Let me just say that there is no more boring land then I-10 in California, from the Colorado River and Arizona/California border, until you drop about 500 feet straight down to Sonny Bono Parkway in Palm Springs or there about. Holy crap, once you tell the California Border Patrol that you're not sneaking walnuts into CA from AZ, there ain't nuthin' and nobody. Not even mile markers. There are, however, emergency phones every mile. Unfortunately, since there are no mile markers, you have no idea where to tell them to pick you up in case of emergency.
Once we got settled in the 'Sands RV and Golf Resort', two neighbors rushed to tell us that it would probably get windy. And it did. This place is at the end of a 'V' through a mountain pass with a zillion whirling wind machines. When we got home from our survey of trendy Palm Springs (more on that), we had to hold CoriBob so that she didn't blow off. The bus is rocking and if we open the door, the Sonora desert comes on inside to visit with us while all the loose paper inside blows out. But it's a beautiful view as we're surrounded by mountains and can look out over the valley.
Ya know, despite street names like Doris Day Way and Gene Autry Parkway, there is nothing happening and no where to do it in Palm Springs. It does have some of the greenest grass and lawns in the desert. I don't know where they find the water but there's a golf courses behind every wall and real live lawns. But no ice cream stores. There's a couple of shopping centers with mostly empty shops and a Lowes and Home Depot. Geez, wouldn't you think there would be a Baskin Robbins or a Saks or something snazzy with all that money just sitting around in living rooms? Maybe no one eats ice cream cones in CA. And it's so small you can drive through town in about 15 minutes.
We do a marathon 9-hour drive to Sonoma and Napa Valley tomorrow -- around and through LA and San Fran but I really believe the wine tasting will be worth it. Don says it won't. CoriBob just pants and wants to go back to Pensacola.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tucson, AZ
We spent Monday in Tucson catching up on things we already know. First off, however, we had our clocks set wrong so instead of waking up at 5:15 we actually woke up at 4:15. Didn't figure it out until Don realized the Today Show wasn't being carried on the local channel at 7 a.m. BECAUSE it was only 6 a.m. Well that started us off on a good note.
Our first visit was to the Pima Air Museum (not nearly as good as the Naval Aviation Museum and it cost real money to get in). Don had researched the museum and found that it has a P2V-7 and it is the actual plane (one of two) that he flew on in the Navy. It was transfered from the Navy to a forest fire fighting company and used to drop flame retardant for several years. The Pima Museum picked it up as there were just no P2V's remaining in the world in actual Navy condition.
We trekked quickly out to the plane and took many pics. Unlike the Naval Museum in Pensacola, this place must be a thousand outside acres with many hundreds of old planes. And I do mean old.
After we found the revered P2V, we toured the last Presidential Air Force One that had props. It was the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson plane and is so small, compared to the current Air Force One, I wondered how there was room for more then about 6 people and pilots. But there was.
While I found shelter inside a building that was a memorial to a WWII air force squadron, Don walked for miles outside. Ugh. My favorite plane was the SR-71 Blackbird -- the all black, Lockheed Skunk Works stealthy plane that was able to fly at over 80 thousand feet and very, very fast!
Next we were off to the Sagurao Ntl. Park to see the cactus! Now that was something I could have gotten into, however, Don had walked so much at Pima that he didn't want to pay money to explore. Well, rats! Did see lots of great Sonora desert flora and while it's slightly early for the big desert spring color spectacular... there were many plants that were just on the verge of spectacular bloom.
After MY outside adventure, we visited the church where Don's Mother and Step-Father's ashes are interred. Between the cactus and the church, we went by Don's Mother's house when they lived in Tucson in the 60s - 70s. They had 10 acres way outside of town in rattle snake country. It's now a place that teenage girls go to when they have eating disorders (obesity/bulimia). It's still a beautiful area but it sure doesn't sit out in the middle of no where any more.
Since we ate (actually gobbled everything in sight) last night at the best and oldest southwest restaurant in Tucson (El Charro), we skipped a big dinner out. Would you believe carry in Chinese? Yep.
On the road tomorrow to Desert Hot Springs, CA, another back-in RV resort spot to challenge the Captain.
The space at this one in Tucson is so narrow we may be taking the light post with us tomorrow morning. I see it as entertainment for all the early risers.
More to follow.... and, so it goes -- On The Road!
Our first visit was to the Pima Air Museum (not nearly as good as the Naval Aviation Museum and it cost real money to get in). Don had researched the museum and found that it has a P2V-7 and it is the actual plane (one of two) that he flew on in the Navy. It was transfered from the Navy to a forest fire fighting company and used to drop flame retardant for several years. The Pima Museum picked it up as there were just no P2V's remaining in the world in actual Navy condition.
We trekked quickly out to the plane and took many pics. Unlike the Naval Museum in Pensacola, this place must be a thousand outside acres with many hundreds of old planes. And I do mean old.
After we found the revered P2V, we toured the last Presidential Air Force One that had props. It was the Eisenhower/Kennedy/Johnson plane and is so small, compared to the current Air Force One, I wondered how there was room for more then about 6 people and pilots. But there was.
While I found shelter inside a building that was a memorial to a WWII air force squadron, Don walked for miles outside. Ugh. My favorite plane was the SR-71 Blackbird -- the all black, Lockheed Skunk Works stealthy plane that was able to fly at over 80 thousand feet and very, very fast!
Next we were off to the Sagurao Ntl. Park to see the cactus! Now that was something I could have gotten into, however, Don had walked so much at Pima that he didn't want to pay money to explore. Well, rats! Did see lots of great Sonora desert flora and while it's slightly early for the big desert spring color spectacular... there were many plants that were just on the verge of spectacular bloom.
After MY outside adventure, we visited the church where Don's Mother and Step-Father's ashes are interred. Between the cactus and the church, we went by Don's Mother's house when they lived in Tucson in the 60s - 70s. They had 10 acres way outside of town in rattle snake country. It's now a place that teenage girls go to when they have eating disorders (obesity/bulimia). It's still a beautiful area but it sure doesn't sit out in the middle of no where any more.
Since we ate (actually gobbled everything in sight) last night at the best and oldest southwest restaurant in Tucson (El Charro), we skipped a big dinner out. Would you believe carry in Chinese? Yep.
On the road tomorrow to Desert Hot Springs, CA, another back-in RV resort spot to challenge the Captain.
The space at this one in Tucson is so narrow we may be taking the light post with us tomorrow morning. I see it as entertainment for all the early risers.
More to follow.... and, so it goes -- On The Road!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Amazing Texas
Going through Texas (all 800+ miles of I-10) has been fascinating! Although Don knows most of Texas from his 10 years in Houston, I have found the drive to be enlightening because my view of Texas has been from flying in and out of Houston and Dallas.
The drive from Sulphur, LA to San Antonio was in the rain all the way. We drove through gator country east of Houston and managed to have no accidents going through Houston. Just below Houston is the Gulf of Mexico and all of the great boating places before last year's hurricane. Anyway, as we snaked our way through San Antonio to our 2nd RV stop in Berne (pronounced Burn), the sun came out! Since we stayed for 2 nights, we relaxed, showered and drank cheerfully with no expectations of a decent dinner on board the bus. That was Thursday evening.
We spent yesterday (Friday) in downtown San Antonio doing the tourist things like seeing the Alamo (which is a great piece of history even if it is in the middle of skyscrapers and surrounded by some of the worst tourist traps this side of New Orleans) and taking a boat ride along the river walk. During the 30 minute boat ride we met a couple from Columbia, SC who were camping through Texas. They identified us as boaters because we both had on boat shoes -- duh -- though we were sad to explain that we were former boaters who have lots of boat shoes. Well, we were on a boat at the time.
Last evening we went into Berne to a charming B&B type Inn for dinner. We gave it a 'B-' for pretty good food at a decent price and an 'A+' for friendly staff and a great setting.
To say a front came through last night would be an understatement. Winds about 40 mph and the temp dropped to freezing. It was so cold Don had to keep coming inside to get warm between his 'get ready to go' chores.
Today we drove through plateaus (I've never seen them) and short mountains on our way to Van Horn, TX. We saw over a thousand wind mills generating energy. The 'wind farms' went on for miles located on the tops of the plateaus and co-existed with the oil pumping machines in the valleys along the highway. The Texas blue bells were in fine form although we drove for miles and miles without seeing anything resembling houses or farms. I think there were exits for the express purpose of putting up a gas station. And don't even get me started on Texas off and on ramps and how you have to do some of them. We did sight herds of longhorns a couple of times (well, not exactly herds but maybe a dozen wandering cows with big horns) and I spied some sheep well hidden within scrub trees. Every now and then we would see a single old windmill evidently pumping water into cisterns. The land is really dry here -- even worse then central FL.
The KOA RV park we're staying at is great if you're not looking for lots of grass and trees. It's actually away from the interstate and you can see the mountains surrounding the whole area. We will leave early tomorrow morning as we head to Tucson, AR for 2 nights.
The drive from Sulphur, LA to San Antonio was in the rain all the way. We drove through gator country east of Houston and managed to have no accidents going through Houston. Just below Houston is the Gulf of Mexico and all of the great boating places before last year's hurricane. Anyway, as we snaked our way through San Antonio to our 2nd RV stop in Berne (pronounced Burn), the sun came out! Since we stayed for 2 nights, we relaxed, showered and drank cheerfully with no expectations of a decent dinner on board the bus. That was Thursday evening.
We spent yesterday (Friday) in downtown San Antonio doing the tourist things like seeing the Alamo (which is a great piece of history even if it is in the middle of skyscrapers and surrounded by some of the worst tourist traps this side of New Orleans) and taking a boat ride along the river walk. During the 30 minute boat ride we met a couple from Columbia, SC who were camping through Texas. They identified us as boaters because we both had on boat shoes -- duh -- though we were sad to explain that we were former boaters who have lots of boat shoes. Well, we were on a boat at the time.
Last evening we went into Berne to a charming B&B type Inn for dinner. We gave it a 'B-' for pretty good food at a decent price and an 'A+' for friendly staff and a great setting.
To say a front came through last night would be an understatement. Winds about 40 mph and the temp dropped to freezing. It was so cold Don had to keep coming inside to get warm between his 'get ready to go' chores.
Today we drove through plateaus (I've never seen them) and short mountains on our way to Van Horn, TX. We saw over a thousand wind mills generating energy. The 'wind farms' went on for miles located on the tops of the plateaus and co-existed with the oil pumping machines in the valleys along the highway. The Texas blue bells were in fine form although we drove for miles and miles without seeing anything resembling houses or farms. I think there were exits for the express purpose of putting up a gas station. And don't even get me started on Texas off and on ramps and how you have to do some of them. We did sight herds of longhorns a couple of times (well, not exactly herds but maybe a dozen wandering cows with big horns) and I spied some sheep well hidden within scrub trees. Every now and then we would see a single old windmill evidently pumping water into cisterns. The land is really dry here -- even worse then central FL.
The KOA RV park we're staying at is great if you're not looking for lots of grass and trees. It's actually away from the interstate and you can see the mountains surrounding the whole area. We will leave early tomorrow morning as we head to Tucson, AR for 2 nights.
New Blog
This will be the first installment of my 'On the Road' blog. Evidently this blogging business is not for sissies because it must have taken me a lifetime to set it up. However, friend Bob Barnett, insists that this is the best way to let our 'folks' follow our trip. He told me I could keep myself busy doing something besides keeping Don awake -- and I figured 'what the heck.'
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