Ooooh, the weather outside is frightful...

 And the fire inside is so delightful....or, in our world, the weather outside was freezing, and promised to be stormy (yes, AGAIN!) before the weekend was done, so we thought maybe it would be a good time to skedaddle.  Driving this beast down the highway, in the rain, is not very easy, nor is it our most fun thing to do.  So, we checked, and Alamo Rose, our next "final destination" could take us in a few days early, no problem.  We checked out a couple different routes, the weather forecasts and things to do and see in the different areas through which we would be passing.  We decided to skip the sightseeing options, take the southern route, and beat feet down, without a lot of stopping and looking.  We figured on taking 4 to 5 days to travel, depending on weather, and just go directly to jail.  I mean, the Valley.  Had a nice dinner with Charlie & Nina, up in Cave Creek, at an award-winning BBQ joint (Bryan's Black Mountain BBQ, for those of you that are interested), made some final decisions about what to do about Dad's house and financial instruments (word to the wise, SIGN YOUR DOCUMENTS!), and the next day, said all our goodbyes at Happy Trails.  Early morning Saturday, we headed out.  Boy, did it feel weird, going WEST, in order to avoid the city Phoenix, to the EAST.  But, just as in geocaching, sometimes the shortest route is not necessarily the most direct route.  

We will miss these tall, silent sentinels.  One can only imagine the history they have witnessed.

First stop, Saturday afternoon, was Kartchner Caverns State Park, down south of Tucson.  Click that link and scroll down on the page a bit.  You'll see a short video, explaining the history and showing a bit of the inside of the caverns.  Since they didn't allow cameras inside the cave, these are the only pictures you'll get to see, so it's worth a click!  The photo below shows the entrance to the Park campground.  That little hill center/left has absolutely nothing to do with the caverns; I just thought it was a cool piece of rock. 

We made great time getting down to the caverns, and we had about 30 minutes after we set up to grab a PBJ and walk the dog.  No doggies allowed in the caverns, so we figured she'd better take the opportunity as presented.

As we set out the next morning (Sunday), the landscape changed once more, becoming more striated and even a bit more barren.

There were PLENTY of Santa's helpers out on the road though.  Plenty of 'em! 

As we neared New Mexico, the landscape changed again.  I thought it looked a bit lunar, what do you think?  The boulders were absolutely HUGE.

See what I mean?  H.U.G.E!

The tractor-trailer below gives you a frame of reference.  HUGE, I tell ya, huge.  Biggest rocks I've ever seen.  Well, maybe except for the ones up at Pemaquid Point, Maine.

You decide - which are the bigger rocks?  (Picture courtesy LiveBeaches.com)

Not only were the rocks just plain BIG, there were lots and lots of 'em!

And, as we passed by Willcox (of course, there's the mandatory letter on the mountain...I dunno, don't even ask, it's just an Arizona thing..)...we were treated to a view of the very reason we decided to leave the state!  Check out those whitecaps, center left!  Those are NOT the whitecaps we are used to seeing!!  These ones promise a whole new experience for us; one which we really don't care to experience!

And then, a small duststorm appeared.  It's the smokey/dusty plume rising just to the right of that road sign.  Little did we know, it was just a precursor of things to come!

Yes, Welcome to New Mexico.  Again.  Did you see the Welcome Center?  No, we didn't either.  I'd say, Budget Cuts, but, heck, if that were the case, at least there would be abandoned buildings, no?  Nada.  Not a thing.

We DID see warning signs, though...

And they weren't lying!  The winds picked up and you could see other cars being blown right out of their lanes.  Thankfully, we're pretty heavy and we have that lovely Newmar feature, Comfort Steer, which helps Driver keep better control of the steering, with less wandering and lane departure.  And then we happened upon what appeared to be mud flats.  With more (and more dire) warning signs. 

Well, maybe in the DRY season, those warnings are appropriate, but as WE drove through, this was what we saw.....acres and acres and acres of water and mud!

 Remember I told you we've seen more rain here in 3 months than through 3 hurricanes?  I wasn't lying either!  As we approached Los Cruces, NM, we came upon the Organ Mountains.  Driver had been telling me about them (for what seemed hours, but was probably only about 1 or 2), but I thought he was calling them Oregon (like the state) Mountains.  When they finally appeared, I asked him why they were named after Oregon?  Only to discover he'd been saying ORGAN, as in, the organ pipes they resembled, jutting straight up into the air.  Well, OK, if you say so, but you tell me - they look like organ pipes to YOU?  Yeah, I didn't think so either.

And then, as if on cue, this little guy appeared.  But, he wasn't little at all!  He probably stood about 3 stories tall.  Sorry I couldn't get the shot of him dead-on from the side...but we were cruising by pretty quick, and again, it's not like we can just stop that baby on a dime.

And, once again, goodbye New Mexico.  Our time was short, but enjoyable.  We might be back one day, but it won't be anytime soon.  We still want to go to Hatch (hello, Roger!) and maybe even back to Santa Fe and Albuquerque.  We enjoyed both those towns.  Plus, the dancing was good!

And, right after we said goodbye, we got to say Hello Texas!  

And right after, we said, no, oh HECK no, you won't be getting me up there.  Not even on a sunny, hot day.  Nope and NOPE.  Luckily for me, the water park appeared shut down for the winter, so we didn't even have to stop and check it out.

And just down the road, we got to decline the opportunity to plunge to our imminent death.  Good thing we were in a time crunch, eh??

There is a section of I-10 that follows the Rio Grande river, and juuuust on the other side is Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  

Not exactly the white sands, azure water I'm accustomed to seeing in pictures of Mexico.  Heck, it's not even the cute little tourist-trap/dental haven of Nuevo Progreso that we are looking forward to visiting next week!

We are only about 10 miles from our stopping spot, Mission RV Park and RV Repair, just inside the southern border of El Paso, TX.  But first, we have to get through the gauntlet.  Reminds me of the low bridges on Hwy 59, going through Houston.  I don't like them, and I don't like these!  Well, I did enjoy the BRIDGES themselves, I just didn't like that they appeared to be so low.  They were 15 foot and a few inches, and we're only 13 foot, but still, they APPEARED to be too low.

But, we made it through all those bridges safely, only to come up to this interchange.  Driver called it the Spaghetti Bowl, and I can sure see why.  He had warned me it was coming, and I was prepared, but we breezed on through, only 1 story high.  Sure would suck to be on that tallest span, though, wouldn't it?  You'd be going nowhere fast!  Well, I guess gravity would eventually take over and you'd be taking the plunge, so to speak.

Eventually, traffic thinned (HA - became almost non-existent!) as we neared the very outer edge of town.  But, this was all part of the plan...we wanted to travel through El Paso on Sunday afternoon, mostly to dodge the traffic we knew would be there this time of year.  Our campground for the night was actually tucked up under that bridge on the left.  Yeah, we were that close.  Thankfully, we have really good insulation in our coach, and the noise inside was minimal.  But would we stay there again?  Not likely.  So, Monday dawns, bright and beautiful, and it's not too long before we lose all the traffic and have the road to ourselves.  Speed limit 80 mph....NOOOO, we kept it to about 62 mph, much safer for us.

And then we noticed the speed limit dropping.  And dropping.  And dropping again, till we were funneled off the road altogether, and only permitted 30 mph.  Hmmm...an inspection station maybe?  Wonder what they're looking for?  People?  Produce?  Drugs or guns??

Not really sure, but I reached for Bailey, 'cuz I surely didn't want her to get in a heated discussion with a working dog!

Well, now we know WHO is conducting this traffic inspection, but we still don't know why.  As we cruised through, we couldn't even get the guard to look at us!  Seriously!  He was looking the same way we were driving and continuously waving us right by him.  He never even glanced in our direction!  Mind you, I'm not complaining.  Well, maybe I am.  I mean, how in the world was he gonna find or stop ANYthing?  Your tax dollars at work, I suppose.  Or maybe, he had been threatened by the cartel (that doesn't exist, right?) and was literally, looking the other way.

We did make one rest stop before reaching our campground for the night, Fort Stockton RV Park, and Barbara S, I thought of you when we saw this sign.  Really, WATCH for snakes?  And then what if we see one?  Run?  Reach out and touch?  Seems like the directions were a tad incomplete or ambiguous.  I mean, I know what *I* would do....just sayin, snakes don't bother me.  Much.  Most especially if they are behind glass or are headless (sorry, didn't mean to gross you out there). 

 So Fort Stockton campground was easy to find and quick to register.  Didn't take us long to set up, either.  Roads were wide and the site was easy-in, easy out.  And on top of that, there was an on-site cafe, that came highly recommended (really, what else are they gonna say?)  Being as we were self-contained for the night, we both thought it might be wise not to have to do the dishes....and besides, Driver doesn't get good chicken fried steak often...and it WAS highly recommended.  And, you were welcome to bring your own bottle of beer or wine to enjoy with dinner.  PLUS, you get free Blue Bell ice cream with every meal purchase.  How could we say no to all that?  We didn't.  We partook..  :)  It's certainly not the level of EVOO, at Cannon Beach, but, hey, it was edible and pleasant!

Setting out Tuesday morning, we were soon seeing the wave of the future, wind turbines.  I can't, for the life of me, figure out why there aren't acres and acres of solar panels and wind turbines already in place.  I reckon it's 'cuz the oil companies want to keep us dependent on petroleum products until we destroy the planet totally.

As we got closer to Hill Country, the landscape changed again.  Lots of limestone was cut and removed to put the road through.  And there were trees again.  Real trees!  As we drove by Kerrville, I found myself wondering how we could get the camper over to Creations of Kerrville, a really wonderful little quilt shop we'd been to on a previous trip.  Ahhh...maybe next time.  We will be up this way again, around April/May, so maybe we'll have some time to stop in then.  We'll see.

We were treated to a lovely sunset tonight...This is the view out our front window.

And here we are, taking up the whole darned site!  Again!  We have been leaving one slide in; we found it stays warmer inside the coach.  And makes a little less work in the morning, when we got to pack up for early morning departure.  Surprisingly, there's still plenty of room inside...maybe not enough to fit 28 square dancers dancing, but certainly enough for the 3 of us.

Tomorrow is Christmas Day, and we'll start out by traveling through San Antonio.  We are hoping traffic will be minimal (non-existent is just too much to hope for, but our fingers will be crossed) and we can breeze on through.  We have about 330 miles to travel, and I've already checked, the Love's Travel Center down south is planning to be open when we pass through.  And, the gate at Alamo Rose is supposed to be open, and we have directions to get to our assigned site, even though the office will be closed and they have no place to leave us a map.  (??really??  nope, no late registration info area...sounds like a process issue or opportunity for improvement, if you ask me, which didn't happen, btw) Area restaurants will undoubtedly be closed, and we will get there too late to join the residents in a park-wide dinner, so good thing we stocked up and have a freezer full!  I think, keeping with our Italian theme of baked ziti on Thanksgiving day, maybe spaghetti & salad will be our dinner meal.

We'll sign off by wishing you all a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy & safe New Year.  

It's Never a Good Thing When....

Hey y'all, no need to pay the ransom, we are alive and well and have survived to tell the story!  About that heading....it's never a good thing when....when you are sitting with good friends (thanks for the cookies John & Lora!!) just having a lovely chat, when all of a sudden your phone rings.  And it's not a number you recognize, so, of course, you click Ignore.  Then your husband's phone rings, and it's some security company, which neither of you recognize nor called, so he too clicks Ignore.  (actually, he clicked screen call, which is effectively the same thing)  Either way, you just go on about your merry way, visiting and chatting, and forgetting all about your phones and their associated calls.  And then, about 2 hours pass, and your friends have left, and your phone rings again.  Hi Nina!  And it's your dear sister-in-law, asking if you had received a call about your dad being barricaded in the bathroom with steak knives and the police and EMTs taking him to the hospital.  Now, that's an Oh-sh$t moment if there ever was one, right?  And so the nightmare began.

Yup, so began a month of almost non-stop phone calls and life and death decision-making, at all hours of the days and nights.  Turns out, out-of-whack sugar levels, combined with pneumonia and a few other factors is not at all conducive to a healthy lifestyle, and, after a couple of weeks in the hospital, and a day under Hospice, and another week in the hospital, Dad succumbed and passed peacefully during his afternoon nap.  Too bad he didn't get to see that Charlie & I have reconnected and we all four actually enjoy spending time together.  Now we get to deal with the aftermath.  Let me just say, do your duties, people, and assign beneficiaries to your financial instruments.  And make out a Durable Power of Attorney, not a GENERAL one.  And SIGN IT.  and DATE IT.  In the presence of a legitimate notary, for goodness sake! And then, once it's official, SEND A COPY OF IT to your designated beneficiaries.  End of rant Public Service Announcement.

So, what else happened during the last month??

Well, we packed up the coach and took it 62 miles away, to Apache Junction, to get the rear engine hood-cover struts re-emplaced.  Yes, that was one of the repairs we had made at the factory, up in Indiana.  But, we got a Coolant Low light come on, so Driver went to check on it, as good & responsible drivers are wont to do.  When he released the hood latch, the darned thing flew up, breezed right by his noggin (thank you, Lord!), and wham!  Out popped the struts once more.  So, now we had TWO issues - the struts, AND that pesky Coolant Low light.  East Valley RV was the recommended facility, so off we went.  The day before, though, a torrential rainstorm had swept through the Valley (west side and east side!) and several area roads were flooded or had ponding.  This was what we saw on our way out of the campground.  After weeks and weeks and weeks of sunshine, we finally saw rain!  Why on the day of our travels, of all days?

Here's Agua Fria - a "river" that was nothing but dust for the previous month and a half.  Water!

Can you blow up the photo below to see the street flooding?  Sorry, it was shot out the window, at about 60 mph, from a bridge over the neighborhood, and it's not like we could stop to let me focus better.

 I believe this is the Salt River....a real and true creek after all this rain.

While we were waiting for the RV repairs, we found a little farm market, with lots of special sauces, jams and jellies ...

lots of varieties of local honey...and candy.  A whole wall of homemade candy.  We were good; we left that all there and bought only veggies.

We took a back street to get back to the RV repair facility, and look, more flooding.  Looks a little bit like Florida after a hurricane, right?

Even the clouds were low on the mountain.

It was nice to have clear skies for the ride home, but, geeze, look at the traffic!

All this excitement is tiring for puppies...

And, because, well, because Dick Luck, our shower hot water decided to crap out on us.  Sometimes during a shower, the water would go absolutely STONE COLD.  Not gradually, either.  Hot, then COLD as ICE. So, we had the RV repair facility check that out too.  Seems the "mixer" or scald regulator has failed.  At first, they looked at it and couldn't find anything wrong, so they were going to charge US for the diagnostic hours (3, if I'm not mistaken) and send us on our merry way.  BUT, an insurance adjuster just so happened to be in the office, waiting his turn to consult with the service manager, and he overheard us discussing the issue.  It was he who suggested the mixer might be defective or even failed.  And, thankfully, he was right!  Of course, they don't just keep that part on hand, or in stock, so they had to order it, with arrival due for 2 weeks out.  And what about that Coolant Low light??  Well, turns out, we had a couple of small leaks, but they weren't authorized to repair that, and they sent us on to Freightliner, down in Tolleson, AZ.  But, they couldn't take us in for another couple of weeks, and on the same day as my next back treatment was scheduled.  Well, now, THAT wasn't gonna work - getting my back fixed was absolutely imperative, and long-awaited, so we pushed the coolant resolution out another week.  Soooo, when we called to confirm the shower part had arrived, ahhh, lo and behold....there was a mixup.  It either didn't get ordered, got ordered incorrectly, got fulfilled incorrectly, or maybe didn't get sent.  I dunno, pick your choice; we got all those excuses handed to us.  Sooo, we confirmed our Freightliner appointment and headed down that way the day before our scheduled appointment.  (there was an onsite RV parking area at the facility).  Turns out, the SENSOR was bad, and there was only a very slight coolant leak, due to a loose radiator cap.  They had a new sensor for us, replaced it, addressed the slight oil leak, and cut us loose.  They even notarized some paperwork for me so we could bury dear ole dad.  How's that for service??!!  From there, we went back across town to Apache Junction, to see about getting some reliable hot water in our shower stall.  Their original plan was to remove the big mirror, cut a big hole in the wall, remove the innards and replace the bad part, test for leaks, and patch the gaping hole they would make in the wallboard.  HA.  I told Dick that mirror was glued on tight.  Only way to remove it would be to shatter it.  Turns out, I was right.  They managed to get in from the FRONT of the faucet handle, though, and remove only the very inside part, the section that had failed, and put it all back together.  Only took about 3 hours, but they calked it up, so we couldn't run water in there for another 24 hours.  So, STILL no hot (nor otherwise!) showers for us!  Oh well, what's another day, when it's been 3 weeks already?  Should I even mention the CRRRR-ACK I heard and felt as we were leaving the Freightliner facility?  Yeah, the repair facility took a peek at that, as well.  Turns out, the awning over our entry door has a motor that has seized.  And the awning no longer fully retracts.  Ugh....not a good way to travel.  The tech was able to manually push it back, almost to flush with the wall of the coach, then he got a zip tie around one side and duct taped (with matching black, no less) the other side.  This repair will have to wait until we get down to Rockport I suppose.  But, it's on record, and Newmar has already authorized repairs, once we land somewhere for more than a couple of weeks.

But, just because we live in an RV, doesn't mean we don't have seasonal spirit...

And everyone needs a bit of relief when dealing with hospitals, doctors, elder care services, bills and banks, and RV repairs too, right?  Remember those orphan blocks that came my way, courtesy of a quilter in Iowa?  Did I even ever show them to you?  Do you remember the shop hop gift certificate I won way way back in October? Well, the blocks started out as humongous red starbusts on backgrounds of stark white.  They were well pieced, but about 20 inches, more or less, and only mostly square.  Some smaller, some larger. None exactly the same though.  So, I cut them down (incorrectly, as it turns out, so I cute them AGAIN, uniformly this time), and Driver & I spent a couple hours fretting over how to combine them and how much fabric to purchase to make it all work.  That task was made more difficult by the fact that I didn't have a clear plan nor pattern at the time of fabric purchase.  This is the layout we ended up with.  Not too bad, if I say so myself, even if it looks NOTHING like what I had in my head.  It was supposed to be a Quilt of Valor, but now it meets neither the size nor color requirements of that organization.  Oh well.  It's still pretty.  And I have just the perfect quilting pattern to embroider in the white corners.

And, remember that huge box of goodies that Kelly, my friend from Ohio, sent me?  It was full of embroidery supplies, thread, some aprons she needed embroidered for her grands, for Christmas gifting, and 2 quilt tops that I had volunteered to sandwich and quilt for her.  She didn't want them back - they were to be given to charity, any charity of my choosing when completed.  Well, I had a short block of free time, not enough to really start a project, nor complete a project, but a few hours' worth.  I thought maybe I should open those 2 quilts and check out the piecing so I could start forming a quilting plan.  Folded in with one of the tops was this little pieced beauty.  It was sewn by a dear friend of Kelly's who is recently departed, and she (Kelly) was asking me to quilt it for her.  I got to use the camera scanning and auto-fill features of my new machine, so it was quite the learning experience.  Plus, in homage to Rosemary (the original sewist), I put a couple of embroidered flourishes in opposing corners.  I think she would have appreciated that.  I know Kelly did - now both of our souls are stitched into her new wallhanging.

Definitely not my style, and certainly not my colors, but, hey, it's also not my wall art!

Again, all this work can be exhausting....

So, all the paperwork for Dad is done and filed, and he's in the ground, where he's wanted to be for the last 19 years, the RV is repaired, we are once again enjoying hot (really hot!) showers, the nights are getting chilly cold, and our time in Surprise is drawing to an end.  We decided to make time to enjoy the Christmas lights of Glendale Glitters, a bedroom community of Phoenix proper.  We didn't really know what to expect, but we had heard there were 1.6 million lights in a 16 block area.  So, we packed up the pup and hit the streets.

This 3-D ornament was very similar in size to the one in On Top of the World's Town Commons.  People were walking inside and posing for pictures, but the line was long, and frankly, we didn't want to wait, just to pose for a photo.

Of course, we were overjoyed to find an open ice cream parlor...

Bailey was just certain if she stared long enough and hard enough, a clump of cream would fall off the spoon, right into her waiting mouth.

The lights were pretty, and the night was fun, but after experiencing the magnificent light displays of Cuervo, TX, Homosassa State Park, FL and Tanglewood Park, Clemmons, NC, we must admit to feeling a bit disappointed and even let down.  There were no vendors to speak of (ok, so, there was one pushcart, selling balloons on a stick), no music, and very little energy in the air.  Oh well, it was free, so we really can't complain.  But, we won't be going back any time soon.

Here are some photos from the Cuervo, TX light display.  The photos are from 2014, but the shows go on even now, we hear.  It's a drive-through experience, so you can stay warm as you tour the park.

Back in Surprise, though, it got cold.  I mean, REALLY COLD.  And again rainy!  Really?  We've seen more rain here in 3 months than we saw from 3 hurricanes in FL!  Like, being outside was just Not Fun.  What's a girl to do?  Well, personally, I cranked up the heat, put on a long sleeved shirt and my fuzzy pants, knee socks, and got out my cutting board and sewing machine.  I really don't know how anyone ELSE handles the weather, but that's MY solution.

Six identical placemats have magically appeared!  

They would languish in the closet, if it were not for the help of dear Barbara S.  I reached out, and bless her heart, she was there to throw me a lifeline.  She provided the photo/diagram below as a quilting suggestion for me.  And, wouldn't you know it?  It's all within my skill set (well, maybe not those pebbles in the dark blue arc, but I kind of want that section to puff out anyway) or I can program my fancy machine to do it repeatedly.  Whoohoo, a double win!  I have done the echo-arcs in the blue sections, and man, am I loving the results.  No, silly, I don't have a photo, that would make it too easy and logical.  The placemats are all packed up (under the bed, no less) because we had to get on the road - we have reservations to keep down in Alamo Texas!  Where it promises to be WARM.  Well, at least, warmER.

So now you know where we've been in the last month, and what we've been doing.  If you are one of the ones that reached out to check on us during that time - THANK YOU, your kindness and caring are greatly appreciated. And all the rest of you - thank you too, as we know you were thinking about us and wondering what the heck we were up to.  And, if you were too busy to even notice we were "out of service," well, that's good too, 'cuz that means you were likely having your own version of fun.  😄

Next up, our road trip to the Rio Grande Valley.  Hopefully, I'll get that out to ya sooner than later!  In the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas, and for those of you that are traveling, please be safe and careful out there!