What the heck just happened?

OK, so last you heard, it was Christmas eve, and we were bookin' down the road, right?  We had gotten all the way to Top of the Hill RV Resort, in Boerne, TX, and everything was fine, right?  And then we fell off the face of the earth!  Truthfully, I'm pretty sure we died a little bit, too, but then it's now, and we're back.  Let's recap, shall we?

This was our site at Top of the Hill RV Resort.  We took up the entire site, but we didn't have to disconnect.  This is one of the campgrounds we had considered workamping at - on paper, it looked like a desirable and attractive campground, the work didn't seem difficult, compensation offered was only the full hook-up site we were looking for, and there appeared to be a beautiful pool and hot tub onsite.  We applied and within just a couple of days, we were offered a position.  Too bad, though, because we had already accepted a summer position within Balcones National Wildlife Refuge.  As it turns out, though, this campground WAS as nice in real life as it was on paper, but, it WAS at the top of the hill, and it WAS right next to I10.  So, it was pretty darned noisy!  24 hrs a day.  Definitely would not be a peaceful spot for us to camp, and after spending the one night, we were glad we had not accepted a full-summer position here.

 We had worked out our itinerary so that we would be passing through San Antonio of Christmas Day.  Yes, we know all the horror stories about traveling on Christmas Day.  BUT, we thought, if we HAD to go through town, it would be better to do it first thing in the morning, while everyone else was checking out the haul from Santa, and not during a weekday/workday.  Traffic was minimal, thank goodness, but even so, there were lots of options and lots of bridges (noooo, I was too busy navigating to take pictures!).  The speed limit through town was about 65 mph, and I distinctly remember mentioning that I absolutely could not navigate and read signs at that rate of speed.  We would simply HAVE to slow down.  We did, but, geeze, we were still moving right along at a pretty good clip.  I think NEXT time (if there HAS to be a next time), we will definitely take the loop around, thereby reducing our lane/road changes and options.  Hopefully, it will reduce my level of stress, as well.  

Once we got past downtown San Antonio, the landscape began to open up and become less citified.  We saw lots of towers with flames - tell me again about the gas shortage?  And why are gas prices climbing?  If they have so much that they need to burn off the excess, well, then why the talk of shortages and how do they justify inflating the prices so??

And all the oil pumps were pumping...but, again, there were fields and fields of wind turbines and solar panels.  So why are we still reliant on gasoline?  And why are the prices so high?

Anyway.......back down in Alamo, safe and sound.  We got settled in to our site...again, we take up the entire site, and it was quite the feat to navigate our way between the tree limbs and curbs and get ourselves into the site and on the pad properly.  We only had one neighbor come running over, to make sure I was aware of the overhanging tree limb.  Oh yeah, I had seen it.  And the one on the other side.  AND the neighbor's tree across the street that was threatening to put a new crease in the front end.  AND the water spigot on the post in the back that may or may not be under the extended slideout.  AND the electric pole at the back of the site.  Yes, my dear reader, yes.  I was aware of all the obstacles, thank you very much, and bless his heart, our driver was paying VERY close attention to his spotter and did only what I said, and when I said it.  And, thankfully, when I motioned for him to stop and let me check his path of travel, he stopped and waited for further instructions before proceeding.  So we got into the site and on the pad properly, and we are here for the next 3 to 4 weeks.  

Have you ever been to a Mexican flea market??  Oh, let me just tell ya....you can find pretty much anything here for sale.  As Charles would say...quite the cultural experience.

Utility gloves, washers, wire brushes, and lingerie & lace.

Produce, CD's, tools, puppies, parrots, wigs and kitchen sinks.

 And, just in time for New Year's celebrations, pinatas galore!

Speaking of New Year's celebrations, Jack & Diana were throwing a party and invited us.  Soooo, I decided we would honor our TX and FL roots, and bring a couple of alligators to the party.  I took  two large zucchinis and carved them into "legs" and made eyeballs out of cheese slices and grape halves.  I carved mouths into the English cucumbers and inserted sliced grapes to represent tongues. 

Pineapple chunks with cherries and cheese blocks with grape tomatoes were all skewered with toothpicks and then stuck into the cucumber bodies.  They were a big hit, and almost everyone knew right off that they were alligators.  One lady thought they were sharks. ??? I dunno.  Maybe alcohol was involved?

We didn't stay all night, and though we didn't get to watch the NY Times Square ball drop, we did watch Rio de Janiero's fireworks display.  It was all very pretty, yes, but, geeze, there were millions of dollars spent, gone up in smoke, literally, when that money could have been more productively spent to eradicate poverty, hunger, sickness, financial inequity, et al.  But then, they didn't ask me, did they.  

The day after New Year's we had our dental appointments.  They had originally been scheduled (way back in October!) for Jan 7th, but then, someone broke a crown right after we arrived and settled in.  I called the office at which we were scheduled, but not one of 'em spoke English!  So, I had to call back to our agent and reschedule with an office that could take us AND could speak English.  So, Jan 2nd found us crossing the river.  Border Patrol was evident....

As were the looooong lines coming back into the States....

The Rio Grande is not super impressive as a border river at this point, is it.  It looks soooo easy to simply walk across the crick and enjoy the land of fruit and honey.  Can you see the wall, way back there, stretching across the middle of the photo below?  

Whoa, this is new....a movable gate that can stretch across the sidewalk as necessary.

In the middle of the pedestrian bridge....

And, for the paltry sum of $1 each, we gain entry into a whole 'nother world.

FIVE HOURS LATER (4 of which were spent in the chair!!), we walked out of the dentist's office.  Teeth were cleaned, but, so was our wallet.  Turns out, THIS dentist charges higher prices than the one we had originally booked.  I guess English-speaking comes at a cost!  The crown Dick broke is the same one that came off while we were in Colorado and had to have emergency-cemented back on.  With super good cement, apparently.  Poor dude, they had to chisel and pry it off.  He was definitely put through the wringer.  He said, at one point, they were pulling so hard, he thought they were gonna just pull the tooth right out.  (one week later, update - his gum is still sore!!)

We took the more scenic route back to the campground and were treated to fields and fields of kale, lettuce, collards, onions and cabbage.  Last time we were here, it rained so hard, they couldn't get in the fields to harvest the cabbage, so it all rotted.  Oh, my, the stench was unreal.  Thankfully, that doesn't appear to be an issue for this year's harvest.

And then, because the dentist cost more than we had expected, we went in search of a pot of gold.  We found it in the least expected place!

And thus began the week from hell!  After we got our money, we went home, I took a shower, and went straight to bed, not feeling very well.  And there I stayed for the next solid week.  Shivering and well, ummm....let's just politely say, not feeling very well at all....

Finally, FINALLY, after a solid week of no solid food, today was a new day, and a good day for dancing.  

If you can't see the video below, click HERE to go straight to YouTube and enjoy the sweet, dulcet tones of Joe Saltel.  Ten squares on the floor!  That's really quite a feat in today's dancing environment.

For those of you with really long memories, can you hear Tim Mariner in Joe's voice? 

 We miss Tim, and we'll always be grateful to him for sharing his love of dance with us and our girls.  (click on his name up there, and you'll see a short video of him in action; turn up your speakers and enjoy his voice and passion)  And, just for your listening and watching pleasure, here's Jerry Story & Tim, in Washington, DC (WASCA), in 2016, just before Tim's untimely and sudden passing.  We will be attending another Joe Saltel dance tomorrow evening, then we'll start packing up to head back up to Corpus Christie area.  We have an appointment to get our continuing coolant leak looked at (yes, again), then we can settle in at Lagoons RV Resort, in Rockport, TX, for the rest of the winter.

Roger & Rosemary, we eagerly anticipate you joining us for dinner at Charlotte Plummer's before long!!  But, in the meantime, Bailey is insisting that it's time to walk again!  The wind has died down just a bit, and if it continues to ease, we may even be able to put our slides back out again.  We've got them all tucked in because we don't want to damage our slide topper awnings.  

Please continue to pray for the people and animals of Australia; if you have the means, please consider making a donation to WIRES, a wildlife rehabilitation organization, or the World Wildlife Organization, Australia.

Blessings to you all...

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.