have gone too far this time. Look at this picture and tell me if I went over the line. BTW, now I need a driver!

JUST KIDDING!

It's Mark. Along the way, with all the wind shaking us, a wine box holding 3 bottles fell from it's location under our table and hit the floor. It cracked the bottom off one bottle of blackberry wine and sent it all over. What a mess! Had to steam mop the floor after we were down in our knees wiping it up. RV smells like a winery now. 

Our campground is over 100 miles away from any interesting sites so we are going to stay here tomorrow to relax, then continue working our way to Alabama. At least it was warm today, 74°. Of course it will be in the 60s tomorrow, too cold for swimming, but better than back home.

Minor Interruption

Nancy hasn't been feeling well, either allergies or a bad cold, so we haven't been doing anything postworthy. Once she is feeling better and we visit places I will start posting again. Consider this a mid-season break 🤪

Snow? Bah, humbug!

We left Las Vegas yesterday, but had to take a more southerly route than the one we had planned. Flagstaff had, and was continuing to have snow, like 15 inches. So there went the Grand Canyon. Holbrook was due to get 3-5 inches, but up to 10 inches, so there went the Painted Desert and Route 66. Amarillo was going to have that white stuff too, so for sure that killed that route. Snow and cold is what we wanted to get away from on this trip.So we drove south to a little KOA on our new route. We drove thru mountains 5000 feet high

and thru dessert at 4200 feet. We drove thru the Joshua Forest Parkway of Arizona, where we saw more Joshua Trees than we saw at Joshua National Park in California. We saw Nancy's favorite cactus, the saguarro, all over the desert. Just stunning! 

We got to the campground after dark , at 6 pm, so the office was closed. This KOA was in the desert, where we were traveling.The last 1/4 mile to the campground was so full of potholes, we could have scrambled eggs. At the campground no lights were on to see our way. A map to our site was left outside the office but it was so dark we missed the turn to our site. It took us an hour to find it and get backed in and it was not a large campground. Never again!

This morning we left and drove 289 miles thru New Mexico to our next location where we will spend the next week. It has a heated pool and hot tub. With the weather dropping into the low 30s and upper 20s each night since we left in December, we are looking forward to using that hot tub every day this week.

Good night Las Vegas

This was an interesting but relaxing week. Wednesday we went to "Menopause, the musical" with Cindy Williams of Laverne and Shirley fame. Although she received top billing, she had the smallest part. If you've never seen it, do so. It is a laugh riot.

Yesterday it rained all day, so we stayed in. At most they had one inch of rain but it caused over 100 serious accidents. Most of them were from run off down the "washes". Winds were 45 mph with gusts to 60.

Today we saw a comic magician, Derek Hughes. He was on Comedy Central, MTV, and a host of other shows and competitions.

He did one set where he had people think of a town, a name from their phone list, and pick out a word at the top of a page in the dictionary. He then wrote on a pad his thoughts of what the people was thinking and got every one right. No tricks, because Nancy was one of the people. He was really good, and funny.

We decided to skip Fremont Street, saving it for another visit, as we will be leaving early tomorrow, Saturday, for Holbrook, AZ. I'm a little concerned as we have to pass by Flagstaff, which is having snow, and it makes driving very hazardous.

So, I will be posting next from Arizona. Have a great weekend everyone.

Hoover Dam

This morning we went to Hoover (nee Boulder) Dam, in Boulder City, 30 miles from Las Vegas. A mile and a half from the dam every vehicle is stopped and searched for possible explosives and weapons.

The dam was completed in 1935 and was named Boulder Dam. In 1947 it was renamed Hoover Dam. It goes across the Colorado River, and when finished the backed up water created Lake Mead. There is a sluice for runoff if the lake gets too high which would divert the water behind the damn and down into the river.

However the last time the lake deposited water in it was when Ronald Reagan was president in 1983. You can see how low the water is from where it used to be in this picture. The white calcium shows it's former height.

Here is the dam

These towers are where the water is sucked into the turbines, which in turn generates electricity. The water behind the dam goes from this

to this

Can you see the river down there?

Here is a view of Boulder Basin, which is 1/4 of Lake Mead, from an overlook 400 feet above the lake.

The north shore is 6 miles across from this view. The lake has a depth of 532 feet, is the largest water reservoir in the US, and was the first national recreation area.

We didn't go on the tour thru the inside of the dam as the line was too long. The wind today was 45 mph and almost blew me over the wall!

We will be staying in Las Vegas all week, leaving on Saturday for Winslow, AZ. We decided to stay till then as we have to drive thru Flagstaff, and it is having 3 days of snow and high winds this week, which would make the drive difficult.

Sin City

Friday we left Blythe at 9:30 am. We drove up US 95 the whole way to Las Vegas. In California we had 20 foot deep washes, or ditches, on the side of the road. If we went off the slightest bit we'd have been finished. We passed Vidal, then signs to Lake Havasu City. It would have been fun to see the original London Bridge, but I just wanted to get to our destination. 95 was a two lane road throughout California, frequented by 18-wheelers. State law is any vehicle towing anything can only go 55 mph, while other vehicles can go 70. So our drive was a little slower than I would have liked, but there were so many sudden curves in the road, and so many ups and downs in the road that you could almost get seasick . After a few miles of that you realize the law makes sense.

After 2 hours of desert driving and seeing more Joshua trees along the way we saw brief civilization in Needles, which was larger than I imagined. But we were soon on two lanes again until Nevada.

You could see the state line from a distance. Whereas 95 was two lanes and dusty looking in California, it was 4 lane and looked new from the state border forward. Straight  road with hills on both sides and our elevation increased several thousand feet before dropping again. When we got to Henderson, we could see snow capped Mt Charleston west of the city. Shortly afterwards we entered Las Vegas, and got to our stop, Las Vegas RV Resort, a 5-star resort, at 1:25 pm. A very nice place off of Nellis Boulevard right in the city. Pool, spa, palm trees, 24-hour security, adults only, and they guide you to your large site.

So that's it for now. We had Chinese last night after stopping at Walmart (where else would I shop?), and chillaxed today. Well, I did. Nancy did our laundry. Tomorrow we plan to see Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. Until then!

Joshua Tree/Salton Sea

We left at 9:30 am yesterday and drove 80 miles to the Cottonwood Springs Road entrance on the south side of Joshua Tree National Park. The park contains two deserts, the Colorado and Mojave, and has more land mass than the state of Rhode Island. We entered the Colorado, and drove north, and constantly uphill, to the Mojave. The elevation there is over 3000 feet above sea level.The Colorado is distinguished by the yucca cactus, and the Mojave by the Joshua Tree.

 It was 39 degrees and windy in the Mojave, 52 in the Colorado. It was 38 miles from the south to the north, with stunning scenery. The Cholla (pronounced choy-ah) Gardens were interesting, the big rocks area, and have I said the stunning scenery? We were near Twenty Nine Palms, San Bernardino, Riverside, and the town of Joshua Tree.

Skull Rock

Cholla Garden

Cholla Cactus

From there we went back the way we came and went West to the Salton Sea, which is 236 feet below sea level. Just another landlocked body of water, which like the Dead Sea in Israel, has no influx of fresh water and gets saltier as the water evaporates. In one century it has shrunk from 45 miles to 36 miles in length. At one point we were only 120 miles from Los Angeles.

On the way home, we stopped in Coachella, the site of a huge annual music festival, and had dinner at the buffet at the Spotlight 29 Casino. We got back at 8:30 pm, after driving a total of 356 miles.

Today, we are doing nothing but relaxing.

California, here we.....are!

We left Tombstone this morning at 9:30 am MST and crossed over into California at 2:20 pm PST. We are at Hidden Beaches RV resort right on the Colorado River, and aside from an aquaduct we passed in Arizona, it is the first water we have seen. I think the hidden beach is actually the riverbank.

It was nice to see the color green again. There are farms with crops growing, citrus trees, etc. The desert and prairie we went through was colorless, well, brown and sand. There was some green when we saw seguarro cactus, but most were a mix of brown and light green.

We are only about 215 miles from Los Angeles. If we had traveled due West from Tombstone we could have been in San Diego. We are two to three hours from Palm Springs, Joshua Tree National Park, the Salton Sea, and Yuma. We might go to one or two during the next two days.

So now that we are on Pacific Standard Time we are 3 hours behind the East coast and 2 hours behind Texas.

Glad we have a roof top satellite dish. It automatically sets itself up, we just have to adjust for time changes to watch our shows.

Tombstone, Arizona

Sorry for not posting the past two days. We crossed over the Continental Divide while in New Mexico. It was surprising, that it was 4,154 feet elevation because it was flat as far as the eye could see, nothing but desert.

We crossed into Arizona at 12:41PM MST Saturday.

We arrived in Tombstone, set up, and relaxed for the day. Sunday we went to the reenactment of the OK Corral at 11 AM,

walked the streets of Tombstone, and had lunch at Big Nose Kate's saloon. Afterwards, we walked the rows at Boot Hill Cemetery, then the Jewish Cemetery and Memorial.

My favorite tombstone epitaph from Boot Hill is

Here lies Lester Moore

Four slugs from a .44

No Les, no more

Lastly, we drove thru the mountains to Sierra Vista for some Peter Piper Pizza. They have a great thin crust pizza at a very reasonable price.

Today we drove to Bisbee, a mining town near the border.

Very quaint, very artsy, the town is nestled in the Mule Mountains.

You drive thru a mountain tunnel to get to it. We saw the Lavender strip mine

but because one of us is claustrophobic we did not go in the Queen City mine. Copper mining started here in 1877 and the area became one of the world's largest copper producing areas. One of the interesting facts of the mining is that most gold and silver is found alongside the copper. Mining continued until 1975, and today they are reclaiming the land from the strip mines.

Because we could not get any reservations anywhere within 40 miles of Tucson because they are having gemstone shows there thru February 18th, we had to abandon our reservation at Kitt Peak Observatory and change our itinerary. Our new plan is drive to Blythe, California, tomorrow where we have reservations alongside the Colorado River. We will be able to visit Quartzite, AZ, while there. We'll spend a few days, then drive to Las Vegas where we will spend 4 days seeing the sites, then head to Winslow, AZ, the first stop on our return trip home. As mentioned in an earlier post, here we will see the largest meteorite crater in the US, the statue commemorating The Eagles song "Take It Easy", then finish with a visit to the Painted Dessert.

Well, that's it for today. Probably nothing tomorrow since we'll be driving all day. So expect the next post on Wednesday.

Reminiscences of Las Cruces

Three days ago when we drove into New Mexico, the thing that struck us most, aside from the scenery, was the highway warning signs of what to do if caught in a dust storm (pull off the road, lights off, foot off the brakes, engine off, wait till it's over. You keep lights off so someone doesn't think you're something else and steer into you). I guess dust storms are a common occurrence out here. 

We finally saw the Rio Grande here in Las Cruces.

 A gigantic dry riverbed because people are siphoning off the water of not only this river, but also the Colorado, for farming and drinking. Immigrants can just walk across the riverbed now instead of swimming to get into the US. I walked out onto the riverbed while Nancy took a snap.

On our way to White Sands 2 days ago, in the middle of Route 70, the road was blocked and we had to drive thru a Border Patrol checkpoint, over 50 miles inside the country!

We went dancing 2 nights ago at a club called Whiskey Dick's. Nice big wooden dance floor. They had line dancing lessons before the club normally opens, so we attended that, then the club opened for the public at 9pm, and that's when we left.

The next afternoon we joined the same dance group at the Munson Senior Center for some more line dancing. Now we're getting ready to drive to Tombstone, AZ.