Poised To Strike

During our first month here in Albuquerque, Trevor and I were having a blast walking in the desert behind the RV Park. There’s about a 2 mile dirt loop out there; pretty convenient for a little exercise. It doesn’t look like much as you look out across the mesa, just a bunch of dirt and brush with mountains on the horizon. But it was a fun walk.

It was cool to see the cacti produce their buds and bloom, to watch little lizards run out in front of us and then down the road as if beckoning us to chase them and to wonder what lay beneath the many large holes that line the path. We’ve seen large insects, Yuccas, many species of small wildflowers, what appeared to be the ruins of an old ranch, and something that looked eerily familiar to pictures we saw at the UFO museum in Roswell, New Mexico.

Then the snakes came out! Most of the snakes we’ve seen slithered along the ground like a good snake should. But the first one we saw, looked as though it was poised to strike. We were taking our usual walk, enjoying the beautiful cactus flowers, and not paying too much attention to the path. I just happened to look down for a second and saw that if I were to take two more steps, I’d be right in line with the mouth of a snake. This one’s head was up! We don’t know what kind of snake it was or if it had any intentions for harm, maybe he just wanted to say hello. If that was the case, I have to admit I was a little rude to the poor little guy! We saw another snake that same evening. It was about 5 or 6 feet long. We think it came from underneath our motorhome. It crawled across the road, went underneath the fence, and then slithered into one of the holes we’d often wondered about. Not too far into the next day’s walk, another snake blocked the path where Trevor walked. After that we made the decision not to walk out there anymore. From now on we’re going to walk in the RV Park on weekdays and continue to hike in the Sandia Mountains and Petroglyph National Park on weekends. At least there are people in those places. Hopefully, they’ll scare the snakes away before we get there!

It was so cool to be here for the Annular Eclipse. Albuquerque was one of the best places to be for viewing and photographing it. The local visitor’s center was handing out free eye protection, so thanks to them, we got to do both! The sun continues to be of interest to photographers in the area this weekend. Smoke from the Arizona fires has reached us, creating another interesting view of the sun.

We’ve had a lot of fun here, even with all the sand storms that frequent this area. We will continue to clean what looks like the beach out of our house for two more weeks, then we’ll be off to see new places we’ve yet to explore.

We hope all is well with all of you. We love you! Love, Trevor & Roni

Getting Our Kicks On Route 66

At one time I thought it’d be cool to follow the famous Route 66 sometime to see what that was all about. When I researched it on the internet, I was disappointed to learn the old route doesn’t exist anymore. There are signs that point to segments of the old historic route, but the original’s been replaced by the Interstate. When we pulled into New Mexico 2 weeks ago, we were amused to find that we’d actually be camping on a portion of the old route! The drive here was certainly exciting. I don’t remember driving through such heavy winds before! The whole time, I wondered how much more wind it’d take to completely blow us over. Trevor’s an amazing driver though and we arrived here safe and sound.

We’ve experienced some pretty heavy sand storms here that have included dust devils the likes of which we’ve never seen before, but most of the time it’s been pretty nice. You would not believe how much hiking there is to do in this area. We hike out in the desert just about every day, and then on weekends our hikes tend to take on higher elevations. So far, we’ve hiked in two different areas of Petroglyph National Monument and a little at Sandia Crest. I say a little, because we haven’t adjusted to the 10,678’ elevation quite yet. But we will!

We also spent a day in Santa Fe where there’s plenty of shopping, but man, you need a big bank account to shop there! I spied a pair of the cutest shoes while window shopping and just had to go in to take a closer look. Being that there are plenty of more important things (like diesel) I could purchase, I thought I’d pass on the $440 shoes!!!

Today is the 2nd anniversary of the day we hit the road. We’ve loved every minute of it.

Fishing in Montana

Wildflowers Glacier National Park

Lake Union, Seattle, WA

Washington Park Arboretum, Seattle, WA

Oregon Coast

Devil's Churn, Lincoln County, Oregon

Pismo Beach, CA

Coast at San Simeon, CA

White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Surprise AZ

White Tank Mountain Regional Park, Surprise, AZ

Old Point Loma Lighthouse, San Diego, CA

Cheetah at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Arizona to Texas with Gordon & Christy

At the Alamo San Antonio, TX

Cool Building-Emily Morgan Hotel San Antonio, TX

View of Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX

View of Moody Gardens from the Paddle Boat Galveston, TX

We love and miss you all! Love, Trevor & Roni

How The Westie Was Won

Okay, I didn’t win him. After I pleaded, begged, and told G it was unbiblical for him to not share his dog with me, he allowed Duncan to ride in the RV with me for the last leg of our caravan across Texas together. I doubt that I would own a lap dog myself, but I do enjoy spending time with other people’s dogs, especially this sweet little Westie.

It was so much fun to travel with another couple! Trev and I have traveled from Yuma to New Braunfels before, so it was fun for us to share the things we enjoy about that journey and share in new things with them as well, especially Shakespeare Ghost Town in Lordsburg, New Mexico.

Christy and I agreed beforehand that we would stop to visit ghost towns along the way. A majority of people travel on weekends, so when you see a sign on the highway pointing you to a tourist spot on a Saturday, it’s usually safe to assume they’d be open, right?

As I prepared my camera for what I thought would be a fun place to photograph, our small caravan made its way toward the intended direction. As we approached the turn that lead to the museum, we did a little pause when we saw the rough, narrow, dirt road we’d be traveling on. Yes, there was a small question in our minds as to whether the rigs could handle it, but we’ve been to lots of ghost towns. They’ve all had RV friendly parking lots. We began having serious doubts after we’d committed to taking that dirt road. It was rough on the vehicles and seemed to go on forever. None of us had a clue how far this place was, so I Googled it. I called the number on their website, first, to see how far it was and also to see if we’d be able to turn around once we got there.
Although someone did answer the phone, we were surprised to learn the museum was closed. This is definitely a place you need to check ahead on, as they don’t seem to have the regular hours most museums do. It also didn’t sound all that reassuring that we’d be able to turn around.

Trevor turned in at the spot marked with the “RV Parking” sign, assuming that would be the safest place to turn around. He was wrong. Fortunately, G & C weren’t as gullible and didn’t continue to follow us on the path to no return. They were able to get their fifth wheel turned around pretty easily. Not so with us. But Trev did a good job getting our rig out of there and now the four of us have something to laugh about.

Other memorable moments with G & C include visiting the Alamo, Riverwalk and Monarch Collectibles (built to look like a giant doll house) in San Antonio, and kicking around Gruene, TX. Our favorite places there are Gruene Hall and Gruene General Store, and we enjoyed both the ambiance and great tasting food at The Gristmill River Restaurant.

Sadly, we had to part ways with our dear friends, as they needed to head to Georgia and we went to Corpus Christi.
When we made the plans to visit my brother and sister-in-law, we had no idea spring break began that early in the year. Oh, my! All the campgrounds were full, but we planned to stay on the Navy Base, away from the crazy crowds. We did spend the weekend there, but nothing is easy when you deal with the government. I don’t even want to begin to tell you what checking into the place was like.
The weekend was nice. There were no crowds and generally, life was pretty laid back and easy. And the birds were hilarious! The place was full of Starlings. I wrote about Starlings in my previous post entitled, “The Cutest Sound”. Starlings are from the Mynah bird family. If you repeat the same word to them 50 times a day for 3 days, supposedly, they’ll learn to say the word.

These Starlings seemed right at home on a military base because the sounds they made resembled machine gun fire and the bells and whistles you’d hear on a ship or submarine.
By Sunday we realized the internet signal was pretty bad. It was time to do some serious praying, as we’d checked other RV parks in the area and they were full. The one we did get into was one we’d checked with several times and there was no way we could stay there. At the very moment we needed the place, someone left, so we were able to get in. When we pulled into the place, the first thing they said was, “You guys are living right!” (Right on our knees, that is!)
Unfortunately, between the crowds, traffic, and my brother coming down with something, we hardly got to visit with them before we had to head to Houston.

While Trev attended Microsoft Convergence in downtown Houston, I was able to get into writing my book. Made a lot of changes (such is the life) and am more excited than ever about writing!
Apparently not learning our lesson in Corpus Christi, we planned a day of beach bumming in Galveston one weekend. Our plans fizzled when not long after leaving home, we found ourselves stuck in stand still traffic. We turned around and planned to try again very early the next day. That was a better plan! When we arrived, the beach was nearly empty. We enjoyed this for quite a while. When it began to get crowded, we went to a place called Moody Gardens. What a nice place! We enjoyed the aquarium, a nice lunch at the Terrace Restaurant, the rainforest exhibit, a ride on the paddleboat, and a couple of the movies showing there. We were there for nearly five hours and would have stayed much longer, but they were closing for the evening.

Our stay in Houston’s been quite nice. We’ve met a lot of very nice people we will hate to leave. People think that Houston’s pretty crime ridden. The RV park is safe and it’s right next to a golf course where the only problems we’ve had are with our swing.
I don’t know about outside the gate, except when we’re out and about, the Starlings most mimic the sound of police sirens, so you be the judge.
Trevor recently planned a 7,000 mile adventure for us. We’re looking forward to beginning the journey soon. God willing, I hope to have many new things to share with you.

Some of you have been complaining for a long time that you’re not able to post comments here. I tried changing some settings, so it may work if you want to try again, but most people just email us.
There have also been complaints about there not being any photos of me. All I’ve got to say is I wasn’t photogenic when I was young and cute. Getting older hasn’t changed that!

Take care, you guys! We love you!
Love, Trevor & Roni

What Desert?

It’s hard to believe you’re in the desert when everything around you is lush with green grass, flowers and running water, like it is at Outdoor Resorts Indio in Indio, California.

It’s quite pricey, but it’s a nice place to stay. We were in town to visit mom and dad, so we thought we’d do it just this once. The RV lots are owned, but some owners rent them out. The lots are quite large compared to most places we’ve been and very comfortable. Most of them are decked out with gazebos and outdoor kitchens that include a sink, an oven, a refrigerator, and lots of counter space!

They have a beautiful 18 hole, Par 3 golf course throughout the park. It took us awhile to get up the nerve to golf there, because neither one of us golf and the course is surrounded by RVs upwards of a million dollars. If our ball were to hit any one of those rigs, we would be responsible for the damage. Come on now, if you’re going to park your million dollar rig on the golf course, don’t you think…??? I probably shouldn’t get started on that topic.
We used whiffle balls at first, but after some instruction from my dad, we got the courage to use real balls. And I discovered golf is fun! I kind of want to do it all the time!
I’m a little upset about my 9th grade gym class where I got my first introduction to golf. I could not hit the ball! There was no one on one instruction; no one showed us what we were doing wrong, so I decided then and there, that golf was not for me. I’m now regretting all the years I’ve missed out on this game due to the rash decision I made when I was young.

We finished this year’s West Coast exploration by heading over the mountains and into San Diego one weekend. We had a nice time there, visiting Little Italy, Cabrillo National Monument, Hotel del Coronado, Safari Wild Animal Park and a cute little shopping area called Seaport Village.
Little Italy is mostly restaurants with amazing aromas coming from each one. Believe it or not, we weren’t hungry when we walked through there, so we didn’t eat there.

Cabrillo National Monument was fun. We enjoyed the views of San Diego Bay and the Pacific Ocean, visited the Old Point Loma Lighthouse, saw some Coastal defense relics and checked out the big statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. The lighthouse was cool, and we both liked the winding staircase inside.



Hotel del Coronado was pretty. They filmed a movie called SOME LIKE IT HOT there. It’d be fun to stay there sometime. The place is rich with history, shopping (window) and a gorgeous view out back.

Safari Wild Animal Park is huge, allowing for nice long walks, with several tram ride choices available for animal viewing. These were quite expensive, so we chose the one included in admission.

Seaport Village was cool as well. Lots of nice shops. I especially liked the Tile Shop, because it was filled with beautiful Mexican tiles. I’m thinking it’d be nice to redo the floors in the RV!
We really enjoyed spending time with my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching us to golf, showing us wine country, introducing us to your friends out at their beautiful ranch, celebrating our birthdays at the country club, taking me along with you, Mom to the Women’s Retreat, letting us teach you how to play HAND AND FOOT and for hanging out with us at the RV resort.

It’s always difficult to leave my folks, but it was time to head out to meet up with Gordon and Christy or “G & C” as we like to call them (they don’t know that yet). Well I guess they do now! We were able to visit with other friends in Yuma as well, before hitting the road with “G & C” to caravan to Texas. We’ve been having a blast traveling with them! Looking forward to telling you about it later. Take care y’all!
Love, Trevor & Roni