Valparaiso, IN to Home!

Sunday March 31st

Got the trailer ready to roll; pumped up the leaky tire.  Then headed to Jim and Michelle's house for their annual Easter Feast.  We stayed until about 2:30; when I realized what time it was I hustled Cathey out just as the Easter Egg Hunt was commencing.  We got the truck gassed up, got the trailer hitched and then hit the road. 

Traffic around Chicago was not bad but had a hard time finding trailer parking at the Oasis on the tollway.  Got home about 9pm.  End of this year's trip!!!!

Casey, IL to Valparaiso, IN

Wednesday March 27th

Today was the day to get the trailer re-winterized, since we will be staying in a Motel in Valparaiso for the next several nights.  Winterizing didn't take long but getting everything packed in suitcases for the motel stay seemed to take all morning.  We finally gat on the road about noon and then stopped when we got to Terre Haute for lunch.  

There is a state highway, IN-63, that goes N and eventually joins US-41.  It was 4 lane all the way and turned out to be a pretty good choice.  When we got far enough N, we made the short jaunt over to I-65 and then exited on IN-2, which is the back door into Valparaiso.  Arrived about 6pm.

West Memphis to Casey, IL

Tuesday March 26th

We found out yesterday that Eve has her spring break this week, so now we are in a hurry to get to Chesterton, IN, to spend some time with her while she is not in school.  Got a fairly early start today and made a gas stop just outside the KOA (in Arkansas).  Gas was only $3.29/gal - cheapest since last December.  

The whole trip through AR and MO today was all pretty flat.  A lot of the fields still have cotton stalks with a little fluff still hanging on - the only way that I would know it was cotton.  We only traveled N as far as Sikeston, MO where I-55 junctions with I-57, where we headed E to cross the Mississippi River and then headed NE toward Effingham, IL.  

Cathey is not looking forward to another night in the trailer because we know it will be colder than it was last night and that seemed pretty chilly.  I had to stop in Effingham to get more RV anti-freeze, since tonight will be the last night in the trailer.  We will stay in a motel while we are at Jim and Michelle's.  

I had planned to stay at an RV Park near Effingham and then continue up I-57 but we couldn't get hold of either of the campgrounds near Effingham so Cathey found one E of Effingham on I-70.  It was a KOA and they were open but did not have their water turned on yet.  That's not a problem for us since we travel with our fresh water tank full.  We will have to change our route though.

The KOA was about 20 miles E of Effingham, near Casey, IL.  They still had a lot of snow and ice on the ground there.

Texarkana to West Memphis

Monday March 25th

Got on the road by 10:00 and made it to Little Rock by about noon.  Stopped and had lunch just E of Little Rock at a truck stop.  Arkansas is pretty flat and swampy, a lot like Louisiana, just less interesting.  We got to West Memphis about 5:30 and the temperature was only 41 and it felt colder.  

Off Day

Sunday March 24th

The wind was gusting to 30mph today and more to the E, so we decided to stay in Texarkana and wait  for a better day.  It rained a little last night and was overcast most of the day today.  We slept in and debated if we needed to unhook the trailer to go anywhere; cabin fever was the deciding factor and we unhooked the Suburban and went out to explore both Texarkana's; there is one on each side of the state line.  Not much to see and it didn't take long.  Ended up at an Olive Garden for an early supper; then back to the trailer.

Denton to Texarkana

Saturday March 23rd

We had planned to leave and head north to Oklahoma City or Tulsa today, but the weather forecast for Tulsa was rain and sleet overnight; I wasn't ready for that!  We decided to head East and go through Arkansas.  Rather than go into Dallas to hit I-30, we went N to US-380 which took us E and eventually joined with I-30.  

We got a late start so we only made it as far as Texarkana, on the border of TX and AR.

Lunch was an interesting stop today.  We were in Greenville, TX and had not a restaurant in sight so we saw a Mexican supermarket that said Taqueria, and we thought we could at least get some tacos.  

The only thing we recognized was chicken and vegetables.  The soup of the day was Menudo, but I wasn't ready for that.  The lady behind the counter had to call someone over to interpret for us; she couldn't speak English.  The lunch was pretty good and later we bought some bakery stuff, also good and probably with less sugar than a regular bakery.

BBQ Lunch With the Reeves'

Friday March 22nd

Got up late and sat for awhile before attempting to shower, but I think the sleeping bag experiment did some good.

Dan and Patricia came over about noon and we visited for awhile and then went to the Spring Creek BBQ in Lewisville.  Texas BBQ is great stuff and this one is one of the better ones we have ever eaten at.  After lunch we went to the nearest Starbucks and I found the mug I was looking for, but the lady at the Starbucks told me that there is also a "Fort Worth" mug.  We drove quite a ways towards Fort Worth and stopped at a couple of Starbuck's stores but didn't find any of the mugs.  Cathey did find a shoe store that she wanted to visit and actually found a pair of shoes that she was looking for.  

For supper we stopped at a Chili's and just had a bowl of chili.  Filled the Suburban up with gas before we came home so that we would be ready to go in the morning.  Gas here is in the $3.60 to $3.70/gal range.

Breakfast With Dan

Thursday March 21st

Dan and I met at an IHOP about a mile from the RV Park about 9:30.  We spent about an hour and a half over breakfast talking over Point Beach stuff and then adjourned to the Suburban and talked for another hour.  Dan said he would call if Patricia got home early enough to go out for supper, but as it turned out she was pretty late and we arranged to meet for lunch tomorrow instead.  

I drove to a couple of Starbuck's stores looking for a "Texas" mug but all of them were out of them or didn't handle them.  Actually here, they are Dallas mugs, rather than Texas mugs.  Then I found a Penney's and bought a couple of short sleeved shirts that I probably won't get to wear until June or July.  

For supper we went to the nearest Albertson's and just got a rotisserie chicken and had that with salad.

I decided to give up sleeping in the trailer bed.  Every morning my hip hurts worse so I will try sleeping on the heavy mattress pad stuffed inside a sleeping bag and laid on the floor.  

Abilene, TX to Lewisville, TX

Wednesday March 20th

We never unhooked the trailer the last two nights so that makes it easier to get going in the morning but that means we are restricted to eating what we have in the refrigerator or leftovers from lunch.  We stopped for lunch at a Dairy Queen about half way to Fort Worth.  Dairy Queens are big in Texas and there aren't many towns without one.  I studied the atlas book for details on how to get from the out skirts of Fort Worth to Lewisville area.  The way Dan told me to go when we left there last year was to use the loop road around Fort Worth and then take I-35W to the junction with I-35E and then south to the RV Park in Denton where we stayed last time we were here.  We made it without any major traffic tie-ups although we saw a lot of backed up traffic N of Fort Worth where they are widening the road.  We called Dan and Patricia at about 6pm when we were setup but we weren't up for doing anything tonight.  Patricia was going to her daughter's house tomorrow, so Dan and I made a date for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Clovis, NM to Abilene, TX

Tuesday March 19th

Got on the road by 11.  The leaky tire was still at 75 psi, so I didn't fill it until we stopped for gas after we had got on I-20 near Abilene.  I was amazed at all the agriculture in this part of Texas.  Lots of pivot irrigation systems growing cotton and other crops.  Lots of grain elevators along the RR tracks so they must grow some corn or wheat as well.  Also many large dairy operations with thousands of cows - so some of those irrigated crops must be alfalfa.  At some point around Lubbock you come off the plateau and drop into the "cap rock" country.  There are fewer crops here and most of the land is just grazing land with a lot of ups and downs.  This is also where the oil wells became more dense and there are a lot of oil service companies but nothing like it is around Midland and Odessa.

We made it to Abilene about 7 and stayed at the same RV Park that we stayed at last year on our way out west.  The lady that runs the office has a little bakery where she sells home made bread and other bakery products.  She starts by grinding the wheat berries to make her own flour and uses honey in the recipe to make yummy bread.  She only had one frozen loaf, but I bought it and ate a slice when it thawed, about bedtime.

Bernalillo to Clovis, NM

Monday March 18th

Leaving today was questionable because the original forecast was for wind gusts to 30mph.  So I looked at several weather forecasts between Albuquerque and Amarillo but the forecast looked better today with gusts no greater than 20mph.  So we got going about noon.  First stop was a service station with a compressor but the tire was only about 5psi down from where it should be so I don't feel any great urgency about getting it fixed.  I didn't want to get off the freeway in the city of Albuquerque to look for a tire store.  Instead of following I-40 to Amarillo, we decided to take US-84 S and SE to Clovis, then Lubbock, and then Abilene, which will put us on I-20 pointed toward Dallas.  Next stop will be to visit Dan and Patricia Reeves in Lewisville, TX on the N side of Dallas.  

I was surprised that the altitude for much of the way from Albuquerque to Clovis was over 6000 feet.  Most of the country in that area is grazing land with a little more grass than they have in the desert between Las Cruces and Albuquerque.  As you approach Clovis you start to see pivot irrigation systems where crops are grown - mostly cotton.

We found an RV park - one of the few that were not next to a busy highway or railroad.  The place was being converted from a mobile home park to an RV park so half of it was dug up where they were installing new water lines and upgrading the electrical facilities.

Quiet Sunday

Sunday March 17th

Very windy today and not very warm (60's).  Cathey did laundry and I did some cleaning in the trailer and got caught up on some record keeping.

Trip to Tijerus Canyon and Sandia Peak

Saturday March 16th

I went looking for a grocery store nearby but my GPS led me about ten miles away to an Albertson's.  I got what I needed but later in the day I found the Albertson's that I was looking for about 3 miles away, apparently that one is too new for the GPS.  Around noon we went out to lunch at the Range Cafe in Bernalillo.  The Range Cafe is one of our favorites in this area.  It's mostly Mexeican food but they have their own touches like whole pinto beans instead of refried beans.

Later Cathey had a few places to go, one was a tile store and the other was a mall.  The mall was half torn down and the JC Penney that she was looking for was no longer there.  Then we drove over to Tijerus Canyon where she lived back in the 70's.  We drove up the back side of the Sandia peaks to about 10,000 ft altitude, then on the way down we located the back road that would take us to Bernalillo.   We followed it for a mile or two but it was pretty muddy and had snow in places so we retreated and came down the same way that we went up.  

Las Cruces to Bernalillo, NM

Friday March 15th

Adios to Las Cruces; on to Albuquerque area.  Las Cruces to Albuquerque is a straight shot up I-25.  We stopped at a rest area about noon and I noticed that one of my NEW tires was low.  I checked it and it only had about 35psi as opposed to 80 psi in the others.  I have a 12v Compressor for such an event but the 12v cord is not long enough for the 3ft hose to reach the tire while the truck is hooked to the trailer hitch.  That meant unhooking the trailer and backing up the truck to the tire and then adding air.  Must have picked up a nail or something in that tire.  While the 12v compressor was huffing and puffing I walked over to a monument commemorating the El Camino Real, that was the road form Santa Fe to Mexico City when New Mexico was still part of Mexico.  It took that 12v pump about 30 minutes to get the pressure up to 80 psi, but it did it, and once we were hooked up again we were on our way.  The leak appears to be pretty slow since the next day it was still between 75 and 80 psi.

We got to Albuquerque about rush hour but traffic was moving pretty well and we got to Bernalillo (on the N side) about 6pm.

Day Trip to Silver City Area

Thursday March 14th

We planned a day-trip to Silver City today.  That meant an early start (for us); we were on the road before 9.  Stopped at the Denny's in Deming for breakfast and then drove the remaining 50 miles to Silver City.  Silver City is an old mining town and the county seat of Grant county.  The altitude in Silver City is over 6000 ft. so the temps here don't stay as warm as in Las Cruces, although it was warm enough today.  We looked over the town and then drove up NM-15 north into the Gila National Forest.  The only town on this road is Pinos Altos; which is mostly a ghost town, although there is some population there, probably supported by the tourist industry in the summer.  There are many Forest Service Campgrounds and hiking trails along NM-15, and I imagine that it has lots of visitors in the summer.  

We drove N as far as the junction with NM-35.  NM-35 gradually turns S and eventually connects with the highway that goes into Silver City.  The NM-35 section of the trip was perhaps not as scenic but the road was much straighter and more level.  Before heading back to Deming, we stopped at a roadside viewing area at the Chino open pit mine near Hannover.   The Chino mine is the longest continuously operating mine in the US; since 1799.  The typical ore at this mine is only .6% copper.  They grind the ore into small particles and use acid to leach out the copper.  Then they use an electroplate method to extract the copper from the acid solution.  It's common to see flatbed trucks with bundles of copper plates, on the roads in AZ and NM.  

Trip to Hatch

Wednesday March 13th

We decided to drive up to Hatch today.  Hatch claims to be the chile capitol of the world.  We have a favorite restaurant there called the Pepper Pot; it's a breakfast and lunch place so we were lucky to get there before they closed for the day.  Had an excellent lunch and then shopped a little at the chile market across the street and bought a small bag of green chile powder.  The ride to Hatch follows the Rio Grande, but there is nothing too Grande about it now, there is no water flowing and only a puddle here and there.  I don't know if it's that dry here or if all the water is pulled off for irrigation up stream.  I think there was water in it last time we were here.  I imagine there will be more water when the snow in Colorado starts to melt.

Familiar Places in One of My Favorite Towns

Tuesday March 12th

Made a trip to my favorite TSC store to get some quick connect hose fittings.  I bought some there last year and really liked them.  Checked in with Cathey but she wasn't up for going anywhere; I went to the Barnes & Noble store on the NMSU campus.  Looked at a lot of books but only bought one about the old west.  

We went out for supper to a Mexican restaurant named Los Mariachis, they were slow (or I was hungry) but the food was very good.  I have never had a bad meal in a restaurant in the Las Cruces area.

Pearce, AZ to Las Cruces, NM

Monday March 11th

I was up and showered in time for breakfast with Wehrli's and a fine breakfast it was too; eggs, bacon, sausage, toast, OJ, and coffee.  Visited for awhile and then went out to get the trailer ready for the road.  We had some old carrots in the fridge in the trailer that we tried to feed to the horses and Henry but only one of the horses was interested; Henry was being shy of us strangers and wouldn't even come over to see us.  

We got on the road about noon and then stopped in Wilcox for lunch and gasoline.  Then onto New Mexico.  Because of the daylight saving time change over the weekend we lost an hour when we crossed the state line.  Arizona keeps Mountain Standard Time all year, which means they are the same as California in the summer and the same as New Mexico in the winter.  There is not much between the Arizona state line and Las Cruces; Lordsburg is pretty small and Deming is a flat uninviting place, which despite its flatness seems to be growing.  

Got to Las Cruces shortly before 6pm and got setup before dark.  The temps were in the low 70's and it was very pleasant outdoors.

Agenda: Lunch and Dinner

Sunday March 10th

Awakened this morning to the sound of Henry's braying and the sounds of feeding time at the Wehrli Ranchito.  I was up in time for breakfast with Wehrli's but couldn't get myself in the shower quick enough, and missed the meal.  Later went over to the house and had coffee and watched some of the CBS Sunday Morning show with them.  Then we laid out the plan for the day:  Lunch at TJ's in Pearce and supper at the Triangle T Ranch near Dragoon, AZ.    

We went to TJ's shortly before noon and just had hamburgers; TJ's is just a bar and grill, although they do have menu specials on week-days.

Afternoon we had nap time, most of which I used for looking at the mail that we had forwarded to Wehrli's.  Evening feeding time was a little early so we could head out for supper.  Liz drove because Larry was having an episode of low blood sugar.  He was recently diagnosed with diabetes and is still trying to adjust his medications and eating habits to the new reality.  

The Triangle T Ranch is a local institution that was the scene of several movies and a place frequented by movie stars of the past.  Currently it has a bar and restaurant, RV Park, rental cabins and facilities for horseback riders.  The bar/restaurant has the swinging doors of the old west - and Larry says they never use the large doors to close off the restaurant to the outdoors while the place is open for business.  The most unique feature of the bar was a giant boulder sticking up out of the ground behind the bar; the back bar is built around it.  We had a very nice dinner (chicken entree for me) and then back to the ranchito.  

Tucson to Pearce, AZ

Saturday March 9th

The sun was back this morning, but there is still a lot of clouds passing by which makes for a great light show on the mountains.  

I went to the grocery store for a few things and got the Suburban filled up; gas in this area is around $3.50/gal.  Then back to the never-ending job of getting everything stowed and secured for the next leg of the journey.  We got on the road a few minutes before noon.  

The next stop is Larry & Liz's Ranchito near Pearce, AZ, which is less than a hundred miles from Tucson and about 25 miles S of Wilcox, AZ.  Their menagerie is down one since they lost Larry's roping horse in the past year; he was over 30 years old.  But they still have two horses and Henry the donkey, and LJ the cat, and Mad Max and Emma, the two standard poodles.  Liz is retired now so they have a little more freedom than they have had up until now.  They have a trailer hookup near the barn because they used to come and stay there in their travel trailer before they built the house. We visited for awhile and then setup the trailer.  They had a dutch oven cooking outside with pork ribs, then when the ribs were ready Liz made some cornbread which went into another dutch oven.  It was a great meal topped off with some cabernet  from a friend of Larry's who retired to the Napa valley and started his own winery.