New Mexico to home, Feb 8-9

Monday, February 8

Tom & Sue and Chap headed out early this morning.  Mam is feeling under the weather, so stayed in bed.  There was a problem with the water main, so no water this morning!  I heated some from the Trek to wash up and then we headed out.

Tom mentioned a back road way to get to Silver City, so we opt for this rather than busy I-10.  It winds through hilly desert terrain and then into the Apache National Forest. Saw some gorgeous yellow-headed blackbirds, but didn't get a shot off.  Rabbits, quail, and other birds too.

Cottontail with quail in background

 Some pretty nice mountains and we begin to see pine and other trees.  Very twisting, rising, falling road with lots of switchbacks and many patches of snow.

 A few ranches, but little else.

When we cross into New Mexico we enter the Gila National Forest. Then turn south on 180 toward Silver City.

We arrive at Anne's and she suggests a picnic at a nearby Little Walnut Picnic area, part of the Gila National Forest.  Nice spot!

 Her dog Dixie goes with us.  While we are eating, a herd of about 10 deer meander through the park.  Dixie is getting pretty old (12) and doesn't notice.

Back to Anne's and we catch up a bit on travels, family, etc.  Greg brings in the Cribbage Board and we play several games.  Anne loses badly in the first game, but bounces back and wins the next two -to her delight.

Anne has fixed a wonderful dinner of lasagna, salad and lemon cake.  Yum!  Greg brings in a bottle of wine and we have a nice evening.

Greg retires early, while Anne and I stay up and talk.  She is one of the youngest 72-year olds I know!
An ex-Math teacher and school administrator, she has an RV similar to ours and travels either alone or with a buddy several times a year.



Tuesday, February 9

26 degrees last night!  Luckily Anne has a 30-amp port, so we can hook up and run the heater. After a wonderful breakfast of a green chili egg dish, bacon and scones (and oranges - we brought her a bag), we say goodbye, but not before Anne loads us up with enough food for the next few days!

We go south to Deming for gas and once again hit I-10.  Beth's sinus cold is full blown now, so she sleeps and rests in the back for a couple of hours while Greg moves through NM and into Texas. Cattle, pecan trees, a few towns and not much else till El Paso traffic.  Then, it's back to vast open spaces.

We run into another Roadtrek couple at a gas station in Van Horn.  Judy Nichols - she and her hubby have been living full-time in their Roadtrek for over a year and are loving it.  They are headed to Big Bend.

We reach Fort Stockton about 5:30 and stop for lasagna, salad and a good night's rest, along with about a dozen other campers.

Wednesday, February 10

Greg is awake and off early, as a beautiful sunrise lights the east.

Though last night was a balmy 41, the temp drops as we head east and stays below freezing for a couple of hours.

Stop for coffee and Anne's scones.  Then it is 743 miles of "butt-numbing, mind-boring, highway driving" till we reach our turn off near Houston.  Greg takes some photos along the way to illustrate...

There are still another 150 miles to the Louisiana border!  Glad we aren't going the whole way across Texas!  Gas has gotten cheaper - $1.39/gallon in Schulenburg and $1.40 at home.

All looks great as we reach home. 4,701 miles.  We unpack, turn the heat on in the house, re-start the newspaper and cable. Later, Greg unpacks the stones and rocks we collected across the southwest.

 Great to travel, but great to be home too! Boy, are we blessed!!

Sunday, February 7

Super Bowl Sunday, but not too many are terribly interested in football, other than Greg and I.  We have other things planned for most of the day.

First is a trip to Gammon's Gulch,  a movie set and museum not far from Benson that Anita read about.  It is easy to find but would be easy to miss if you weren't looking for it.  We get a personal tour from the owner, Jay Gammons, a self-described 70+ year old "energizer bunny".  He owns the property and has been involved in building most of the structures.

His Dad was security for John Wayne and others during filming of many movies here and at other places around Tucson.  Jay himself has been in 11 films with lines in several.  His tour included history, movie trivia and his take on many actors (Val Kilmer, Kurt Russell, John Huston and Barbara Stanwyck were awful to work with while he loved Sam Elliot , Dale Robertson and a few others.)  They had just finished filming a "Zombie Western" which he didn't think much of - when they said they'd send him a copy of the finished film he told them not to bother.

Many of his props have been used in movies filmed elsewhere.  He took us to the the saloon, where he played an ancient piano and then a ukulele, mixed with stories.

He also had a jail, a livery stable, land office, barber shop, blacksmith, church, gallows, and a few others, all furnished with period tools, furniture, saddles, etc.  He had lots of colorful sayings and was quite entertaining.

visiting neighbor at entrance

From here we stopped to look at a few more rocks.  Then back to Benson.  Kevin and I made a quick trip to town to buy some oranges from a guy who sells them from his pick-up regularly.  We bought 6 bags - 30 lbs. - for $15!

Made tacos and guacamole during the game.  Most everyone was for Denver, so were happy with the result.

Tomorrow we will head for Silver City, NM to visit our friend Anne (from the Alaska trip).  Anita & Kevin will spend the day near Tucson before heading back to PA.  Tom and Sue head to Tucson for a bone scan, and Chap and Mam have one more week of the show.

Benson/Family time Feb 3-6, 2016

Wednesday, February 3

Another visit to LA Fitness this morning.  No donut follow-up this time - we do have SOME self control! Over to I-10, headed south for Tucson.  We are going to stop and surprise Chap & Mam at their gem show booth.

Exit 22^nd street for the big tent that says 22^nd Sreet Show.  We find their booth and exchange hugs and meet their friend Chad.   Talk with Chap a bit, but they are busy so we go look around.

Lots of dinosaur fossils this year, as well as opals, onyx items, crystals, beads, etc.  

We run into Tom and Sue who are here with some neighbors!  We shop some and talk some till we've seen all the vendors at this site, then we leave for Tom & Sue's where we'll meet up with them later.

We've volunteered to make dinner, so stop for groceries.   We make salmon (rather tasteless), baked yams, green beans and ice cream for dinner and do some catching up with all when Chap and Mam arrive about 7:00.

Because the forecast is for 20’s tonight, we pull into Tom & Sue’s carport and run an extension cord to our small heater for the night.  Pretty toasty and all seems well.  We are not winterized so have some concern about water lines under the van if the temp stays below freezing for a long time.  Nice evening.

Thursday, February 4

27 degrees or so early AM but warms to 36 by 9:30.  Tom is going to play golf today, but Greg, Sue and I head for the gem show again.  We are meeting Anita and Kevin who flew in late last night.

We meet Anita and Kevin,  and all go to another venue – the Kino Show.  There are over 40 different venues of varying size in Tucson.  Kino is huge, so we spend a couple of hours wandering around there.  Few purchases of jewely, beads, and small dishes with fossils.  Nothing major.

Greg, Sue & I head back to Benson and find Tom there with friend and neighbor Pat Kelly.  Pat is sporting a bruised eye/cheek where a golf ball hit a rock and then hit his face, but he takes us over to his place to show us a brook trout that he has carved – beautiful.  His first effort at carving!  He is quite artistic and shows us other drawings and paintings he has done, mainly of wildlife and grandchildren!

Pat Kelly

Tom made a huge pot of chili today, so we dig in, as do Anita and Kevin and Chap & Mam when they arrive.   Delicious!

Tom seems to be doing well, spirits high.  He is now on 2 injections every other week which have some unpleasant side effects for a bit, but seems optimistic and doesn’t complain. He will have a bone scan next Monday which will yield important info. Sue seems to be doing well also.

We chat and catch up.   Chap and Mam are on their feet most of the day, so go to bed early and all follow suit. 

Friday, February 5

This morning we decide to go rockhounding near Safford, AZ in the Black Hills area. Kevin and Anita have been getting into this, as Greg and I and Sue have dabbled a bit as well.   We try a closer location first, but  the road is impassible - there IS a limit of what you can do with a rental car:) Safford is an hour plus ride through hilly desert.  The elevation here is around 3000’ and few of the plants have begun any greening – except mesquite which is pretty green. 

..

Tom again opts for playing golf with a group of guys who play on Fridays.  His bones are kind of fragile right now, so he sticks to nice even terrain.

We spend hours wondering around looking for fire agate and any other interesting rocks.  We find lots of druzzy quartz, chalcedony and who knows what else.  Fun “treasure hunt”. 

Back to Tom & Sue’s, we clean up a bit and try a local Mexican place Tom & Sue like for dinner, but it is closed, so we opt for another spot – Pablo's – where the guys go for ribs and the girls green chili burgers.  Not speedy, but good.  Benson isn't very large so choices are limited.  But they have a Walmart, an ice cream shop, a rock shop and many small businesses.

Chap and Mam have dinner meetings tonight so we hit the hay before they are even home!  Greg is getting over a bit of a head cold and now Beth is getting it.

Saturday, February 6

The Trek has not moved for a few days.  We hook up to power during the day and the heater at night, which seems to be working ok.  It was 32 degrees at 7:20, so probably a few degrees lower in early AM.

Greg turns the engine on briefly and notices that it is not charging,  neither the house battery nor the engine battery.  Drat!  He thinks it is the alternator, so we call Lawly’s down in Sierra Vista and they say they can look at it if we get it there by noon. 

We are all headed out to Whitewater Draw to see the cranes, but go via Sierra Vista so we can drop off the Trek. 

Tom heading toward Whitewater Draw

  Greg opts to stay with it, hoping it will be a quick fix and we can meet up again, but it is a several hour job, so we will end up meeting him later back in Benson.

Anita, Kevin, Tom and Sue and I head for Whitewater Draw and are amazed at the cranes.  They are returning here to roost after having fed all morning and they return in groups of 5 – 25.  At first they look like a dark smudge in the sky and then materialize into groups of cranes which gracefully turn and alight.  All while keeping up a steady vocalization.   This continues for over an hour.

Tom, Sue, Anita, Kevin

Quite a few ducks in the area today also, pintails and northern shovelers, cinnamon teals, and more.

 

Spoonbill

Pintails

We next drove to a wash area to look for more interesting rocks and found some – Kevin especially found a pretty chunk of pink & white quartz with gold flakes throughout!

Stopped at Safeway for a few items and ran into Greg, then back to Tom & Sue’s, where Tom fixed roast pork and sauerkraut for a great dinner we all enjoyed. Chap traded some stones for wine, so we have been enjoying great wines this week!  We'll be spoiled!

Feb 1, 2 Phoenix, Queen Creek

Monday, February 1

33 degrees at 6:45 this morning.  As we awoke, the cranes did too and as we drove out of the refuge we were escorted by groups of cranes going out to find their breakfast. To the right, the left, above, in front and behind, groups of 5-20 cranes made their way through the cold, grey, misty morning. 

We soon ran into some rainy/sleety precipitation, which then turned to snow flurries. Near Tombstone, there was a little accumulation ½-1”, but as we lost elevation it disappeared.  Still….not what we expected in southern Arizona!

We drove to Discount Tire in Sierra Vista, where they removed a piece of metal from the low tire and plugged it. 

Decided to take care of some other chores, so found a Laundromat and did wash, then headed to Safeway to restock some supplies.

The forecasted temperatures in Benson the next few days show lows around 20, so we decide to go north to warmer Phoenix (lower elevation).  We take Rt 79, an alternative to I-10 and once we get out of Tucson, it is a nice quiet road.  The only thing we see along the way is a memorial to Tom Mix. 

He was an old time western cowboy/singer who lived in this area and whose “spirit  left his body on this spot”in an auto accident in 1940.

We continue on to Queen Creek, one of many suburbs of Phoenix (Tempe, Mesa, Scottsdale, etc. ) which have all kind of grown together.  Queen Creek is great for us in that it has a great newish library,  an LA Fitness, and a Walmart that allows overnight zzz’s.   We head first to the library where we catch up on blogging, emails, banking, etc.   They have a great kids’ area which Greg enjoys watching.

We head over to Walmart, have dinner and hit the hay!

Tuesday, February 2

We start the day at LA Fitness, a busy spot this morning.   I have never seen so many skinny women.  There is a Dunkin’ Donuts strategically placed within walking distance of the gym (cruel!) and we succumb, which may be related to why I am not one of those skinny women!   We head back to the library. Nice library with excellent wi-fi speed, computer sections, audio and video and, of course, many books. Greg reads some magazines, including a MAD Magazine – still around and as irreverent as he remembers.

From here we head to the MIM – Musical Instrument Museum – which turns out to be a great choice. 

We watch a short introductory film which shows that music is the language of the soul, reflects who we are, and is a universal language, etc.

They have over 10,000 instruments in the museum.  Upstairs, the instruments are arranged according to country, often with some costume from said country. 

Tanzania

At each country’s “station” there is a flat screen tv which shows a few performances  using their instruments  We have headphones which are proximity readers so that when we are within a certain area we listen to what is being shown. 

Mongolia

China

Really cool. The countries are arranged by continent. 

We see many instruments we have heard of and many new ones. Lots of zithers, lyres, harps, drums, lutes, rattles, bells, and many many more.  Some are very primitive, using bones, sinew, hooves, gourds, seeds,  and other plant & animal body parts. Others are quite elaborate.

One display shows the creativity of people who make instruments from items at hand, including oil cans, discarded wood, etc.  You can see that this flute uses bottle caps, buttons, coins, and tableware. And amazingly some of them sound beautiful.

There is another area of the museum which honors great musicians.  Can’t imagine how they chose who to include here, but we saw Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton, Roy Orbison, Taylor Swift, Jake Shimbukuro (amazing ukulele player), Carlos Nakai (Native American flute), John Lennon, Kronos Quartet, and many more.  All had several performances we could watch and listen to.  Probably could have spent most of a day just in this area!

There was a mechanical gallery with this huge Apollonia “dance organ” which incorporates many instruments. Also player pianos, music boxes, etc. 

They even had a display showing the machine which created the cylinders and rolls using perforations or holes which translated to notes.

Of course there was an Experience Gallery, too, where you could try different instruments.

Another area had display of variations of one type of instrument, like these guitars and bagpipes from many countries other than Scotland!

There were displays showing how a Steinway is put together and another showing how a violin comes together.

 More displays had to do with types of music, with jazz, hip-hop, orchestra, bluegrass, etc.

Overall a fantastic experience that we could easily have spent two days rather than 4+ hours.

We left at closing time.

Decided to get some dinner at San Tan Flat, a busy place back near Queen Creek, where we shared a rack of ribs and salads.  They also served a creamed corn that was great.  When we commented on it to our server, she said it is very popular and tastes good because it includes butter and sugar.  Tasty!