Back home

Friday, April 15
  
The whole time we were out west, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that we did not see a rattlesnake or a scorpion. Well, after leaving Roper Lake SP, we stopped back in Las Cruces, NM at our niece's house for the weekend. On Saturday, we were going to cook out and her husband pulled a tarp back off the wood pile to have access to the wood to start a fire. There it was; a small rattlesnake curled up on top of the log pile!

We put it in an ice chest and took it out to a desolate area and turned it loose.  Now I'm sure many of you are wondering why we did not introduce Mr. Rattler to Mr. Machete; well the explanation is very simple.  Our niece has two children ages six and eight who do not like to see or know about anything being killed.

Sunday, April 17

We left Las Cruces and decided to take the southern route, I-10, and stop in San Antonio.  When we got to where I-10 and I-20 split in west Texas, we took I-10 and stopped at the first state park for the night.  We watched the weather channel that night only to find out that a line of thunderstorms with heavy rain, damaging wind, and large hail stretched from Loredo, TX up through San Antonio, Austin, Waco, and Dallas and was traveling east to include Houston.  So, we decided to change our plans and go back up to I-20 and come home that way, thinking we would stop back in Tyler, TX and  surprise cousin Greg.  However, I checked the weather Tuesday morning and the forecast was severe thunderstorms with damaging winds from Dallas on east to Shreveport, LA starting in the afternoon.  That did it; we drove all day to get through Louisiana and stop in Mississippi for the night.  That plan worked as we only got into about ten minutes of heavy rain with no wind or hail.

 Wednesday, April 20

 We arrived back home Wednesday afternoon only to be reminded that we really did miss a majority of the allergy irritants.  As soon as we got into Mississippi, the eyes started itching and watering and it is still that way.  At least we missed most of it!

 I've had a few people ask me if our plan to avoid allergies actually worked.  Well, we did not totally avoid allergies when in Arizona and New Mexico, but it was no where near the level of misery here at home.  We both took some allergy meds and eye drops,  but nothing like we would have if we were here.  It was well worth it!

OBSERVATIONS:

• Like I said before, the number of single men traveling and camping by themselves was surprising.  By and large, after overhearing some of them talking to each other, it was men over 55 and widowed.
• It was a lot cooler in Arizona than we expected.  I was expecting 80's + everyday and that simply was not the case.  We were thrilled when it got up to 75.  Part of that was the elevations we were in; ~4,700 feet.
• I was surprised to see the Robert Trent Jones Gold Trail in Alabama advertised in Arizona.

This concludes our spring trip for this year.  Thanks for riding along with us.  Your comments and questions are always welcome!