Heat Seeking

    A week ago we spent two nights in Ft. Worth, TX, at Sharon and Gary's. (Sharon is Michael's sister.) The weather was superb. 75ish, sunny, not a cloud in the sky. Saturday afternoon Emma and Henry (Sharon and Gary's grandchildren : 5 yrs. and 16 mo.) along with their parents came over to play. Imagine Nina's excitement to have two short ball throwers in the backyard!!
   We left Ft. Worth Sunday morning, heading west on I-20. Our plan was to NOT go south to Big Bend Nat. Park this year. We thought we'd do more of New Mexico - like Roswell, the somewhat famous site of  UFO crashes in 1947. However a glance at my weather app told me decisively that Roswell, Alamogordo and really all of NM, along with western Texas was headed for a giant dive in night time temps. Forecasts showed 21, 22 23 degrees for those parts the next few nights. In fact, the only places it was predicted to stay even close to 30 were in southern Texas.
   Another plan change! We happened to camp that night (the last warm night) near Colorado City, TX, at Colorado City Lake State Park. A smallish road ran south from there. (Michael LOVES driving on the gray roads! ((gray on the map))) The next morning we took it.
   Tuesday night we stayed at Seminole Canyon near Comstock, TX, site of cliff dwellings and petroglyphs. We had spent time there last year touring the canyon. A beautifully warm late afternoon and evening awaited us there, warm enough for shorts and dinner outside. And then the BIG BLOW!  That gray layer that had covered the sun at sunset making the sun visually disappear into nothingness on the horizon? That layer? That must have been the dusty wind that was headed our way. Holy cow! What a blow! Not much we could do but sit in our rocking motor home listening to the wind whooshing and whistling around us. By 9:00 pm it was over. The temperature had dropped 14 degrees. We put our shorts away.
  The next two nights we stayed in Big Bend, one night at Rio Grande Village campground and the next night on the other side of the park at Cottonwood Campground. The afternoons were sunny and 55ish. The nights were chilly, a little less than 30. Since there are no electrical hookups at Big Bend, we relied on our trusty propane furnace to warm us in the mornings.
  It's been dry at Big Bend. That area has received none of the el Nino rains this winter. So the pond/water habitat at Rio Grand Village is a quarter of the size it was last year. And the ocotillos dotting the hillsides along the river look grayish-dead showing no color at all. The river itself at that point separating Mexico from the U.S. is little more than a stream.
   Leaving the Rio Grande behind, we drove north and spent our last night in TX at Davis Mountain State Park, one of the "darkest" areas in the U.S. and home of unbelievable night time star displays. Now this is at a higher elevation and we knew it was going to be cold. It was. The morning temp yesterday was 18!!! However, we were plugged in. We had our electric heaters running and Michael and antifreezed the macerator.
  We've said our good-byes to Texas for this year. Warmth awaits us in Arizona!?!

Rio Grande River, Big Bend

Chizos Mountains, Big Bend

Texas countryside

Ditto

The Mini Does the Big Easy

Martha & Joan

Michael & Croc

 You know there were two states in our continental United States I had never experienced - Mississippi and Louisiana.
 Now I have.
  After we left Gulf State Park, Gulf Shores, AL, we drove through Mobile and then headed out on Highway 90 (NOT I-10) to drive along the Gulf coast of Mississippi.  The road hugs the coast much of the way going through Pascagoula, Beloxi and Gulfport.  We drove past miles of beautifully clean new beachfront sporting small palm trees in Biloxi and past some lovely new and rebuilt southern-style homes in Pass Christian
and Long Beach. Across the highway from Biloxi's beachfront are many vacant lots, most of them for sale. They're remaining evidence of Hurricane Katrina's devastation 10 years ago when this whole coastline was obliterated.
   Highway 90 took us right into New Orleans and to Pontchartraine Landing RV Park and Marina on the northeast side of the city. We got settled into our #63 site in this Big Boy RV Park just before the gray sky gave way to a deluge of rain. Rain continued for the rest of the day and most of the night, what seemed like inches of water. The gravel parking lot quickly became a lake. Let me just say that the only thing worse than staying in a small-fry RV on a rainy night is staying in one with a wet dog. But of course we did.

Café Soule, St.Louis St.

Beer and a latte

 Fortunately by morning the rain had stopped and most of the water had soaked into the ground. We left Nina in the Pickle and took off in the Mini to see a bit of New Orleans. Broad St. took us downtown to the French Quarter. The Mini is just the right size for maneuvering the narrow brick streets of the Quarter and, after getting a feel for the place, we parked and walked. Decatur Street runs along the Mississippi River and acts as a "front" to the Quarter. This is where you'll find the kitschiest souvenir shops, all hawking Mardi Gras paraphernalia and tee shirts. Michael even had his picture taken with a festive Monsieur Crocodie. We walked the street, with a stop at a building housing a National Park exhibit that detailed the history and cultural influences of the  area. We finally arrived at the gilded Joan d'Arc statue. That's where I wanted my photo taken.
                                           We realize our late morning to early afternoon stroll was quite different from the evening and late night revelry that occurs during the Mardi Gras season. We're okay with that. Our revelry consisted of a latte and a Lazy Magnolia beer at Café Soule.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Gulf State Park near Gulf Shores Alabama. That's where we are!

The park, with its 496 campsites, 2 small inland lakes and miles of paved biking/walking trails sits across the Boulevard and down the road from the Gulf's surf and sandy beaches.
  Coming here was not our original intent.  In fact no where on our very flexible, ever changing itinerary did we consider Gulf Shores.  Our arrival here has to do with what we left behind in Michigan and what we brought with us. We left behind typical January cold  temperatures and a good covering of snow. We brought with us the family cold (meaning virus.) By the second day into the trip when we were resting snuggly at my sister and brother-in-law's house in Knoxville and we saw the forecasted cold snap predicted for the next few days in the upper southern states, we made our decision. Head south. Drop the planned southwesterly route. Make a beeline for warmer temps. Once we're feeling healthy again we can head west.
And here we are. We're feeling better now, but still plagued with lingering coughs. After a few days of 55 - 60 temps, today is cooler and VERY windy. No day to drive the Pickle, so we'll stay put a few more. We have a reservation until Tuesday.

Ready to leave Ypsilanti,

January 14th

First night out near Georgetown,

Kentucky

Back in the "Y"

Long road home

So. January 14 to March 2nd.
Seven weeks.
Seemed like enough.
Hankering to get home.                                                    
Enough of the gyspy life --- for now.

Looking forward to: grandchildren, our bed, showers whenever we want, ditto laundry, taking up more space.

Nina says: I'll take snow over cacti any day!!!

Well, I'm NOT excited by the foot of snow that still blankets southern Michigan. Addendum: very crusty icy snow after a touch of freezing rain two days ago. Nor am I enthralled by the very cold temps still embracing this place we call home. However, the positives are listed above, plus a thousand and one insignificant taken-for-granted things that you just do without in a space the size of the Pickle Bus.
Last week the weather had turned chilly everywhere but western Arizona. Those two nights we stayed in Bisbee? Cold!
So we headed east. We spent an extra night at Oliver Lee State Park near Alamagordo, New Mexico, when we looked at a weather map and realized we needed to slow down our northeastern progress if we wanted to  stay behind a New Mexico/Texas/Oklahoma snowstorm. We drove 50 miles south to El Paso, then made our way east and north, dodging the crappy weather. An overnight in Lamesa, Texas, in an RV "park" behind a metal building convenience store that boasted a drive-up window for cigarette and beer purchases, and then two very long days of driving and we pulled into our driveway at 314 N. Clubview Dr.
The 1st birthday party for our favorite grandson is this Saturday. And we'll be there!!!!!

Guadalupe Mountains National Park near Salt Flat, Texas, was a bit frosty last Saturday, the 28th of February.


Love the southwest!

 

Green Valley, AZ. Thanks Jaci & Cory. Great to meet you, Don and Sue!

Back in Bisbee

 Best climate?? Not on the day we arrived! Yesterday in Bisbee (southeastern Arizona) the temp was 47; it was raining and the wind was gale force. Bisbee's motto is "We're at 6000 feet - far away from reality." We had called ahead from Roper Lake State Park, two hours to the north, and Martha, manager at Queen Mine RV Park, said she'd save us a site. There are only 25 spaces that form a circle in a parking lot at the top of the Bisbee Open Pit Mine.

Queen Mine, which operated until 1975, is right next door. This morning we took the tour. We donned hard hats, rain slickers and lights, climbed aboard a rail trolley with about 25 other people, and got to see the inside of a mountain.



 Bisbee is an old mining town with most of its houses perched haphazardly on colorful hills and most of its downtown buildings as old as 1905. It has evolved into a funky artsy community where one can shop in antique stores and art galleries, and find prickly pear balsamic vinegar along with handmade soap that smells like dirt.

Today the sun was out, but the wind still feels mighty cold for the southwest.

Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

South of Ajo, Arizona, four miles north of Sonoyta, Mexico, we found these 516 square miles of Sonoran Desert. Organ Pipe National Monument - A Biosphere Reserve. The rangers like to say this is the "heart of the Sonoran Desert." It must be. We camped smack dab in the middle of thousands of saguaros, chollas, prickly pear and organ pipe cacti, along with creosote bushes and ocotillos just coming into bloom.

Because two rainy seasons occur here each year, summer and winter, the park is lush with desert vegetation.

We liked it so much we stayed one night too long. That is, we got up this morning to leave and the Pickle's battery was DEAD! Michael has always said three nights without power is our limit, but the evening before last we had driven the 4 miles south to Lukeville, AZ (border crossing to Sonoyta, Mexico) and left the engine running for a good 15 minutes while shopping in the convenience store (did it really take that long to decide between Bud Light and Corona, Michael?) We feared it wasn't long enough to give us another night, and yep, we were right. (Schultz claims that if he had remembered to disconnect the connector between the house battery and the engine battery before trying to start the engine this morning, the engine battery wouldn't have drained into the house battery. Yeah??)

Camper neighbors are friendly, especially at Organ Pipe. The '69 VW bus from New Jersey had a jumper cable and our next door solar powered Montana neighbor had a diesel truck. Together the Pickle came to life!!

Highlights of our stay at the park included a 5-mile desert hike to the remains of an old silver mine, a Honda ride on a gravelly road through a dense  population of saguaro giants, two evening talks with Ranger Stalker in the campground's outdoor amphitheater (of course, one talk was "Star Stories") and sitting at the top of the Desert View trail at sunset while FaceTiming with granddaughter Lillian. She received a cactus identification lesson from Grandpa as well as a view of Mexico.

Ocotillo coming into bloom

 

 Oh, and did I mention it was warm?



Cholla cactus

Organ Pipe cactus



Cloudless in Patagonia

View from our "living room"

 We're on our 10th day here at Patagonia Lake State Park in southern Arizona, and, seriously, today is the first day we've seen a cloud.  There's one sitting right now over the hills to the south. 75ish has been the daily high - shorts and flipflops - and what keeps that temperature from getting monotonous, is that each evening, as soon as the sun begins to drop into setting position over the hills across the lake, the temperature drops, too.  So much so that jeans and sweaters become necessary.



On the Birding Trail

And then we turn our chairs facing west to watch the sunset, usually rather unspectacular, since there are no clouds to catch the shades of orange and red.

This is how we spend these monotonous days: hiking on the birding trail most mornings, and reading away the afternoons.

Nina swims!

Quite a life we're enjoying right now.