March - 16
Well, we are on the road with the
final destination of southeastern Arizona in our sight, albeit no particular
date is set. We are, after all, retired!
The main purpose of this trip is to try
to avoid the spring pollen season here in beautiful downtown Alabama.
We just took our time ambling along and
spent the night on the west side of Jackson, MS after losing a wheel cover,
which in turn shredded a wheel valve stem extension and leaving us with a flat
tire. But, with the mobile tire service
companies available, the flat was fixed and we were ready to roll in the
morning. I was very surprised at the
cost of the repair because it was after hours, at night, and the service truck
had to drive about 10 miles to our location.
The cost? $125 to get us back to operational.
March – 17-19
We continued on to Louisiana
on I-20 but noticed there was a lot
of commercial truck traffic. The reason
for that was the amount of rain they had, 23 ½ “ in five days in West Monroe,
flooded I-10, the southern route. Even
on I-20, the water in the ditches was only about 18 to 24 inches below the road
surface. When we arrived in West Monroe,
it started pouring down rain again. We
were going to wait until Friday, the 18th to arrive at Bonnie’s
cousin’s place in Tyler, TX but he suggested we get to Tyler on the evening of
the 17th.
That worked well for us because he
owns a trophy shop and gave me the opportunity to build a customer order for a
trophy. I’ll be able to add that new
found talent to my resume´. However, there was plenty of pollen in east Texas
to encourage us to move along.
March – 20
After an enjoyable visit with
cousin Greg and family, we lumbered along on towards Las Cruces, NM to visit a
niece and family. Now, for those of you
who never traveled across Texas, it is 850 miles from the Texas/Louisiana state
line to El Paso. Some people like to
gauge their progress by the number of states through which they pass in a day
while others use miles as a gauge.
Driving across Texas is not for the former. We passed through Midland, TX, boyhood home
of President George W. Bush and the center of the crude oil industry. Midland is NOT a scenic garden spot but is a
mecca for high school football.
March – 21
Getting through El Paso and arriving
in NM was uneventful and not far from Las Cruces.
There was not a cloud in the sky
when we arrived and the temps were ~74°.
When we reached Las Cruces, we quickly discovered that it is a location
not all that great for people trying to escape pollen and the residual effects
it causes. But we stayed for a few days,
hiking and seeing some of the local sites.
Here is a view of our morning hike which was gorgeous. The building you see was a former sanatorium
for TB sufferers who needed dry air.
It had a real nice plaza where the
locals gather
One of the older buildings is a
house that was owned by a wealthy merchant who had a son that fell in love with
the housekeeper and brought shame to the family. The owner sold the house and it was reopened
as a restaurant and tavern. The tavern picture is hard to see but the atrium
was really pleasant.
March – 24
We left Las Cruces and continued on
to Deming, NM to stop at a museum that came highly recommended by a park
volunteer in Las Cruces. This museum was
named the “Smithsonian of the Southwest”.
It was a very diverse collection of well-organized, local historical
artifacts.
As a result of discussion with some
of the locals, we drove on down to Poncho Villa State Park at Columbus, NM
which is only 3 miles from the Mexican border.
This is a very interesting state park in the desert at an elevation of
~4100 feet. So, the days are warm and
sunny and the nights are cool. Due to
the warm days and cool nights, it is very windy here. There is no shortage of a variety of cacti as
you can see here, from the highest point in the park overlooking the
campground. The mountains in the
background are in Mexico.
Pictured here is my childhood
cartoon favorite, the roadrunner. These guys can fly, but they have to be running downhill to get some lift. Even then, their flight is only good for about ten feet.
The sunsets are pretty and the air
is dry, to the point we are constantly drinking water and applying Chap Stick.
With a pleasant environment, few
pollen reactions, and a camping fee of $14/night including water and electric,
we have decided to stay five nights. We made a few trips into Mexico which was very easy to do; you simply walked into the border village. I guess there are not a lot of Americans wanting to get into Mexico. Once in the village of Palomas, we ate lunch, shopped around and bought some things. Coming back into the US was very easy, as they have a pedestrian lane so you walk up, show your passport, tell them what you bought, and you are on your way. Yesterday, March 28th, we walked into Palomas, and interviewed a couple of optometrists. Then, we spoke with another couple from the states and they told us they had been coming to this one optometrist for six years and was very pleased with him. So, I decided to get my eyes checked. The eye exam, progressive lenses, magnetic sunglass clip ons, were going to be ready in two hours. So, two hours later, we went back, picked up my glasses and were on our way. The eye exam, glass frames, sunglasses, and progressive lenses were $145.00. The glasses seem to be doing well, but I still cannot read in Spanish. :-)
Some of the wildlife we saw while here included the roadrunner, quail, cottontail rabbits, and jackrabbits. Jackrabbits have incredibly big ears, and we saw one that had a body size similar to a beagle.
March – 29
We are leaving this morning to continue on to Arizona.
