Home Sweet Arizona

We arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park on Thursday afternoon, the 15th.  To say the least we were excited and thrilled to be in Arizona!  Wide open spaces, blue skies and wonderful sunshine.  The temperature is running in the low 70 to mid 70's with cool nights.

We, of course saw Brian, Kelly & Sammy the day we arrived and had Thanksgiving dinner with them.

The day after we arrived they had a volunteer potluck dinner. It was great meeting everyone and enjoying food, fellowship and a few drinks by the fire.  As yet, we haven't made a connection with a few people to have our "5 o'clock" cocktails with, but that will come in time.

Last Sunday we were in class all day to learn how to be "trail guides".  Basically that is how to follow a group and be there to handle emergencies or take someone out of the cave if necessary.  T wasn't thrilled about having to trail, but he got himself trained to drive a tram and he loves that.  We've been here a little over a week and are still trying to get into the swing of things.  There is a great deal to learn and schedules "must be adhered to".  That's a new thing for the both of us.  We haven't been on a schedule in over a year.  I'm even having to wear a watch to be sure I meet the tours on time.  I haven't worn a watch in 10 years!  At the end of the day we are exhausted.  Most of you are thinking, "Working 6 hours! How can you be tired?"  I know it seems crazy.  Remember, we are "old" LOL.

The nearest town, Benson, is about 15 minutes away and it's quite small.  That's also an adjustment.  We are hoping to find a little coffee shop or cafe to visit once a week, like we did up in Maine.  We have the next three days off, so we'll be scouting out the area for a coffee shop, special place to dine and to see  the sites.

Maybe next week I'll have some pictures to post.

San Antonio and Westward

Nov 7 - 9 San Antonio, TX

I'm going to try to tell you more about the places we visit in the hopes that you find that a bit more interesting and possibly learn a more than you did about where ever it is we were.  I would love to get your feedback as to wether you find this boring or informative.

We stayed at Fort Sam Houston FAM Camp.  Most military facilities have an RV park, commonly called FAM CAmp, which is open to active duty & retired military, as well as other government workers.  

Fort Sam Houston is a U.S. Army post in San Antonio, Texas. Known colloquially as "Fort Sam," it is named for the first President of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston. Fort Sam covers 400 acres and was established in 1845.

This on-base museum traces the history of the U.S. Army post from 1845 to the present. The base is a living landmark itself, with over 900 historic structures including the Quadrangle (where Geronimo was once held), the Pershing House and the Eisenhower House (both named after the renowned generals that lived there). 

Shame on us for not visiting the museum!  Next time.

The Alamo

There is so much to see and do in this city.  We didn't even come close to taking it all in.  We started our visit at the Alamo, which is where every visit to San Antonio begins.  If you've never been to the Alamo and are going through San Antonio, it is a "must see".  You'll be surprised to find it in the middle of the city amongst the hustle and bustle.  We did a self guided walking tour that brought us  to the Menger Hotel.  This hotel was built in 1859 and eventually expanded to cover an entire city block.  Walking into the hotel is like walking back in time.  The three story victorian lobby is a sight to see.

St. Joseph's Catholic Church

We then visited ST. Joseph's Catholic Church, built in 1876.  The stain class was exquisite.  From there we walked over to La Villita, which means little village.  We wandered through the  village and watched them make scented wax at ScentChips USA.  I had seen their catalogs and thought it was a huge company.  It's a small little shop where the scents are made on site.  We walked along the River Walk for several hours and enjoyed a late lunch at Cafe Rio.   

The River Walk is an unusual urban sanctuary that winds along the San Antonio river in central San Antonio, one story below the bustling street level.  The lush landscapes, quaint pathways, tinkling waterfalls, quiet pools, outdoor art and relaxing outdoor patios evoke the renowned public spaces of Europe.  It started as the vision of a young architect, in 1929, has grown, over the decades, into one of the world's most distinctive meeting places.

The River Walk

Nov 10 -11 - Lakehills, TX

Where the hell is Lakehills, TX you might ask.  It's about an hour and a half west of San Antonio.  We stayed at Medina Lakes Thousand Trails RV Resort.  It's back off the freeway out in the desert hills.  I was excited to be staying here because it was right on the lake and I could go fishing.  Boy was I surprised when we got there and found the lake was dry and had been for 3 years.  It was sad to see.  We didn't get to see the dam and of course didn't go fishing.  We did meet a nice couple from Panorama Village, TX, Nancy & Bill.

Medina Lake is a reservoir on the Medina River in the Texas Hill Country of the United States.  Medina Dam was completed in 1913.  It is a crescent-shaped reservoir running west to east. It is 18 miles (29 km) long and 3 miles (5 km) wide at its broadest point. It is contained by the Medina Dam at the lake's south end. At the time of the dam's construction, it was the largest concrete dam in the country and the fourth largest dam overall. The dam is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Nov 12 - Sonora, TX

You know you've been married a long time when you both forget your anniversary!  Today T & I were  married 45 Years.  We didn't even think about it until we were on the road headed to Sonora TX.  

We stayed at the Caverns of Sonora RV Park. As RV parks go it isn't much to talk about.  However, the reason we stayed here was to see the caverns and they were worth the drive.  The only thing at this location is the caverns and a gift shop.  We did get to see a lot of wild turkeys roaming around and if you've never seen wild turkeys....

Nov 13 - Balmorhea, TX

We stayed at Saddleback Mountain RV Park out on I-10.  It was a place to stop.  There is a state park down the road, but T sprung an oil leak in the truck and spent the afternoon trying to figure out how to repair it.  Molly and I went for a walk. 

Nov 14 - Vado, NM

What possessed me to pick this place?  Well I was trying to pick RV parks about 200 miles apart on I-10.  This just happened to be about 200 miles west of Balmorhea.  After getting the rig setup, we realized we were only about 15 miles out of Los Cruces.  The Western Skys RV Park is a dump!  We definitely would not stay here again.   There were several much nicer places to stay in Los Cruces.  We'll know for next time.

Just outside of Los Cruces is a little town called Mesilla.  I found this place with my iPhone app, Roadside America.   There were several "things of interest" in this area.  One is  the place where Billy the Kid was placed in jail. Now a gift shop.  Another was the "Stabbed Lovers Haunted Restaurant",  Off we went to Mesilla to see what it was all about.  We found the quaint town square and several little shops around the square:  The Billy the Kid gift shop, a place called "Pastashios and Wine" and  place that sold fresh fudge. We stumbled upon the Basilica of San Albino.

It has the distinction of being established in Mexico, and is now located in the United States. The first church on the site was built in 1852; the current structure was built in 1906, and is one of the oldest churches in the region. 

Basilica of San Albino

We also found the "Stabbed Lovers Haunted Restaurant", though the real name is Double Eagle.  The building is on the National Historic Registry. We celebrated our anniversary here with a nice meal.  The restaurant was beautiful inside and the area where we were seated was quite romantic.

The outing was a success and kept us away from "the dump" RV park.  We got home after dark so we couldn't see how dumpy it was.  I forgot to take my camera! Can you believe it?!  So the pics were taken with my phone.

Bassfield, New Orleans, Houston

Oct 28 - Nov 6

Time just keeps flying by, here it is almost the middle of November.

We were in Bassfield, MS visiting our friends Chuck & Anita for a week.  As many of you know and some do not, when we are in Bassfield, getting on the Internet is a real challenge and most of the time we just don't try.  It is always great to visit Chuck and Anita though being so far removed from communications can be challenging.  In Bassfield you create your own entertainment.  T had a great time driving a Bob Cat helping Chuck clear the woods behind the house.  He was like a kid playing with a Tonka truck.

The first part of the week, we went over to New Orleans for a couple of days.  Heather was there for a trade show and we got to see her along with taking in a few of the sites.  We had dinner at K Paul's.  Excellent restaurant!

One interesting thing was the Jean Lafitte National Park is located within the French Quarter. Every National Park we've visited up to this one was some what out in the wilderness.  We took a walking tour with a NPS ranger through the French Quarter and a carriage ride to the famous St. Louis Cemetery, which was the first cemetery in New Orleans.  It was at one time twice it's current size.  Due to flooding through the years, many graves had to be moved.
 
We even went to Cafe Du Monde for beignets and coffee.   We loved everything about New Orleans except the visit to Cafe Du Monde.  The service was awful and the beignets we'd heard so much about were like sopaipillas though not near as good.  The four of us declared not to visit Cafe Du Monde again.  We also had lunch at Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company.   As you can tell New Orleans was about food.  I would definitely go back to New Orleans when I have more time.

Carriage Tour in French Quarter

French Quarter

We left Bassfield on Monday and spent the night outside of Lafayette, LA, in an RV Park called Frog City RV Park. If you were traveling on I-10 and went by the park it would be an okay place to spend the night.  Unfortunately, we were exhausted when we got there so we didn't get out and see anything in the area.

Nov 6

We arrived in Houston, TX and stayed at the All Star RV Resort.  Very pricey and  too close to the freeway.   T napped while I went exploring and found a few off the wall things to see in the 3 hours that I was out.

50 ft Saxophone made out of VW parts

Beer Can House

We had dinner with friends Heidi & Don.  Talked about good times and promised to stop the next time we come through.

October 17

Gosh!  Where did the month go?  Since I last posted, we've been in Florida.  We spent three weeks in the Tampa/Lakeland area, a week at Keaton Beach and are now in Perry visiting friends.  Here's a quick synopsis of our month.  

We had the opportunity to meet up with some old friends, Elke & Chuck, from Germany who were traveling in the US.  What a wonderful experience to get together and share a few meals and talk about our lives, our children and what we want to be when we grow up.  Even at our age, we think we'll  grow up one day.

Chuck & Elke at Jacksonville Beach,FL

 

I also got a chance to visit with my cousin, Bobby Jr. and we spent the afternoon talking genealogy, while our spouses tried to make conversation.  Debbie & T had never met before.  They were both very gracious in allowing Bobby and I to be so consumed with learning about our ancestors.

Greg, Leslie, Angie, Dave, Blake

Also while in the Tampa area we got to visit with a dear friend, Angie, who was once our neighbor when we lived in Niceville, Fl.  It was great visiting with Leslie, Angie's daughter, and her family.  Blake and Greg were there for a couple of days so we got to see them all and reminisce about when we all lived on St. Andrews street.  One day while there Dave, Leslie's husband took us on a boat ride on the Kissimmee River.  We saw eagles, egrets, turkey buzzards and herons.

A heron drying his wings.  What an interesting site.

Sunset at Keaton Beach

After 3 weeks of waiting for our new 5th wheel to arrive and have the extras installed, we left Tampa and went to Keaton Beach  Oh!  Did I forget to tell you be bought a new 5th Wheel trailer.  A Montana 3700RL, for those of you who might be interested

If you've never been to Keaton Beach, I would NOT recommend going out of your way unless you are a fisherman.  It's a sleepy and I do mean sleepy little fishing village.  There is one restaurant, a bait shop, 2 RV parks and the Gulf of Mexico.  It's a beautiful area, but other than seeing sunsets and fishing there isn't much to do.

Connecting With Friends & Family

Sept 5 - 17th

Our stay in Myrtle Beach has been fun.  We love reconnecting with friends & family and seeing how much things have changed since the last visit.   Both our mom's are doing well.  Mom has fully recovered from her surgery in May.  At 95 Mama Hills is still ticking right along.

There was some sadness on this visit as well.  My Aunt passed away.  I was able to attend the services and reconnect with many cousins that I haven't seen in years.  The funeral services were held at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Georgetown, SC.  The church was built in 1901.  I remember taking my first communion at St. Mary's.  My mother and father were married there.  So many memories...

We will be leaving Myrtle Beach tomorrow and after a brief visit with my sister in Darlington, we'll head south to Florida.

Blow Outs Cause A Lot Of Damage!

Sept 4,

After a wonderful weekend at the lake, we packed up and headed to Myrtle Beach on Tuesday.  On the way here we had a blow out on a tire on the trailer and man on man did it rip things up.   No damage to life or limb, but the trailer took a beating.  The fender ripped off and the slide out was bent and much was torn or destroyed under the rig.  It will cost over $2500 to repair.  Thank God we have insurance!  The real bummer in the whole thing is that we'll have to wait for the parts to arrive before the repairs can be done and that will take about 3 weeks.  So..., we may not make it down to Key West as we had hoped.  Such is life...

We are beginning to think there is a jinks to coming to Myrtle Beach.  Somehow we just can't come here and only stay a week or so.

That was then...  We've decided to buy a new rig.  We'd been thinking about it most of the summer and thought we'd do it sometime this winter.  With the damage to the trailer and dealing with the insurance company we decided now is the time.  So we'll be heading down to Tampa Fl toward the end of this week to get our new rig.  It changes our timing a bit, but that's the beauty of this life style.

Fun at Lake Wateree

We are having a great time at Lake Wateree near Camden, SC, especially Molly.  We'll be here all weekend.

Poor Molly.

The girls love the water.

Will doing acrobatics.

Lisa

T

Got T on/in a kayak for a brief amount of time.

An egret is a beautiful bird

Winter Workcamper Job!!!

We got the job at Kartchner Caverns State Park!!  We'll be there from December through mid April.  We are both excited about the prospect of living so close to Brian and Kelly and our friends in Phoenix.   We look forward to having a new and interesting work experience.  I'll be a lead tour guide in the caves as well as working at the gatehouse and meeting all kinds of people from all over the world.  T will probably work in maintenance and be a tram driver and various other things..

We'll be about 30 minutes from Brian and Kelly and about an hour from Tucson and about  3 hours from Phoenix.

If you've never been to Kartchner check out this link.  It's a fascinating and beautiful place.
http://azstateparks.com/parks/kaca/

Wine tasting in NC isn't like being at the Cellardoor

August 28

We went to Childress Winery here in Lexington, NC.  The property is beautiful and the building is magnificent.  T and I enjoyed most of the wines we tasted and even bought a few bottles to take with us.  However, the experience was nothing like being at the Cellardoor.  The feeling of being with friends and relaxing and enjoying the atmosphere just wasn't there.  Oh!  The people were nice enough, but Childress' wine tasting room isn't as cozy as Cellardoor and Childress charges a fee for the opportunity to taste their wines.  Now, I know that's normally what happens at most wineries.  It's just after visiting Cellardoor where the staff takes the time to educate you on their wines and tell you about what foods would go well with the wine, it's going to be hard to enjoy visiting other wineries.  I'll always be comparing things to the Cellardoor.

Childress Winery - Lexington, NC

None the less, I'll still be going to wineries and tasting wine. I'm open to suggestions!

Some of you may want to know if I had any luck with my genealogy search on my visit to Reidsville.  Sad to say, I did not.  I found no land records of my great grandfather, no death certificate and no obituary.  I read through almost 2 years worth of papers spanning the 2 months from the time of this death in both 1891 and 1892.  Newspapers were not anything like we have today.  You have to read almost the entire paper to find any comments about a death.  Obituaries were not grouped together.  I enjoyed reading the paper and was fascinated reading about politics in those days. Benjamin Harrison was president and the paper was full of the same political crap we listen to today.  Nothing changes.

North Carolina & Genealogy Reserach

T is loving being in the Carolinas.  Eating BBQ and fried catfish. The sun is shining and the weather is great, not too hot. Low 80's with a breeze where we are in Lexington, NC.

On our way to Lexington I went to Reidsville, NC to find the grave of my great grandfather.  It took a visit to the local library and a mortuary, but I found out where he was buried, got directions and off I went to see the "family".  What a thrill to see so many Turners in one place, with dates and such.  I can now make the connection to people I have in my genealogy research database.  I didn't have time to do a thorough search, so I plan to go back one day next week and spend the day at the Registry of Deeds and at the Library looking through old new papers to see if I can find the obituary for my great grandfather and any property exchanges.  I can't tell you how excited I am to be so close to all this information.

For those of you who don't know, I've been doing genealogy research off and on since the mid '70s.  For a long time all I knew about my great grandfather was that he was living with another family when he was about 2 years old and I couldn't seem to get any more information on him.  Then I connected with a gal, who is a distant relative, and we exchanged information and I found some of the missing links. That ,along with a cousin who is also doing genealogy research, has enabled me to get this close.

Wish me luck with my research!

Virginia sites

August 22

We left Big Meadow headed for a visit with Thomas Jefferson at Monticello. We thought we would be able to walk the grounds, and take in the sites.  However, to do so, we would have had to pay $24 a piece and since we both had seen Monticello years ago and it was too hot to leave Molly in the trailer, we decided to for go walking the grounds.

Photo op with Thomas Jefferson

We then headed to a camp ground just outside of Lynchburg, VA. We stayed at Paradise Lake Camp Ground.  not a bad for $16.50 a night, the Passport America rate.  We went into Lynchburg to see what there was to see.  Not much.

August 20-21

We stayed in Big Meadow campground in Shenandoah National Park on Monday and Tuesday.  We had planed our trip to end at Big Meadow around 1:00pm.  When we plotted out the trip, we told the GPS to go to Shenandoah NP and failed to take into consideration how far we had to go to get to Big Meadow after entering the park.  We didn’t get settled in until almost 4:00pm.   

Along the way we passed through West Virginia.  When I found out that Harper’s Ferry was less than 20 miles away I headed that way. You know me I'm all about seeing historical places. I tried calling T, but had no cell coverage, so he didn't get to see Harpers Ferry with me. 

T “forgot” to fill-up with diesel fuel before entering the park and when he realized how low he was on fuel he was in a panic.  The nearest diesel station was over 30 miles away.  He was beside himself, thinking he would not make it to the station.  I did get him to relax enough to get some sleep.  The next morning he drove to the fuel station in Elkton, VA and I followed in the Miata, just in case he ran out of gas. The drive to the fuel station was mostly downhill and T had 10 gallons of fuel left when he got to the station.   It rained most of the day, so I spent it reading and relaxing.

Driving the Skyline drive alone isn't much fun.  So we decided not to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway.

View along Skyline Drive

August 19

We left Bennington and headed south.  Our plan was to pass through Pennsylvania and drive the Blue Ridge Parkway south to North Carolina.  We spent a night in Wilkes-Barre, PA in the Mohegan Casino parking lot.  We found out that there was a race track behind the casino, Pocono Downs.  Having never been to a horse race we decided to go watch awhile.  It was a harness race.  The horse cantered around the track with a guy in a  thing with a sit and a place for him to put his feet.  I picked a long shot to win on the first race and of course we lost.  Then on the second race I picked a horse to place.  Our horse won!  We were excited and thought we’d won a lot.  The laugh was on us.  We’d bet $2 and our winnings were $2.20.  After that we called it a night and turned in early.

Bennington Vermont

August 17-18

We drove a couple of hours over to Bennington and to Pine Hollow Campground.  We'd been told Bennington was a great little city and Pine Hollow a great campground.  We found the area to be delightful and the campground pleasant.  We met a couple from Switzerland and enjoyed an evening talking about the places we've all traveled and we promised them if we got to Switzerland again, we would look them up.

Ernst & Beatrice

We visited the Battle of Bennington Memorial, drove through a few covered wooden bridges, walked around the town and had lunch at Your Belly's Deli  Great place and one we'd visit again if in the area.

Creamery Bridge in Brattleboro, VT

Of course I had to find a grave yard and was I ever in luck.  Robert Frost was buried in the grave yard and the church was the "First Church Of Vermont".  The church opened in 1805 and still holds services there every Sunday.  As part of the celebration of the Battle of Bennington, an American flag was placed on the graves of every revolutionary soldier with a plaque indicating such.  It's wonderful how small towns celebrate our history and truly honor our war veterans.  Another tidbit about the area is they have an annual Moose Day celebration.  Artist paint and decorate moose and the moose are displayed around the town.

Robert Frost grave stone

Vermont- Ben & Jerry's & Lake Champlain

August 15 - 16

After saying our goodbyes and thanking Bill & Joyce Elliot, the camp managers, for the opportunity to work at Camden Hills, we left Camden Hills State Park saying goodbye to the many friends we’ve made over the past 2 1/2 months.  Though we were ready to leave Camden, leaving our friends pulled on our heart strings more that I though it would.

Mid afternoon we arrived in Dummerston, VT and the Hidden Acres RV Resort.  Not a bad place to stay over for a few days.

On Thursday, we headed north to visit Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury.  The drive north was luscious. So much green forest and rolling hills.  Thus the name Green Mountain area.  We were told that we "had" to see the Flavor Graveyard at Ben & Jerry's.  We especially liked Jerry's slogan, "If it isn't fun, why do it?" We took the tour of the factory, had some great ice cream samples and visited the Flavor Graveyard.  I took a pictures of a couple of the gravestones for the fun of it.

After leaving Ben and Jerry's we drove over to Burlington to take a stroll along Lake Champlain.    We had a bite to eat and T had fun at the Lone Sailor Memorial.  The original Lone Sailer Statue  stands in the center of the US Navy Memorial  in Washington, DC.  In honor of the historical naval actions on Lake Champlain front of the Navy Memorial approved the Lone Sailor at this first civilian location.
We drove out to Ethan Allen's homestead and then after getting directions drove around trying to find Ethan Allen's grave.  After driving in circles and not finding the grave, we decide to head back to camp in Dummerston.

Last Days in Camden

August 12-14

In the last days before we left Camden, we tried to get in as much as we could.  Though we were ready to move on, when it came down to it we were kind of sad to be leaving all the friends we'd made this summer.

On Sunday the 12^th, we went to another great restaurant the Home Kitchen Cafe.  I remember how, when we first arrived in Camden, we thought there weren’t any good places to eat in area, but in the past few weeks we’ve found a few that we’ve enjoyed: Chase Daily in Belfast, Long Grain in Camden, The Bay Leaf Bistro in Lincolnville, The Market Basket in Rockland, and Home Kitchen Cafe  in Rockland.

Home Kitchen Cafe

It took all summer, but we finally went to the Owls Head Transportation Museum.  As expected there were lots of old cars and a few airplanes.  The one T liked the best was a Crosley.  His mom and dad had one when he was growing up.

T and the Crosley

On the evening of Monday the 13^th we had several of the hosts and another camper over for cocktails.  What a wonderful evening it was, sitting around the camp fire, drinking wine, eating cheese and crackers and singing songs while our new friend, Renee, played her guitar. 

Renee played a crazy song "Five Pounds of Possum" and Bernice and I sang and laughed our heads off.  To give you an idea as to why we laughed so hard, here's an excerpt from the song.

O’ my children are hungry, and the dog needs a bone.  Ain’t got a job, and I’m just travelin’ home.  It’s an hour after sundown, and much to my surpriseThere’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight.

 Chorus

O there’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonightIf I can run him over everything will be all rightI will make some possum gravy, what a wonderful sightO there’s five pounds of possum in my headlights tonight

Our last night at Camden Hills, we enjoyed cocktails, wine & cheese and fellowship at Ed & Bernice's place with the other hosts and toasted "the good life" for the last time with our new friends.

Front -left to right: Glo, T, Richard, Jacque and Mary. Back Row: Ed and Renee

Unfortunately I waited too long to take pictures of the camp ground staff, so I don't have pictures of everyone.

Teresa & John

Bill & Joyce, the Park Managers