Kaye's girlfriend let us know that she would not be in Phoenix so we needed a new route plan. A great history write up in the AAA book and a little Google searching lead us to make Silver City, NM our next destination. Plus it kept us off the Interstate highways for most of the journey.
The travel from Roswell to Las Cruces along the 70/380 was beautiful. Rolling hills, new road and no traffic. Without knowing it or planning it, we ended up in Ruidosa, the home of Ruidosa Downs. Quarter-horse racing capital of the world plus it was the centre of the famous Lincoln County War which raised the famous Billy the Kid. This little town can house thousands of guests and the accommodations range from run down RV parks to luxury spa hotels and casinos. As we drove through this 'Vegas', in the middle of the mountains, Dave spied a Pelican.
I pulled into the Visitor Centre parking lot which was adorned by life size action statues of Quarter horses. Kyle barked! Turns out we had also found the Hubbard Museum of the West. The town seems to have a 'thing' for bears and the Visitor Centre staff have a good sense of humour.
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We walked back to find the Pelican and discovered that there were three wood carving shops nestled beside each other and they all had the same stuff. Black and brown bears in every size imaginable, a thousand different poses and goofy signs. Really cute but it was the large Pelican out on the roadside that Kaye wanted.
The carver said his son had made the Pelican and the barter began. We settled on $45 which I made into $50 and we picked up a couple of other small items. I had to go back and drive the freight train over as "Pismo" was too big and too heavy to carry. Kyle is not quite sure what to make of our new friend.
When we left the mountains we were greeted on the Interstate by a flashing sign: "High Wind Warning". There goes the gas mileage, it was just off my nose. When I stopped for a roadside relief, I had to lean into the wind to just walk about. Amazing how the lush hills can turn into barren desert in such a short distance. Why would anyone choose to live here?
The next major sign was: "Expect up to One Hour Delay When Flashing". We had reached White Sands Missile Testing Range. The little signs mounted on the barbed wire fence all said; "No Stopping Deadly Force Authorized". Dodge don't fail me now. The wind was whipping the pure white sand into huge mounds that in several places had swallowed the fence. Some Army dudes will have some shovel work to do when this storm passes.
Silver City is nestled into the hills and made famous by mining over the years. It still boasts one of the largest open pit mines in the country. Rose Valley RV Park, located on Memory Lane, had lots of trees with big spaces but poor WiFi. The real treat was that it was located right beside the Old Silver City Cemetery with some famous dead folks!
The old downtown has been mostly restored in period. Excellent little museum and the town is packed full of art shops. The university is also art focused. Its history includes having the main street completely eliminated and turned into a gorge by a massive rain storm. The gorge has now been turned into a park and the businesses turned their 'Back Doors' into their new 'Front Doors'. This resulted in creating two main streets. Kyle loved the walk down the old gorge.
The town has an Off Leash dog park which is a whole block of land donated to the city with funds to maintain it by a lady in her Will. There were no friends there to share it with Kyle but he left his mark to let them know he was thinking of them.
Our next plan is to race to the ocean again. We have decided to go back and investigate Pismo Beach, CA further. We loved the beaches and so did Kyle so why not. On our next leg we noticed a State Trooper with a Semi pulled over just as we entered into Arizona. Then a few miles further there were two Semi's pulled over going the other way, then another one on our side. We have driven 8000 miles and had never seen a Semi pulled over and now there have been four in under 10 miles and it did not stop. The troopers even set up a temporary 'all trucks report' stop right on the Interstate. Hundreds of troopers and vehicles. Don't know what the blitz was all about and could not find any info on the news as we had crossed into California.
Beaumont, CA has a wonderful Holiday Inn Express. We met Andre Metzger and Brando (his friend and caddie) in the hot tub. They were competing in the qualifying playdowns for the Canadian Golf Tour. 320 players for 20 slots. Andre's quote; "We are well positioned for the weekend". Met them again at breakfast, very upbeat. Kaye checked his stats a few days later and he came alive with a 65 and tied for ninth. Welcome to Canada Andre!
Kyle has discovered ground squirrels. He has not figured out that they 'talk' to each other. He ran from hole to hole to hole to hole to hole until his pink tongue was dragging but he could not help himself, every time one of them stood up and 'chirped' he felt compelled to run to that hole and shove his nose in it. He even tried to dig some of them out.
We were greeted at Pismo Beach with beautiful sun shine but not exactly hot temperatures. We are OK with 68F but these Californians are wearing parkas and winter boots on the beach while we are in shorts and bare feet. Our RV Park is a concrete jungle but being right on the beach makes up for the lack of grass and trees. Some great little eateries, lots of American Muscle Cars and the sound of crashing Pacific waves. Sorry Florida, California has you beat in our books.
Our plan was to just chill for a week and then head straight home via hotels. There is a lot to do and see in this area nick named 'Five Cities' and it has really caught our eye. I guarantee we will be back here again. Here are some links to some more of the photos from these areas.
Silver City Nm. Photos
Pismo Beach Ca. Photos
Our travels to the USA have come to end for this year. Thanks for sharing in our adventures and enjoying our pictures. Till next year.....
Dave, Kaye + Kyle
By heading to Roswell from Lubbock we enjoyed a vacant drive on wonderfully resurfaced roads along the 82/380 highways. I really thought we would find some 'Alien' hitchhiker but no such luck. However a fine; 'Thank You' Mr. Obama and your 'Put America Back to Work' program for the condition of the roadways. The first leg, SW down the 82, took us right through downtown Brownsfield. The main street is all red paving brick, beautiful to look at but hell to drive over pulling a trailer. A block or so would have been sufficient but the whole mile was a killer. I may need to see a dentist when we get home and there were lots of screws to tighten on the rigging.
Leaving Brownsfield we entered flat grasslands that traversed in every direction. There were no mountain ranges or hills to break up the curvature of the earth. It was just like heading out onto the ocean on the West coast of BC. Land or ocean just disappears into the skyline. When the rolling hills did begin again, Oil Rig Pump Jacks also appeared in mass. Each one has its own cattle following and you can smell the dollar signs.
Kaye has been looking for a Pelican for our deck. Our fascination began when we filmed them diving for dinner at Avila beach right at the start of our adventure this year. As we slowed to pass through Tatum, she spied a large metal art display that showed promise. We turned our freight train around in a gravel parking lot just as the noon bell rang. The lot belonged to a Steak House and it was packed. Very good sign.
Speaking of signs, all of the street signs in Tatum are metal cutouts, even the sign for the Steak House was metal and it turns out Juan Manuel Carbajal has been producing metal art here for the last 25 years. No, he doesn't have a website and he doesn't need one. Everyone knows Juan from 'Poor Boy's Metal Art'.
The cafe diner sat about 30 people, had a little salad bar, old fashioned milk shake maker and a 14oz Rib Eye steak for $13. Most expensive meal on the menu and it included the salad bar! Two big cattlemen, who had spied our licence plates, chatted to us about visiting BC and told us that the 'steak strips' were the best in the land but to only get a half order. No chicken fingers in this part of Texas, when you order ribs, you get beef not pork! We were tempted but the waitress said the strips were deep fried with 'Chicken Fried Steak' coating, so we had to pass. I had the Rib Eye and Kaye had chopped steak with mashed potatoes, gravy and beans. Just like Mom used to make, so make sure you visit this gem.
Juan had no Pelicans but he sure had some great artwork. He uses 1/4in. plate for most of his work and is still working with Oxy/Acet vice a Plasma Cutter. Here is a link to photo album of his work, we have his address if you are ever interested in a custom order.
Roswell is a much bigger city than I had imagined. My knowledge of it, was based on History Channel type shows and the sensational coverage of the UFO craze. Turns out Roswell hosts a major university, a military college, technical companies and is a popular convention centre. Every hotel chain is represented along with the locals. The UFO tourist trade is no slouch as part of the economy either but it is by no means the mainstay.
The UFO Museum and National Research Centre will only entertain children for a very short span, this is no Royal Tyrell. Kids and 'un-aliens' can spend their hours in the gift shop. The physical displays in the museum are 'cute' at best. The focus of the museum is on documentation and education. Lots of reading and of course, controversy. Most of the material follows the period from 1947 to about 1973. Not sure why there is not more recent material, maybe the aliens gave up on us, like we gave up on the moon, so many moons ago? Here is a link to more photos from the museum and around Roswell.
Our Trailer Village RV Park was a family owned business very close to the old part of downtown. Super nice couple, Erin and Debbie, who have lots of dogs and cats of their own. Erin also operates a custom powder coating business and his work looked extremely good. Bit too far away for Steve G. to send his 67 Chevelle parts but I found a treat for him that I will show off later.
It was lovely to have shade trees right beside the trailer on the 80+F day we arrived. However, the nesting birds of various species were incredibly noisy at 04:30. We have learned to sleep with ear plugs in.
Our RV neighbours in Terrell told us to watch the news weather report. We did, change of direction. Taking a longer route to Lubbock, Tx. Storm with hail will be passing N-SW of Dallas so we hit the road at the crack of dawn and headed straight North on 34 and then West on the 380 around the top of Dallas. It added a lot of miles and a lot of time to our drive but also reduced the driving stress level by a ten fold. We also found my 'other' garage in some town somewhere.
Evidence of the terror of the storm from two days ago was everywhere. Check out the giant bull statue marking the entrance to one of the huge Texas Black Angus ranches. This was on a crest of rolling hills totally exposed to wind from any direction. Not sure what Indian name would be appropriate but I am sure some of you can come us with an appropriate expression.
Rain squalls caught us a few times but mostly there was just miles of cattle country and surprisingly good road conditions, except for the pull offs. The rain has turned everything that is not pavement into Gumbo. The truck is filthy and I am remembered of stories my family told of the Saskatchewan gumbo that showed no mercy.
One disturbing point was the number of 'dead' little towns. Rule, TX caused me to stop and take pictures because at the intersection of Main and Nowhere the only evidence of life was a bank building with a modern sign and temperature gauge. Which was only reading 37F by the way...brrrrrr. Check out the rest of the photos I posted on FaceBook by clicking on this link.
There was no way that we were going to make it to Lubbock today without killing ourselves; Kaye was looking up RV Parks in the AAA guide as we approached Graham, TX, and then the light in the sky shone again. It was like the old Batman searchlight beacon. Holiday Inn Express, brand new, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. Kaye said something like; "Oh we could use their phone to call and see if an RV Park is open". Her eyes however, said; "Oh boy a real bath tub"! Same story at the front desk, pool still closed for the season, but the bath made up for it all.
We asked the ladies at the front desk to recommend a Mom and Pop diner. Hands down recommendation for 'Sanderson's'. Been around forever. So it is written and so it should be. Old Mrs. Sanderson recognized us as new guests and came over for a long chat. At the table beside us, a regular told 'Ma' that he had sinned and gone to one of the new chain restaurants in town last weekend. He said that her business was safe because the food at the chain was garbage. Too bad that this is not true, advertisers have somehow found the way to convince people to pay too much, for too little, and of lesser quality, all because they bombard us with advertising, telling us how good they are.
Graham to Lubbock was a nice uneventful drive but I froze my butt hooking up the truck and trailer in the morning. It did drop below the freezing point. Kaye found an RV park right in the city that had everything we needed. We booked for two nights to give us a full day to take in the museum and explore a research nature park that had four miles of trails. Lubbock has a lot to offer.
The Buddy Holly museum is small but very well laid out. Sorry, again, no photos allowed. I did not know that Buddy was only in the spotlight for 18 short months. Wow. The museum building has an art gallery that sponsors revolving exhibits and the current one was a political expression by Zach Tate. 'Very Disturbing' was what I wrote in the comment book. To see more of Zach's work follow the link to my FaceBook Album.
After a quick bite at the Cast Iron Grill (highly recommended) we headed to the nature reserve on the North side of the city. Kyle was doing his Jumping Jack routine as soon as we put him on his leash. It looked a lot like desert shrub land but the trails appeared well groomed. Just as we were starting down the path a lady shouted to us from the research building. Our worst fears came true. Kyle was not allowed on the paths, only the parking lot. We had a nice chat and introductions and then out of the blue, Susan says; "Why don't you let me look after Kyle while you folks go for your walk, we all love dogs". Jaws dropped, but then, who can say "No" to a three legged dog.
We went on a quick tour of the research centre and learned that Susan is an educator whose last class had just left and she would love to look after Kyle. We did about 3.5 miles and as we crested the last hill we could see Kyle and Susan out for a walk. What a great day for all of us.
Lubbock is a happening place. First time we can say that on this trip. There was new home construction everywhere including condos and new retail spaces. Don't know why but this city is expanding vice imploding. Nice to see.
We checked into Bluebonnet RV Park, in Terrell,Tx, a husband and wife run park with great reviews. Kaye quickly commented on their lovely looking pool and hot tub and how good it was going to feel after a long scary day on the road. We were greeting by that 'stare' again and then, with a little bit of stutter, an explanation that the pool was still closed for the season. It was only 72F out. They hoped to have it open for May. They would turn on the hot tub if we could just delay our dip for several hours to let it warm up. We said; "Yes".
It was dark and cool when we headed for the tub. I hit the jets switch and as we climbed in, the rising chlorine gas stung our eyes. We gave it a few moments but it was so strong we couldn't catch our breath. What a shame. I guess they 'treated' the tub just for us. It was still too strong on our second night.
Don't let that scare you away from staying here in the future as everything else about the park was perfect. Tons of open space for Kyle to run and a large 'catch and release' fishing lake to entertain the kids.
Our day in Dallas started at the JFK Museum located in the famous Repository Building where Lee Harvey Oswald shot the president on that fateful day in history. Officially called; 'The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealy Plaza'. No picture taking inside, Sorry.
The tour is very unique. You are issued a personal voice player and headset on the ground floor and then take an elevator to the sixth floor. The walls of sixth floor are covered in timeline photographs, reprints of police reports, and artifacts all assembled into numbered panels. You get to control the pace of the audio presentation that brings each panel to life. It is as if you are getting a one-on-one personally guided tour despite the fact that you are shoulder to shoulder with other people.
As you stand beside the infamous window and stare at the 'X' in the road, that marks the spot where JFK was shot, you become part of history, it is very sobering. This picture is taken from the Grassy Knoll and the Red Diamond over the X marks the spot of the first shot that struck JFK. The museum history boards say that a shot was in fact fired from the knoll but that it missed hitting anyone. I did not know that they had 'officially' come to this conclusion. This museum is not a place to bring children. It is all listening and reading. Allow at least 2 hours or more. We were 2.5.
Historic downtown Dallas has become the home to many museums and some very unique architecture. It was too late for us to enjoy a second museum so we elected to just walk the district and get some exercise.
The Bank of America building is so big it makes the other large towers around it look small.
I met this lovely lady sitting on a bus bench in the middle of small park. Strange place for a bus bench.
We have left lots behind to come back and see another time.
I was given a challenge for dinner. Make a gourmet Hot Dog that would top the Ball Park Franks Kaye enjoyed at the Blue Jays baseball game in Port Charlotte, Fl. I love a challenge.
Time to make some miles; up at the crack of dawn and on the road. Four States planned for one day! The rest in Pensacola was fabulous but another storm is coming and we are headed North to Dallas. Our first plan was to get off the Interstate. We found highway 98 again. It was a beautiful drive through bayous, farms, and small forests. Our route would once again mean that we would scoot across the shortest part of Alabama and with Mobile being so close to our beginning, we have decided to press on. Some other time perhaps.
Once into Mississippi we discovered a scenic fact that we missed on our way out. This was due to us crossing Mississippi and Alabama all on the I10 Interstate going East. This back yard roadway adventure has proven a little known fact. There is a church of some size (some huge) every 1.2 miles on average. At one little town there were five in a row, on the same side of the road. This land of sinners appears to have Perry Florida beat all to Hell. Sorry couldn't help myself.
The goal was to get to Natchez, Mississippi which we did. Our RV park was a short drive through a very run down part of town on the opposite side of the Mississippi river which placed us officially in Louisiana. It was noticeable that although the houses and mobile homes were falling down most of them had a new truck in the driveway or a $2 car with $6000 tires and wheels.
Riverview RV park is beautiful and right on the river. We enjoyed a hot tub and I swam in the pool to the shock of the staff in the office (not heated).
Natchez is the birthplace of the Southern revolutions, dating back to the Spanish and French occupations. We visited the main tourist centre and took in all the reading panels of its history. The city is a tourist mecca with a pilgrimage every year. There is a large selection of period homes that have all been restored and turned into museums. Several hold 'Gala Dinners' in period costume and serve full meals. We drove all the streets and even watched 'guests' arriving at one of the homes for dinner. There is a Paddleboat Casino (that goes nowhere) moored on the riverbank and another one overlooking the river. Just as we found at the ocean (Biloxi), gambling is a big attraction in Mississippi.
The advantage to being on the other side of the river was the price of fuel. Although Natchez Mississippi is flourishing, that cannot be said for the other side of the bridge. The businesses on the Louisiana side, along the 98/84 were mostly vacant. Only the Walmart mall at the end of the strip had any activity. This picture of a dead gas station tells the story. Look at the posted price of the fuel, that was some time ago. I did get fuel for $3.60 which is our cheapest so far. The average has been more in the $3.99 - $4.09 range. If you fuel along the Interstate highways you really pay the price, as they are all in the $4.29-4.59 range. Staying away from the insanity pays off in more ways that one.
We had a lovely evening, a warm walk along the river and a great sleep but awoke to dense fog and cool temperature on our Easter Sunday. The fog lifted as we left the river valley and the scenery was again beautiful farms and wooded forests (+churches). The road kill changed significantly. Lots of deer had been struck in the night and large buzzards were enjoying their feasts. Saw our first Armadillo and Possum pancakes.
Kaye announced that she could smell smoke and it was getting very strong fast. As we approached a patch of dense trees the smoke could be seen above them. It was the last remnants of a house fire, still smouldering and giving off dense smoke. There were no people, no firetrucks, no EMS, nothing... We drove on slowly, passing more churches with full parking lots and wondered if we should stop and say something. Very strange. For a drive that started out fine, things were changing and I could see the edge of the storm moving towards our highway 84.
The edge of the storm caught us in one of the forest areas. Small limbs from the trees lining the road were starting to hit the truck so we drove to an opening at an intersection and waited it out.
About 20 minutes of driving sheets of rain and wind and then it eased to just rain. Kaye loves to do brain teaser puzzles while we drive. With a nice laugh she announced that the one she was working on was aptly titled; 'Name that Hurricane'. By this time we had a large following of parked vehicles behind us and the next hour of driving saw us dodging downed trees with the highway littered with branches and debris Trust Dave to find a good storm!
We elected to stay outside of Dallas and picked a great sounding RV park named Bluebonnet Ridge in Terrell, Tx about 35 miles away from downtown Dallas. That meant that my final few hours would be spent on the I40 Interstate. I was shocked to see the massive road signs snapped off and commented that Shreveport must have been pummelled by the storm. Something was strange about the signs though, they were all 'snapped off' perfectly even on all their support posts. Turns out some smart engineers built double hinges and shear bolts into the support posts so that the signs would just 'blow' over and minimize the damage to themselves. Worked for many but not for all!
We are retired military and we find ourselves leaving white sand beaches and heading for a Navel Air Station. It must be all those recruiting centres we find in every little town across this country.
If you want to camp right beside the ocean but within access to a huge natural forest system with city amenities close by, then pick Ho-Hum RV park. They have a great bath house and laundry plus many of the sites are backed right onto the ocean. Book well in advance.
Our drive along the Gulf Highway was not as slow as I was prepared for. It was a lot of; "Oh my look at that" as we passed sea side mansions then open spaces and even stretches of jungle like bush land. The time change at Mexico Beach gave us back an hour and Kaye had been reading the travel guide about Pensacola Beach activities so we picked a restaurant called 'Dirty Dicks Crab House'. We shared a Clam Chowder Bread Bowl and an order of steamed Cajun spiced jumbo shrimp with corn and sausage. If we had not eaten at 'The Freezer' in Homosassa this would have been a great meal but the meal at 'The Freezer' blew this chain restaurant out of the water. Most of the menu is deep fried Heart Attack sized servings but the place was packed and the service was great.
Pensacola Beach is designed for family activities to take advantage of the majestic white sand beaches. Lots of theme parks, kiddie activities and night life. We picked a little RV park called Heritage Oaks which according to Google is within 5 miles of the NAS.
There is a great history surrounding this little Mobile Home village that is upgrading their RV Park amenities. The park is now owed by a local non-profit society who cleared out all the old mobile homes and set up brand new ones. They also cleared out all the old tenants and have replaced them with low income clean and sober families. The park Manager (Aaron) used to work for the company that builds the homes, now trying to become 'retired', he is looking after this little place with charm and doing a great job. So if you are coming to the see the Naval Air Museum at NAS Pensacola give this little park a visit. Great WiFi, clean bath house, cablevision coming later this year but lots of over the air channels anyway. They had an Easter Party for all the children in the park on the day we went to the Museum complete with a Pinata.
As we were setting up, Tim, from an older Motorhome, came over for a chat. He wanted to visit with his brother. Tim lost a leg to above the knee in a drag racing incident some years ago. He spied Kyle and well, you know how the rest of the story goes. While we are talking about Kyle, he got introduced to a couple of feral cats who held their ground and did not run away. One Tabby arched his back so high he looked like the black Halloween cutouts we are familiar with. Since the cats did not run, Kyle just sniffed and bounced around but nothing spectacular happened. Well until we took him for his evening business and left him snoozing outside the door, not on his leash.
I had just had a shower and put on a clean T shirt. Kaye was relaxing in her chain and invited Kyle up for a snuggle. He only stayed a moment, very agitated. After he was down I sensed this ugly fish smell. It was the sleeve of my shirt, Kaye had just done laundry, the waft was getting stronger. I bent to sniff Kyle, Holy Smoke...Out, Out of the trailer. He knew what had happened and he actually seemed to enjoy getting a washdown from Dad. New plan, find a dog beach!
We have driven 6600 miles with no particular schedule. As we approached Pensacola NAS we are greeted by the massive automated sign welcoming the new Captain and saying farewell to the new Admiral. We are in bumper to bumper traffic on the station and being directed and parked by uniformed seamen. The museum is huge, stretches over three massive buildings and hangers. We asked our personal parking seaman if the museum was this busy every day and were greeted with; "This is the change of command ceremony and last Blue Angles Air Show of the season". What a fluke to arrive on this very day and just in time for the final speeches and applause. Very crisp uniforms.
We followed the crowd out to the front of the flight line and watched the Blue Angles. Happy to say that our dear Snowbirds still blow them out of the water. What was difference seeing everyone following the show with their Smartphones pointed towards the action. How times have changed. We scooted off the flight line early and grabbed a coffee and soup in the 'Mess' before tackling the museum.
There was an IMAX theatre in the main building, a tribute to Women in Naval Aviation in 'Hanger One', hundreds of fully restored aircraft, many mounted in the air and so much history and art that it is too much to see in one day. The IMAX show on flight was narrated by Tom Selleck. A lot of the video used was old footage of airshow crowds which was really fun to point out the change in dress codes and hair styles not to mention the 'size' of the crowds. This is a place to see and it is free to everyone (IMAX had a small fee).
Time to de-stink the dog. The dog beach was small but packed. One neat feature was two dog wash stations complete with spray hoses and leash holders like at a groomers. We watched dogs become tuckered at the beach and then walk on their own to the wash station and wait for their owners to get the hint. We put Kyle through this process but he was not so pleased or willing.
The drive to the beach took us into a housing district beside the river and the contrast between old and new homes caught our eye. We continued on the scenic route all along the river. We were back in the "Ooh Aww" chanting theme. Check out the play house!
Everyone in the RV parks has a Golf Cart to get around on. You all know how much 'stuff' we carry with us just to go out for the day, so imagine the joy when Kaye found a cart built just for us! Kaye, Dave, Kyle and room for 'stuff'.
Pensacola has something for everyone including a wildlife preserve, Gulf Island National Park, that stretches for miles and is open to the public for walking, cycling and beach activities. Sadly pets are not allowed, not even on a leash. :0(
Where to next?
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