Hattiesburg, MS

We had a stormy night last night, but the rain was well passed by the time I headed over to the Freightliner facility. I arrived just before 1030 and the part was there as scheduled. The new part looked much different and was nearly three times the size of the original. Plugs looked compatible, though, so I headed back to the coach. It turned out to be an easy replacement. The hardest part was getting my long body between the driver seat and pedals to work under the dash. Actually, that is not quite true. Getting back out was the hardest part.

The moment of truth came when I turned on the ignition and tried the lights. Voila! They worked! Another problem solved!

By just after eleven we were back on the road. Soon we were in Mississippi and crossing the Mississippi River at Vicksburg. We have decided that Mississippi is a state worth returning to. We are particularly interested in the civil war history in the state. Natchez is high on our list of cities to visit, but that will be another trip.

We managed to catch up with the wet weather. While it is not raining, it is misty, and cool. There is lots of mud here in the campground, so we are not venturing out much. Sorry for so few pictures for the gallery on this stop, but Barbara did add a couple of shots of the ducks we were feeding on the pond.

Tomorrow we head to Niceville, FL and the home of Jim and Phyllis Kaiserski. We met Jim and Phyllis on our Bahamas cruise and enjoy their company. Hopefully we can talk them into visiting Orlando.

More Adventure!

We got off to a shaky start this morning, and it went down hill from there. Leaving the fuel stop we noticed that the on ramp to I-20 eastbound was closed. No detour signs, just a road closed sign. In trying to get a work around route we ended up on a road that had no outlet and it required disconnecting the Honda to get turned around. When we got that all sorted out we found the taillights and turn signals were inop. Two hours of troubleshooting and a call to the chassis manufacturer lead us to a defective headlight control module. Knowing it, and finding it, were two very different things. A little time on my head under the steering wheel and dash finally got us a visual. A subsequent call to the local Freightliner dealer got the part on order. If all goes well it will be here by 1030 in the morning and I can get it installed. Sure hope that will be the solution.

In the meantime we set out to see what Monroe, LA had to offer, and we actually had a very nice time. We found a museum at the home of the first Coca Cola bottler. Turns out the Biedenharn family started bottling what we know of as Coca Cola in 1894, while the pharmacy that became the Coca Cola Corp. was still selling it only over the counter at their soda fountain. You may already know that Coke started as a patent medicine for upset stomach and was sold as a bottled syrup. Biedenharn mixed it with carbonated water and sold it as a beverage. When the pharmacist saw how successful the Biedenharn’s were they got on the bandwagon and the rest was history. (http://www.biedenharncoca-colamuseum.com/)

Afterward we had a very nice catfish dinner over looking the Ouachita River. We have been happy to find that you can find something fun and interesting just about everywhere we have gone. Is this country great, or what?

West Monroe, LA

Not much to say about today since it was spent on the road. We said goodbye to Smilin’ Jack and Lisa around nine and dove into the Dallas traffic. Actually it was not the traffic so much as the construction and “Jersey Walls” making it a pretty narrow road in places. East of the city the road opened up and it was smooth sailing for the most part all the way to West Monroe, LA where we pulled in to the Pavillion RV Park.

We were satisfied to settle in and watch the president speak, but Felicity Flamingo was quite taken by the Chihuahuas across the way.

Tomorrow we are off to the home of Bret Favre. Hattiesburg, MS.

Happy Birthday, Jack!

Today was all about Jack. While his birthday is the 30^th (along with his uncle Archie) we celebrated this weekend because this is when we could get all the grandparents together. We had a great time. Chris baked pizzas and there was plenty of cake to go around. Three other families brought children, so there was plenty of assistance in helping the packages get unwrapped.

Behind the scene:

Tomorrow Lisa’s parents and Chris’ mom head home while we stay behind and do sprinkler maintenance. We will hit the road Monday morning as Chris and Lisa return to work.

It was our plan to surprise Chris and Lisa when we arived by being dressed as Florida tourists. You know, tacky. We dressed the part and had Lisa and Chris rolling on the lawn when we stepped out of the coach. As an added touch we brought a lighted flamingo. Originally a joke, we are actually getting used to him.

 

The weather has been grand, so in all respects it has been a terrific weekend.

Harper and Southlake, TX

The drive from Big Bend National Park to Harper, TX was uneventful which really is the way we like it. We arrived at the ranch of John and Jane Canfield in the late afternoon and got our coach set up in the guest spot next to their motorhome.

After setting up we were treated to a tour of the ranch. A small spread by Texas standards, but it contained more wild life than we had seen on the entire trip so far. John and Jane raise antelope and have a pet Axis deer. On top of that there were twin white tail deer fawns hanging around, as well as a large flock of Guinea Fowl. Of course there were dogs and cats, too. Barbara will post photos of the animals on our gallery.

We enjoyed great conversations of boating and RVing at dinner last night and again at breakfast this morning. Following breakfast we were on the road for Dallas. Our thanks to the Canfields for their hospitality.Real nice folks!

It was a long day on the road today. We traveled back roads for the most part, and traversed the Texas Hill Country. It is a beautiful part of the state. Fredericksburg, in particular, looks like a lovely place to return to for a visit at a later date. We stopped at a rest area just south of Ft Worth and changed in to our Florida Tourist outfits as a joke for Chris and Lisa. It was good for a quick laugh when we stepped out of the coach. Chris was taking videos, but I hope he losses the file before anyone sees it. We really looked the part. Perhaps too much so.

We are tucked snuggly into Chris’ backyard to await the arrival of the rest of the grandparents, and the celebration of Jack’s first birthday Saturday.

Presidio, TX

We chilled today. We started with a great breakfast at India's cafe and a drive through Big Bend Ranch State Park to Presidio, TX. Great scenery. More views of the river. High point of the day was finally seeing a Javalina. Actually a small herd of Javalina, but this is the one that stood still long enough to pose for Barbara. Despite their appearance, they are not related to the pig.

We got home in time to get a few departure chores done on the coach before fixing dinner. We hope to be on the road by around eight in the morning.

Big Bend National Park

We have been enjoying Big Bend National Park. Sorry for a lack of updates but the wifi here is not adequate for posting, particularly photos.

Our first foray into the park was Sunday. We went to Rio Grande Village, pretty much the most distant point across the park from where we are staying. There are two campgrounds there, but also trails into the mountains and along the river. We hiked into the mountains towards Hot Springs. By the time we reached the highest elevation on the trail we could see our destination in the distance and realized we were a little over our heads.

Not that we couldn’t make it to the Hot Springs in the heat and altitude. We could. Walking back, on the other hand, was not going to happen. So, we hiked back down to the river.

Mexico is on the other bank of the river, of course. From the Bouquillas Canyon trail you over look the Mexican village of Bouquilles del Carmen and can see herds of goats being tended. You can hear the bells on the goats and the laughter of the people watching over the herd. It felt strange to be on vacation in a park and looking across to people in a subsistence life style. The trails in this area are marked with instructions not to buy anything from the Mexican people, for it is illegal. In hopes of getting around this the Mexicans leave little souvenirs and decorated walking sticks with a note saying donations area accepted. A small jar is left for the money and no one is in attendance. Unfortunately, it is also illegal to posses these goods if you are caught, so sales are slow. We headed home at the end of the day tired and a bit sore.

Monday we headed for the high ground and visited the Chisos Mountain Basin. Remember the movie Lost Horizons? OK, it is an old one, so think hard. Shangri-La sound more familiar? Any way, driving up the mountain and into the basin surrounded by the mountains was like entering Shangri-La. The basin is at 5500’ elevation. We hiked two trails. One further up into the rim of the mountain, and the other down to the only natural exit, referred to as the Window. 

This was the outflow for rain waters and offers magnificent sunset views if you are staying in the basin. The trail signs caught our attention.

 There is a lodge and camping in the basin. When we get better internet connections Barbara will post some great photos to our gallery.

It was another long and physically active day, so we were happy to get back to home base and a shower. We have elected to stay another day and visit the State Park west of here.

We will leave Wednesday for Harper, TX. We will spend the night on the ranch of a couple I connected with through an RV forum online. They have a similar motorhome and I want to discuss a couple of modifications that he made to his. The next morning we will head for Dallas and a few days on Chris and Lisa’s driveway. The highpoint of that visit will be Jack’s first birthday!

Terlingua, TX

Here we are in Terlingua, TX. We have caught up with the hot weather, for it was 94 when we arrived. After checking in we got our coach set up and got the awnings out, along with the front window covers to keep the solar heat down. Then it was Miller time! Or in our case, Amstel Light time. You make due.

On the way here we took I-10 from El Paso to Van Horn and turned south to Alpine, Texas. Once we left Alpine we were in mountainous terrain and went miles and miles without seeing anyone. Thankfully there was very little traffic since some hills brought us down to about 35 MPH briefly. It was a little over five hours getting here, and it really seems like the middle of nowhere, but there are plenty of tourists. Not as many as you might think with this being spring break season and all, but it was a welcome sight to see some civilization. As we checked in a group of sun-bleached middle-aged motorcyclists came in.  One look at those guys and I was very happy to have arrived in the motorhome. 

Terlingua is a small town. That is it down the road in the above picture. We plan to visit tomorrow since they bill themselves as a ghost town.  They are the gateway to Big Bend NP, so I am sure that while there may well be ghosts they are the type that hungers for tourist dollars. 

Our RV park is owned by the same folks that have two adjacent motels. They appear “right sized” for the traffic, although there are plenty of RV spots open.

We should start our first trip into the park tomorrow. Between the park and downtown Terlingua we should be able to get a picture of Barbara so you can see that I am not on this trip alone. The adult supervision she provides has been invaluable.

Ft Bliss, El Paso TX

As you will recall we were parked last night in overflow, which meant no power hookup. We ran the generator until we retired and shut it down to run lighting on batteries. Our coffee maker grinds the beans for us, and as such, acts as our alarm clock each morning. No AC power, no automatic coffee maker, so I set an alarm on my iPhone. Silly me! I forgot where I was! Promptly at 0700 the bugle sounded reveille. Quite recorded; quite loud; but effective just the same. I stumbled to the kitchen, turned on the inverter to get some temporary AC power, and grabbed the bag of Arbuckles to top off the bean bin. Voila! The candy stick! If you aren’t following this line go back to the Holbrook entry. Anyway, a button push got things in motion and after a few more minutes in bed listening to the gurgle of the coffee maker we had our morning brew. No time to tarry, so we finished up quickly and got the coach ready to hit the road.

As long as I am updating information from previous postings, here is a shot of the offending piece of hydraulic line that put us in the shop. The shinny parts are where the tubing was being worn away. Fabrication of the new tube: $53; labor $805! Luckily the extended warranty came through for us.

Rather than drive the planned eight hours today we cut things short and stopped at the military campground at Ft. Bliss in El Paso, TX. A very nice place. Well run and very clean. The BBQ seems to be working again with the new gas hose I bought in Tucson, so it will be steaks tonight!

Tomorrow we make the run to Terlingua, TX and the Big Bend National Park.

Agave Gulch

It has been a great day. Any day that starts at Trader Joe’s is a great day. I think we left some stuff for the rest of you, but not much. The coach is sagging a bit under the weight of the Two Buck Chuck.

We had a terrific lunch at Marc and Patricia’s club this afternoon. It was another celebration of Huguette’s birthday, which is today. Our thanks to Marc and Patricia for being such gracious hosts. Their hospitality was a God send with the coach in the shop all week.

With shopping and lunch behind us it was time to pick up the coach at the service center. Freedom RV in Tucson did a very good job of performing the repair and they are a very friendly group. Everything seems fine with the coach. We checked it out before leaving the shop this afternoon and it all set up properly when we got to the camp ground this evening. We are parked facing the northern foothills and are watching the sunset’s affects on the gorgeous Catalina Mountains. 

Our home tonight is the military campground on Davis-Monthan AFB. It is a very nice facility staffed by friendly people. The normal campsites are full, so we are parked in what is called "overflow". It is a parking spot without water and electricity. We have water stored on board and a generator to provide air conditioning and power for the TV so we are fine. Luckily the evenings cool off because we need to turn the generator off by 1030. Quiet time is 1030 to 0700.

Tomorrow we have a very long driving day as we hope to reach Van Horn, TX. That will leave us in easy reach of Terlingua, TX and the camp ground we will use as a base for exploring Big Bend National Park.

Tucson, AZ

We have been making lemonade the last few days from the lemons fate tossed our way Friday. While the coach is being repaired we have gotten out and had a great time. Marc and Patricia have been wonderful hosts and we have been able to spend time with Huguette.

We have gotten around the Tucson area, seen a lot of the local attractions, and had an opportunity to attend the Tucson Ballet.

Biosphere 2

You may recall the elaborate experiment conducted between 1991 and 1993 where eight scientists were sealed in an artificial ecological laboratory for two years. The laboratory is a large complex in which they attempted to recreate earth’s complex biological systems to a degree that would support them for the full two years. The Tucson area was chosen for the high number of sunny days to support photosynthesis in the model rain forest which would create oxygen sufficient to support life in the biosphere. Unfortunately, the experiment coincided with an El Nino year. El Nino brought far more cloudy days than usual and insufficient oxygen production. As a result the seal on the biosphere was broken short of the two year goal and oxygen was introduced. There are still ecological experiments being conducted there and tours are provided. Pretty cool place!

Tumacacori

In the late 1600s Jesuit priest Euseblo Kino established a mission in Tumacacori about an hour south of modern Tucson. The mission flourished under the Jesuits, but in 1767 King Charles III of Spain evicted all Jesuits from his realms when he feared an overthrow of his rule. King Charles dispatched Franciscans to take over the New World missions. The pressure of hostile Apache Indians, disease and increasing numbers of settlers eventually lead to the abandonment of the mission by 1790. An attempt to rebuild by Fray Narcisco Gutierrez around 1800 was hampered by Mexican wars for independence and ultimately stopped when all Spanish born residents were forced to leave the country by Mexican decree.

Titan Missile Museum

One of the Titan II missile silos has been converted to a museum. We were taken through the control room and to the missile itself. Pretty amazing, but happily obsolete.

  

Pima Air Museum

This is an extensive aviation museum that covers primarily military aircraft, but it did have a Lockheed 049 Constellation in TWA livery. It is, in fact, an aircraft that my father flew while a TWA captain. While not aircraft that I actually flew, there were examples of helicopters that I have flown in my military career. I guess that means I am old enough to be in a museum myself.

The technicians at Freedom RV are making good progress in the repair of our coach. They have retracted the slide and found the source of the problem to be a pinhole leak in a metal hydraulic line buried in the inner workings of the slide mechanism. A lot of interior dis-assembly was required. They should start putting it all back together today.

Barbara has posted more pictures of these places on our gallery. 

Adventure!

Adventure. Isn’t that what you get when things do not go as planned? 

If so, then we really have adventure now. While driving to Tucson the passenger side slide started to work itself out. A slide is the portion of the coach that extends to enlarge the living area. In this case, a sofa and the kitchen started to extend. Evidently there is a hydraulic leak that reduced the pressure in the system that keeps the slide retracted. It came out at an angle and wedged itself in place. We found a service center in Tucson online and were able to make an appointment to bring it in after limping to Tucson. They hope to be able to take a look at it Monday or Tuesday, but we have no idea how long this will take to resolve. Keep you fingers crossed. We are.

Patricia and Marc are wonderful hosts and have a gorgeous home in the foothills just outside Tucson. We enjoyed a great steak dinner at El Corral and returned to catch up on family news. Edouard has left for the airport to return to Georgetown University since his spring break ends Monday. Patricia and Daphne are just starting theirs and are looking forward to a week off from school. Unfortunately, spring break does not mean that school projects are not due upon her return, so Patricia will still be working on papers and art projects during the week.

Chez Mattille a Tucson

We will keep you up to date as we figure out when we will be on the road again.

Camp Verde, AZ

T-Shirts! We are wearing T-shirts!

OK, maybe too much morning coffee, but we really like the idea of not having to wear so many layers. Last night was the first night above freezing since the 26^th of February for us. Finally the weather has warmed. We descended in elevation and moved further south yesterday which has helped.

Before moving on, let me mention the morning coffee. While at the Hubbell Trading Post north and east of Holbrook we purchased some Arbuckles coffee. Seems that when the west was won Arbuckles was THE coffee. Up until 1865 and the Arbuckle brothers, all coffee was purchased as green beans and you roasted the beans yourself. This was done on a wood stove or over a campfire in a skillet. One burned bean spoiled the whole lot. Needless to say quality was spotty on the open range. The brothers patented a method of roasting the beans with an egg and sugar glaze that allowed them to stay fresh for storage and shipping. Their coffee was packaged in one-pound packages, not unlike Starbucks today. Ever the marketers, the guys included a peppermint candy in each bag. Not unlike the prize in Cracker Jack.  On cattle drives Cookie would use a pound of coffee each morning to make a gallon of coffee for the drovers. That is a lot of grinding. Cookie would use the enticement of the candy to get volunteers to grind. Even grizzly cowhands had a sweet tooth. Arbuckles is still sold today, and still has that treat in each bag. When I get to the treat I will tell you what is was.

We are in the central area of the state referred to as the Verde Valley. Sedona is not far, as is Oak Creek Canyon. We have seen both on a previous trip, so we have not ventured that way this time. Today we visited pueblo ruins at Montezuma”s Castle and Tuzigoot. Both are National Monuments and Barbara continues to gather stamps in her National Parks Passport.

Montezuma's Castle (No he never was there)

Tuzigoot Ruins

Sinagua Indians inhabited both pueblos from about 1100 to 1400 AD. We have a tendency to think of our history in terms of the European migration to the new world, but Native American history is much richer.

We also visited the copper mining town of Jerome. 

Jerome, AZ . The mine can be seen at the right.

Much like Leadville and Cripple Creek in Colorado, Jerome has reinvented itself as an arts center and tourist destination. We had an excellent lunch at Alice’s Restaurant. If you visit Jerome give it a try. We also came across this antique movie projector from the Liberty Theater in Jerome. Those who know Barbara well will know that is Mint Chip in her right hand. Life is good!

We ended the day with coach maintenance and laundry, but made time to enjoy the fabulous Arizona sunset.

Friday we are off to sister Patricia and Marc's home in Tucson. We will be enjoying a family visit and celebrating Huguette's birthday before heading east again. We will check back in once we are on our way again.

Camp Verde, AZ

Well this should be short. We started out early for breakfast and that all important cup of coffee. (No water on board remember?) We found one of those nice local places. It was great, and even I was not able to finish it all. Can you believe eggs, charizo and hash browns actually came with two biscuits and gravy. That was the highpoint of the day.

As we pulled out of the campground to get the coach to a local service center to have the water leak fixed Barbara noticed that the large mudflap that hangs across the rear of the coach had come undone and was being dragged. I got it disconnected and stowed and off we went to the service center with one more thing on the list of repairs.

And there we sat. All afternoon. The Snap On Tool lady came by. She was nice, but a bit of a dog.

As the sun set in the west we finally were on our way to Camp Verde. We had to find our space and park in the dark, so were are not entirely sure what we will find in the morning. We have a space facing west and it should offer an unobstructed view of one of those gorgeous Arizona sunsets.

Stay tuned.

Craters and Ruins

The day got off to a great start. Coffee in bed.

It was 22 degrees outside so we were a little slow getting out. Still, we were on our way by nine and were greeted by a great view of the San Francisco Peaks.

First stop was Walnut Canyon, the historic home of the Sinagua Indians. This was a great hike and up close view of cliff dwellings inhabited around 1000 AD.

Next we were off to the east towards Winslow, AZ. Destination? Meteor Crater, the impact site of a 150' meteor that hit 50,000 years ago and left quite a hole in the ground in northern Arizona. Meteors have hit all the planets in the solar system, including Earth, and will again. Just a matter of time, so keep your eyes on the heavens.

That hole is about 700 feet deep and three quarters of a mile across...

We headed north and west back towards Flagstaff to the Wupatki ruins and Sunset Volcano. There were several ruins of pueblos built about the same time as the Sinagua structures at Walnut Canyon. The eruption of the Sunset Volcano ruined the soil in the area and the populations migrated to more fertile lands.

That was a full day, so we headed home. The park we are in is in winter mode. Management is not there, we just put our money in a slot in the office door. Water is available, but since it is so cold at night we do not keep the water line hooked up. We needed to get back to the motorhome to fill our internal water tanks and drain our gray water holding tanks. Showers would be next.

To protect our plumbing lines in the low 20 degree night temperatures I stopped at Home Depot to pick up a drop light to have in the water bay to keep the temps above freezing. While setting that up I noticed a leak in the water line at the pump. Attempts to stop the leak were not successful and the shops that would have parts were now closed, so we are without water for the night. We will try to get that sorted out in the morning and then head for Camp Verde, AZ for two nights.

Biggest impact of the water issue? No coffee in bed!!!

Flagstaff Arizona

This is our initial posting, since we are using a weather day to try our hand at a blog. We hope to share our travels as we continue to see the country in our motorhome. As I write I am looking out on a light snow fall. It is expected to be a rainy and snowy day and evening, so we are staying close to home today.

This trip began with a service stop in Gaffney, SC, at the Freightliner Custom Chassis factory. After a thorough once over we headed west stopping for the night in: Jasper, AL; Russellville, AR; Shamrock, TX; and Albuquerque, NM.

Albuquerque was the first day of sightseeing. Old Town and a fabulous lunch at the Church Street Cafe was followed by a trip to Sandia Peak and a trip to the top via cable car.

Albuquerque was followed by Holbrook, AZ, and trips to Canyon de Chelly and the Petrified Forest.

We are now in Flagstaff, AZ, and using it as a base for visits to the Grand Canyon (yesterday), Meteor Crater and other sights in this area of northern Arizona.

See the links at upper right for photos and current location.

Bill