Time for a Weekly Update

Another week has passed since my last update.  It seems that there are two reasons I dont post more often: either nothing is going on, or there is so much going on that I dont have time to post. That is the way this week has been, anyway.

Monday December 20:  The day started with a decent sized buck wandering through our campsite, and Ann got a few pics of him.  This one turned out the best.  There are lots of deer that come into the park every evening about sundown to eat.  The deer here are not very big and they are not too afraid of people.

Other that the deer in the yard, it was just another day of routine work and chores.

Tuesday December 21:  I cant recall anything from Tuesday that wouldnt be a repeat, so I will just leave  it at that.  We were looking forward to traveling on Friday, even though this is a nice place, and we like the area.  If we were the type who traveled to one place, and stayed there most of the winter, we would have no problem staying here.

Wednesday December 22:  Wednesday started with another delicious breakfast in the Rec Center, served by Dan, the park manager, and Dwayne, who organizes the breakfasts.  The crowd was kind of small, but a a few people showed up from other campgrounds in the area.

Wednesday night is game night.  Usually the game is bingo, but tonight we played an interesting, and complicated dice game called "Spicy Farkel".  Sue, in the blue top, brought the game, and explained the rules.

It didnt take long for the rest of us to catch on, and we had some good conversation getting to know the other players.  Eventually by a huge stroke of luck, Rachael, in pink, won the game with a come from behind victory!

The other players in the game were Ralph, Rachael's husband, and Eileen.  I am not much of a game player, but the conversation was great!

Thursday December 23: Things began to pick up today in preparation of our departure on Friday.  We(Ann) had been wanting to have the windows in the motorhome washed since we got here, but we(me) hadnt got around to it.  So while Ann washed the windows, I checked the pressure in tires on the dolly, and the motorhome, and added air to those that needed it with my Sears air compressor.

Since it was to be out last night in the area, we decided to try out another restaurant.  Wrights Steakhouse was just down the road a couple of miles, and we had heard some good things about it.  The parking lot was pretty full when we got there, but we got seated right away.  Then the wait began.  After about twenty minutes, I finally went to the bar to get us a couple of beverages, but the bartender said that there were three drink orders ahead of ours.  I didnt say anything, but wondered, if you already have three drink orders, why are you not working on them?  We finally got our drinks in a couple of minutes, but our server hadnt been around yet, but the girl bussing tables did bring us some water.  In defense of our server, the place was packed, and we only saw three servers.  Eventually we ordered, and were surprised how quickly our order came out, even though our server forgot to bring our bread as she had promised when serving us our steaks.  The steaks were excellent!  The bake potato average, and average describes the salad bar, but they did have a choice of three soups, and they looked real good.

After dinner we decided to make a return trip to Larina's Cantina so Ann could sing some more karaoke before we left town.

The evening was fun, as there were some good singers, but the DJ quit at 11:00.  It seemed early, but probably not a bad idea, as Friday we plan on being on the road relatively early.



Friday December 24:  We got up at a decent time, but but by time we had finished packing things away, loading the car, filling up with propane, and saying goodbyes to Dan and Pat, the campground managers, and not to forget Dan's dog, it was 10:00AM.

The trip west on Texas state highway 90 was one of changing scenery, it is just that the scenery doesnt change very often.  Once on the road we decided that our destination for today was to get to Dream Catcher RV Park in Deming, New Mexico.  Here is our route.

Heading west this was the first of many places they cut through the bedrock to cut down on the ups and downs of this part of Texas.

Here we are crossing the Pecos River.  At coffee one morning we discussed what the first people traveling west through here must have thought when they got to this river with its steep banks, and wide river.

We arrived in Sanderson about noon, and not having breakfast yet, we decided to stop at Dairy King for lunch.  the place had been there for a while, and obviously been remodeled a few times over the years.

 The inside was nice, the wait staff was pleasant, and recommended the "Eagle burger" which is a half pound cheeseburger.  Ann chose that, and I had beef enchiladas.  The meal was tasty and needless to say in Ann's case, very filling! 

Here is a pic of the kitchen that Ann took.

I took a few more pics of the main street, including a hotel, and a  gas station.  That price on gas would look pretty good some miles later.

 Here is a view of the countryside between Sanderson and Fort Stockton, where we picked up Interstate 10, and continued west.

 Once passed Fort Stockton and checking the gas gauge, we had been fighting a headwind all day, and the mileage wasnt looking good,  I began to think about getting some gas, so we would be sure and have enough to get to the Flying J in El Paso.  Just west of where Interstate 10, and Interstate 20 meet, there was an Exxon station.  Looked like a pretty good place to fill up until we saw the price.  Needless to say we didnt buy a whole lot there!

As we continued on the terrain was a lot flatter and we could roll along pretty good.  In the pic below you can see our Microsoft Streets and Trips software running on our Dell mini laptop.  If you notice the speed on the left side, you might think I was speeding, until you see the speed limit sign in the pic below.

 We made it to the Flying J at mile marker 37 about 4:00PM Mountain Time, where I filled up with gas, checked the oil, did a walk around of the rig, while Ann went inside and bought us drinks and lottery tickets.  Our luck with the lottery tickets was not a good as my luck was the night we played bingo back at the campground in Del Rio. :(

 We continued west, driving through downtown El Paso just as the sun was setting.  I hate it when I have to pay that close attention to my driving!  Once out of El Paso the drive was pretty nice to Las Cruces, New Mexico, and then west again to Deming where we arrived at the campground about 7:00PM.  We werent quite sure of the check in procedure, and which site would work best for us, so we went and parked in a site that would accommodate our rig without having to unhook the car.

Ann made us a dinner of shrimp and angel hair pasta, and after a little computer time we were both ready for bed, after covering over 500 miles for the day.

Saturday December 25:  We awoke to a day of bright sunshine albeit a cold one, as it got down to about 25 the previous night.

We didnt waste much time getting ready to leave as the cold weather is what we have been trying to escape for a month now.  After paying for our night's stay, we continued west toward our goal today of Catalina State Park  just north of Tucson Arizona.  The drive today was pretty easy as the wind had subsided and after crossing The Continental Divide at 4558 feet, it was mostly down hill from there.  We crossed into Arizona about noon, and shortly thereafter we happen to see an eastbound AMTRAK train.

Shortly after that we caught up to a guy on a motorcycle who seemed to be dressed for the cool temps.

Then we drive by this huge farm of pecan and walnut trees, and grapevines.

Then it was on through Benson, then to Tucson.  We had to get a pic of this exit sign on the south side of Tucson.  Sometimes there are reminders other than dimes.
 

We arrived at the park about 2:30 and were promptly met by Randy and Deb, friends we had made in Quartzsite, Arizona last January.  We chatted for a bit,  then they let us get set up and registered.  Once that was done, it was about time for Happy Hour, where we met some new people, and reacquainted ourselves with some others of our RVForum group, that we had met in Quartzsite last January.

Here is a couple of the pics that one of the member took and posted on the RVForum site.  I hope it is ok with Ken to use them here.

After Happy Hour we returned to our motorhome where Ann made us a nice dinner of roasted chicken, stuffing, and some our home canned frozen sweet corn.  Very good!

Later in the evening, after watching and old Lawrence Welk show, we went over to Randy and Deb's coach to give them some of our home canned  frozen sweet corn. I doubt they have ever got a Christmas present like that before!  Randy had a great Eric Clapton video on the TV, and with his awesome sound system, made it just that much better!  By the way, Ann like this music much better than Lawrence Welk. :)  The Clapton video was followed up by a Roy Orbison video with several other outstanding artists including Bruce Springstein, Elvis Costello, Jackson Browne, J. D. Souther, Bonnie Rait, K. D. Lang, and couple of others I have forgotten.  I was really great listening to the music and visiting,  What a great life we are living!  But all to soon it was time to return to our house on wheels, and after a few minutes of computer time, another Christmas day was in the books.  I hope everyone had a great a Christmas as we did!

Sunday December 26:  Here is a pic I took pretty early this morning as the sun was coming up over the mountains.

  

And here is one of our rig here at Catalina State Park.

This morning, as you might be able to tell, was spent catching up on the blog.  It is about 1:00 PM here, and Ann has just returned from a bike ride around the park.  So now it is off to find a grocery store so we can restock the larder(pantry for you young whipper snappers)  Maybe I will post more later today.

Until then.

Paul

If You're Down in Acuna...

Well, it is time for another update.  Time is still flying by!  ZZ Top fans may recognize the title of this post.:)

Wednesday December 15:  Wednesday started out with the community breakfast in the rec room.  A couple of the guys and their wives do the planing and cooking.  The ham, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and grits are prepared ahead of time, but the eggs and pancakes are prepared to order.  It was a good system, and all you can eat for $4.00 is a good bargain.  The conversation and the friendship are a bonus.

After breakfast Ann went to work, but I stayed around for more coffee and conversation with breakfast club.  I dont think they had as many people for breakfast as they thought they might, but a few from the other RV parks in the area did show up. 

The rest of Wednesday spent just hanging out and enjoying the nice weather.  I did make time in the afternoon to empty the black and gray tanks on the motorhome, a job I do about every 5 or 6 days.


Thursday December 16:  Thursday was just another routine day, and by the time Ann finished with her work, we were ready to get out and do something, so we decided to go out for dinner, which lead to some internet research for eating places in the area.  We settled on a place down the road a couple of miles called Cripple Creek.  It looked good enough for us.

There is an outdoor bar area that probably gets more use when the weather is a little warmer.  I had the baby back ribs off the senior menu, while Ann had the salmon.  Both came with baked potato, and salad.  My ribs were excellent, but Ann's fish was over cooked, but still edible.  All in all it was ok, however, a little over priced in our opinion.

After finishing dinner, and heading home we decided to stop at a place recommended by the campground managers called  Lorina's Cantina.  It was a nice sized bar with a karaoke set up, with a nice sized dance floor.  When we asked if there was going to be karaoke tonight she said yes, and it would start about 8:00PM, so we decided to stay, as Ann loves doing karaoke.  Well, 8:00 came and went, but still no karaoke, so we asked another server, she said the guy should be here any minute, so we waited, and finally a little after 9:00 he showed up and promptly started singing.  Ann finally asked our server how things worked here, and she explained you have to put your name on the white board, and you sing in the order you sign up.  After a couple more songs by the host, Ann got to sing.  The rest of the evening was spent with mostly Ann and the host taking turns singing, with a couple of other girls in between.  One of the other girls sang a song in Spanish, the first time either of us had seen that.

It was a fun evening, and went on a little longer than we usually do during the week, but were both up at usual time on Friday.

Friday December 17:  Friday was another yawner.  The only interesting part of the day was my morning coffee.  It is so much fun to discuss the issues of the day with so many guys that have views that are diametrically opposed to mine.  We disagree vehemently, but at the end of the day we laugh and joke about our differences.  I doubt I change any minds, but they do get the opportunity to see the world from a different perspective, and that all people who have a different perspective of the world are not wacko tree huggers.

Tonight was "hot dog" night in the rec room with the campground providing the hot dogs, and fixings, but Ann decided to take a nap after work, and didnt wake up till 6:00PM, so we just went into Del Rio and had dinner at Church's Chicken.  The chicken was pretty good, but the place was filthy, and I doubt we will go back.  There is no acceptable reason a restaurant should be this messy, even if it was the busy time of the day!

After returning home from dinner, we watched one of the movies I had got for Ann for her birthday, in anticipation of our winter travels, and spending evenings in the motorhome.  I am not a big fan of movies, but one every now and them is tolerable. We watched "Bucket List" with Morgan Freeman, and Jack Nicholson.  It was a nice way to spend a relaxing evening, except we didnt have any theater popcorn.  :(


Saturday December 18:  During a couple of our morning "coffee discussions" the topic of going to Mexico came up, and the guys that have been there, gave us some tips and information on what to expect if you go there.  So on Saturday we decided to go down to Acuna which is just a couple miles south of Del Rio.  The trip down and getting into Mexico was pretty easy, and we just kept heading south and in a couple of blocks we spotted a parking lot and pulled in.  The guy running the lot directed us to a parking spot, recorded info on our car and wrote down the time.  As we were hungry, we looked for a restaurant that is advertised in the campground brochure called Crosby's.  We got directions from one of the locals, and we tipped him 50 cents.  The streets and sidewalks are very narrow, with unannounced dips, so you have to be careful walking, and watching at the same time.  There also, was lots of sidewalk and street construction that wasnt marked off in any way.  OSHA would have a grand time down here!

We found Crosby's and entered through the bar.  It was apparent that though it looked pretty out dated, it had been a real hot spot at one time as the mirror behind the bar was covered with stickers from several colleges, fraternities, and bars. sorry, we didnt get a pic of it.  We were each given a menu, one with prices in pesos, and the other with prices in US dollars.  Ann had the Portuguese chicken, and I had the Mexican plate.  The chicken was tasty, but a little dry, the Mexican plate was pretty much as expected and good.
We both had Coke; mine was regular, and Ann's was diet.  As you can see they were served in bottles, and not cans.  I cant remember the last time I had a bottle of Coke.

The town itself didnt seem to inviting, so we decided just to head back across the border.  Here is a pic of us approaching the US border.

It took us about twenty minutes to get back into the US, the border guards are very meticulous, and dont seem to be bothered by the long lines.  We were asked where we were from, why did we go to Mexico, what we did there, where were we staying, and did we pull the car behind the motorhome.  The drug dog had already sniffed around our car, and there was a guy with a mirror on a handle that looked under cars, but our border guard, double checked our car, and then inspected the trunk before letting us back in the US.  I guess it is just there job, and do it to everyone, as not be be accused of "profiling".

After coming back across, our next stop was the Whitehead Museum in old Del Rio.  We had heard about it from one the guys at morning coffee.  It has a ton of history of the area, way more than anyone can absorb in an afternoon.

We did get several pictures including some scenes of the area as it developed especially as it related to Judge Roy Bean, who is buried on the museum grounds. With each of the scenes there was a prerecorded message that you could play that would explain the scene.

Here are the headstones of Roy Bean and his son.

Another important part of Del Rio's history is that of radio station XREF, which was a 50,000 watt clear channel radio station.  Here is some pics of radio equipment from the 40's and also a pic of Wolfman Jack, who got his start in radio in Del Rio.

There were tons more to see at the museum including some displays of the native indians of the area, old farm implements, and beautiful nativity scene, all of which I forgot to takes pics of.  All in all we spent about two and half hours there.  Very interesting stuff!  If you are interested in seeing more of the museum look here:
Whitehead Museum

Then it was home for some rest, and then back to town for a nice dinner at the local Applebee's.  Then it was back home again to get ready to go back to Lorina's Cantina for more Karaoke.  This time there were lots of singers, and some pretty good ones at that, so Ann only got to sing three songs before it was time to call it a day.

 Everyone seemed to really appreciate Ann's singing talent, which she always enjoys!  Another late night, but we have Sunday to recoup.  :)

 Sunday December 19:  Today started out with another breakfast in the rec center.  As usual it was good food and plenty of it, we even brought home some extra ham to have this week.  Another great weather day here, sunny and about 70.  wooooooo hooooooo

This afternoon I watched some football and Ann got caught up her Facebook games before taking her bike on the new car bike rack she bought the other day, to a safer place to ride her bike than on the busy highway that goes by the campground.  She enjoys biking much more than walking or jogging as it is easier on her heels.

The sun is setting and Ann is talking to her Mom and step-dad Paul as I finish  another blog update.  For dinner we are going to have deer steaks(thanks to Ali), baked potatoes, along with macaroni and cheese, and lima beans.  While cooking the deer steaks, I took a couple of pics of the almost full moon as well.

Also, just got a nice phone call from my daughter, son-in-law, and two of the three grand kids(the other is sick with strep), a great way to wind down the day.  :)


Hope everything is well with those that read the blog.

Paul