Tombstone, AZ-January 31, 2013

We both know that if we were not traveling in an RV we would have never visited Tombstone. It is in the desert of southern Arizona and looks very much like the old western movies. We stopped first at Boothill Cemetery thinking there were famous people buried there. The town madam was the only famous person buried there. The more we walked the cemetery which was laid out with rock paths all around the more we thought it was a fake. Seriously. The headstones which were really wooden not stone were too perfect and too funny. Allow me to show you two of them.

 

 

 

How can this be real?

 

 

Then we went into Tombstone where the fight at the OK Corral took place. We walked almost the entire town which, of course, is now a tourist town. They used to have a fake gunfight in the middle of main street. Now they have three gunfights inside of buildings or inside fences so you have to pay to see them. It's a cute town that they have worked very hard to make look old.

 

But you have to pay to walk there.

 

Big Nose Kate's Saloon is the top rated restaurant in town.

We passed.

 

 

We are glad we went but would not do it again. We did have to go through a Border Patrol check point on the way back. It's our second one in Arizona and we went through one in Texas. I am going to try to get a picture if that's legal of the next one we go through so I can show you what it's like. The bank of cameras pointed at your face is almost alarming. I always smile!

 

 

 

 

 

Benson, AZ-January 30, 2013

We finally made it to Arizona!! We knew when we left Las Cruces headed west we would be in territory neither of us has ever seen before, but we were not prepared for the countryside we saw. There was a dusting of snow in the mountains this morning.

Pretty, isn't it?

 

We were truly in the desert of New Mexico and Arizona. It was dry, desolate, brown, and interesting. A good looking gray fox ran across the interstate in front of us today. It was very fast and we were no where near hitting it, but I did not have time to take a picture. Then we came to an area not too far from Benson and all I could do was squeal with delight. The mountains were really piles, gigantic piles, of rocks. It looked like somebody had made brown dough balls and thrown them everywhere. They were stacked on top of each other. We will try to go back and get some really good pictures of it. I was too busy gawking to take good pictures.

 

 

I'll try to get a better picture another day.

 

Benson sits in a valley, like a great big bowl. We are up on a hill overlooking one range of mountains. It's a very pleasant view. 

 

This might be really pretty when the sun comes up tomorrow.

 

We are in the process of deciding what to do tomorrow. Lots of history in this area. 

 



Staying put-January 28, 2013

We spent most of yesterday studying the weather because the local forecasts were horrible. We got up early this morning, our scheduled day to leave here, and watched the weather and studied websites. We elected to stay put for two more days. We are not excited about doing that, but the forecast of blowing dirt across I-10 in Arizona really discouraged us. Tucson had so much rain in one storm they had roads that washed out. The wind gusts both here and in Arizona are predicted to reach 50 mph tomorrow. So, either we had a brief moment of common sense or we are just plain chicken, but we decided to stay two more days. Bummer, but it's life. We did have a wonderful lunch today at Pecan Street Grill. Just delightful. We walked all the way around a mall and then walked all of a Sam's store. So we got our exercise. And speaking of exercise a dove decided to try to end its life on one of our living room windows. It was so loud we did not know what had happened. We went out to check on it and saw that it left an imprint on our window with its wings fully extended. And what a horrible headache the creature must have had. It was at least 20 minutes before he could fly away. And while I have your attention, please allow me to add something I forgot to tell you from Johnson City, Texas. They have a ranch there where you can rent a home for a vacation. It's called Lighthouse Hill Ranch. One of the houses really got my attention.

Rental is $640 per night, 2 people, 2 night minimum, $200 cleaning deposit.

Let me know if you want to stay here and I will give you the number.

 

 

Rio Grande River-January 26, 2013

We went back to Mesilla today for lunch. We did go to the store where we bought Rocky. They have no other creatures like him anymore. His family is gone!! On the way back we stopped to take pictures of the Rio Grande River. The plaque has two sides, but I will just show you the first side. It says enough.

 

 

 

Jerry is standing in the middle of the river.

 

 

Now I'm standing in the middle of the river taking this picture.

 



Are you surprised? We were totally shocked. It has to be this way at El Paso, too. There was too much polution for us to see the river there. There is no way physically for there to be water there if there is no water here. Now we know why immigration is so easy at the Texas/Mexico border.



 

Have a very blessed Sunday.

Las Cruces, NM-January 25, 2013

We made it safely to Las Cruces today. What beautiful weather awaited us. This is where we bought Rocky so we felt he deserved a trip home for a few days. Everybody likes to go home once in a while. It was so much fun to see the beautiful mountains of west Texas, and yes they do have mountains. In fact, El Paso sits at 4000 ft in elevation. It is, hands down, the dirtiest city we have gone through on this trip. It edged out Salt Lake City which was the dirtiest until today. I'll share a few pictures.

Davis Peak, 8340 ft in elevation.

 

An overpass we saw today. It is painted, not made with rocks.

 

 

La Posta de Mesilla. This was our goal for dinnter tonight.

Fabulous food, great service. It was a state stop in the mid 1800s.

 

 

I thought these clouds were pretty and unusual. I think they are altocumulus.

 

We're happy to be here for a few days. We thought we'd never get out of Texas, but we made it! Texas has more road and highway construction than any place we have been, but we have never seen the sides of the highways so litter-filled. Texas dropped the ball on that issue. 

 

 

 

Fort Stockton, TX-January 24, 2013

This is an overnight stop of necessity because we are tired. It was so windy today we rocked all the way down the road. It is 880 miles across Texas on I-10. We still have 246 miles left to go. It is truly a big state. We will click those off tomorrow, hopefully and prayerfully, and stop in Las Cruces, NM.
We're really hungry for some of that great Mexican food made with Hatch chilies. More tomorrow.

Marble Falls-January 23, 2013

Yesterday was a trip to Austin to take care of business. I was too tired from driving in that crazed city to blog about it. One day I will. We have never seen an interstate built like that in our lives. The engineers must have been sniffing something. Today we went to Marble Falls to check out a store we had seen coming in here a week ago. It was a great big huge store with lots of Texas things outside, too. We bought one little Christmas gift and walked for what seemed like miles.

This is a patio chair. It is huge and actually quite pretty. No way to

take this butterfly with us plus no place to put it to enjoy.

 

 

We stopped to go grocery shopping. Then we went to River City Grill to have lunch. It is on the Colorado River which, believe it or not, is not the same Colorado River that flows out of Colorado to California. Not sure where this one originates. The food was very good and the view was nice and restful.

 

 

 

 

We move on down the road tomorrow, still on our quest to get to Arizona. An observation I made today: Texas has more private residents who, on their own private property, fly their state flag. We have not seen this in any other state we visited. In all other states you see a state flag here and there, but nothing like Texas. They're everywhere. It is a really pretty flag so I see what they want to show it off. 



Chrome Steer-January 22, 2013

A Chrome Steer west of town.

 

  

I zoomed in so you could see what he is made of

and I ended up cutting off his nose. Sorry. I think he is mostly car parts.

 

We headed to Fredericksburg to have lunch at the Old German Bakery. Jerry had potato pancakes and I had German chicken salad. Both were good. Then we walked and walked and walked until we thought we could not walk anymore. It was about 75 degrees and we were seeking shade. We did manage to get a few little Christmas gifts bought. We had planned to go to Austin today until we heard about the MLK march on the capital. We decided to go to Fredericksburg instead. We had a good day and got plenty of exercise. There's just too much to see and do here. We will either have to stay longer or catch the remainder on our next trip through here. 

Busy Day at LBJ-January 19, 2013

I have already stated how we felt about LBJ, but we did want to see where he lived before and after his presidency. It is known as the Texas White House and it's actually in Stonewall, Texas. It is massive and it is beautiful. We drove through the entire ranch and it took a long time.

The front of the Johnson home.

 

 

 

The rear of the Johnson home.

 

  

This is what LBJ called Air Force One-Half. He flew the 707 Air Force One to Austin, then

took this Lockheed jet to his home. The runway allowed for the plane to deliver him right up

to the back of the house. He spent 25% of his time while he was in office at this ranch. Very nice.

 

 

Standing in front of the house overlooking the Pedernales River.

In person this is an incredible view. We both completely understand why he loved

coming home to this ranch. It is extraordinary.

 

The amount of memorabilia this man left behind is astronomical and extremely interesting. One thing he did was to have visitors to the ranch write their name in 12 inch blocks of concrete. He called them friendship stones. It was so much fun to see all the famous people who had visited this ranch. Several astronauts, country singers, foreign leaders, etc had signed those stones. What a clever idea. He also loved giving gifts so there was a room full of the gifts left over after he died. Just fascinating. This was such a fun and different place to visit. We are so glad we took the time to tour this ranch. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local sights-January 18, 2013

Lyndon Johnson's boyhood home. This is on display in downtown Johnson City. Compated to Elvis' home which we saw not too long ago, this is a mansion.

 

  

  

Johnson City hall. Almost all downtown buildings are made of limestone mined from local quarries. We were stunned at the number of limestone quarries as well as the size of them. A large number of houses are also built of the local limestone.

 

    

 

Miller Creek. This park is located beside this creek which is large enough to be called a river. It appears calm but you can really hear the flow of the water. I bet in the summer when everything is green this is a really pretty sight. It's not bad with everything wearing winter brown.

Johnson City, TX-January 17, 2013

We made our way here today. So far we really like it. The humidity is so low we can almost call it dry. Love it! This is Lyndon B Johnson's hometown. We are not now nor ever have been a fan of his, but we do want to see his home if we can. He was a part of history. We are in the hill country of Texas. Quite a change from the flat land of Dallas and surrounding areas. It's quite pretty. I hope we find lots of fun things to share in this blog.

Dr. Pepper Museum-January 16, 2013

 

 

This was a fun stop today. We did not know that Dr. Pepper started in Waco and is the oldest soft drink company in the country. In the 1800s the only place where Dr. Pepper could be purchased was in Waco. So, it stands to reason they should have a musuem to this drink. The museum was built in 1906. It's in great shape for a building that old. People should be so lucky. The man credited with putting this product on the map was W.W. "Foots" Clements. Born and raised in Alabama, he was a graduate of the University of Alabama. He started as a salesman and worked his way up to President and CEO of the company.

 

Do you remember these clocks? I found it impossible to take a

picture with all three lights lit.

 

 

I did not post a blog yesterday. We woke up and found the coach was covered with a sheet of ice along with the front steps and the ground around us. The high reached 34°. So we spent the day indoors trying to stay warm! It's much nicer today. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cute eggs-January 14, 2013

Look at these cute eggs

 

 

They are a little blurry, but you still get the picture. They have stamps of the state of Texas on them. I find that adorable. They are still just ordinary eggs but cute as can be.

 

It is so cold our brains are not working well. This morning at about 5:00 AM we had pellets of graupel (a meteorological term) that changed to rain while it was only 37° outside. Oh my goodness. We have checked weather everywhere and there's no place right now that's better than here. So we are going to tough it out until Wednesday or Thursday before we move to another city. We had lunch at Collins Street Bakery. It was very, very good. This is a bakery that started in Corsicana, Texas and has been in business for a very long time. We have driven past them before but never had a chance to stop. So glad we did. 

Village Bakery-January 12, 2013

The Village Bakery in West, Texas

 

This is the oldest all Czech bakery in the state of Texas, turning 61 years old this year. Everybody needs a claim to fame I suppose. The food is very similar to German food, but not exactly the same. We bought cream cheese Kolaches at this bakery and also tried one ham and cheese Kolache. Delicious! Then we stopped at another bakery to browse. They had a ball of filled bread called "skunk eggs" so we asked. The young girl behind the counter said they had chicken, jalapenos, and "a bunch of other nasty stuff". The way she snarled her diamond studded nose kept us from even wanting one. It was worth asking. West is another of those little old towns that are dying a miserable death, one business at a time. There were very few businesses left. Many empty buildings line the cute main street. So sad. It has been muggy and raining today. The wind has turned now and it's coming from the north so cold weather should arrive shortly. Not sure which is worse, hot, muggy and rainy weather or cold, windy but dry weather. Neither is pleasant in north central Texas. We may not last a week here even though we have some more places we want to see. Here's wishing you all a very blessed day tomorrow. Enjoy some rest. 

Alvarado, TX-January 11, 2013

We got up early and headed north to Alvarado. We spent the entire day at one motorhome dealership. When we left we were not biting what he offered. So, we came home to the same coach. We are exhausted so we are in for the evening. Tomorrow the weather is supposed to turn nasty. We wanted to go into the town of West and see what Czech food is. We hope the weather is good enough to do that.

Waco, TX-January 10, 2013

Technically we are in West, Texas, just north of Waco. West is a city, not a direction. The only reason we changed our planned trip and headed north is that Alvarado has a ton of huge RV dealers that we wish to browse through. Alvarado is about 40 miles from here. We did not want to stay in that city because the traffic is insane. We'll head up that way tomorrow as early as we can get up. We had sunshine for a few minutes today but it's now cloudy here. It feels great to get out of San Marcos and all that rain. This is a Czechoslavakian community. Did I spell that correctly? They have several Czech restaurants and bakeries. We will check them out as soon as we get time. Our first priority for the next week is to seriously try to find a newer motorhome. But food is important, too!

What a NIght-January 9, 2013

After an unbelievable night and only two hours of sleep, we are not doing anything special today. We may, for the first time in our lives, actually take a nap. Our electricity went off last night at 10:20. The storm raged outside and it got cold and damp inside. The office does not open until 10:00 AM so we were without power for a very long time. We can run off of a genertor but all parks do not allow a generator running at night. Too noisy. The camp worker came by and found that our 50 amp breaker, along with the 30 amp breaker on the same electrical box, were blown probably from overheating. They were still warm to the touch this morning. So, the electrical box has all new parts and we are up and running fine now. We were probably very fortunate that the breaker blew when it did though it was in the middle of the storm. The noise from the storm and the lack of power made us very uncomfortable. Therefore we paced the floor and sat in the dark. We did use our iPhones for a while to check on the news and weather. It is still overcast today so we will wait to leave until the sun comes out tomorrow. Sunshine makes a difference in many ways. So, if you have sunshine today, enjoy it and be grateful.

Water logged-January 8, 2013

Today is Elvis' 78th birthday. Wonder what he would have looked like at this age?

We were under extreme weather warnings last night with large hail and massive amounts of street flooding. It did not materialize, thank goodness. The last weather report says it is still coming. So we will not be moving on tomorrow as we planned. We have no desire to see if this barge floats. We'll have to see what tomorrow holds.

Have a great evening.

These pictures wouldn't post yesterday-Jan 6, 2013

Restoration Hardware at the upscale outlet mall we visited yesterday. Look at the statues on the top of the building. Did you ever see that at an outlet mall?

 

 

Neiman-Marcus outlet store. Very nice building. Very nice store.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outlet Mall-January 5, 2013

We went to New Braunfels to a motorhome dealer. Nothing there. So, we stopped at the high end outlet mall in San Marcos. This is not your usual Tanger outlet. All of these stores are expensive and they do not sell seconds. The items are only discounted a little off of full retail. Michael Kors had a few handbags close to $300, the rest were way above that. I did not buy one. Feragamo had shoes for as low as $385, the rest were higher. I did not buy any. In fact Jerry asked me if the price was for one shoe or two? The Prada store was much higher. I did not buy anything. Jerry said we could not even afford a coat hanger in there. Neiman-Marcus we could afford. Bought one item off the clearance rack! Pottery Barn we bought two tiny items for future gift giving, both on 60% off clearance shelf. Restoration Hardware is where we found some wonderful and fun things. However we'd have to buy a cargo trailer to store the stuff in. So, we left with nothing. We walked the entire mall and for the most part we enjoyed it. It is not like shopping at an outlet mall at all. Fun and great exercise after having been stuck inside for days while it poured rain. Nice day with tiny glimpses of blue sky.


Note: Before we arrived here, this area had been without rain for 81 days. They were parched. We roll in and it starts raining just like it has almost this entire adventure. We are thinking of starting a business so that if a town needs rain, they hire us, we stay for a week or two and watch the rain roll in! Easy way to make money.

Naegelin's-January 3, 2013

Year's ago on the Travel Channel we saw Naegelin's in New Braunfels mentioned as a "must visit" place. We made a note of it and today we found it and went inside. Naegelin's is the oldest bakery in the state of Texas. It opened in 1868. Opening that door and breathing in the fresh baked smells put 5 pounds on me and clogged the arteries in half of my body!! But, oh how it was worth it. I cannot even tell you all of the goodies in that shop. The delightful young lady who waited on us could tell us in detail about every morsel in the display case. And we wanted to try every one of them. However, we showed restraint and only bought enough to last until Monday! I have been craving a Bavarian cream filled donut for over a year. I got one today and it was worth the wait. On the way back we drove through the high end outlet mall they have here so we could see if we want to go back. We do and hopefully we will get there in the next couple of days. It is just way too cold to walk for very long in this weather. Mid 40s today and tomorrow. No sun. Some sleet in spots. We hate to stay indoors but it's not fit for a polar bear outside.

Barbecue in Lockhart-January 2, 2013

Where did 2012 go?

We went to Lockhart for barbecue today. There are four unique barbecue "joints" in that city. We chose Black's based solely on the number of cars parked out front, both local and out of state cars. It was definitely worth our time. What fabulous food. I had turkey as barbecue in Texas is beef, not pork and I'm not a big beef eater. I have never had such delicious turkey. My dessert looked odd. At first I thought it was pecan praline bread pudding. Then I realized it was closer to a pecan praline cobbler. Gracious me, it was out of this world. I could not begin to put away all of my serving so Jerry helped me eat it. Poor baby, I forced him to eat that incredible dessert! He did not complain.

They work really hard in Texas! Can you tell?

After lunch we drove around a bit and found the county courthouse. A picture does not do this building justice. It is so pretty with what appears to be flawless stone work. This is one of those old cities that has a courthouse square in the center of town and the traffic flows around it.

Outstanding building. Caldwell County courthouse in Lockhart, Texas

 

It is nasty and cold outside today. We prefer for it to be a little warmer, but it is what it is. Arizona is looking better every day.