Well we are home. We left Maine on September 25 and arrived back in Florida on November 17 as planned which in itself is truly a blessing given all the things that can go wrong like breakdowns, bad weather, illness and so on. I began planning the trip last May making reservations for places we had never been to see things we’ve never seen across parts of the country that before and after our trip have suffered from snow, torrential rain, wildfires and tornadoes. We clearly have been blessed to have missed all that though we did see some wildfires burning in the distance while in California. Our trip included 30 campgrounds, 27 states, one oil change, one haircut (well two if you count Jo fixing the bad haircut lol) and 9500 miles travelled (some without the trailer exploring). I think we only ate in a restaurant 5 or 6 times and one Door Dash, the rest of the meals prepared by Jo (well i grilled a few times).

One of the things we came to realize was that our country is beautiful and our citizens despite all the politicians best attempts to pit us against each other are mostly very nice caring people. I was called sweetie many times by strangers on the trip and they weren’t followed by “bless your heart” which one of my Southern friends does not mean they are blessing my heart lol. We realized there are amazing and I mean amazing amounts of undeveloped land that with energy and infrastructure could support many many more people. And we saw more desert and rock than we had ever seen before making us homesick for the lush greenery we are used to on the East coast.

We were saddened by some of the destruction of thousands and I mean thousands of acres of burnt forest as well as destruction from hurricanes in Georgia and Florida. We do need to figure out a way to help with climate change that is sustainable financially and doesnt vilify companies or individuals by suggesting there are existing wonderful solutions that unless you are evil should be adopted universally. We haven’t figured it out yet but we do need to keep trying to limit the disastrous weather we have been seeing if we want to continue having the blessing of the beauty where we live.

Jo has been a trooper sitting for 9500 miles as I do the driving when pulling the trailer. Sitting let alone sitting in a truck seat is not natural for Jo as she is constantly moving. She has inherited her Father’s need to be constantly landscaping and her mother’s gene to walk (or roller skate as Joan did). She promised me two cross country trips if I retired and we’ve done that! We have been to 47 of the lower 48 states after this trip missing only Washington state (heck I have to have some reason to go back to the West Coast!). I am blessed to have a partner in life that has tolerated my need to see more and travel even though like her Mom and Dad would be content to stay home. Understandable given the beauty of where we live and the friends we are surrounded by.

I don’t think this will be our last trip but it may involve shorter trips (Already booked a Disney camping trip and a rodeo over the next few months) but wont be cross country trips with the Airstream. Jo does want to see Italy and family she has there which I am excited about but not sure when that blog will happen yet. Oh and as my grandkids get older hopefully they will want to go camping and I will be ready!

I do appreciate all of your kind words over the last couple of years but more importantly the positive impact all of you have had and continue to have on our lives.

And one more thing as Dorothy so aptly put it…..”There’s no place like home…there’s no place like home….there’s no…….

The next day we wake to showers but breaks of sun and the promise of better weather as we headed east to Florida. I had made reservations at two beachfront places for our last two stops way back in May before the multiple Hurricanes that hit Florida this year. Pensacola didn’t have a great deal of damage so we headed there having confirmed they were open and ready for us. Initially I had a waterfront site but I changed dates and lost that which as it turns out wasn’t a bad thing. Our trip to Pensacola took us through Mobile Alabama where we drove by a huge battleship. Coincidentally my friend we stayed with in Houston had just mentioned he wanted to go on a battleship someday but we couldn’t stop as we needed to get to Pensacola but another place I would like to visit in the future maybe on the way to New Orleans.

I cant begin to imagine the noise when those guns were firing or what it would have been on the receiving end of the volleys. The USS Alabama was the fourth battleship of four fast battleships in the South Dakota class per Wikipedia.689 feet long with a 108 foot beam (width). She had a top speed of 31.6 mph (incredibly fast for its size) a range of 17,000 miles, a crew of 2500 officers and men in wartime and 70 guns. She saw battle in the pacific during WW2. She was given to Mobile for display with the caveat she could be reactivated if she was ever needed!

We arrived in Pensacola and easily found our campsite after traversing a couple of beautiful bridges to get to the gulf waters. Our checkin was easy with some very excited to see us staff that welcomed us and drove us to our campsite where I was complimented on my backing skills by the person directing us. I immediately loved the campground as a result lol.

The storms we had experienced in New Orleans left Pensacola with some amazingly strong wind. We were one row off the water but enjoyed the Class A busses and trailers that gave us a bit of a windbreak. Walking around the grounds and the beach (which allowed dogs!) we discovered something called camel burrs that attached themselves to poor Mocha’s feet, legs and belly. That was the only downside to the campground with only a few places Mocha could sniff and go to the bathroom that didn’t qualify as hazardous “doody” (it has been a while since I did the pun thing so don’t groan).

We headed into town to see the sites and we were impressed that unlike much of Florida this town seemed to have a very young adult population out for lunch and walking the streets. Maybe a good place to have a General Surgery practice for my son Zach?? Close to family. No snow and so on.

This was a quick two night stay that was supposed to have been followed by another two night stay in Perry Florida on the water before arriving home. I had been speaking with the campground owner for weeks as Perry was where one of the big Hurricanes Helene made landfall. And the campground was on the water. The very nice campground owner who kept things simple…”I don’t like the internet, don’t accept credit cards only checks or cash etc etc”, kept hoping power would be on and sewer and water up and running but that didn’t happen so despite my wanting to support her we had to make other plans booking two one night stays each closer to Naples rather than the one two night stay in Perry. Those two sites were unremarkable aside from massive debris still present in Georgia and as planned (Thank you God) we made it home November 18 as scheduled. I plan to write a brief summary of the trip in a bit but for now thank you to everyone that wasn’t bored by my (Looonnnnng according to Jo) ramblings. I am so blessed to have a non camping girl that agreed to let me take at least two cross country trips despite her not being a traveler at heart. Blessed in so many ways.

Well we pulled up stakes in San Antonio and drove to friends in Houston. Steve and I were interns and residents in DC and Jo and Melinda, Steve’s wife, were nurses that won our hearts at the same hospital. The Washington Hospital Center now MedStar was and is the largest hospital in DC. And it was a fabulous place to train with administration appreciating the staff and a plethora of rare and common diseases that gave us a great experience before launching us out into the world. Too many stories to go into here but the four of us reminisced trying to remember names that went with the many memories we shared. Steve went on to start a GI practice in Houston and retired from that practice about two years ago around the time I retired. I think we both miss some parts of being a doc and not so much the call and drudgery of electronic medical records and office back end business. We only had enough time for a quick stay but it was great catching up. Turns out they are buying a place just north of us in Florida so hopefully we will get together more often that the 36 years or so since our last visit.

After an overnight in Houston we headed to our New Orleans stop. This leg of our journey was a 318 mile trek that took us across lush green woodlands, fields and bayous. One of the stretches of I-10 in Louisiana the US took us across the third longest bridge in the US running through water and bayou. It is the second longest bridge in the Interstate system at 18.2 miles long. I can’t imagine what it would be like were there to be an accident or breakdown on the bridge but fortunately we made it across enjoying the green landscape after what was weeks of dirt and rock desert that while pretty in its own right got old as we are spoiled green landscape people in Maine and Florida. We arrived at our campground without any issues.

The campground didn’t have great signs as to where to go to checkin and I was feeling pressured as we received a call asking if we would be arriving by 4PM when they closed. Kind of an odd time to close given so many people would still be on the road at that time but we fortunately got there by 3;30. This campground caters to long term stays and not short stays like us and I had to ask where to go making them point it out on the map they tossed at me. As I’ve mentioned before, most if not all campgrounds draw on the map what road to take and circle your campsite with many actually driving you to your site to be sure you don’t go the wrong way or hit something. Clearly customer service wasn’t this facilities forte. We got to our site and set up camp for a two night stay giving us the following day to explore and see New Orleans.

The following morning began with one of our rare not great weather rainy days. This trip and the last we had been blessed with great weather missing tornadoes, hail, snow etc for the most part. So we were not upset that we had to explore in the rain. After a relaxing morning we headed out to go to New Orleans. Despite New Orleans being in the name of this campsite it turns out we were an hour away from downtown. The quickest way to New Orleans was across the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway. The causeway is actually a bridge and the Lake is actually an estuary but both were impressive. The causeway is the longest continuous bridge across water in the world at 23.79 miles. It is made up of two double lane bridges in parallel that have 9500 cement pilings! I suspect this bridge and the I-10 bridge would have had difficulty getting environmental approval if built today but I loved being able to experience both.

We arrived in New Orleans to rain and mist and incredibly narrow streets. Not the best combination for my truck but we found a very convenient parking lot near the restaurant we were headed to and the rain stopped as we parked! We had intended to go to Brennan’s the famous restaurant for good food (and for us old folks TV ads where they substituted Folgers instant coffee for brewed coffee in the giant silver pots they use to serve coffee). My sister’s husband actually had them burn him by spilling coffee (not sure if real or instant) on him while serving. My sister cant remember if they comped them or not. That experience aside my sister said the food was great and as it turns out others think the same as we couldnt get reservations until much later than us old people eat. So I checked Yelp and found a tavern with classic Louisiana food and good reviews named Pierre Maspero’s. The restaurant is one of the oldest in the French Quarter and was where Andrew Jackson planned the defense of the Battle of New Orleans where the British surrendered to Jackson.

After dinner we walked around with me looking for Beignets to top of a food trip. The French Quarter had many people speaking French and lots of cute buildings and alleyways that on a sunnier day would be great to explore. I think this is one of the places Jo would actually want to return too to see more of the town.

We made it back to the campsite this time taking a slightly longer route that seemed better in the rain and rush hour.

Off to Pensacola and Florida the next day.

Next stop the Alamo. This leg of the journey was only 133 miles or two plus hours. Easy except for the roads. I-10 is under construction everywhere and the narrow rough up and down roller coaster jersey barrier roads seem to go on forever. And they are very busy with cars and lots of tractor trailers struggling to some extent like I was to lane shift and avoid people distracted driving. I think it was more like 3.5 hours but not a long day so we got to leave leisurely later than usual and arrived in the daylight! So all good.

I mentioned the horrible roads well I had read about Airstreams losing some of their rivets particularly inside from flexing. That said in over 15000 miles the first trips I never had one pop. This trip so far I count three. I had purchased a rivet gun but didnt think that I would need to drill out what was left behind. Oh well adding to cleaning and maintenance when we get home. I am somewhat off a pro with rivet guns from repairing my first cars and their rust spots in my teenage years! But man Texas roads in many places are just awful. Remember to be careful when opening cabinets as contents may have shifted is not just for airplanes!!

Made it to a very nice KOA Holiday campground and as we pulled in a car in front of us opened the gate with a code I thought. It stayed open as we pulled up and the inevitable question popped into my head do we go for it or will it close on me as we go through. I didnt chance it and called the number on the sign by the gate. The person who answered it said it it pressure sensitive so if we are on or around the opening it wont close. Just didn’t want to own a gate lol. The desk was very nice and assigned us not one but two side by side sites to be sure we had clear views of the sky. They like most KOAs also drive you to your site in a golf cart to be sure you take the RV safe route. Very nice touch they all should do.

We easily set up camp in nice weather and made plans for our trip in to town to see the Alamo and Riverwalk in San Antonio.

The campground as most KOA Holidays seem to be was clean and had great amenities. They served breakfast and supper options and a seating area and function hall. Being married to a great cook we didnt take hem up on that but a nice touch for travelers.

We w headed in to see the Alamo and found a public pay parking lot nearby. The Alamo was very busy surprisingly so but it was a long Veterans weekend day so I guess we shouldnt have been surprised. The Alamo was I thought very impressive and gave us the feel of what it must have been like to be there. The city has grown up around the multi acre site and much of the original defensive walls were taken down but examples of hem are there and the Alamo mission itself and some of the larger outbuildings where the infirmary was etc still remain. I hadnt realized that during the multi day defense of the Alamo many women and children were hiding inside the mission. When the fighting was over and all the Texeiros/Tejanos (native to Texas) and Texians (new to Texas Texans) had ben killed, in an unusual twist General Antonio de Santa Anna decided to not let his troops rape and kill but allowed the women and children to leave along with one adult male slave to tell the story to warn others in Texas who were rebelling to think twice. Inadvertantly it did the opposite creating the rally cry “remember the Alamo”. General Santa Anna had suspended the constitution and taken away any power from the independent states of Mexico of which Texas was one. The Texans didnt initially want to separate from Mexico but with all their rights stripped declared there independence not initially intending to be part of the United States. All the men except for the one slave were killed. David Crockett was so ill from either TB or Malaria and was too weak to fight and was in his sick bed when the Alamo was over run and was bayoneted in his bed. That said they were rumors of him being taken away alive and showing up Elvis style in many other paces (not Vegas) years later. The bodies of the Texans were burned to prevent proper funerals and possibly preventing martyr grave sites.

One of the startling things for me was where the men defending the Alamo came from. Many were from the area but others were Immigrants to the US who had left the eastern US in search of fame, fortune and land. The lines in the picture above go the cities and countries of origin.

Phil Collins the musician has been fascinated his whole life since a child with the story of the Alamo. He said while other succesful musicians bought cars etc he bought Alamo artifacts. He then donated his collection to the Alamo museum.

Too much history and many pictures but if you haven’t seen the Alamo and you are near San Antonio we both thought it was worth the trip.

We decided to get lunch out which we dont usually do so headed to Riverwalk. This is a series of hotels and restaurants etc that line the San Antonio River one level down from street level. Another place to go if you havent. We didnt make the whole river as we had spent quite awhile at the Alamo but really enjoyed what we saw. We had a delicious lunch at the Hard Rock and headed back to the campground to try to get some rest and an early start to see friends from my residency days in DC. They live in Houston where he was a gastroenterologist until he retired about the same time as I did a couple of years ago. He is also married to a woman who like Jo was a nurse at the Washington Hospital Center now part of the MedStar Georgetown hospital system.

Next stop Houston to sleep and shower in a house for the first time in weeks (In a house for the first time not showering for the first time lol)

Today’s trip was a 415 mile trip that seemed to be the right thing to do when I planned all this in the spring. Now multiple weeks into the trip and many journeys later it seemed a long way to go. That and I was covering for our CMO so had to be available on a travel day (I usually planned for no meetings on a travel day or switched with my CMO but she was in Italy) and we left late due to a couple of mid day meetings. Not a problem as we stopped on the way out yesterday and the “gentleman behind the curtain” described in my last post said a late departure was no problem. I called the next campground and they gave me the gate code and our site number so a late checkin was possible. That said aside from it being a long day on the road…setting up and finding our site in the dark can be a challenge. But…we did it.

I had planned to show Jo Austin and the night life and music I had seen when I was in Austin for business twenty years ago. The weather looked iffy for the following day so we decided to see Austin Day 1 to be able to walk around. We left around 5 for an hour trip into Austin arriving there just after dark and in time for rush hour lol. We pulled into a public parking garage with a height limit that was just over our height as I had parked in other garages before but as we pulled in the plastic pipe that shows how high the clearance is hit something on the truck as we pulled in. There must be some wiggle room right??? And we had cars lined up behind us. I will go slow to avoid hitting a bump and bouncing. Well I decided to go for it cringing every time we came to a tight corner or hump in the cement. Definitely not the easiest garage to park in though I saw other pickups. Made it to a spot and parked. The short and sweet of that night was that Wednesday night wasnt the college age to senior music scene I remembered but stale beer smells, two bad but loud musicians and lots of professional drinkers. We walked around for a half hour and decided to head back. Very disappointing as Austin is a very nice town we just hit an off night. Jo had mentioned she would have been happy with ice cream so I googled the local DQ and off we went. Annnnd I had a gift card from my daughter so not only did we have ice cream but free ice cream.

And I got to see my first driverless taxi pull in while we were eating my ice cream so not a complete loss of a night.

We headed back to the campground with plans to go to Waco the next day for a trip to Chip and Joanna Gaines of HGTV fame to see their silos, stores and bakery. I was ready to have a cupcake I had heard about.

The campground is pretty new and had very nice amenities. Everything worked well except the washer and dryers that you had to download an app to use. Jo threw up her hands and off I went to do it. After loading the minimum of $10 and a few tries I got them to work with a reminder sent to my phone when done. Way too complicated for mortal men not the app but using it. The next day we did more loads and it charged me twice for the same load. The staff person from the campground said she had issues with them to. I understand they are trying to get away from people needing quarters that then jam but how about tap to pay credit card readers like the rest area vending machines. Not that I have ever gotten M&Ms there. That’s my story and…

The next AM we headed to Waco with Mocha in tow as they said dogs were generally welcome on the Silo grounds. We found the location easily and parked around the corner. I can imagine parking would be an issue weekends and on season but for us easy. The grounds are very impressive to think the area had been run down cottonseed oil mills and silos. They have made this a true destination with an open area for cornhole and soccer as well as food trucks and covered picnic tables. And multiple small cute buildings with different types/themes in each one as well as a restored church. Prices a bit out of our league but really nice stuff. Oh and the grilled cheese and bacon sandwiches from one of the food trucks we had were great.

I did buy some of their coffee as the smells from the coffee shop were marvelous and we headed back to the campground after a quick detour to see the big lake there that they recently purchased and renovated a home on.

Gas prices in Texas were great especially after $5 gas in California. It was easier to fill up my 36 gallon tank in Texas and two dollar and change prices.

We headed back to the campsite and got ready for the next days trip hoping the rain would lighten up a bit both for a quiet night and a dry day to break down camp for the road.

Next stop was the ….was the…was the? Oh yes I remember..The Alamo.

Today’s trip was a 371 mile long trip and with my restrictions on top speed towing it was easily a 6 hour drive. While too long for my comfort there really arent any great places to stay in parts of the country where 80 MPH speed limits and miles of nothing make settlements rare and good RV spots even rarer. Our trip was not all that remarkable and we were looking forward to seeing more of RTE 66 as the RV campground implied…Texas Route 66 RV Park.

We arrived to find several pickup trucks out front with families standing around. The office person was very friendly but the facility looked ridden hard and put away wet. (My horse analogy for the day). The office person commented on trying out a few sites and while saying so her apparent significant other popped out behind a curtain and gave advice. Evidently a really bad thunderstorm had come through the day before and power and internet was iffy. She was also trying to accommodate my request to have open sky for my Starlink since I was covering for my Chief Medical Officer and needed full time access to the internet. Off we went following her golf cart. After a long round about trip we pulled into one spot only to have her say no lets try another. We circled back way out to the entrance and then back to a longer spot. Second time a winner. Very nice people so far. After an uneventful set up we hunkered down for the night as dark clouds moved in.

This campground has animals a winner for Jo. Goats, Sheep, horse and ponies. Wind was away from us so all good lol. That night we watched lightning flashes all around us and hoped another bad storm wasn’t moving in.

Aside from rumble strip noise from the nearby interstate we had a fairly uneventful night. This was a two night stop to rest and see a little of the Route 66. Shamrock had been a major intersection of Rt 66 (East coast to West coast) and RTE 83 (Mexico to Canada route) before the Interstate allowed faster travel meaning a day trip was much longer and a stop in Shamrock wasnt needed. Once the Interstate was built it is pretty evident that the town fell into disrepair. Many many stores and businesses are boarded up. Kinda sad to imagine once very busy family businesses gradually went away and frankly hard to imagine what you do for a living other than farming and where you go for groceries etc. That said there were many hotels, motels, fast food transient related businesses and gas stations for those of us just passing through. And Hasty’s restaurant/diner.

Hasty’s popped up on local businesses as a place to eat. We headed there for a quick burger. The diner seemed busy and even had a drive through….how does that work for non fast food….it appeared no one was in a hurry and we saw trucks come and 10 minutes or more later make it around the building to the order pick up window. We walked in and it appeared no one would be telling us where to sit so we picked out a booth and waited. Eventually a nice local person came over and said you need to order at the counter so off we went. Many diner type choices and many great sayings on the wall about we dont care who you are or who you think you are or who your daddy is we reserve the right to not serve you etc lol. We ordered burgers on Texas toast (hey we were in Texas) and after a moment of indecision changed my Diet Coke to a chocolate shake (cmon its a diner). And we went back to our table to wait. Lots of local farmers were coming in and shaking hands….waitress in her 70’s came out with our order and spent 5-10 minutes chatting with friends at nearby tables. Some cowboy hats but more baseball caps. A real fun place that showed the camaraderie still present in a town that had seen better days.

One thing I found out while looking for things to do beyond taking a day off from the road was the gas station used in the animated movie “Cars”. I hadnt seen the movie but driving into town and seeing the gas station it looked as if Disney had designed the old ConocoPhillips station then made the movie rather than it being a pre-existing station. This was not the functional only design we see today but a design the architect had to be proud of. No wonder they used it as the model for the movie fast station.

With lots of lightning our first night and the reference by the owner I wondered if a bad storm swept across the open prairie where would we go and then found what looked like bunkers. And the more I looked they were scattered across the campsite. Not a common campground experience in the northeast lol.

It was a nice visit to Shamrock, Texas that gave us some insights into local Texas people and places. The next day we headed to Benton, Texas half way between Waco and Austin Texas for a 3 night stay. Both places we wanted to see.

We left the meteor crater and felt no depression over that. Dad joke had to come out I haven’t been around Jess in a while. Well this trip was a 336 mile 5 plus hour drive so another long day. But what a destination! I had decided to go a bit out of our way to see a town I had heard was worth the trip. The trip was uneventful with lots of interstate driving and up and down. We were both surprised at how big Albuquerque was and like so many towns out west it was very spread out. No need to go up when you can spread out I guess. I was impressed by the multiple over and underpasses at the auction of I25 and I40. Looked like a modern art construction project that we weren’t quick enough to get a picture of. But very impressive. I got a couple that sort of showed it off the internet but I guess you had to be there.

Our next stop was the “Santa Fe Skies RV Park”. As you can imagine there are not infrequent experiences that don’t live up to the name but in this case it di. The campground was easy to find and was on the edge of a nice neighborhood. It was situated on the top of a mini plateau with 360 views of the mountains and Santa Fe. The sunrises and sunset and night lights were all spectacular. Our site was an easy drive thru site meaning no backing up. There were quite a few Airstreams evidently the leftover from a nearby Airstream rally. One of the Airstream neighbor couples came over as I was eating up which is a nice gesture but kind of a non no as we all have routines that result in a smooth process in a predictable order. Unlock trailer and lower stairs so Jo can start setting up inside the trailer. Level the trailer side to side..unhook the weight distribution hitch and level the trailer front to back….ooops don’t unhook til the wheels are chocked so the trailer with Jo and Mocha in it don’t go rolling down the hill. Then unhook trailer with wheels locked. Then hook up the power water and sewer. Then set up Starlink. Then lock trailer coupler. Then remove hitch from truck and lock into receiver on trailer. Put away the weight distribution bars. Oooops put down the stabilizers once trailer is unhooked and leveled so Jo isn’t bouncing around in the trailer. Easy enough to do all this out of order when I am not speaking with neighbors. Most of the mistakes don’t make a big difference but some can be a mess or dangerous. Soooo if you are here camping with or near me etiquette is to wait til I am done to start a new conversation. But they were really nice people who spent 4 months on the road every summer. he is an IT tech and she is a sales person for a book company both able to work remote. Its a new world for sure.

Well trailer was set up including the heated water hose as we were expecting night time temps in the twenties. After many more nights in the twenties and thirties than we had ever experienced in the last cross country I think we finally figured out what combination of heat pumps, furnace and electric heater made us warm but not too warm at night.

The next day was a free day and we decided to go climb and hike to see petroglyphs in the nearby hills above the Santa Fe river. These date from before contact with European settlers to the early Spanish settlers. Where the mesa that these Petroglyphs are on is adjacent to an important trail that the indigenous people used to travel and trade between settlements. This trail was then used by Spanish and then other white European settlers. Jo and I joked that these were early native population’s graffiti. It was really amazing that we could see pictures drawn hundreds of years before we stood there. Unfortunately for Jo I wasn’t clear about what the outing involved as she wore dress boots to climb over fallen boulders and loose stones but she was a trooper and did it.

Oh I almost forgot that I hadn’t had a haircut since we left 5 plus weeks before so was getting a bit shaggy. I decided to find a supercut type place near the campground. How bad could it be I am a simple haircut. Well my GPS gave me circular directions to the Great Clips location that brought me through a car dealership several times with multiple U turns etc until I shut it off and drove by instinct and found it only a few minutes later than I hoped. I had signed in online so the haircutter was ready as I walked in. Im not sure if English wasn’t his native language or he was incredibly shy or ???? but I think he spoke twice after a few attempts on my part. Once done I figured I was just in shock from a new shorter haircut and once I washed and combed it all would be good. I knew it was bigger than that when Jo saw it. She isn’t shy when it comes to opinions on my haircuts lol. Well the rest of the morning involved Jo redoing the haircut lol. And thennnnnn we went to see the petroglyphs. That night despite my dragging Jo into the hinterlands she couldnt me a wonderful comfort food Turkey dinner. Hit the spot on a cold autumn night.

The next day we went in to Santa Fe downtown and discovered it was a big Dio de los Muertos (Day of the dead) celebration. Lots of people and remembrances. Mariachi bands and street vendors. All on a beautiful sunny fall day. And I got to wear my new cowboy hat and dress cowboy boots. We had such a great time and really enjoyed celebrating peoples past lives. We had a really nice dinner at a local Mexican restaurant. And then we attended mass at the local cathedral where the mass was given by the Archbishop. Over thirty names of parishioners that had died over the past year were read out loud with candles lit for all of them. Such a nice day, nice heartfelt mass and an honor to be a part of so many families lives.

I didn’t sleep great the night before we left (no it wasn’t the Mexican food lol) because there was the threat of snow the following morning. Our campground hosts reassured us it would only be rain which while not fun to pack up in wasn’t scary to drive in but snow not so much fun. I had to trust that the plan was for us to have a safe drive the next day so headed to bed ready for another day on the road. This time the destination was a “lucky place” Shamrock Texas and some more Route 66 exploration. No snow…no snow….no snow.

After a sleepless night we headed to our next stop Meteor Crater RV Park near Flagstaff and Winslow Arizona. Todays trip was about the same number of miles 365 so a long trip but all Interstate so only 6 hours plus rest stops. More high mountain passes and wind but as we got into Arizona we started to climb to 6-7000 feet and evergreen forests dominated. Oh and Humphreys peak at 12,000 feet above sea level loomed large with its snow covered peak. We had been to Flagstaff with friend before and I remembered how beautiful it was aside from being locked out of our freezing rain covered car that we had left running to melt the snow. But that’s another story. Met a nice locksmith who said all the rental cars from Las Vegas self locked themselves and kept him very busy. When we called the rental company they said oh yeah they do that and the spare key is in the glove compartment. But I digress. Another 20 minutes and we arrived at the Meteor Crater RV Park. This park was also in the middle of a verrry wide open prairie but it had trees and was quite beautiful. After an easy check in and a free discount coupon handed out by the front desk to see the crater, we went to our site and set up for the night. Easy peasy.

The next AM we went into Winslow to see Route 66 and the corner in the Eagles song “Take it Easy” where the singer was standing when a girl in a flatbed Ford slowed down to take a look at him lol. There is some debate about where it actually happened to the lyrics writer Jackson Brown when his car broke down but Winslow has capitalized on it. I suspect the town struggled when I-40 bypassed it and made Rt66 a memory but they have capitalized on it though the town still looks a bit forlorn once out a ways from the famous corner. But it does have a Walmart where we restocked after checking out the cool corner and associated souvenir shops on opposite corners. But very cool to see it.

After a quick Walmart restock we went back to the campsite, had lunch and headed to the Crater. Turns out the crater is the largest crater and most well preserved crater from a meteor in the US. Initially around the turn of the century it was mistakenly said to be a volcanic crater by a geologist Grove Gilbert. Not unreasonable since it was surrounded by many old volcanos (Mt Humphrey for example). But Daniel Barringer a mining engineer felt it was a meteor crater and filed claims to the crater and land around it . Teddy Roosevelt granted a land patent for the crater and 640 acres in 1903. Barringer thought he would make money as he had in other ventures but in this case from mining what must be a large iron meteorite buried at the bottom of the crater. He estimated the size at around 100 million tons at $125/ton. He was wrong on all accounts. Despite many many attempts at mining and drilling he never found a meteor with theories being it was so superheated from re-entry that it vaporized on impact likely born out by discoveries of fragments later found in the areas around the crater.

A couple of interesting tidbits is that two commercial airline pilots flying in a Cessna went over the crater after fueling up in Winslow and were sucked into the crater by downdrafts and crashed. I had noticed two shiny spots on the wall of the crater and asked the tour guide who relayed the story. Both men survived with one of the pilots with a vertebral fracture dragging the other pilot who was unconscious out of the plane before it exploded. They had actually circled in the crater (yes it’s that big) trying to get up airspeed but stalled the plane trying to fly out and hit the side of the crater.

The crater was also used by NASA to train astronauts for the moon landing. Despite attempts by the US Government to purchase the site it has remained in the Barringer family privately owned to this day. It was named a National Natural Landmark in 1967.

Well after a nice visit with movies, a 4D ride (who knew) to a rogue asteroid we had to blow up to prevent an earth impact and a very nice museum visit, we headed back to the campground as we were off the next day for SantaFe, NM. Oh and bottom line the crater was never a succesful Iron mine but it is definitely a tourist “gold mine”

OK so we must be quite a way int our trip as I honestly had a hard time remembering the overnight at Newberry Springs RV park and Motel. Part of that could have been it was just an overnight and part could be because neither of us got much sleep that night. I am always nervous about a location that ends with “and Motel”. Not because of the Bates Motel but Motels in most cases are left overs from the past when there were no interstates and like in this case they were of the old roads like this one was…Route 66. But to get East we had very few choices for stays with many hours between campgrounds and lots and I mean LOTS of open spaces that are mainly desert. Today’ trip was an 8 hour 372 mile leg. Wayyyy too many miles but there were not any campgrounds that I felt we would be safe at if they existed so we bit the bullet and drove.

Well on the lonnnng way east we were being blown around by gusty winds as we went up and down through mountain passes that funneled the winds. At many spots there were signs suggesting high profile vehicles (like us) should get off the Interstate. Well we had places to go so taking slower sheltered back roads was not an option. And the Interstate gave us some beautiful views when we were out in the open. But it was beginning to get really windy from a cold front moving through the day before. I just wanted to get to a place that was safe and had power and water and allowed us off road time to eat and rest.

Well after a really long day we arrived at the Newberry Mountain RV and Motel in Newberry Mountain, CA. On arriving we sat behind another truck and trailer. It seemed odd that the guy wasn’t coming out of the office for quite a while. I decided even though I was back a ways from the office that I would head in to stand in line as it was getting dark. I no sooner got out of the truck when the trailer with no visible activity for 5-10 minutes drove off???!!! Well on pulling up to the motel office I could see a handwritten sign on the door asking us to call a number to check in. So scary they didn’t even dare to be here after dark? I called the number and a very nice person took our credit card info (no deposit ahead of time here which is unusual what with no shows etc) and gave us our site number and said she would text us the receipt which she did. And we went to our site.

This campground got the lowest rating of any of the campgrounds we’ve stayed at, 7 out of 10 so I wasn’t expecting much. Turns out it was essentially just a big gravel parking lot with site numbers and hookups for electric, water and sewer. It was an overnight stop where we didnt unhook the trailer, it appeared safe with other travelers nearby and it was off the road. I unlocked the trailer, put the stairs down and began to hookup the trailer to the utilities while Jo unpacked the inside and got dinner started. We have a great routine where Jo cleans and stores and puts away inside stuff before leaving while I empty the tanks and unhook and hook stuff outside. Well as I was finishing up the outside I heard Jo make an odd noise so I went around to the door side of the trailer and found her struggling to keep the door from slamming open against the side of the trailer. The wind was so strong I had to hold the door while Jo took Mocha out. It must have been blowing across the open prairie unimpeded by trees or structures at about 40-50 miles an hour steady with higher gusts. Oh and the sand is blowing at that speed also. Well we managed to batten down the hatches after dinner and went to bed. Now when we just do an overnight I dont unhook the trailer. When I dont unhook I dont put the stabilizers down at each of the 4 corners of the trailer to keep the trailer from bouncing around while walking etc. I dont put them down to avoid the mistake of driving off with them down. Well I should have put them down as the trailer was rocking all night with wind noise that was howling. Not a lot of sleep but being on call has given me the ability to function with cat naps so not to worry.

The next AM was in the 30’s without the windchill. Walking Mocha was scary at night but at least we could see where he was blown in the daylight LOL. At one point during the night Jo and I were yelling over the wind walking Mocha trying to find the lee side of something to not have him blown away.

We headed out early (hey we were up) for our next stop in Winslow Arizona. Such a fine site to see.

We left the Angels and the Donner party Murphy’s and headed out the next AM. And had another short trip because as I mentioned in the last post I squeezed in Napa as an in between extra stop so hadnt planned on a stop between Green Acres and this one. Im not complaining. I am a little disappointed in my lack of gold nuggets but maybe there will be another river to pan in. Jo is rolling her eyes if she is reading this. Nerd husband.

The 1.5 hour trip to Yosemite was on the scariest road yet. Must be old age but I couldnt look over the edge as driving or not driving without some queasiness and anxiety. Thanks a lot Gram Chellis. (My grandmother was terrified of heights and I made it my goal to terrorize her in her wheelchair or when she was riding in my car. Payback clearly). And zero guard rails …. Again.

As we got close to the campground address put the street address my Garmin RV GPS (which is supposed to look for RV safe routes (no weight restriction, parkways or height restrictions etc) directed me to turn right on the street named in the campground address. This was a steep car and a half wide road making me very suspicious this was a GPS mistake. But we did finally come to what looked like a campground with no signs. And this was the first campground for us where it is a first come first serve no assigned spots. Call in when you pick a spot despite no cell service for any carrier in the campground. Well we found a spot and the paper attached to the power pedestal said that site closed for winter…and the next one,,,and the next one. Well we went across the campground and finally found one. Then it said to check in online but as I said no cell service so I set up camp and got my Starlink running hoping this was an ok site and i wouldnt have to move. Oh and they said to print out passes for you windshield and the site. I dont have my printer running as I assume most dont on an RV trip. So I called the number given using my Starlink wifi and she said you are ok not sure if you need any paperwork ugh. Well I found the unmarked office that looked closed but wasnt and the very nice people printed out the papers saying the woman I spoke to really wasnt correct. But we had landed so all good. If you cant tell I am a little freaked out not having i’s dotted and T’s crossed before arriving to be sure we have a spot. But we had arrived.

Since we arrived so early we decided to head out for Yosemite for a half day tour. OMG the size and expanse and beauty was breath taking. Multiple tunnels cut into the stone and cliff side roads going into the valley.

And down we went into the valley.

Jo thought the river at the bottom of the valley looked promising for gold but all I had read said you couldnt pan or take anything not even pine cones when at a National Park (different from a National Forest so I didnt pan despite Bonnie’s I mean Jo’s urging. We drove around and just couldnt believe the beauty and massive size of the cliffs. Lots of back to nature rock climbers tenting at the base of El Capitan. I had tried to do this near Stowe when I was at UVM for college and decided the rocks were too hard or I was too soft to be banging against them if I fell. But good for them as it does look like fun if you dont have a self preservation gene.

We headed back to camp but stopped at the Ranger station to get a map and ask if I could pan. Terese at the station said just tell them Terese said OK. Johnny Cochran might have been able to use that as a defense but ultimately I didnt dare to as the map clearly said take nothing and google said no panning.

Our nights lately have been quite cool and trying to decide what heat source to use and what temp to set has been a project. Im still trying to use the campgrounds electricity to heat with heat pumps versus my propane but man the heat pumps are noisy when they Ice up in cold weather and go through a defrost cycle. So started to augment a potable electric heater with propane. Not something I typically have to deal with when landed at home and not something that disrupts my light sleeper girl.

Early the next AM we set out for Yosemite again but stopped at a river on the way before the Park. And more gold flakes. very tiny but sparkly and non magnetic which I thought meant not fools gold Iron Pyrite. Further reading that day suggested not all Pyrite is magnetic. hence the saying all that glitters isnt gold. And to make me even more skeptical of this place not known for gold history was that Jo noticed gold speckles in the sand we walked out on. I need to do further research into the is it or isnt it dilemma. But fun none the less to be out in nature playing the gold lottery.

So I saw this plaque up from the rails and just had to see what it said. So despite Jo’s concerns about me breaking my neck on slippery rocks decided to check it out. It was pretty treacherous with me crab walking like an old guy most of the way. And the sign 100 feet up the rocks said….

Jo was correct….again. But I got back sans broken limbs.

I dont think I have mentioned that for anyone planning to tour National Parks you should definitely get the National Park Pass. The entrance fees are $20-$40 per car and a senior lifetime pass is $80 one time. Has saved us hundreds.

Our plan was to leave via the Tioga Pass to go to Arizona but the night before we were leaving it was closed likely for the winter due to snow soooooo we had to back track and go down the scary road this time ugh and spend another 1.5 hours but I do not want to go up or down the Tioga pass with a snowy road.

No snow and dry roads and off we go to the next stop and such a fine sight to see per the Eagles.