A major mystery!!

New places. New faces.

We headed out this morning about 9am. Our destination for the day is Marfa, Tx. A long 5 hour drive. I never realized just how big El Paso, TX is. The congestion on I-10 goes on forever. Once we got to Van Horn we were able to take US 90 south to Marfa. No more I-10 in Texas.
Hwy 90 goes through cattle country. Huge ranches & feed lots. There was a very small town of Valentine; population of just over 200. Valentine has seen better days. Over the years, we've driven through hundreds of towns all over America much like Valentine. We wonder what they must have been like during their heyday. Wonder who owned the HiWay Cafe & when it thrived and when it closed. One of the exterior walls and roof collapsed many years ago. No open stores in Valentine but there was a library. Interesting.

When we got to Marfa, Carol spotted the DQ sign. We got one small Blizzard and split it three ways. We're trying to get better. The last time I took Gopher to the vets I got yelled at. She's not supposed to weigh one pound over 50#. Of course Dr. Gill could stand to loose 25# or more. I always wonder why some doctors are fat nd why some smoke.
At any rate, we drove around Marfa looking at the old buildings, courthouse, etc and then continued on to our "campground" for the night. The Marfa Mystery Lights Viewing Center located about 8 miles south of Marfa on Hwy 90.




http://www.astronomycafe.net/weird/lights/marfa.htm

The website and attached photograph, explain it all in detail but in a nutshell "Since the beginning of recorded history strange luminous phenomena have been observed frolicking low above the desert west of Marfa in a region known as Mitchell Flat,". Marfa has built a cottage industry around these lights. The State built a very nice viewing area with two large parking areas, bathrooms, telescopes, benches, etc. Overnight parking is permitted to allow viewing of the lights. It's just us once again. Nice after being "camped" in "resorts" for the last week. We swapped the Casino airport noise for the I-10 noise at the "resort" we just left for train noise. Tomorrow we should be camped along a nice lake. Quieter I should hope.
I might have gotten a picture of the Mystery Light, but it may also have been the Visitor Center bathroom window. Can't be sure. The Chamber of Commerce wants it to be the lights.:-)
Another most interesting day.

On to Texas

We said our goodbyes to our friends this morning and headed out about 10:00am. The final rig count was 16 with 8 being from the SW states. The rest were visitors like us.
Drove to Deming, NM via a Safeway & WalMart. We're staying at the Dream Catcher SKP Park. It's not much as SKP parks go; basically a parking lot with FHU. $12.50/night + electric of about another dollar or so. It's very convenient to I-10. Can't complain. Did the laundry for only a dollar. We needed one last place to take long, hot showers, dump our tanks and take on water. This will be the last opportunity for the next week. Back to boondocking.
It was very windy today. Fortunately it was a tailwind all the way. I don't keep track of my mileage but if I did, I might see 10mpg vs a more typical 9.
In the morning, we continue on to Marfa, TX; a five hour drive. Ugh.
Gas around here runs from $3.49 to $3.79/gallon.

Benson SW Lazy Daze Group GTG

SUNDAY:

We're all settled into the Pato Blanco Lakes RV Resort in Benson, AZ.
The last two nights we camped in the parking lot of the Desert Diamond Casino in Tucson.
Compare & contrast:
Desert Diamond: Paved sites,view of RV's, airport noise,walk to some good restaurants,no hookups,well lighted, roving security patrols,free.
Pato Blanco Resort: Dirt sites,view of RV's, I-10 noise,no nearby restaurants,full hookups, minimal lighting & security, $24/night.
Were it not for the Lazy Daze GTG, we would not be here. I would get water & dump tanks in Tucson, and head to the desert. To be fair, it is nice having electricity with such cold temperatures expected and Carol's having fun flipping through 50, or so, cable TV channels. There will be time enough for boondocking next week as we explore the Texas Gulf Coast.

Jack & Jennette Walker from the SE Group are here. Chatted with Jack for a while until we both got too cold. Jim & Gayle Cummings stopped by. They are attending the GTG but staying elsewhere in town tonight. Good choice, Jim & Gayle.

MONDAY:
Woke up to 25* this morning. There was a layer of frost on the picnic tables. By days end, it was in the high 60's; just perfect weather.
Jim, Gayle & Debby scaled Mt. Pato Blanco today. The crest provides a panoramic view of I-10. I tried to get Gopher to hike the hill with me but she just wasn't interested. Some types of terrain are hard on her paws. Sometimes she just stops walking and, from the look on her face, it's clear she doesn't want to proceed so I don't force her.
A number of years ago, before Carol had her stroke, Gopher & I were hiking in the woods; don't recall just where. The trail was easy; nothing to hurt her feet. All of a sudden she stopped, looked into the woods, turned around and started pulling in the direction we just came. I tried to get her to continue where we were heading but she just wouldn't do it. I finally figured that she had sensed something that frightened her that I was not aware of. Trusting her senses, we turned around and headed back at a pretty good pace.

Don't have a clue what it was. An animal? person? A dogs sense of smell and hearing is just so superior to ours. Sometimes I think dogs have a sense of some type that we don't; some type of a "feeling" about people. I've come to trust her and will not force her to go where she simply doesn't want to go.

I didn't take a rig count, but someone said there were 17 rigs here. States represented: CA,AZ,OR,OH,TN,FL,IA,NV& SD. We knew about a third of the people from either the Balloon Fiesta, "Q", or previous GTG's we've attended. Of the 17 rigs, I think less then half are active members of sponsoring SW Group. Not at all surprising. At our SE Group GTG's a lot of those attending are people wintering in FL. Dick & June from the Great Lakes Group were here. We've camped with them a few times before.Don & Carol Ashley were here as well. When we were picking up our '08 LD, Don & Carol invited us to attend a Caravan Club Rally.
All in all, another wonderful day.

TUESDAY:
The group photo was taken this morning. The photographer lined everyone up against the side of our camper because the lighting was good.
Besides the good company, today's highlight was the Pot Luck Supper. As always, more great food then people could eat.
It's nice having the time to get to know people better. Our next door neighbors are from Oregon. Al & Anna; two very nice people. We spent a good bit of time chatting with them.

WEDNESDAY:
Today most people went to the nearby Karchner Caverns SP. Carol doesn't like going into deep holes in the ground so we stayed behind to hold down the fort. Tom Gatchell asked if I would dog sit Penny so I did. Mostly she layed around in the shade keeping cool. It's supposed to hit 80* today. Now & then I took Penny for a little walk.
Mt. Pato Blanco kept calling to me so after lunch, I got Gopher, my sometimes reluctant hiking partner, and we summited the peak. The hike wasn't worth a Rocky Balboa type celebration, but it was OK.
Was it worth it? Well it wasn't Yellowstone but to the north was a great view of the I-10 corridor. South was the campground and housing developments.

Nothing else on todays schedule. Just hanging out with some really great company.

THURSDAY:
Had the pot luck breakfast this morning. We made an apple sauce cake that went over very well. a very simply, one bowl receipt I picked up on the Escapee Forum.
It seems that half, or more, of those in attendance, are Escapees.
At breakfast, we were reminded that Spring Break is starting in waves all across the country. Our plan is to follow the Gulf Coast all the way to FL. Time will tell how our travel plans are impacted. Just depends on the timing of Spring Break for the colleges. Someone pointed out that colleges are really discouraging trips to Mexico so the US beaches are likely to be worse then usual. Rats!!

Had an interesting chat with Al from Oregon tonight about the prospect of $4-$5 gas. He observed that at his (any my) age, there are only a limited number of years left. He's not going to sit out a year or so of that life, just because gas is expensive. Carol & I reached that conclusion years ago. We don't care what gas costs. It will not slow us down even a little bit.

The evening social was as enjoyable as ever. I bought a SW Group decal from Lisa to put on our back window. Lisa designed the decal; she's very creative. Carol gave everyone a Maxine print her brother Johnny had autographed. Wherever we're anywhere even close to a SW GTG, we'll attend.

In the morning we head east to the SKP park in Deming, NM with a stop at WalMart & Safeway along the way. Then south to El Paso followed by a slow drift to Corpus Cristi, via Del Rio and then to the Padre Island National Seashore. I've set aside a week to get to Padre Island. Depending on the Spring Break insanity, we may stay at the Amistad National Recreation Area near Del Rio until things on the coast settle down a little.
We'll see.

Back to Tucson

FRIDAY

This morning I did one last load of wash then we headed to Tucson.
Filled up with gas in Benson at $3.22/gallon. The current Middle East troubles are bumping up the price of oil.
Stopped by the Pima County Fairground RV park just to take a look for future reference. It's OK but nothing special. Mostly a big patch of dirt with hookups. If someone just needed a place to dump tanks & fill with water it would do just fine. It is very convenient to I-10.
Continued on to the Desert Diamond Casino "campground". We stayed here before. Not bad. A nice central South Tucson location, fairly level, good security. Two of the RV's that are here were here the last time. Looks like this might be their winter home.
We're right in the glide path for the small, private aircraft runway. The bigger stuff is a bit further to the north. Not as noisy as you might think for a campground next to a big airport. Plus it's fun watching the planes.
Tomorrow, John & Marge are going to join us here for lunch. Then we're going to mass at the San Xavier Del Bac Mission. The weather is supposed to turn bad on Sunday so we plan on heading back to Benson first thing Sunday morning.

We decided to eat at The Trough, i.e. buffet, tonight. It was Mexican night. We figured if anyone knows Mexican it's around here. We were right. For $8.95 each, we had a very good meal. The Tres Leches cake was delicious. One of the foods I wanted to try was a Sonoran hot-dog. They had them here. It's a hot-dog wrapped in bacon then covered with a bunch of stuff like chili, cheese, jalapeno peppers, etc. Oink, oink!!

There was a couple in the restaurant tonight. She used a scooter and had some condition that resulted in major spasticity. As I watched her husband help her, I was reminded of the old saying. "I complained because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet".

Another wonderful day.

SATURDAY:
John & Marge weren't due in until 11am. I heard about an Indian swap meet not far from the "campground" so off we went. What a great way to spend a few hours. Swap meets and such things, are a great way to get a sense of the local culture. We were one of the few Anglos. All the signs were in Spanish. The selection of stuff being sold was amazing. A very partial list: goats, dogs,& birds, new & used shoes, tires with no tread left, piles of rusted junk, cheap tools, some broken clocks, movies on VHS tapes(only $.25 each), plastic arrowheads, on & on. At home a lot of this stuff would wind up in the dumpster; not on the Reservation it doesn't. I looked to see if anyone was selling scalps but I didn't see any. To top it all off, there was free live entertainment. A guy on stilts juggling some hoops.
There were a dozen or so food vendors selling the real McCoy, or real McSuarez, whichever. No Taco Belle "Mexican" around here. Wish we hadn't just finished breakfast.
We had a great visit with John & Marge. Had a long lunch in the casino. They're staying in Tucson for the next two weeks. John decided to retire from Hallmark in September. Over 40 years there. His Maxine character, which was his idea, is still going strong. Maxine just turned 25.
We're sitting in the parking lot of the San Xavier Del Bac Mission waiting for the 5:30 mass. Carol really likes this church and wanted to come back so here we are. There are a handful of booths setup in the mission square. Indians selling made-in-Mexico jewelery. "Genuine" Indian rings for only $5 and things like that.
The weather is supposed to get nasty tonight so after church we're heading back to the casino. It's only about 10 minutes from here.

SUNDAY:
The big news was waking up to snow. Not exactly a blizzard, but snow nonetheless. At about 4am a truck with a refrigerated trailer pulled in not far from our campsite. The generator operating the cooling unit ran continuously. Oh well, for free, you can't complain much. Well you can complain if you want, but nothing good will come of it.
Today's forecast is for a high of about 50* with a low tonight of 21*. We decided that was a very good reason to head to a real campground with electricity. We went to the place where the Lazy Daze GTG is being held. There are two other LD's there as well. Didn't meet then. It's just a nice day to stay inside, watch TV, update Blogs,drink warm tea and such.

Benson, AZ

We're staying at the Saguro SKP RV Park in Benson until Friday. We have a large, corner lot with a decent view of the mountains.
One of Carol's brothers & his wife, Johnny & Marge,are due in Tucson on Thursday, tomorrow. We'll then coordinate a visit someplace.
Today I picked up the mail Suzanne had sent and got Carol's meds at WM. Did some grocery shopping at Safeway and caught up on laundry. Finished up our tax return today and filed electronically using Turbo Tax on-line. Talk about convenient! Plus a nice refund coming :-)
Met two other Lazy Daze couples today. They're staying here until Friday then heading to TX. I'm just horrible with names but one couple is from Nashville, TN driving their relatively new-to-them 30' model and the other couple is from Maryland. They're both big ham radio operators heading to another ham radio fest of some sort. The TN couple spent last summer in Alaska, then to the BF in ABQ now they're touring the SW.
The fellow from MD was bragging about his most impressive solar power setup. Six 100 watt panels and six AGM batteries. Very nice but that's a bunch of weight to be hauling around on a 30' LD. He needs all that to power his ham radio gear.
Still cold & windy around here. The blowing dust just never ends. We both like the desert and will be back, but we are really beginning to miss grass & trees.
After the upcoming GTG, we begin the 2,500+- mile trek home. We've allowed ourself three weeks to do it. The general plan is to follow the TX & LA coast to MS then head home from there.
We're already planning our summer trip. Spend April, May & June at home, if we can actually stay put for that long, then travel in the Central/Great Lakes States until early October. The girls have planned a family reunion in PA starting July 9th.
Thursday: Nothing exciting today. One of the groups in the campground held a Food Auction today. First time we've heard about, let alone attended a Food Auction. People prepare food items then auction them off. Mostly baked goods, but a few canned things, semi-prepared meals, etc. The proceeds go to some charitable cause.
We're both trying to keep our calorie consumption under reasonable control, so we passed on the key lime cheesecake and the beautiful pineapple upside down cake; two of our favorites.
We're getting tired hanging around in the Big City. Tomorrow we go to Tucson, then the SW Lazy Daze GTG then back to the rural areas we much prefer.
While we were out walking this morning, a coyote was prancing around just on the other side of the fence. Gopher, of course, was the first to notice. When Gopher is relaxed, her ears lay back flat against her head. If the ears suddenly stand up, she's alert to something. I just watch her ears when we're boondocking or just walking.
During tonight's walk, we ran into a guy with a 10 month old Aussie. Let them both off leash for about 30 minutes.

Tombstone. Tacky tourist but we've seen worse.

At 6:00am this morning, it was 24*. Way too cold. By sunrise the birds were all up & about.
Yesterday, the Volunteer told me about a good breakfast restaurant in Elfrida; the Roundup Cafe. We hadn't gone out for breakfast on this trip so off we went. Very good. Carol had a simple sausage & biscuit. I had a breakfast burrito.
We continued north to Tombstone. Others had told us it was basically a tacky tourist place and they were right. Tombstone, and other "old West" type places are very popular with foreign tourists, Germans in particular. They are fascinated by the American West of the 1800's. It was interesting in it's own way. Mostly a collection of stores & restaurants revolving around the Gunfight at OK Corral.

We ended the day at the Escapee Saguaro SKP Co-Op park in Benson. $17/night for full hookups plus cable TV. Carol doesn't enjoy camping out in the middle of nowhere all by ourselves as much as I, so we we're staying here until we head over to Tucson on Thursday to meet up with John & Marge. Some of this, some of that. It keeps us both happy.

Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area

Said our goodbyes to Belle, Toby & Sue this morning. Toby is heading into Bisbee to get new tires on his motorhome then heading back to Elephant Butte, NM.
All the critters were fed & watered this morning.
We didn't have far to go. It's about a 30 minute drive to the Whitewater Draw Wildlife Area near McNeal. It reminds us a lot of the Bosque Del Apache area in NM. There is a flooded area surround by corn fields. It attracts thousands of birds, especially Sand Hill cranes. The cranes are no big deal to us. They stroll through our front yard to home. We're not birders but the area is interesting. We used the iBird Pro app. on Carol's iPad to identify some birds.
Three days of free camping is permitted. Looks like it's just us once again. There has been a steady flow of serious birders all day. The really serious ones are easy to spot. They all wear vests, probably a holdover from the pre-digital camera days when you needed film, lenses, filters, and such. Plus they carry at least 50# of binoculars, spotting scopes, tripods, cameras, water bottles, those little portable stools, etc. Quite a scene to watch. I'm sure the birds get a big chuckle out of the whole thing.
No special plans for tomorrow. Johnny & Marge are getting into Tuscon on Thursday. We plan on meeting up with them this coming weekend. Then we need to pick up our mail and Carol's meds. in Benson before the Lazy Daze GTG begins in Benson next Monday.
We like just drifting here & there. We've come across some of the most interesting things.

Silverado. Friday-Sunday

Friday:
Checked the water supply for all the critters. Four of the horses didn't have access to drinking water. Now they do. Were they ever happy when I put then in a corral with a water tub. They all ran to the tub and were drinking the water faster then the hose could fill the tub. I found a device that automatically fills a tub with water, then shuts off the flow at a certain level. Much like the float device used in a toilet tank. They should be just fine going forward.
We went into Douglas today. Found the free city dump station then went to Safeway & Wal-Mart.
When we got back to the campground, Toby had fed the horses. I went to order Carols meds on-line through WalMart but found all the prescriptions had expired so the local WM would not fill them. Called Dr. Hoods office. They are going to fax new prescriptions today to the WM in Benson, AZ. We'll pick them up there next week. I've learned to always order meds. two weeks before you really need them. That allows for things to get messed up and straightened out.
The clouds are starting to roll in. Tomorrow and Sunday are supposed to be windy and rainy. Rain would be welcomed. Wet down the dust and water the plants. Everything is just so brown around here. The yucca provides about the only hint of green.


SATURDAY:

Carol & I used the Gator to feed the critters this morning. I think I now have a reliable water source for all the animals.
Called WalMart. Carols prescriptions are being processed. We'll pick them up next week when we get the mail in Benson.

It's a blustery day. Steady 25 knot winds with gusts in the 45-50 range. The red dust is blowing everywhere. We keep all the windows shut and the roof vents open for ventilation. Even so, there is a fine layer of dust on everything. That's our major objection to the desert areas of AZ & NM. The lack of vegetation allows the near constant winds to blow dirt everywhere, all the time. We do miss our green grass.

SUNDAY:
Awoke to a cold, cloudy, windy day. Never did improve as the day went on. Toby fed the horses and I repaired the automatic watering system serving two of the corrals. As of now, all corrals have functioning water systems. Belle didn't feed the dogs or chickens/geese, etc., yesterday or today. Sue said that on cold days, Belle doesn't feel very well so sometimes her daily chores, like feeding the animals, just don't get done. It's not always easy being a critter around here. I gave the dogs some of Gophers food & Toby fed the fowl. Once again, I reminded Gopher just how lucky she was to be part of our family. After all, I got her from an ad in the newspaper. Could have been someone else.
It's interesting. There is such a diverse population on the ranch, there are cats, dogs, chickens, pigeons,horses,mules, donkeys, etc., and they all seem to coexist just fine. Shame us humans can't do the same.
A friend of mine in the Escapees, Guy Gibson, is contacting his extensive network and telling them about Belle. Perhaps some will swing by to lend a hand. I posted a note on a Lazy Daze site about the Ranch. Two Lazy Daze friends said they would visit after the upcoming GTG in Benson.
Belle had hopes that a fellow from WA would move his trailer here in early March and take care of the place in return for a free place to live. He showed up yesterday, but needed to be paid in addition to getting free rent. She was disappointed as you might expect.
We've done about all we can do. Things are in better condition then when we showed up plus we are leaving a generous donation towards critter food.
Although we both feel a little guilty, tomorrow we move on. Toby & Sue are staying for one more day. We shared a cup of coffee and a slice of pie with Toby & Sue this afternoon.

Our stay here will, without doubt, be the most memorable experience of this trip.