Midland TX

Today (2/28) was a travel day. We stopped at a rest area at Las Cruces where a huge roadrunner metal scupture overlooked the highway. We had seen this sculpture on a previous trip but didn’t remember where it was located. Later in the day we saw a real roadrunner while we were stopped for lunch. We crossed back into the Central time zone and spent the night at an RV park in Pecos, TX, that had the narrowest sites we’ve ever seen. With our slide rooms out, we were uncomfortably close to the adjacent RV. On Friday we drove to Midland, TX, and toured the Petroleum Museum which gave an excellent history of the petroleum industry of west Texas and its technology. Outside on the grounds were 2 working oil wells, modern drilling rig, old equipment and vehicles, and a variety of pumps. Also at the museum were marvelous paintings depicting scenes of the oil industry. In the same building was a gallery of Tom Lovell oil paintings showing life in west Texas. In an adjacent gallery were huge photographs showing the Rio Grande from its birth in NM and scenes along the way, ending in Mexico. We enjoyed seeing photos of the Big Bend area which we visited on a previous trip. We also visited the George W. Bush Childhood Home in Midland. Our tour was led by a mature, impeccably groomed staunch Republican lady originally from Kansas. She expressed the town’s pride in the Bush family and showing their home where 2 governors, 2 presidents, and a First Lady had lived for 4 years in the early 1950’s. It was a modest home with 3 bedrooms and one bathroom and had been furnished as much as possible as it was when the Bushes lived there though there was little that was original. The guide told us that it cost $1000 a roll to get the 1950’s wallpaper recreated.. Some of the rooms were not furnished but had exhibits and photographs in them. For dinner we got take-out beef brisket BBQ from K D’s BBQ, recommended by our tour guide. The dinner came with sliced raw onions and dill pickles, red and green sweet peppers, pinto beans, cole slaw, and sliced white bread. The tomato-based BBQ sauce was very sweet but had a strong flavor of black pepper – quite different from Georgia BBQ. We parked overnight at Wal-Mart where we shopped for supplies. To see more pictures click HERE: http://picasaweb.google.com/gharpercomcast/BushChildhoodHome

Silver City - The Catwalk

Wednesday morning we said goodby to our traveling companions, Jan and George, who headed to New Orleans to visit friends and then back home to Birmingham. We drove northwest to the Catwalk of Whitewater Canyon which is the site of an 1880’s mining area. At that time, large pipes took water back to the mining operation. In the 1930’s the CCC built wooden platforms on the pipeline for recreational use. The present metal grid catwalk, hanging off the side of the canyon, was build by the US Forest Service in 1961 with a one-third mile accessible trail at the beginning constructed in the 1990’s. This was an awesome hike of about 2.4 miles through a multi-colored canyon with beautiful rose/lavender/purple stone accented by green lichen (I think it was lichen). There were also sections of volcanic rock. A segment of the canyon was narrow with rocks curving over the stream and reminded us of the Narrows in Zion National Park. To see more pictures go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/gharpercomcast/TheCatwalk

Silver City - Cliff Dwellings

Leaving Tucson Monday morning, we headed to Silver City, NM, along with Jan and George. We arrived around noon and explored the downtown area in the afternoon and went to Pinos Altos where we had dinner at Buckhorn Saloon, former bordello, and drove around the area to see historic buildings. On Tuesday we explored the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument north of Silver City after driving 42 miles of very curving, hilly, narrow forest service roads. We took the docent led tour of the 7 natural cavities on the face of the cliff where the Mogollon Indians had built 42 rooms. The docent, a philosophy major and former teacher in Indian schools, had many theories of his own about the Mogollon culture and history. The tour included a one mile loop trail which had great views of the cliff dwellings and adjacent cliffs. We were fortunate to have a pleasant sunny day for our visit; snow remained alongside the road from a 3 inch snowfall the previous week. To see more pictures click HERE: http://picasaweb.google.com/gharpercomcast/SilverCityCliffDwellings

Country Coach Winter Rally, Tucson, AZ

We enjoyed the Country Coach rally held at Beaudry RV Park in Tucson, a nice park with lemon and orange trees and marvelous views of the mountains. The entertainment at the rally was varied – a mariachi band, Broadway tunes, and a country music band. We attended some seminars, checked out the vendors (fewer than at the Oregon rally last summer), and appreciated complimentary service on the coach from Country Coach. George attended the CC Yahoo Forum meeting and met some of the members that he had met online in the past few months. We took a day tour to Mission San Xavier del Bac in Tucson, Tubec (an artist’s community), and to Nogales, Mexico, where we had lunch and walked around the shopping area with Jan and George. Another day we went to Sabino Canyon with Glenn and Janet whom we had met on the Copper Canyon trip in 2004 and had seen at the Oregon rally last summer. Sabino Canyon was an amazing array of cactus, but the area was greener than expected because of the river flowing thru it. We took the tram as far as it could go because of damage from extreme flooding a few years ago, and then we walked back to the visitor’s center. On Sunday Jan and Irene visited a couple of the barrios in Tucson where we enjoyed seeing the brightly colored homes and businesses.

En Route to Tucson

We left San Antonio in fog and rain but finally crossed the front and had clear weather but very strong winds. We spent the night in Ft. Stockton, TX, where the wind continued to blow throughout the night. It was calmer the following day when we drove to Las Cruces where we parked overnight at Wal-Mart and ate dinner at La Posta in La Mesilla, a historical Spanish villiage, after walking around the town square and looking at shops. The following day we drove to Tucson, stopping en route at a railroad ghost town which was closed but we could see the old settlement thru the wire fence. We arrived at Baudry RV Rally Park in Tucson in the afternoon and got settled in and explored the park and rally facilties on our bicyles – much faster than walking. It was really warm when we arrived. Having awakened in Las Cruces to a chilly high 30’s temperature, we quickly changed into cooler clothes. When the sun sets, the temperature drops condsideratbly here and it is cool in the morning, but a light jacket is adequate.

San Antonio, TX

We drove to Houston the first day, stopping overnight at a Wal-Mart on the west side of Houston. The weather was stormy w/ rain, wind, and thunderstorms. Jan and George invited us to dinner in their coach, and we celebrated George S.’s birthday which was the following day (2/12), the day we arrived in San Antonio. While in San Antonio we enjoyed the food and sights, visiting the Alamo, River Walk, La Villeta (earliest settlement) , and other places. We took the narrated boat tour around the River Walk on our anniverary, Valentine’s Day, and at the outdoor “auditorium” along the way happened upon the annual wedding ceremony performed by a judge in both English and Spanish. Numerous couple of all ages accompanied by family groups repeated their vows. The area was decorated with yellow roses. Each lady on the boat tour was also given a yellow rose that day. We also visited Gruene, TX, settled by Germans in the mid 1840s near San Antonio. This charming town is home to Gruene Hall, a dance hall and saloon, Gruene Mercantile, now a well stocked antique store. We ate lunch at a delightful restaurant overlooking the Guadalupe River.

Louisiana

Heading west on I-10 we reached Louisiana and drove through Baton Rouge, shortly after reaching the 10 mile Basin Bridge which crosses bayous, rivers, and lakes – a very different view. We overnighted at the Slidell Wal-Mart and then continued to LaFayette, our base for exploring the Cajun country. Having heard on the news that former President Bill Clinton would speak at Country Cuisine Restaurant in LaFayette at 2:00 p.m. on his cross-Louisiana campaign for Hillary, we went there immediately after parking the coach. We arrived to find a crowd outside the small restaurant as well as a fire truck and police cars with an ambulance arriving shortly. (Both the fire truck and ambulance were unrelated to Clinton’s visit and soon left). Crowds continued to gather and the sun beat down as the minutes ticked by past 2:00. The secret service said 25 minutes more; after that interval passed, they said 10 minutes. That too passed and eventually, unannounced, the motorcade of Louisiana State Troopers and 2 bullet proof tan Chevy Suburbans pulled into the circular driveway in front of the restaurant. Clinton was quickly escorted inside the restaurant by the secret service, much to the disappointment of the crowd outside. His short 3 point speech, audible outdoors, made the case for why Louisianans should vote for Hillary. Then Clinton came outside, spoke with the media, and circled the perimeter of the crowd shaking hands much to the delight of the people. For quite a while, we could see only Clinton’s white hair over the throngs of people, but finally George was able to speak to him and shake his hand. George made a complimentary comment to him about his presidency. Cameras were flashing and sunglass-clad secret service agents flanked Clinton as he moved through the crowds. As soon as they could get a photo, the elated individuals pulled back reducing the crush of people. George moved to the other side of the circle to get better shots so again saw the president who spotted George and told him, “Thank you for what you said.” Having completed the circuit, Clinton and his entourage reentered the Suburbans and sped off with sirens blazing. He had come to LaFayette and he was gone. When we returned to the RV park, we met up with George and Jan from Birmingham whom George met on the Country Coach Yahoo Forum. Friday night we ate at Prejeans enjoying both Cajun food and music. Sat. we explored the surrounding area and in New Iberia toured Shadows-on-The-Teche, the 1834 home of a sugar plantation owner and his family for four generations. The gardens with their old (200 and 400 years) oaks were quite a sight. On Sunday we drove southwest and saw shrimp boats and crawfish farms and crossed the Intercoastal Waterway. We enjoyed dinner at Mulate’s, recommended by another CC Yahoo Forum member, and again enjoyed both food and music. This well-known restaurant with posts made of cypress trees from the bayou has been patronized over the years by numerous celebrities whose names are listed in the entrance. See more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/gharpercomcast/BillClinton