Apr 15 and home again

After a good breakfast - that's the norm at hotels now - of eggs, sausage, cereal, fruit yogurt and good coffee, we do the last run. We pass a herd, maybe 30, of beautiful pronghorn antelope, and a couple of coyotes digging at the edge of the road. A few hawks or falcons are returning, that's a good sign. But no grass!
We have a pleasant 60 second border crossing - welcome home to Alberta! - but gradually the sun gives way to clouds then rain and snow at the edge of the road. Not looking good. Snow is forecast all weekend in Calgary. But we have a tail wind so it helps Ted's diesel consumption.
We stop before the border to get gas and offload liquid, and I meet one of my ski buds in the ladies washroom, also returning after 2 months in Phoenix! It really is a small world.
We pull into our driveway at 3:15pm. There's 3 feet of snow in our side yard but our drive is almost clear.
The odometer says 45899km, we began last October at 30550km, so our faithful RV has done over 15,000km with only one oil change and blowing a resistor? I think we now know that we're not going to spend the whole winter in Calgary again.

Apr 13 The final push north to home...

After a restful time to end our time in the south with our good friends, we start the journey north in sun. It is a magnificent drive up through northern Arizona and southern Utah, vast spreads of colourful mountains, huge deep gorges, snow-topped mountains in Idaho and finally Montana, then the Big Sky.
Warned of incoming storms, we get lucky and have sun and mainly blue sky. We winterize in southern Utah and spend the next 3 days in hotels in Provo, Idaho Falls and Great Falls. The latter by the rivers so we stop driving early, and take a walk along the banks and enjoy some sun. We wake Apr 14 to sub-zero temperatures, which drop even lower to 27 as we cross the continental divide for the third time in two days. Then down into the beautiful forks of the Missouri river winding through idyllic valleys and gorges - definitely huntin, fishin and shootin country here. The daytime temp climbs to 48, then 55, but with sun it feels better.

Phoenix - Berrett hospitality & half of Calgary...

Nancy & Colin are here for a month north of Phoenix in Sun City Grand so we reroute to pay them a visit. They are in a lovely residential area on the golf course, but we hit the coldest day on record for that time of year! Sheesh. It's a high of 45 and freezing when we rise. Then the rain comes! The only thing for it, of course, is more retail therapy at the nearby outlet mall. They give me 1.5 hours to power shop and I managed to do just that. Meanwhile, Ted and Colin buy shoes and run into the Robinsons and Fawcetts from the ski club! They are renting a place about 5 minutes from C&N, but we don't have time now to visit with them. They have also met up with the Halligeys (in Tucson) and Crombies (in Phoenix) from the ski club. I guess some of us could have had the wind-up party down here. There's an idea for future years...

April 5, A surprise visit...

We are 5 miles from the Mexican border in an isolated national park. We have a liesurely morning, take off later for a hike in the park, Ted is slightly ahead as I shoot some photos, a car stops, and out steps Bonnie and Surinder Khanna, our neighbors from Calgary, members of our ski and wine clubs! Talk about coincidence, it was meant to be! We have a lovely short visit, swap war stories and suggestions, they take off for the 40 mile drive back to their RV site and we take our walk. Amazing!
Next day, we do the 21 mile scenic drive over dirt roads, fantastic views, but as we had a maybe "wetback" come by begging for food at our campsite this morning, and ran into another lone Mexican at the half-way point in our drive also asking us for something?, we don't feel comfortable to leave the RV and go hiking in the desert. Probably just hungry guys but as one of the rangers was shot by back-country druggies in this park a few years back, we just feel safer enjoying the drive.
One of the interesting things about a country at war with its neighbors (keeping Mexicans out...) after I reported the guy begging at our campsite, they sent the helicopter over for many flights and the rangers circled our fairly isolated part of the camping area. As Ted says, you probably just cost the border patrol a few thousand $$$s.
Next day we head north through serious US air space, with huge fighter jets doing complicated manoevres just above us, very impressive, probably getting ready to help out our trusty soldiers in Afghanistan. Sadly, we receive a note from Deidre this week to say Mik is shipping out to Afghanistan again soon. I guess that's his job but I don't have to like it...He and Aggie had another baby boy in March so it's going to be hard on her when he leaves, as Antonio just turned one!

Apr 5 Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument

We take advantage of the fact we have time to spare back in the south to visit another splendid but isolated park. It's a 3 hour drive west and south through the dry and dusty O'odham Indian Reserve. There's a sign of prosperity at the central 'town' and we find out why when we hit the eastern edge of the reserve and there is the Casino!
Oh, and 'Why' is the name of the first settlement off the reserve! (Must get a photo of that.)
This is a vast beautifully preserved area north and south of the Mexican border of Sonora desert at its finest. David Parsons, eat your heart out! Our camp site is idyllic and there are few people in this park. We pass 20 border patrol, police, park ranger cars on the way here. We feel very safe...There is a border station just 5 miles down the road, but we are not tempted to cross and take a look.
We watch the most amazing sunset and sunrise here. Also Ted finally took some photos of my doing my TaiChi against the desert. I try to practice every day, it's a good way to keep fit and breathe in this really clear air. En route here yesterday, we pass Kitt Observatory, one of the clearest places in the US to view the constellations.
The ocotillo cactus are all in full bloom with deep red flowers, attracting birds, bees and hummers. Other small birds call around. Huge turkey vultures soar and yesterday we saw a red tailed hawk hunting by the road. Small families of quail chatter in our bushes and peck away at anything at ground level.
We have seen the Organ Pipe cactus trees before on the Baja peninsula in Mexico, but they are impressive and huge here. Sadly with the cold and lack of rain, few of the huge saguaros have yet bloomed with the huge white flowers that attract so many birds and insects.
It really is beautiful here. Ted is much happier in quiet desert parks than at the busy ocean and we happily sit and read, listening to the sounds of the desert.
This morning we had very much sought-after rain, and hope to see everything now sprout and glow as a result. Their rainfall is way down and the early February freeze has killed many of the palm trees in this area, so everyone is hoping for a wet spring now.

Apr 4 Back to Tucson and hot showers!

It still gets cold at night in the desert here. It was 45 overnight, back into our sleeping bags with the silk duvet on overnight. However, by day, sun comes up and it's 88 before too long and we are seeking shade and sunblock. Many of these isolated parks don't have showers but we have a mobile bathroom now which helps!
One good thing about retracing your steps is you return to the great French bakery (pain au chocolate, macaroons, cheese rolls, ahhhh) and SunFoods specialty grocery store (huge scallops.) Strangely even though we were back a couple of days, we don't zero in on Trader Joe's, as we are back into that great grocery store territory here again.
Careful about amassing too much now, as we'll be crossing the border for home in a week or so and don't want any produce or questionable wine overload. We had a pathetic border crossing last year into BC with 3 bottles of wine more than our limit, causing a half hour delay and search of our RV at the border. Ridiculous, and they charged Ted 100% duty, i.e. $50 on $50 worth of wine!
It's too hot to cook so I rescue the Thai chicken noodles and basmati rice from the freezer and zap dinner in 5 minutes. Glad I had those.

April 2 - Arizona

... and huge rock pinnacles at Chiricahua
We take advantage of advice we got from Park Rangers at Saguaro National Park in Tucson to visit this little-known national park in SE Arizona. Camping is idyllic on a dry river bed in huge alligator pines (the bark looks like skin.) Few people are here, the hiking is splendid and views are spectacular. Giant rhyolite rocks formed from ancient volcanic ash have been weathered into massive pillars, canyons, grottos. It's like a mini-Bryce Canyon in rock.
This is Geronimo and Cochise country, the real stuff of Indian legends. It's also birding country and Mexic and bluebirds adopt us for the 3 days we are there, hoping unsuccessfully for a handout. A family from Tucson have taken their kids out of school to come for a long weekend and like kids everywhere, the 8 year old girl and 10 year old boy are having so much fun without any electronic devices at all!
The national parks all have great A/V presentations, afternoon and evening lectures at the campgrounds, wonderful visitor centres with wonderful books and gift items. I often stock up for the famous Foster Xmas goody bags, and am not disappointed here.

April 1 - Swift visit to Las Cruces again

Yesterday we decided to take the south and western Rockies route home to stay in the hot country as long as possible. Denver is stil having snow so the Eastern Rockies is looking, well, rocky for a return trip. Calgary is having late winter storms, 3 feet of snow in some people's backyards, not keen to go back to that. Glad our guy is clearing snow through April too. We meet many Canadians on the road here, we are all refugees from the white country...
We were happy to be back at Las Cruces, staying south of town in old Mesilla, historic centre preserved into boutiques and restaurants around the pretty main plaza and church. We revisit the Gold Eagle for great 'award winning' margaritas (as much as $12 for Patron based tequila) and great Mexican food. The best chiles rellenos we've seen yet. Pity no time to go north to A/C is back in business.
Driving through El Paso and skirting Juarez (murder capital of the US) we see the wealth of El Paso against the shanty towns over the Rio Grande of Cuidad Juarez, the factory town where many women go missing every year.
El Paso is one huge conurbation, very prosperous looking, and later we drive past miles and miles of cattle feedlots to supply all those hamburgers.
We have passed uneventfully through many Border Police checks. They ask if everyone in the vehicle is a US Citizen then wave us through. However, there are lights, cameras, many vehicles, holding centres, etc, proof that they are policing the Mexican border vigorously now. Few tourists are venturing south any more, too many bad experiences. Ted goes into a $10 haircut place on the outskirst of Austin and is told the hairdresser is too afraid to go home any more to San Luis Potosi to visit her parents. Sad, as we have had some wonderful trips but just not worth crossing the border any more. Flying in is OK to the resort areas of the Yucatan and West Coast, driving in is not recommended now.
Oh, it's April 1, according to the Calgary Herald, Westjet announced they're filling the cabins with helium as it's lighten than hydrogen in future. Yeah, we'll be on Lotusland mode when we fly with them in May to LA! I told Ted the RV owners tried to charge us $30 as we left, for the vet bill for feeding their cat bits of our seafood, he fell for it! Duh.
Before we leave Nee Mexico I pick up one of the famous Ristras, hanging chile bundles, from Hatch, just up the road from Las Cruces. One chile serves a whole salsa, beware of heat!

March 31 - Fort Stockton and Texas history

There are all sorts of reminders of the Butterfield Stage Coach route and Forts to protect the settlers from maruading Indian bands. We stay at historic Fort Stockton where you can tour the fort and see how the soldiers lived. It's in the middle of nowhere, warnings everywhere to look out for dust storms and zero visibility for long stretches when dust storms blow in. You can imagine Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath by the edge of the road...Armadas of motor homes now visit, people in 40 foot land yachts, folks afraid to travel on their own without a 'handler" and similar rigs. We were twice turned away from RV parks because we were 'too small' at 22ft. Yippee.

March 18, Austin, capital of Texas

Austin, capital of Texas and world capital of music?
Texans pride themselves on world bests but we will have to believe it. We stayed south of town and found everything a good drive away. It took us about 3 days to find everything, at which time we left. The road system is mind-boggling, a spaghetti of overpass over overpass, I guess that's where the oil tax money goes. They are still building overpasses there, despite talking of laying off teachers and cutting budgets 25%.
The downtown Capitol core is a lovely mix of historic yellow sandstone buildings, many beautifully restored and high-rise city scape of lovely modern buildings, mostly banks. Several 'gatherings' outside the capital were disputing cuts for education and banning texting while driving. Both Senate and Representative houses were in session but we were able to visit both houses and see how Texas is ruled!
Driving home, the sun has come out, it's stinking hot and we spot an outdoor beer parlor, U-turn and get back there. It's Doc's Motor Court Bar, a garage turned into a bar. Yeah. We're obviously near one of the universities, as it's packed with students and locals with their dogs. And why not, with $1 chicken or beef tacos and lots of cold beer.
Leaving Austin we went up through Hill Country, supposedly the best part of Texas. Wild flowers are now blooming beside the road, and cotton, pecans, cattle and oil/gas wells and collection centres were evident. Goats and sheep make this the US capital for wool and mohair production too. Wish we could find local goat cheese but no.
"Jesus is the boss on the cross"
"Keep Austin Weird"
"J (heart)U" - yup, you're reminded there's lots of religion in Texas all right. At the next RV park, the WiFi password is godblessyou. We're saved!
Austin was a great town for finding all the things we needed, do the laundry, central RV park, wash the RV, get RV parts, some retail therapy (clothes for my cruise at Chicos), and of course, a visit to a genuine out-in-the-boons Texas BBQ. For $20 we had dinner of ribs, sausage, brisket, coleslaw, potato salad, local beer and, of course, pecan pie. The weather was cool, positively cold overnight (45) but then next day sun and 87.

March 26 - Still on the 'Redneck Riviera'

We take a drive up the coast to see the small ports of Rockport and Fulton. One very developed with enormous homes and huge boats parked on their docks, the other laid back with the shrimp trawlers and gulls circling for scraps off boats as they come in. Lunch of oyster stew (tons of cream!) and crab stuffed shrimp and local beers, overlooking the trawler harbor, is great. Dinner of red snapper caught that day and oysters is good too.
We enjoyed lunch with Carlos and Laura (Don Druery's niece), who live in Corpus Christi and were a mine of local lore.
Mornings were generally foggy and sometimes didn't clear until early afternoon, so 6 days at the beach satisfied my need for sea, sand and all things marine. The UofTexas Marine centre was an interesting visit, but no dolphins visit, disappointing too.

CORPUS CHRISTI and Texas riviera

It's a pleasant drive south for 2 hours to the cost. Agricultural and hunting, fishing and shooting territory here. Corpus is a huge industrial city with many refineries but we shoot through, over the bridge to the 18 mile beach of North Padre Island, the Texas 'riviera'. It's sunny and hot so we are glad the wind is blowing. But we're told this wind has stopped fishing in these parts over the last while, bringing loads of seaweed to mar the beautiful undeveloped beaches.
This is summer home territory for the monied. Clearly there are some enormous mansions on inlets with their enormous boats parked on their private piers - we expected no less of Texas!
The Pioneer RV park is well run, right on the beach, but we get parked on a nice spot looking over a small lake. It is seabird and ornithologists paradise here, on the two main flyways between Canada and Central/South America. Very popular with birders.
We have our own picnic table behind wind break and BBQ shelf, great for Ted's back, which is playing up again. Not sure if it's the humidity, his arthritis, or all of the above. WE plan to stay and veg out here for the rest of the week. They got 10cm of snow in North Dakota today, piles are still 6ft high, so we are not keen to head back up the east side of the Rockies any time soon. All the snowbirds are leaving here and after spring break, it's a breeze to find good RV parking now.

S.A. DODGE'S VERSION OF CUSTOMER SERVICE

Took a hotel to be near the dealer and get it in by 7:30am to be finished by 10:30. At 11am they tell us they have not started, we wait 2 hours at our hotel to be "picked up" by their courtesy?? car. After waiting two hours, we call a cab, but still sit at the dealership for another hour or so! Grrr.
Finally they finish at 2pm! And we are on our way south to the Texas Gulf Coast, our destination this winter. It's now too late to head for Corpus Christi so we shop for food at the great HEB grocery stores here, hole up one more night at our RV resort on the south side and meet up with Pat & Anna, some nice New Yorkers.
Crack the last bottle of Trader Joe's dessert wine to celebrate his birthday and enjoy dinner on the picnic table. Good news is most of these RV resorts do have a picnic table, ideal for our BBQ and eating out on these lovely warm evenings. We still have some of TJ's limoncello to go with the lemon cake I bake when I can plug in the toaster oven outside.
(Photo left, no not our hotel, it's the Pearl Brewery, sadly under renovation, so not the source of limitless free beer, as it was on our first visit there some 35 years ago!)

HILL COUNTRY - THEN SAN ANTONIO

The plan to stop in Hill Country, visit Fredericksburg and Texan capital Austin was scuppered by spring break hordes, and a huge music festival and the rodeo in Austin. We found a small RV park overnight, then headed south next day to San Antonio.

We visited there 35 years ago - it has changed unrecognizably but still has a lot of charm.
Pulling into a nice RV resort on the south side of town, we found we were easy driving to the Mission Trail, covering 4 of the 5 missions in SA, a good day's touring in brilliant sunshine and 88 degree days (photos above.)
The Alamo (left) was originally a mission that makes up the 5th in the series, a positive shrine for Americans, and one they lined up around the block to visit. We enjoy the civilization of good facilities and a pool to end the day after hot sightseeing. Also a day (an easy 3 mile bus trip so time off from driving for Ted) downtown, enjoying the Riverwalk, a great downtime collection of hotels, shops, restaurants, live entertainment, a theatre on one bank of the river and seats on the other.
With spring break, it was positively jumping, we skipped the river tour lineups and walked to take in the renovated Spanish Governor's palace, cathedral, market square and, of course, The Alamo (photos only!) Great to see the cardinals and birds in our trees, which are bursting by the day with pale green life again. So glad we are not heading home to the 10 cm of snow forecast for Calgary again. (Durty Nellies left on the Riverwalk!)
We stayed an extra day to get the RV in for service, a frustrating and aggravating experience while you search for a dealer who handles these vehicles, sometimes Dodge, sometimes Chrysler, sometimes Mercedes.

FINALLY TEXAS! Cave country and Spring

Arizona one day, New Mexico the next, and today Texas! We carelessly lost two hours in one day, one to daylight saving change and the other going east a time zone. Ted was able to BBQ steaks to get in the Texas mood! The reason for taking this route is to visit Sonora Caverns, one of the third best sets of caves in the world, and even by other than Texan standards! It was truly worth the journey to camp here in the rural site, surrounded by many many birds, wild turkeys and deer who came by in the light of an almost full moon. True to form, Texans are a friendly bunch and readily meet and greet and are generally a mine of useful information. It is also very hispanic around here, Spanish being spoken and used more than English in many areas.
Today we see the first signs of Spring, green grass, trees budding, a few blossoms and many, many birds.

NEW MEXICO - FOR THE DAY

Out of Tombstone en route to Las Cruces, NM, we found the amazing Amerind Museum, a repository of some exquisite Amer-Indian relics, displays and crafts, unexpected in its remoteness from any large centres. Driving through a vast agricultural region of alfalfa, cotton, pecans, walnuts, this is also a rockhound heaven. Many people come here to hack minerals from the rocky, mainly volcanic, outcrops. There is also plenty of evidence of past and current mining in the area for cobalt, talc, copper.
Las Cruces is an interesting city on the edge of the mountains with a long history of settlement. Crossed the continental divide to get there and hope it's the last time we do that on this trip. Spent a pleasant afternoon strolling the streets of historic Mesilla which has been nicely preserved and has several good restaurants to enjoy traditional Mexican food, like chicken mole enchiladas and seafood stuffed chile relleno (photo left.)

MORE TUCSON DESERT AND THINGS

We were horrified to see a TV running in one of the stores with word of a tremendous earthquake in Japan, far worse than that in Christchurch, NZ. a month or so back. It is total devastation and we are glad we we off the fault in California, even though it doesn't seem to have any link to other geophysical activity on the planet.
Lunch at a nice little Mexican place in Tombstone proved a bit traumatic when a wasp, attracted to my margarita, stung my right arm, the one with lymphedema! Quick action with ice and Benedril stopped it from swelling and does not seem to have affected the lymphedema, which is aggravated by the heat and humidity down south. At least I didn't merit a place in Tombstone graveyard!
(Headstone left: Here lies George Johnson. Hanged by mistake 1882. He was right. We was wrong. But we strung him up. And now he's gone.)

KARTCHNER CAVERNS - WORLD CLASS

Tucson is home to one of the most beautiful missions in southern USA. We were not disappointed with a beautiful hot day to visit.
Heading south from Tucson, into high desert, we camped at the nice but busy Kartchner Caverns, a National Park, and amazing huge, really well preserved wet caves. Booking two days before, we did a morning tour of the Big Cave and afternoon in the Rotunda. National Park Rangers give excellent talks about the formations. Found in 1967 (the year we got married!) and kept secret on private land for 14 years, these caves are sealed (you go thorugh two heavy sets of doors to enter, and visitors are carefully searched for anything that might harm the interior. A one hour tour takes you through amazing stalactite and stalagmite formations, but not photos are allowed.
Next day we visited the quaint town of Tombstone, home of the Shootout at the OK Corral, legendary graveyard and memorable gravestones*, Birdcage theatre (where Fatima's portrait on the bar wall has been shot 7 times!),
* "Here lies Les Moore, shot by a slug from a 44, No Les no more"

Tucson, home of the blood red sunsets..

A delightful surprise was Picacho Peak State Park, half an hour south and not far north of Tucson (photo left.) The hikes, views and camping were lovely and at $20 a night, very reasonable.
Then into the famed Saguaro National Park complex and Tucson Mountain State Park, a vast and gorgeous spread of saguaro cacti, but many, many other desert plants and wildlife. A highlight here is the Saguaro Park which highlights all the allure of the Sonora desert. Split in two either side of Tucson, it is a glorious area of preserved terrain, good for walks and hiking, but with the blood-red sunsets for which Tucson is renowned.
The park is a wonderful place to visit to see and hear docents and experts describe the flora, fauna and habitat of this area. We always enjoy it and this is our third visit. Last time we visited, a full moon came up between the mountain peaks, we were not so lucky this time around.
But as I write, Ted is sitting in his new sunhat at the base of a statuesque saguaro cactus with nothing between him and the mountain ridge. As I look out the back of the RV all I see is desert growth, listen to the birds, coyotes at night, and the occasional sound of civilization. I believe there is a military reserve nearby as we have seen several heavy duty helicopters fly by. It seems the US is always at war with someone, and it seems like a big business that keeps a lot of people occupied! There is a fair breeze blowing but it usually dies down in the evening, hopefully in time for Ted to put 2 bacon-wrapped filets on the BBQ, ah the gypsy life!
We are now in a civilized RV park in Tucson where I swam, showered and will do the washing! Yeah. Also some retail therapy...
We have found some really good outlet stores all over the place. In Palm Springs I got Columbia gear for less than 50% of Cdn prices. We also went to Scottsdale's upscale mall where I got a super swimsuit for Tahiti for $120 which I thought was really good. then in Casa Grande (south of Phoenix) we went to an almost deserted mall but got good buys at Izod, with expensive golf gear you can also wear even if you don't golf! My friend in Phoenix had the catalog for Chicos and I've fallen in love with some of their stuff. Found one store but didn't have my size in what I liked, so we are on the hunt as there are about 3 in Tucson. There is a pile of money in some of these cities, no sign of a recession among the ladies who lunch...
It is interesting staying at all these 55+ RV resorts, we feel like youngsters. They have all sorts of rules to keep out 'young' people and children! There are special arrangements for families to visit..strange really. We had a night camping after hiking at Picacho Peak State park between Casa Grande and Tucson. There we found lots of people like us in small RVs, trailers, tents, etc. One woman from Whitehorse traveling alone in the bigger version of our Leisure Travel RV, quite inspiring really. We do meet some interesting people and the minute we arrived here, for instance, the neighbour came out to greet us and tell us all sorts of good local lore. Also to say - don't put the awning up as we are due for some big wind tonight. Really helpful.
We are told more people arrive in Tucson with binocs than golf clubs, it is a birders paradise and that is what our neighbors from Salem, Oregon, spend their winter doing. The birds down here are lovely. Last night we settled down with birds and coyotes calling across the canyon.

Calgary from November to January

The two months home was a busy time. I had doctor's appointments, tests, etc. in November and December. All results were excellent. Dec 23 I had the last of my reconstruction surgery, yippee, and then Dec 29 I had both lenses replaced (pre-cataract surgery) by
Dr. Howard Gimbel, Calgary's premier surgeon for this procedure. After 15 minutes I had 20-25 vision in my almost blind left eye and better than 20-20 in my right. A month of dry discomfort was all I had to handle. I am elated that I don't need glasses for most things, just reading and distance glasses for driving at night.
In January Dorothy & I went on two of our winter ski outings, leading Ted and John at home! Sadly, Dorothy & John then went to Kimberley, where he broke his golf arm in 4 places just before they returned to Palm Springs for a month! But D&S had a great time, the second weekend proving an adventure when the ski club members were evacuated out of Field after serious avalanches closed the roads east and west.
It's a different matter preparing to go away for a month and leaving the house in winter for 3 months. Ted had a list as long as your arm AND leg to attend to. This winter has been brutal for many places, both N. America and elsewhere. So we were glad to wave goodbye to the snow Feb 2 and fly into Palm Springs.

February 2011 to Palm Springs, Phoenix

DESERT HOT SPRINGS (California)
The timing was good to meet up with several friends down south. We first spent a week in Desert Hot Springs (half price as we had visited in October), and saw a bit more of the area including driving the Palms to Pines highway up to 6,000 ft at I? Cool weather and power cuts limited our activities. The good news was we got a refund for 3 more days.
I was really glad to be able to meet up with ex work colleague Joscelyn and Rick LeBlanc and learn about living down here, now that they have bought an apartment in Bermuda Dunes. They also bought 4 acres in Nova Scotia where they parked their RV and spend the summers there. What a perfect combination!
Meantime, we went to San Diego where I visited the great CircAid lymphedema specialists. They measured me for a support sleeve and made two that afternoon. Meantime, Ted and I enjoyed some retail therapy at a lovely mall nearby. Returning to Palm Springs, a windstorm blew in so we holed up for the night at a hotel, hit the outlet stores for an hour or so next morning (great Columbia hiking gear), and headed north to Joshua Tree National Park (left).
What a gorgeous park this is. Due to the freezing temperatures overnight, we passed on dry camping in the park and found a nice RV resort in 29 Palms. The hiking was spectacular but we were both out of shape but gradually warmed to is after 3 days. There are several stands of original California palms in oases in this area (photo left), lovely walks and well preserved either as state or national areas.
PHOENIX (Arizona)
On the way east to Phoenix, we followed the old highway 80, and saw some of the old sights from that bygone era. We headed south past the Salton Sea, the largest inland sea in N. America, but set in a windswept, high desert area where it seems nothing grows but mining plants! (left hike overlooking Salton Sea.)
Into Phoenix we first spent 3 days with Mark & Mary in Scottsdale. Unfortunately, Mark had to have emergency gall bladder surgery so their month south was cut in half. We had a great time together, walking, hiking, again some retail therapy at the high end Scottsdale emporium. One evening when Mark had a conference call, the 3 of us went to see "The Kings Speech" which later proved a big winner at the Oscars, a fine movie.
Moving on we headed to N.Phoenix and our friends Gail & Dan who have been coming here for 20 years and owned their home here for 17. We were given a warm welcome, always enjoy getting all the local news and gossip. Can't believe Dan will turn 80 this year, his golf and activities keep him in incredible shape.
Meantime, I found a very good lymphedema therapist in Scottsdale who tuned me up, and introduced me to the pneumatic massage (mini me as she described it) with a sleeve that bloows up and pressures the arm. I am seeing an improvement with the new sleeve (which I wear every night so far) and my normal pressure sleeves. But they are SOOOOOO hot here.
Heading south, we called in to see wine club buddies Bob & Barb, who insisted we stay for dinner and spend the night at their gorgeous house on the golf course in Mesa, really a suburb of Phoenix. Again, we got lots of good info on the local area, which may prove very useful if we spend more time here in future winters. It's hit and miss finding places to rent on the internet, some underplay their allure and others take it to complete new levels of lying!
Once out of Mesa, it was deserted high desert all around, and isolated huge towns of RVs. People come from all over the US and Canada to winter here. Some of these resorts are spectacular, $55 a night for us one-nighters! Others look dreary to the nth degree. Shopping in the large towns is good and you can see how much cheaper you can live in this environment if you stay a while and shop at Costco and Walmart!
On the way we stopped off at historic old Florence (left), now fading into ghost town status. There were some nice old buildings but most seem to be for sale now. We than called in on Casa Grande National Historic site. We have visited before but it's always interesting to catch the ranger talks at these sites. Mysterious as to their origins, many of these native sites have lost their history but still draw people to them. I am now practising on the native flute I bought there, it sounds eerie and somehow perfectly apt in these desert surroundings. (Oh I checked and it was not made by the US natives, it was made in China!)
Talking of China, there are vast long rail trains passing through this area. Most have double containers. Sometimes trains have to wait for their turn to pass. It is an enormous amount of trade coming from overseas to what used to be a very self-sufficient nation. California, Arizona and Florida at least are bankrupt. It is interesting watching TV here, listening to the various opinions on how they can get themselves out of this financial morass. I don't think it is possible. But John opined, when we met in Palm Springs, that in 10 years this economy will bounce back. We shall see. Meanwhile, you pass through certain parts of towns where the for sale notices on homes are everywhere. Good news for speculators, not for those living on the edge of survival level. Certainly many snowbirds are taking advantage of repossessions and cheap real estate in this region of the US.
CASA GRANDE RUINS (left)
Arriving in Casa Grande town itself, we found a burgeoning winter resort for many snowbirds, alongside a historic old town and great little mama-run Mexican restaurants. We holed up for a couple of days there before heading into the serious desert north of Tucson.

California Trip: October 2010

Just as the trees started to turn and remind us of winter's creeping proximity, we again headed south after Ted returned from a wonderful trip to Japan and China. He spent 3 weeks in Asia, 10 days in Japan and 10 in China. In China, he and friend Tony Lamb had a great time together attending the FCCFA Friendship conference in Shanghai and Jiangxi province.
He had two weeks to get over jet lag before we headed out in the RV to what we thought would be the sunny south. We visited some new places in Idaho, went down along the famed Snake River but ran into some minor RV problems and cool, wet weather the whole trip. We enjoyed the drive through S.Idaho and Nevada, over the Sierra, which is really a part of the Rocky Mountain chain. Camping that time of year is easy as the kids were back in school and the snow birds had generally not yet left.
We returned to S. California and beautiful old missions at San Luis Obispo and San Luis Rey. The coast was breezy but full of great seafood. Windows On the water had oysters at 65cents on Tuesdays so we followed the Cosandiers' instructions and went then. After that we headed north to meet Ushi & Dieter in Stockton, just east of California capital Sacramento. What started as a couple of days together turned into 6 nice days. When we saw the weather north and snow already in the passes, and the weather in Palm Springs (which is where they were headed for the winter) it was not a difficult choice. We headed south!
Just in time to catch a night with Dorothy & John in Palm Desert. We enjoyed a week in the desert, only 2 hours drive from San Diego or LA. However, it was 100 every day so we were not inclined to do a lot of anything, except visit the pool and mineral hot pools. The 55+ Caliente Resort is home to several friends this winter so we enjoyed some downtime there before taking off on our big trip. (see photo)
We found good, safe storage for Lupita (our RV registration is LUP111), found good seat sale prices on air fares, so booked to return home Nov 2 and return Feb 2 for the rest of winter.

NW USA Trip: June 2010

Where does the time go? Life is good and we are back on the road in our RV Lupita.
We spent a month in June traveling in Idaho, Washington and Oregon, with the intention of visiting the Olympic mountains. It was cool, rainy and suffice to say we are still waiting to see the Olympic Mountains.
We visited the scenic Snake River canyon area and Boise, Idaho's historic capital. We did find some nice wine areas in Lake Chelan, where we spent my birthday and found a Karma champagne to celebrate with! Then to Yakima valley, a beautiful scenic area in southern Washington, which has expanded to many more and better wineries than when we first visited a few years back.
After waiting two weeks for the weather to improve, we bit the bullet and traveled to the coast via the Oregon Willamette wine area, where we found many old and new good wines. We headed inland to Washington's capital Olympia, a neat small town with excellent oysters and crabs. We had one glorious day on the Oregon coast then rain set in again. Heading back through Widbey Island in the Puget Sound, we came back to N. Washington, crossed the Cascade Mountains in, yes, cascdes of rain, and snow at the summit! This in June no less.
It was nice to see some different parts of the NW States but good to be back to Calgary for some serious sun, although summer was a bit disappointing there too.