Albuquerque again

We have started back east now and yesterday I blogged that we were in Albuquerque, but I was wrong!!! After being on the road for almost a month I forget where I am. We were actually in Flagstaff, AZ. We are now in Albuquerque at the same campground we stayed at heading west. I have good wifi here. Most of our time these past two days has been spent driving so nothing too exciting to report. We drove through Indian country again and I don't know how the Indians survived when they were driven here by the white government. We have reservations tomorrow in Amirillo, Texas and after that Gary has made resevations for us at a State Park near him. I'm adding the picture of the Indian I took a picture of on the way west. Of course, he isn't real but we have seen a lot of real Indians mostly at the casinos and in San Antonio.

California

Well today we reached our destination of California. We left our campground in Nevada and drove approximately 30 miles into California to the town of Needles. The town of Needles is about as poor a town as we have seen. We had planned to have lunch in California, but when we got to this sad town, we decided to head back to the campground. We eventually had lunch at the casino in one of their grills. I'm proud of myself, I didn't play the slots at all. Earlier today I spent my time doing laundry. We start heading east tomorrow having reservations in Albuqueque. We have also decided that we will stop in to see Gary Morris in Texas on the way home.

Hoover Dam and Las Vegas

The campground we are staying at in Laughlin, Nevada is on Majove Indian Reservation land and is one of the nicest we have been in. There are palm trees, shade trees and tiki huts scatered all through the area. This morning Gigi and I walk early and watched the sun rise over the mountains. It was cool, but still pleasant. This is run by the Majove Indian Tribe. There are 260 sites and not a bad one here. We went to the casino buffet last night and were seated by the window with a view of the Colorado River. The buffet was a lot better than the Golden Corral. The choices were almost unlimited. After dinner it was off to the casino and I played the penny machine. I lost a total of $8. Jay doesn't like to play the slots. This morning we headed for the Hoover Dam. It's approximately 90 miles from the campground so we took Gigi with us this time because I felt it was too far for me to be comfortable about her. There is a security check before you actually are allowed to drive onto the dam. It is a random check and of course, we got pulled over for checking. The Hoover Dam is an engineering marvel. I took a lot of pictures. On the way out of the area we called Roger and Jenny to see how they were doing and where they were. They were just coming into Albuquerque, NM. They went to the painted desert and the pertified forest. Unfortunately, on the way they had a flat time on the truck in the middle of nowhere and had to wait and hour and a half for AAA to arrive. Other than that, they're fine.

We headed for Las Vegas after leaving the dam. It is only 25 miles away. I took lots of pictures and wanted to take more, but my camera disc was full. I took it to a CVS to upload the pictures, but the machines they have will not read my card. It's off to the buffet tonight and more gambling for me. We have another day here and then it's on the road again.

Williams Az - Laughlin, NV

We awoke this morning to 23 degrees and a frozen water line. Jay had to get up much earlier than he would like to defrost the line. At least the wind had died down. Yesterday I swear we had gusts of 40 mph. We were finally able to leave the campground at 9:20 am and hit the road for Nevada. The ride here was uneventful until we hit the town of Laughlin. We did drive through the town of Kingman, Az where Bruce and Cheryl live. We stopped at a mini-mart for snacks. The town is nice, but out in the middle of nowhere, which some people like. The Town of Laughlin is just like a mini Las Vegas. As mentioned before, it was bikey week here and they were all leavng town. Quite the site. After a fashion and an augument with Tom Tom we found the KOA Campground. It is larger than any we have stayed at so far. Quite nice as most KOA's are. A really good thing about it is there is a casino right outside the gate, within easy walking distance. They also, in the casino, have quite a few restaurants and I think that sounds like a pretty good idea for tonight.

Williams Az.

Today is Saturday and we had planned to leave Williams and head further west today, but the circumstances have forced us to change plans. When Jay called ahead to our next destination in Nevada he was told that it would cost $60 night and it was bike week there. We decided to stay and extra day here in Williams. The weather here has been cold and windy for a couple of days and this morning temp in the low 50's and very windy. Would rather be leaving here but will tough it out for one more day. Roger, Jenny and Benny will be leaving today and heading east. We will continue west with plans to go to Las Vegas and California. After that we will make decisions as we go along. I have included a picture of the monks that I took on the Grand Canyon tour. My internet connection here at this campground has be unreliable so was unable to include it in my last post, but thought it worth added to this one. Have no specific plans for today after we say goodbye to our traveling companions. We are considering the Grand Canyon train.

Grand Canyon

The time changes are really effecting men. We are now in Pacific Time, but my body is still in Eastern Daylight time. As a result, I was up Thursday morning at 4:30 a.m. After the usual morning routine we drove the 59 miles from Williams to the Grand Canyon. When we were at the entrance gate we used the Senior Passes we bought in Carlsbad, NM. The pass cost us $10 and allows us free entry into any National Park, Monument even Corp of Engineers and Bureau of Land Management site. The pass save us $85 dollars just yesterday. The entrance fee at the Grand Canyon is $25 per vehicle and $12 per person. With 5 persons in the truck was saved a lot. After a visit to the information center, we decided to take the free bus tour of the canyon. The bus stops at nine different sites allowing many views of the landscape. There is no possible way to describe the vista there it's just something you have to see for yourself. I took so many pictures at each stop I hope I'll be able to remember which picture goes with which stop.

We have met and seen many people on this trip, but today I think we saw the most unusual. On our bus were three Tibetian Monks. I asked if they would allow me to take thier picture and their guide said yes and if I told them they were handsome, they would smile. He also explained that they eat only one meal a day and that must be consumed before noon. They did not speak to me but seems to understand. We had lunch at a cafeteria in the canyon and the food was very good. As most of you know, I am known as the "food snob". We wandered through the gift shops and then headed back to the campground. All in all a great day.

Albuquerque - Williams Az

Yesterday we drove to the Best Buy and brought my ailing computer. The Geek Squard took it in and in less than 5 minutes, pronounced that the hard drive was dead! Since it is less than one year old I expected them to fix it, but unfortunately the company the produced it is responsible for repairing it. I would have to contact Acer and they would send me a new hard drive. Of course, being on the road that's impossible. As soon as I get back to Zhills, I'll be on the phone like a crazy person. In the meantime, I bought a new laptop. This time I bought a Toshiba. Jenny and Benny spent the afternoon in Old Town. I wasn't in the mood to shop as I had just blown my lunch at the Best Buy. Jay and Roger stayed at the campground with me while I played with the new computer. We left Albuquerque about 8:45 this morning and headed for Williams, Arizona. The Grand Canyon is in this area and tomorrow we will be heading up there. As we drove here we passed through Navajo and Hopi Indian territory. The landscape changes constantly from mountians, desert and everything in between. We stopped at a roadside Indian store and the merchandise ranged from the very expensive to just plain junk. I did take a couple of pictures of Indians and will try to get them uploaded and on my next blog. We are now in the campground in Williams and the sky is as black as a Florida thunderstorm. It's raining a little and the wind is blowing, but not any kind of problem.

Calsbad, New Mexico

Our stay in Calsbad was well worth the drive to New Mexico. The campground is one of the frendliest we have encountered so far. How many campgrounds give you candy? On our second day, Sunday, we drove to Calsbad National Park and to Carlsbad Caverns. The vistas in the national park are breathtaking. We were in the Guardalope Mountains. When we got to the Caves, we bought a national pass which gives us and three other persons free access to any national park, monument, etc. A great bargain. I don't think I have the words to describe the caverns. I had no expectations as to what I would see, so I was amazed. At times I felt like I was in a catheral. Each and every formation is unique unto itself, each more beautiful than the last. After all that beauty, it was back to the mundane. Laundry!!
We left the campground this morning at 9:45 am and headed for Albuquerque on Rt. 285 north, which took us through Roswell. We looked and looked for Aliens, but no luck. As we drove through this area we saw a billboard advertising a mortician! Creamations $95.00 - funeral with casket $1,395.00!!! We were surprised that Roswell is as large as it is. All the other towns we drove through are poor looking and no where I would ever consider living. We had to gas up and did so in a town called "Clines Corner " . The elevation there is 7200 feet. Along with that amazing number was the cost of gas, $2.49 a gallon! We arrived here in Albuquerque about 3:45 pm. On our way here we spotted a Best Buy, so tomorrow we're bringing my computer there to see if they can fix it. Keep your fingers crossed that it is something minor.

Calsbad, New Mexico

We left the campground from HELL this morning and drove about 138 miles to Calsbad, New Mexico. The temperature this morning was 47 degrees forcing us to put on the heat. The drive here through Texas into NM covers terrain which is so different from Florida or the northeast. Made me think of all the cowboy movies I have seen. We're at a really nice campground here and the weather is great. 80 degrees now, but will go down considerably at night. There is a prariee dog here that is teasing us. We're trying to get his picture but he is very cleaver and ducks into his hole every time. Made a trip to Wal-mart to restock groceries and a packie run for booze. There is a campfire tonite and they are providing the marshmellows and showing a movie, "Marley and Me". We're off to the Calsbad Caverns tomorrow.

Still in Texas

This blog is being written on Jenny's computer because mine had crashed and burned!!!! We spent yesterday back in San Antonio at a really great market place. Everything Mexican you could possible want. I fell in love with a piece of yard art and I'm sure I will be the only one in Grand Horizons with one of these. We had lunch twice in San Antonio and mexican was about all we could get. I've had enough mexican for a while, even though I did enjoy it. We left this morning and drove approximately 300 miles to Fort Stockton. Our first impression of this place is negative and are happy we will be leaving tomorrow morning heading to Calsbad, New Mexico. We will be checking out the caves and whatever else is in the area.

San Antonio & The Alamo

We left the campground about 10:00 am and drove into San Antonio. Our first stop was a tour of the Alamo. It is an amazing historic site and I found it fascinating. Pictures are allowed to be taken outside, but not inside. Every area has a volunteer to explain what you are seeing and later on an historian gave a talk outside explaining the story of the Alamo. To a Yankee like me, it was all eyeopening. Jim Bowie showed up carrying his Bowie knife and was gracious enough to have his picture taken with me. After the Alamo tour, we walked to Riverwalk. This area is called the Venice of Texas. A river runs through the area and shops and restaurants are all over the place. We took a boat tour which was narrated by a very well informed gentleman. As luck would have it, also today in San Antonio was a tax revolt "Tea Party". I took some pictures of the protest which wasn't quite in full swing by the time we left. Traffic was getting pretty bad.

All in all, we had a great time in town. Dinner tonight is Pork Chops, apple sauce, green beans and french bread. Watermelon for dessert. Hardly roughing it!!!

Padre Island

Yesterday we finally got a beach day and spent it on Parde Island. The beached there are very different from what I am used to. You can actually drive your car/truck onto the beach which is great when you have all kinds of "stuff" to bring. The surf was pretty high, and the water temp was quite cool for the gulf. A lot of people were surfing and wind sailing. We three girls just sunned ourselves and enjoyed the scenery. The air temp was close to 88 so naturally, we all got too much sun. I got a chance to use my sun umbrella. Tried to put it into the sand, but the sand is so hard it was impossible to get it in deep enough. Luckily, there is a hole in the arms of my sand chair so it fit in there very nicely, until a strong wind can along and turned it inside out. I'm attaching a picture of some of our fellow beachgoers. We are now in San Antonio, Texas and will be here for a few days. The weather is wonderful right now.

USS Lexington - Corpus Christie

The weather this Sunday morning was not too promising. It was cool and windy and certainly not a beach day. We decided to tour the USS Lexington Aircraft Carrier which is retired in Corpus Christie. This ship is vintage WWII and really was interesting. I realize that this is a small carrier when compared to the newest ones, but it's history is fascinating. They have preserved it like a museum with all kinds of pictures, histories and even a movie theater. The movie was "Magic of Flight", which gave a brief history of man's endeavor to learn to fly and it's relationship with the aircraft carriers. A person could get lost in all of the corridors and levels. We got our exercise for sure. When the tour was over, the weather had changed to a beautiful day. Perhaps tomorrow we get to go to the beach at Padre Island.

Corpus Christi Texas

We left Beaaumont,, Texas approximately 8:45 am and traveled approximately 300 miles. Driving through Houston was an experience. There are so many roads that cross over and under each other that without Tom-Tom we could have been in big trouble. Texas certainly is BIG. We drove for hours seeing nothing but flat land. We saw a couple of working oil wells a lot of cattle and an occassional town here and there. We arrived here in Corpus Christi about 2:30 p.m and waited for Roger to arrive about an hour later. Jay found a great store called H-E-B and he fell in love. Seems they blow Wal-mart out of the water. According to him, you could spend a week in there. They have demonstrations going on, an old fashioned meat market where they cut the meat to order. He bought four rib-eye steaks which we had for dinner last night. I had to do laundry this mmorning, so about 7:00 am, I got it done. This morning is very humid and cloudy. Not much of a beach day so must come up with an alternative plan. The USS Lexington is here and open for tours, so may go there. We'll see what the day brings.

New Orleans

We arrived in New Orleans last Monday actually staying in Covington, LA. Covington is about an hour north of New Orleans and the ride into the city was interesting. We had to cross the longest bridge in the USA--a 24 mile bridge that crosses Lake Pontachaine. Lake Pontachaine was the lake that flooded New Orleans when the levees broke during Katrina. We started out walking the french quarter and I must say, I have never seen so many characters in one place!! The archetecture is beautiful lots of iron work. We had drinks at Jimmy Buffets and Jay ordered alligator, which he and the others seemed to like. There are street musicians all over the city and they are very entertaining. I had to have beignets, so we went to the most famous coffee and beignet shop in New Orleans. Delicious!! Cafe O'lea too. That's all they serve. We later had drinks at Pat O'Briens in an out door courtyard. Very nice. We drove back to the campground and I was concerned as to how Gigi was doing. This was the first time we left her for any length of time, but she was fine. The next day, Wednesay, it was back to New Orleans with the intention of taking a Grayline tour of the city. We had picked up a brouchre saying they had a tour leaving at 11:30 am. False Advertising!!! No tour until 2:00! We decided to take a buggy tour, which instead of horse drawn, they are pulled by mules! The law in the City of New Orleans says they must use mules because they are stronger than horses and can tolerate the heat of the city better. We learned a lot of history. The driver told us of free ferry across the Mississippi river so all but Jay decided to walk to the ferry. Long walk for a short ride. The market place on the river was great and bought a sweat shirt. A local restaurant was recommended and we went there and the line was out on the street. Jay was determined to try a po-boy. He loved it. I guess it's quite famous having pictures of a lot of famous people on the walls. We saw Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's home and Nickolas Cage's home too. I highly recommend seeing New Orleans if you get the chance. We are now in Beaumont, Texas for one night and tomorrow we go on to Corpus Christi.

Biloxi, Miissippi

We woke to a foggy cool morning. After breakfast and a lot of wasting time, we girls headed out for the Casino. We got a ride from Jay which eliminate trying to park. We decided on the Beau Riva rd Casino which I've been hearing about for a while. The place is spectacular!!! After figuring out the system, all credits, we started on the 5 cent machines. I started out strong, but ended up losing about $40 when all was said and done. Jenny, on the other hand won $50!! She knows enough to quit when she is ahead. Benny was a loser like me. That place is so modern that there are no cashiers. You do everything by machine. Break bills, cash in winnings, etc.
All in all, we had a good time. Jay in the meantime has taken care of dinner tonight. We're having roast beef, mashed potatoes, veggies and french bread. It will be prepared using the NuWave oven. Tomorrow it's off to New Orleans.

Florida Panhandle & Mississippi

We left Zephyrhills about 9:00 am on Friday and had an uneventful 5 hour drive to the Chattahoocee RV Campground. This has to be the b est value in the State of Florida. With our Passport America Card we paid a total of $8.22. We had water, sewer and electric. No cable or any other television, but we were only there one night. I spent the majority of my time pulling cockelberrys off Gigi. Rhett no so much as he will stay on Jenny's lap. We woke to a cool morn ing, had a nice breakfast with Roger, Jenny & Benny and we were on our way by 9:00. Along
Highway 10 still in Florida, we spotted a fawn along the highway grazing. Sure hope he/she got back home. In Pennsacola on most of the overpass structures are carving of the Blue Angels planes. Quite impressive. Also, in this area at the rest stops are the planes suspended in flight.
Into Alabama. The only thing I saw in that state that impressed me, was a tunnel under the City of Mobil. Into the State of Mississippi. We arrived at our campground--Martin LakeResort. Haven't been here too long, but my impression is this is a redneck weekend get-a-way. Tomorrow it's off to the casino in Biloxi.