Big Ugly Hole in the Ground

Today we drove down to Tombstone and Bisbee. We didn't stop in Tombstone as it was early and very "tacky touristy" looking. Very predictable, unfortunately. We continued on to Bisbee, AZ which is known for a very large open pit copper mine. It doesn't appear to be larger than the one in Butte, MT but still big... and ugly looking. The color of the water in the bottom of the pit is a little scary looking. Downtown is built in a canyon and everything is up and down, including the houses. Bisbee is a very interesting town full of artsy shops showing gems, indian art, sculptures of all types, lots of antiques and a few coffee shops.

After touring around Bisbee we drove back via Sierra Vista and Ft. Huachuca. The desert scenery is really beautiful and stark as the pics show. We stopped to visit the Historic Fairbank Town and took a picture of the school building. It is pretty much what's left of the ghost town.

Tomorrow is our last day here with power so Lou will get busy with the sewing machine and work on some of her projects. I may do some really important stuff like check fluid levels, air pressures and count the tires. Then, I may go fishing in one of the "lakes" they have here since a license is not required. Supposedly there are bass, catfish and bream in the lakes. We'll see:)

Cactus, Airplanes and Tombstones

After a delightful visit with Lou's 2 nephews, Mike and Kevin, in Chandler, we are on the road again towards Texas. We had a great Thanksgiving (Thank you Kevin and Cindy for including us). Since we took a lot of street space at Mike's, we felt that we needed to get moving. An added impetus was an offer for 5 days and 4 nights FREE at an RV Resort in St. David, AZ. Of course, we'll have to listen to a sales pitch in the AM as an accomodation. But with full hookups, it's still an offer hard to refuse. St. David is between Tucson and Tombstone so the location will allow us to check out the area and revisit the gunfights at the Tombstone OK Corral:)

On the way here, we stopped at the Pima Air & Space Museum so I could go drool over all the neat airplanes there. The collection is very large and diverse including the SR-71 Blackbird and the Super Guppy. Don't laugh, that's what they called it. I was surprised that there was not a P-51, P-38 or F4U Corsair. It turns out that they are being built in a different hangar and not open to the public as yet.

After that, we stopped at the Saguaro National Park and took the drive through tour. Saguaros are a very interesting (and slow growing) species taking 50 years to attain a height of 7 feet. By 100 years the saguaro may have reached 25 feet.

The attached pics should be self explanatory as to airplane or cactus:)

Thanksgiving in Chandler

The turkey is officially dead and consumed. We joined Kevin Burns and his girlfriend's family for dinner today and enjoyed getting to talk with him. Our visit to Chandler has given us the opportunity to visit with Mike and Kevin both. The gathering in Spokane for Grandma Marie's memorial was nice but there was too much going on to actually talk much with either one.
It's actually raining in the Phoenix area! The clouds look like those in the Orlando summer sky. Large cumulonimbus and rain clouds with lightning are really pretty. We'll wait for the weather system to pass on before we hit the road again.
And, yes, I forgot to take the camera with me today - so no pix.
Tomorrow, we'll plan our next destination point to begin the rest of the journey towards San Antonio. We plan to arrive in the San Antonio area around Dec. 20th. Along the way I want to see the Pima Air and Space Museum near Tucson. Perhaps we'll check out one of the "Free 5 Day/4Night offers at one of the resorts along the way. Perhaps not:) We'll know after we call them to see what it's all about.
It's raining again. A really pleasant sound on the RV's roof. Time to sign off for tonight.
We hope that everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

Safe and sound in Chandler, AZ

We have arrived in Chandler to visit with Mike and Eva Burns. We are parked in front of their house and may be here through Thanksgiving before moving on again. We had our mail forwarded here so we can get caught up with the bills and late political stuff:)

The trip from Blythe was uneventful, YEAH!, through a lot of beautiful desert country. I'll worry about pictures on the return from San Antonio. We bought gas at Costco for $1.83/gal. Love the direction that the prices for gas are going:)

Brain is fried so that's all for now. More later.

In the desert oasis

Here we are, at last, on the edge of the CA/AZ border outside of beautiful(?) downtown Blythe, CA. What a great place to spend our anniversary, huh? Friday, we had a delayed departure from Lompoc because we both wanted to go see Solvang before we left. The delayed departure put us in the middle of Friday rush hour traffic in the LA area. It's a REALLY BIG area for traffic. It slowed our travel significantly with stop and stop and go (a little bit) and stop. Well, all the "stops" did a number on the brakes. They got hot and started to disappear. Finally made it across 24 lanes of traffic (actually 4) and got off in Irwindale to check them out. We have now joined the legions of RV'rs that have stayed at a Walmart! whoopee.... It was noisy but allowed me to verify the brakes were still OK after they cooled. Hit the road again in the AM.

Made it to Beaumont and stayed in a very nice County Park up on a hillside Saturday and Sunday nights. Price was nice also. With the Passport America discount, it was only $6 per night. (Paul's idea of "nice" is almost empty:) The stop there also allowed us to catch up on our laundry and for me to get a much need haircut.

On the way here we visited a Costco in Coachella for provisions and Gas for the RV. $1.84/Gal!! Then we visited Love's Truck Stop to dump the tanks and T/A America for propane. 3 hours later, we have full gas, water tank and empty holding tanks. Not many miles covered today but great progress in maintaining our valuable resources.

Tomorrow, we may make it all the way to the Phoenix area, or not. We will see the Mike Burns family while there and spend Thanksgiving somewhere yet to be determined. We need to find a spot for a week or 2 to rest up for the final dash to San Antonio for Christmas. At 150 to 200 miles per day, we need to monitor our progress and plan accordingly as to where we'll be staying between Phoenix and San Antonio as well as in the San Antonio area. It is a 5-6 day run with the RV and do not want to be late!

More new parts!

Slowly rebuilding the old motorhome on this trip. First was the transmission. Today, we added a new distributor cap and rotor. Much less expensive than a transmission. Anyway, the engine is purring smoothly once again and the transmission is shifting as it should. We got lucky again with a competent and honest truck mechanic that diagnosed our problem starting with the simple things (spark plug wires, etc) and then the distributor. He didn't even try to sell us a new distributor! I'm still tired of meeting the mechanics on our journey but it seems to be inevitible these days, even for those with much newer rigs than ours.

We enjoyed our visit to San Simeon and Cambria. Saw the Hearst Castle (from a distance) and some more beautiful beaches and cliffs. We stopped at the Elephant Seal Viewing at Piedras Blancas where the elephant seals come to rest and procreate. They keep the beach pretty busy with a diversified schedule.

Sept-Oct is the time for the young-of-the-year and juveniles to haul out to rest.

November is when the subadults males haul out. Mature males begin arriving at the end of the month.

December - The bulls continue to return. Females arrive. The first birth is usually mid-month.

January - Females continue to arrive. Peak of births usually last half of month.

February - Births continue. the peak of the mating is around Valentines Day. More females leave.

March - Last adults leave. Weaned pups teach themselves to swim.

April - Females and juveniles return to molt.

May - Females and juveniles molt.

June - Subadult males molt.

August - Last of males molt

Then, it start all over again.

When you first see them on the beach, it looks like a lot of driftwood laying around... until they move.

We are now in a county park in Lompoc, CA, just south of Vandenberg AFB. Tomorrow we journey Eastward which means we will avoid LA and miss seeing family in the San Diego Area.

We are getting a little travel weary of spending 1,2 or 3 nights in different places and are looking forward to being able to stay put for a week or 2 or 3 or 4 at a time. So, it's onward to Arizona where there are no beaches.

This trip has very pleasantly provided beautiful weather with the exception of 3 days of rain in Redding which was really quite enjoyable, however. Otherwise, it has been splendid. While most here are wishing for rain (it's very much needed) it has been great for traveling. The reservoirs are all very depleted and boating activity has been greatly restricted.

We've seen lots of wine country, strawberry, lettuce, cabbage, artichoke and other farms that are struggling with the reduced water supplies. While they need the water, we have enjoyed what we have had.

Yes, It's that pretty!

At last, a wireless signal for the computer! Time to update the blog. Caught up with our mail in San Jose. Thank you Marty for your asistance there.

From the Coyote Lake County Campground in Gilroy, we took a drive down the coast from Monterrey to Lucia. It was beautiful, sunny, clear and warm. Traffic was light and much more pleasant to drive than I remembered it to be since it was a Monday. Previously (40+ years ago, it was a weekend trip with the rest of the population on the road) it was a real parking lot.

Today is Wednesday, the 19th and we are at the San Simeon State Park. Yesterday was in the high 70's, today will be high 60's but still sunny and bright. We'll journey up the coast towards Lucia (to complete that coast highway section) but will skip the Hearst Castle tour ($20/person) and enjoy the day. Very nice town close by, Cambria, where we'll do a little running around.

The pix are of the campground area in Gilroy and, obviously, the coast highway and beaches plus an interesting roadside erosion area.