Home Again

We got home Monday, April 5th. We have been neglegent in updating our blog. Sorry. We have lots of pictures from the desert and of our travels since the last post. If interested, we would be happy to share them with you.

Tim

Fan Palm Oasis

While at Agua Caliente, we heard about a "dry camping" area just south a few miles where palms grow in the mountain washes. We stayed there 2 days and I enjoyed hiking the 2.5 mile and 1,000 foot ascent. At the top is Torote Bowl, where rare Elephant trees grow. See all of our pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/DesertFanPalms#

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/DesertPalmsOasis#
http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/FanPalmDesert#

Tim

Agua Caliente in the Desert

I've grown to love hiking in the desert. We traveled from Yuma, AZ to Agua Caliente campground in SW California after a guy somewhere along our trip suggested we should go there. There are hot springs there with 2 outdoor pools and one indoors. But it was the hiking in the hills surrounding that I enjoyed the most. As you can see the terrain is rugged, but the weather is great. Generally 70 degrees, dry and with the sun shining. The desert was just getting started blooming during the last week of Febuary, and you can see lots of pictures we took at our google albums:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/MoonlightCanyonTrailAguaCalienteRegionalParkAnzaBoreggoDesertCA?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/AguaCalienteRegionalPark?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/DesertCactus?feat=directlink

Tim

Saguaro Nat'l Park, Tucson, AZ

A prickly affair.

Tim

On the Road to Somewhere

I wanted to try uploading a bunch of pictures to the Blog using a Picassa slide show. We were traveling across southern New Mexico when Rae took these shots out the window. No, we did not encounter a dust storm.

Tim

Tucson, AZ

We arrived in Tucson, AZ yesterday at the Beaudry RV Resort. It is one of the nicest, most modern resorts we've been to yet. There are quite a few class A coaches, and not everyone is 55+. Two swimming pools, a restaurant and an RV dealer connected to the resort. We plan to stay here a week. Oh, that's a lemon tree next to the coach, loaded with lemons. Rae plans to get a squeezer and make lemonade. On the other side is a grapefruit tree. I picked several and we had one for breakfast this AM. Yum. Forecast is for sunny and 74 for the next 10 days. We appreciate your comments.

Tim

Santa Fe style home

This is a 55+ housing development near Deming, NM. The Santa Fe style and landscape are interesting. There were other homes in the development that had a garage for your Class A motorhome.

Tim

Out in the West Texas town of El Paso

I fell in love with a Mexican Girl...Marty Robbins, 1959. We passed thru El Paso today and that reminded me of that song. Can't get it out of my head. Google "El Paso" by Marty Robbins if you're too young to remember it or want to hear it again.

West Texas has rather boring scenery, but nice driving. Roads are straight, smooth and well paved. We just set the monster on cruise at 70MPH and let 350HP of Cat turbocharged diesel Power driving an Allison 6 speed automatic trans push you and 18 ton of metal down the road. Arh, arh. Where's the next Flying J fuel station Rae?

Made it to Deming, NM this PM. See Rae's report below.

Tim

Escort Service at Walmart

Deming, NM approximately 80 miles west of El Paso, TX

We decided to end another long day of driving at another Super Walmart. As we pulled into the parking lot we noticed a sign that said NO OVERNIGHT PARKING. We were immediately met by a security truck with a yellow flashing light on top. We stopped and the guard got out of his truck and approached us. He asked if we were here for the night or just shopping. We said just shopping thinking we would have to find another spot to park for the night. He said if we were staying all night he would have to take us to special parking for RVs. We said OK take us there. He had us follow him in his truck with the flashing light all the way around behind the store back to the front parking lot on the other side and parked us beside a row of about 8 to 9 motorhomes lined up. There are even more RVers showing up as I'm writing this. The security guy came by a little earlier and asked Tim if everything was all right. Tim said sure and he said he'd be around until 7am if we needed anything. This guy looks like a Barney Fife. It's quite funny we see the flashing yellow light going by periodically on his rounds. This is the first time we've been in a Walmart where we've been escorted to a specific spot set up for RVs. One other camper told us there are some Walmarts with hook-ups (water & electric) for RVs. Anyway we had a good laugh about Barney Fife.

Tomorrow we are headed to Tucson for about a week. The weather next week is sunny & 72 every single day. We found an RV park with 2 swimming pools along with some other amenities. Looking forward to warm sunshine and exploring Tucson.

Till next time....

Rae Jean

Ain't no Shakin' goin on here

We left Mission, TX yesterday AM for Austin to see brother Lew. Parked in a fine WalMart just across the expressway from his place. Had a great Mexican meal together. Left there this AM, headed west. We're at another fine WalMart in Kerrville, TX. I've never heard of it either. We hope to make it across west Texas and to Tucson, AZ by the weekend. We may stay there for awhile.

Thanks to all who filled us in on the Virgil Quake this AM.

Tim

Citrus Festival Parade, Mission, TX

This part of the country is famous for their oranges and grapefruit. In the top picture the float is covered with sliced fruit. The bottom picture shows a customized pickup that is typical of this area. Texans like their pickups and many have custom wheels and tires and some are lowered.

Ed and Sharon Swartzendruber, (Sharon is my maternal first cousin), who live in Edinburg, visited us last week. We then visited them where they live and do volunteer work at the Rio Grand Bible Institute. Sharon's sister Marlyn and her husband Louis Lehman had just arrived to live and work there for a month. Had a nice lunch and visit with them all.

I can see Mexico from here

As Sarah Palin might say. That is the Rio Grand and that is Mexico on the other side. I never guessed the Rio Grande was so narrow. This is the dock at Chimney Park RV Resort in Mission, TX where we stayed from Thur the 28th til today the 1st. Unfortunetly, they had WIFI that barely worked until it quit all together. Plus, cell phone reception was poor. For those reasons, we moved today to Benston Grove RV Park, with over 800 sites. But before we left there, I got to kayak a couple miles up the river between the US and Mexico.

Oh, by the way, Border Patrol used this boat ramp to launch their boats that patrol the river. They carry M-16s AND sidearms. Additionally we heard helicopters patrolling the river. We were told that drug smuggling was more of a problem that immigrant crossing. I was told not to land on the other side.

On the Beach

Here we are parked on Mustang Island near Corpus Christi. Overnight parking is allowed on the beach. Make sure you check the tides before hand. We had an occasional wave roll all the way under the coach at high tide. It made the sand soft enough that the levelers started sinking. That made me nervous, so we moved Sunday to a county park near the beach where we are parked on asphalt. Forecast is for sun and 70 the next few days. We'll force ourselves to enjoy it.

Tim

Don't tell me you can't find a job

We're in Portland, TX, across the bay from Corpus Christi at Sea Breeze RV resort for 2 nights with a lot of old (older) snowbirds. Not too exciting here, but I at least got to go kayaking yesterday while the sun shone and temperatures were in the 70s. Not so nice today with fog still hanging around at 2pm. We explored Port Aransas today, looking for a different RV park, but found out that you can camp on the beach for $12/year. So, we're going boondocking (without any hookups) tomorrow. Our fresh water tank should allow us 3 to 4 days and forecasts are for mostly sunny and 70ish.

While driving through Corpus Christi we ran across this older guy, going 60mph, with these bags of cans 4 0r 5 feet wide. If you really want to earn an income, there is a way. Love his specs.

Tim

On the move again!

Left New Orleans yesterday heading for the Gulf of Texas. Stayed at Cajun Palms RV Resort in Henderson, LA last night. Huge RV resort with a pool, 28 person hot tub, mini-golf etc. Everything was closed yet. Not warm enough for swimming and only about 4-5 other RVs here just passing thru too. Going to leave this morning and will cross over into Texas and hope to be as far as Houston before stopping. Our plan will be to get down to South Padre Island, TX and hope it's warm enough for hanging out on the beach. Tim's itchin to get his kayak out and play in the Gulf waters. Rae Jean

When the Saints come marching in

People here are real excited about the Saints. They play next weekend for the league championship. Who Dat. Whatever that means.

We went to the French Quarter today and enjoyed a Po Boy and a Pimm Cup for lunch. See pictures at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/NewOrleans#

Tim

New Orleans

Made it to New Orleans yesterday, Sunday. We took our time getting here, in part, because it was raining here Saturday. Spent Sat PM in Hazlehurst, MS at a beautiful Wal Mart. I finally figured out the generator "Auto Start" function, where the generator automatically starts when the batteries get low. A significant improvement over constantly monitoring the batteries, or not and letting them get so low that they won't start the generator (like Thursday AM). We're at the Mardi Gras RV Park, near a noisy expressway and industrial buildings. We're headed for the French Quarter today with advise from Joanne Blue Stainton on where to go, what to see and where to drink. We should have picturse and stories about it tomorrow.

Tim

Walkin' in Memphis

Hit this to set the mood: http://s0.ilike.com/play#Marc+Cohn:Walking+in+Memphis:34759:s2548005.8792725.5672.0.1.87%2Cstd_c0ca7c6409a424133f91bb756c1d33cc

Had a fun day in Memphis. Weather was sunny and 57. We toured Graceland and Beale Street. See our pics at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/TDetwiler3/MemphisTN#

On our Graceland Tour we weren't allowed to go thru the upstairs out of respect for Elvis. So, I have no photos to share of his bedroom or the bathroom where he died. It was interesting to see the decor from back in the late 60's early 70's. Graceland isn't as big as you might expect but the grounds and house is beautiful. Went to famous Beale Street in the evening for ribs and music. Ate at the PIG and watched an Elvis impersonator. Beale Street was blocked off for about 4 blocks. There were walk up bars, live blues bands playing on the street, and the hawkers out in front of the bars and restaurant trying to seduce you to come in. Went into Coyote Ugly for a beer. Not much happening there. We were too early for the crowds. Check out our photos. Until next time! Rae Jean

Driver Error

We got to the west side of Memphis Thur PM and filled up with fuel at a Flying J where there wasn't much room for turning around. I had to backup to get out of the place and "Stupid, stupid, stupid" jacknifed the trailer, scraping the paint on the right rear corner of the coach and the corresponding corner of the trailer. Not too much damage, just frustrating. After surveying the damage, we started to pull out of the gas station, when I noticed the trailer came unhooked from the coach and the nose was dragging on the ground as it hit us in the back. Fortunetly we were only going a few miles per hour. I stopped in the middle of the road to see what happened. Apparently when I jackknifed the trailer, the trailer hitch extension broke half off and the other half broke when I took off. So, the trailer is sitting in the middle of the road and I can't do anything with the coach to pull it off the road. I left it there and drove back into the Flying J. Several people saw what was going on and offered to help, thank goodness. One guy used his pickup to hook up to the trailer and pull it back off the road. Another guy gave me his extra hitch to put on the coach. So, now I am coupled closer to the trailer than I want, the safety chains are broken, the coach is scratched up and the fiberglass rear end of the coach is broken where the trailer ran into it and the front of the trailer is dented in. As Blago would say, Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

POd, Tim

Night 1

Here we are on night 1 of our adventure. We spent the night in Festus, MO just south of St. Louis in a Walmart parking lot. My husband only takes me to the finest RV spots to park our rig for the night. Heading for Memphis today for some BBQ and to see Elvis Presley's Graceland. More on this next stop later

Rae Jean

The Night Before

My foot itches. The right one. The one you use to push the throttle. We're ready. We'll leave tomorrow.