On and On into Texas

We stayed one night with the Escapees in their park in Yuma and took advantage of their pool due to the 80 degree temperatures, then moved on to the Elks Lodge in Casa Grande where we caught up with Paul and Karen before moving further East again.

I-10 gets pretty boring and we pressed on to Deming with a night in another Escapees Park there before settling down for 4 nights in Alamogordo’s Elks Lodge. We originally scheduled 3 but the weather forecast for Sunday wasn’t good so we stayed where we were.

White Sands Missile Range developed most of the USA's

Missile Systems

Nike Ajax was the US's air defense in the early 60's

A day at the Space History Museum and laundry led to a day in Las Cruces and a very pleasant visit to Mesilla Historic Town which was bypassed by the railroads but still managed to live on and preserve it’s heritage.

The Basilica San Albino in Mesilla

The interior of the Double Eagle Restaurant Mesilla

Double Eagle Dining Room

Billy the Kid, Kit Carson, Pancho Villa all came to Mesilla.

A major stop on the cattle trails, Mesilla was bypassed by the railroad.

On the way back we stopped at White Sands National Monument, This is a very picturesque area of rolling white sand. It’s white because it’s gypsum sand (What makes plaster white). The locals get to sled down the dunes with sleds they can buy right there at the gift shop! The sand is so white it almost looks like they are sledding on snow, except that it’s 75 degrees out! A big rainstorm the night before had erased all the previous footprints in the sand so it looked very dramatic seeing footprints going up the dunes and straight lines coming down. It wouldn’t have taken much to get me on a sled!

Miles and miles of white sand dunes

Sand Sledding

The Elks 1897 lodge is a fresh looking, friendly place and the RV park holds about 16 rigs with full hookups. Everyone there was friendly and nice and we spent far more time eating, drinking and chatting than we had intended to. Ah well, maybe we can diet next week!

As we were leaving we met Juliet who had pulled in the night before, she’s a full timer, an Escapee and a Blogger. Read her blog at http://tailsfromtheroad.com. She’s heading west and we’re heading east so it was just a brief encounter before we headed out on Rt 82 towards Cloudcroft NM.

Rt 82 really surprised us as we climbed out of the desert and up into A SKI AREA! There was even snow still on the ground under the many pine trees. A really scenic route that we’d highly recommend if you’re in the Alamogordo area and in no rush. No pictures unfortunately as I was busy driving.

Soon we were back in fairly flat semi desert again through the busy oil wells of eastern New Mexico and west Texas on and on, the agriculture took over from oil and cotton fields changed to cattle grazing then to wheat growing by the square mile. All on good roads and absolutely not a single mile of Interstate in 800 miles.

If I haven’t mentioned it before let me say now that I detest Interstates. For most of my life I would pound down them to get to a destination in the shortest time, then back to get home again. Now that we don’t have to be anywhere anytime soon it’s so enjoyable to set the cruise on 60mph and watch the scenery go by, stop when we feel like it, picnic at some convenient spot and set up camp in the early afternoon.

Stops at Hobbs NM and Snyder TX got us to Wichita Falls TX just south of the Oklahoma State Line and North of Fort Worth. We had rain off and on for the past 2 days and the coach and car are filthy. The weather forecast is for more at the weekend and thunderstorms Sunday. So we’ve chickened out and decided to stay at the Elks Lodge here until Monday (5 nights).

It’s a great lodge, so warm and welcoming, and the food is amazing! Ribs last night and Burgers tonight. We had promised ourselves to eat less and try to lose some of the weight we gained over the winter. Looks like it won’t happen this week!

First things on our agenda? Laundry then sight seeing.

Heading East

A truly tremendous month in San Diego has finished. We are about partied out! There have been so many friends to see and things to do that the time has flown by and we must reluctantly say goodbye for probably 2 years.

To try and list all the great people we’ve enjoyed seeing would be too much for this little page, and unfortunately there are people we would have loved to see but thru circumstance we didn’t get to see. If we missed you we’re sorry.

Now we’re heading east. Time to get together with more friends from our days in and around Baltimore, our motorcycle friends, neighbors. (I can see a whole new round of parties). Then Barbara’s relatives in Canada are organizing a get together, Her brother and his wife are coming over in the fall.

This is going to be another exciting adventure.

As they say “as one door closes another opens”

Roll On!!

San Diego again

No doubt you’ve been sitting on the edge of your seat waiting to find out what the next adventure is going to be?

Me too!

After 4 months in Casa Grande we headed west on the beginning of our trip east. Yes that does seem to be in the wrong direction but there is rhyme to the reason. We left San Diego 8 months ago and we probably won’t be back for a couple of years, so we decided to see all our friends one more time and catch up on some personal business at the same time.

We stayed at our old stomping ground the Thousand Trails Resort Pio Pico in Jamul CA. We’re members and so we get 30 free days a year then $3 a day after that. There are more TT parks on the east coast that the west do we’re planning on getting our money’s worth this year.

The Aero Club was my “Local” hangout and Wednesday night was the boy’s night out when I worked in the shipyard. A few phone calls and texts soon had that organized.

The happy Aero Club crowd during a previous get together.

Ken and Gloria are delightful people whose doors are always open to their friends. We count ourselves lucky to be included. Friday evenings are usually spent out on their patio eating them out of house and home, sipping a pleasant beverage, petting their dogs and enjoying everyone’s company.

The “Shanty Shakers” have a rally planned in Oceanside this month too so more excuses to socialize. Our neighbors were quite willing to get together for lunch and my BMW motorcycle friends can’t be left out.

Most especially our friends Dick and Bonita have their annual St Patrick’s Day bash scheduled and you just can’t miss that one.

So a busy month was expected. And busy it was.

I broke out my painting stuff and worked on a couple of paintings in the spare time, we had appointments with our accountant, the bank and needed to do the usual shopping, laundry etc. 

When we checked into Pio Pico we got on RVillage.com to let anyone else in the park know we were there and a couple identified as “UK Travelers” came up.

Stewart and Jackie lived in Ashville NC before they became full timers and they introduced us the Paul and Sue who were almost full timers and lived in a Rexhall motorhome like ours. Paul was Scottish and was in the ATC in UK, flew gliders with them, and loves airplanes just like me. He even worked for Boeing so we got on like a house on fire.

At Ken’s we disassembled the front of the Fiesta, replaced the front brake pads and installed the wiring and brackets for the auxiliary braking system that slows the car down when it’s being towed behind the RV. Then the usual food fest/party broke out and filled up the rest of the day! Thanks Ken and Gloria.

We squeezed in 2 nights at the Aero Club with Barbara Combes behind the bar trying to bring law and order to a host of our dear friends. Unfortunately we might not see these great people for a couple of years so we tried our best to enjoy their company while we had the chance.

Bank things, tax things, a nice lunch with our old neighbors Jason, Ruby, Mollie and Gus had the days spinning past and then we were driving up to Oceanside CA Elks Lodge for the Shanty Shakers Rally.

The Oceanside Elks Lodge has around 40 camping spaces.

Getting back together with our Shanty Shaker friends was like winning the lottery! They are such a great group with no pretenses and a wide open welcome for everyone. They excel at “Happy Hours” where everyone brings a chair and a snack. We catch up with everyone’s news and meet new and old friends. Dinner at a local brewery in Oceanside (There are lots to choose from) and sightseeing fill in the days.

Then suddenly it’s Friday and time to move on!

Happy Hour

Grab a plate the food is excellent

Oceanside harbor is very picturesque

Heritage Park and the Chapel

A famous Landmark

Thursday night street market for even more great food

Mission San Luis Rey

The Retreat

Now there are only pictures left to remind us of a great week. But there are also plans for another week and a half in San Diego and did I hear Maryland, Canada and Europe calling too?

This “Full Timers” lifestyle is definitely our dreams come true.

A Bucket List item gets checked off.

I’m an unrepentant Airplane Nut. I have been one as long as I can remember. My bedroom was full of model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. My allowance was spent on new models, paints, balsa wood. And the best thing ever was an airshow.

Museums come next. Smelling, touching, seeing airplanes, especially old and preferably very rare ones is where I get my kicks.

The world's smallest biplane

There is a very special place in Tucson AZ. Actually it’s two places but they are so tightly connected they seem to me to be one. They are the Pima Air Museum and Davis Monthan Airforce Base.

Maybe the only Bolo bomber left on the planet?

Davis Monthan is legendary amongst fellow airplane nuts. Know around the planet as “The Desert Boneyard” it is where the US military stores and scraps it’s outdated aircraft.

Hundreds of cocooned helicopters

In the past it has seen fleets of B52’s parked in the desert in case they might be needed, then seen them cut up for scrap when they weren’t. Now it’s full of C5’s, F-15’s, P3’s, C130’s and hundreds of T24’s. According to the tour guide there are 4500 aircraft there today with a mix of fixed wing and helicopters.

Rows and rows of mothballed Navy P3's

Immediately next door is the Pima Air Museum. I first visited there in 1985 with a fellow airplane nut Tommy Wilson. Back then it was mainly outdoors but had some rare aircraft like a B24 and an A12. It got most of it’s collection from the Boneyard simply by moving the fence and towing them in.

A B50 with 4 propeller engines and 2 jets.

B47 6 jet engines

Today it’s HUGE. 5 hangers and 80 acres of aircraft displayed outside. It’s at least a full day to see everything. The tour bus of Davis Monthan is run by the museum and the only way you can see the Boneyard (Unless you have Military ID is via the museum.

Be aware that the Boneyard tour fills up fast so get there early. We arrived at 11am and got seats in the LAST TOUR OF THE DAY at 3.30pm.

I was in Hog Heaven, Barbara was glad to get a rest on the tour bus for an hour after walking around the Pima facility for 4 hours!

A Vickers Viscount airliner. We flew on one t go on honeymoon in 1971.

Getting ready to roll again

Wow did the last 3 months go by fast!

Paul and Karen

K

Sundance Mardis Gras Parade

Bill and Terry

We even got some rain here in the desert

We checked in at Sundance 1 in Casa Grande December 1^st and it will soon be March 1^st when we check out again. 

That means lots of things to do to get the rig ready for another year of fun. On the list is service for the slide and leveling jacks, engine oil and filter change, carpet clean, wash and wax the outside, check all the fluids, inspect the roof, check tires and inflation, inspect the tow hitch and all the associated stuff for towing the Fiesta.

The Fiesta got ANOTHER new clutch assembly under warranty, then new tires, new brakes aren’t far down the road either, but we have another 5,000 miles before we need to change the oil on it.

Meanwhile our friends Scott and Suzanne showed up on their way to California. We got together with them and caught up with the news. The measure of how popular Casa Grande is with the snowbirds is that not only is this park completely full but when Scott and Suzanne looked for somewhere to stay, every RV Park in the city is full. They ended up about 50 miles away.

I’ve been painting up a storm lately. When the sun is out I’m at my easel on the patio. I’ve completed 7 paintings and I’m working on 3 more! I hope now I’ve got back into it I can keep going once we start travelling again. Maybe that will be the spur that makes me stay places for a couple of extra days? I know Barbara gets tired of upping sticks all the time, so maybe that will work for both of us.

White rose from my garden

Oil on board

A series of 7 flower paintings from

pictures taken in the garden in San Diego

The Lighthouse at Point Loma Coast Guard Station

Oil on canvas

The local RV dealer came over and fixed (we hope) the problem we were having with the slide creeping out when we were driving along! Not a good thing to happen but luckily it would only go out ½” not the whole way. They changed one of the 2 solenoids.

The RV Tech was a very friendly guy and showed me how to change one by myself as he warned me that the second one usually fails shortly after the first one. We ordered a spare just to be safe. 

They didn’t even give us a bill! He said just drop by the store and they’ll make up the invoice, when we did they charged $45 for the service call and $47 labor plus the part which I thought was a bargain. 

When we wandered round the store we found some overhead lights for $17 and bought a couple to replace ones with bad switches in the kitchen area. 

A couple of hours of bad language soon had that 5 minute job done. 

(Except 2 don’t work at all now).

A quick trip to Mexico interrupted the work. We took a bus trip to Puerto Penasco (Known as Rocky Point by the gringos). 

A Valentines Day flower for Barbara

Pool at the Playa Bonita Hotel

Puerto Penasco MX

It was an OK trip, spoiled for us by the “Organizers” who had the schedule changing constantly. 

On the full day there, there was an optional whale watching tour that we weren’t interested in. They said the bus would be coming back to the hotel and pick up anyone who hadn’t taken the whale watching trip. Apparently it did but they failed to call us and tell us when. So although they called other people, we were stuck in the hotel alone instead of getting the opportunity to have dinner with friends. 

The next day the idiot came up to us and laughed it off saying “Well you didn’t miss much”.

Shrimp boat

It was a picturesque place however and we enjoyed the time we spent there on our own. 

I think we liked Rosarito more however.