San Antonio

Lynns last day with her great grandson.

These fish hang under an overpass on the river ride.

One of the many waterfalls on our boat ride.

The boat is entering a lock to transfer to the new section.

Lynn in front of the Alamo. Notice the other folks are in short sleeves.

Well we left Dallas yesterday morning and headed south to San Antonio, about 250 miles. We are in the Stone Creek RV park. This is another full hookup, half price campground with Passport America that has a pool and hot tub. It was a nice day for a drive, I did have to stop and repair the right out side mirror that came loose and was useless. I wanted to stop and show Lynn downtown San Antonio. I visited here about twenty years ago and enjoyed the River Walk and seeing the Alamo. We took a boat ride down the river and had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe along the river. It was a beautiful day and reached about 75 degrees. They have expanded the river walk since I was here last and it runs for about eight miles now through downtown. We expect to arrive in Mission TX tomorrow and spend the winter with my Dad, he is excited we are coming. We will miss the adventure of traveling in the motor home and being able to change our scenery whenever we choose. The RV lifestyle is not for everyone but we sure have enjoyed it for the past five months. We will return to Michigan in late April and take a couple weeks to drive home, camping in the Smoky Mountains. This will be my last blog until April so check back in the spring. I hope you have enjoyed reading about our adventure.

Trip Downtown

The last couple days we have been site seeing the big town of Dallas. We went and seen a beautiful Bronze sculpture of wild Mustangs that are larger than life size and are remarkable in detail. We also went to the spot John F. Kennedy was shot. They have built a memorial and put a museum of the assassination on the sixth floor of the book depository where Oswald supposedly shot the President. Their are allot of people who believe their were two shooters, one in the building and the other on the grassy knoll. Ashley's husbands grandfather was the lead investigator for the Dallas police department and he believes their was a man dressed as a police officer behind the wall on the grassy knoll.

Mustangs running across the river

There are fountains under their hooves

This picture gives an idea of their size.

Book depository where Oswald was hiding.

The old county building.

The grassy knoll.

There are allot of sky scrapers downtown.

This is the first cabin built in Dallas.

His first Santa picture.

OK we are having fun now.

We walked down to Ne mas Marcus so Ian could see Santa and their was quite a lineup to see him. The store was decorated beautifully for Christmas . After our site seeing we returned to Ashley's and Lynn and Ashley made us a delicious pork loin dinner. The weather was great today with full sunshine and 63 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice again. I don't think I mentioned gasoline here is $2.98. Here are a few pictures.

Dallas Visit

We arrived in Dallas yesterday about noon. The drive was pretty good except for some wind. When we entered Fort Worth I knew why I moved to Traverse City. We drove right through the middle of Dallas Fort Worth OMG the traffic was something I am not used to. It was raining and very difficult to see so it was a difficult drive. It took hours to drive through these cities. We are staying at the Corp of Engineers camp ground on Lake Lavone. It is beautiful here and cost $9 with full hookup with the old geezer card. We are about fifteen miles from our grand daughters apartment. Miles don't really count, it took us an hour to get there yesterday. We will find an easier way today. Lynn was all excited to see her grand daughter and great grandson and just could not wait to get here. We will be here a week and then head for San Antonio before going to Mission TX for the winter. Here are a few pictures.

I have been hauling this chair since August. I think he likes it.

Learning to read.

Grandma's happy now.

I think he likes me too.

Carlsbad Caverns

Friday we just hung around the campground and visited with our neighbors. Saturday Lynn went shopping with six ladies from the park. They went to a craft show at a school and some local shops then stopped for lunch. Lynn said she had a lot of fun. I fixed a shower door for the lady next door and helped another friend install a new counter top in his Casi ta. Today we went to Carlsbad Caverns and walked through the caves. it was cold this morning and very fogy driving up the mountain to the park. The fog was freezing on the plants when we got to the top. The caverns run for a hundred miles under New Mexico and have not all been explored yet. The old geezer pass covered the entrance fee of $20 each, boy that thing has really paid for it's self. We took the elevator down 750 feet to the cave and hiked for two hours through the Big Room. All I can say is WOW this place is awesome. It reminds me of walking up to the edge of the Grand Canyon for the first time, it just takes your breath away. The pictures do not do it justice, it is too dark for the camera to see very far. If you are ever in this area this is a must see. It is spectacular. We will be heading for Dallas Tuesday and the weather looks good. Stay safe and warm.

A frosty morning.

Ice from the fog on the cactus.

Does Lynn look cold?

Entrance to the Big Room

Click on the picture and read the sign.

These are the remains of the fire

Everything was burnt for miles/

Caves are cool.

The Ranch

OK I spoke to soon Tuesday night the water line broke from freezing. I could not find parts until today so we have been without pressure water. Everything has been fixed and we had hot showers tonight. The waste holding tanks also froze and they have thawed out also. This information is to have you learn by my mistakes. When we were up in Ruidoso and it got down to five below zero our campsite included electric so we ran our electric space heater to save on propane, bad idea. The furnace is ducted to the water lines and holding tank areas to keep them from freezing, as long as you use your furnace everything works. Live and learn.
The boys here at the Ranch go out for breakfast on Thursdays without the ladies. They took me to the Paddock restaurant, a paddock is the working platform of an oil rig and we are right in the middle of the oil fields. The menu had items like the roustabout special, and the roughneck burrito. There were a lot of big guy's in there.

Our campsite at The Ranch.

This is the Ranch House.

Lynns new friend. Cute

The entrance to The Ranch

Shucks no rope.

This is a two holer Jail.

We are planning a trip to Carlsbad Caverns on Saturday so look for pictures later this week. I have attached a couple pictures of the Ranch and our campsite. See Ya stay safe.

Lakewood NM

This morning we woke up to five degrees below zero and frozen water lines. I worked for about three hours getting them thawed. Luckily nothing broke and we have water again. After that we went to Denny,s for breakfast. Just as we finished they had a pipe burst in the ceiling that started pouring water all over the kitchen. We left Ruidoso about one pm and headed down the mountain toward the desert. The roads were pretty good except for a couple of shady spots that were icy. We are at an Escapee park in Lakewood NM for the next week. The forecast is for mid fifties tomorrow and sunny all week. The motor home and car need a wash job bad after driving on the slushy roads, so I am glad to see it will warm up. They have a special for first time visitors, $50 a week for full hookup, wow you can't beat $7 a day for a great site. The folks here are very friendly and they have a nice club house with happy hour every day at four. We are close to Carlsbad Caverns and plan to visit the caves this week. Stay safe and thankful for the ones you love.

Cold and Snowy

I finally got my mail, but the roads are so bad we cannot leave. The weatherman says it will snow all night and the temperature has dropped to six degrees. We are running our electric heater and the propane furnace trying to stay warm. I am hoping by tomorrow afternoon we will be able to head south. Hoping to see warmer weather soon. Safe travels.

Snow Snow Snow

Well, are mail is at the post office but we have no way to get it until Monday morning so we will hang out in the Walmart parking lot for the weekend. Thursday was very windy and we had snow on Friday so it would have been tough traveling either day. We had to wait for the sand truck to come by so we could get the motor home off the mountain. Today Saturday we woke up to five inches of fresh snow. The weekend is suppose to be cold and snowy so I hope the propane holds out. We would much rather be down in the desert were it is 60 degrees today but, what can you do? As soon as the condo manager picks up the mail Monday morning and the roads are OK we will head for the desert. Our next stop will be very close to the Carlsbad Caverns NP so we are planning a trip to tour the caves. We are planning to go out to dinner tonight at the Cattleman's Restaurant here in town. The restaurant has been in business in Ruidoso for forty years and is famous for its steaks. Here are a couple of pictures of the snow just in case you forgot what it looks like. Stay safe

Roswell NM Visit

Yesterday we stayed in town and hit all the second hand stores in town, whoopy. I did find a very nice wooden pipe stand. Lynn did not find much but she did come home and collected pine needles for her new basket making hobby.
Today we went to Roswell NM to check out the UFO Museum. It was very interesting to say the least. In July of 1947 the year I was born a UFO crashed near Roswell and the Military picked up the remains and brought them to the base near by. This is a museum and UFO research center. Anything you want to know about UFOs they have here, sightings from around the world, crop circles, UFO abductions and Alain implants into humans. I took allot of pictures and have attached a few.

You can decide for yourself.
Click pictures to enlarge.

There are allot of top secret documents.

I don't need to see these guy's in person.

They claim to have found three Alian bodies and one Alian survivor.

The weather is taking a turn for the worst. Tomorrow is going to have 70 mph wind gust and cold. I was planning to leave tomorrow because Friday they are predicting a snow storm up here in the mountains. I don't know decisions, decisions I guess I will wait and see. We were planning to leave the condo Friday and head south into the desert. I will let you know if I have to by a snow shovel.

Trip to Alamogordo

Yesterday, Sunday we went for a ride to the Smokey the Bear  Museum. It was fun to see all the Smokey memorabilia, like lunch boxes, hats and dolls ect. I must be getting old I remembered most of it. Smokey was a real bear that they found clinging to a tree as a cub in a forest fire. He was burned so they brought him to a vet and fixed him up. After he was healed they moved him to Washington DC and put him in the zoo. From that time forward he was the mascot for preventing forest fires. Smokey lived for 26 years. After his death they brought him back to the forest were he was rescued and buried him in a park.
On the way back to town we spotted a Chevron gas station we were told about in our meet and greet at the condo. A little old mexican lady makes freash Green Chili egg and cheese Burritos and sells them at the station, boy were they good.
Last night after dinner we went to the pool and soaked in the hot tub and took a swim. We had the whole pool to our self.
Today we went on a scenic drive over to Cloudcroft, it sits high in the mountains and there is snow up there, (sorry for the dirty four letter word). This town is still back in the last century, with wooden sidewalks and very old buildings. We walked through town and did some shopping.

Smokey's Park

Smokey's burial site.

Some of Lynns friends.

A tunnel through the mountain.

A view of White Sands Missle site from the top of the mountain.

Now this is a big Pistachio.

From Cloudcroft we went down the other side of the mountain to Alamogordo. We went to see a movie at the dome roof IMAX theater. They were showng Everest and wow was it fabulous. The movie takes you on a climbing expedition up the mountain, we jumped out of our seats more than once. On our way home we spotted a Pistachio farm and decided to stop. They have a dozen flavored Pistachios brittle, cracked pepper, cinnamon, lime and many more. Believe it or not they even made Pistachio wine. We tried the wine and liked it so we bought a bottle and a bag of salted Pistachio nuts.

Ruidoso NM

Well we had a nice ride over o Ruidoso. The Condo is very nice it has two bedrooms and three baths and is a town house style. The bedrooms are down stairs and the living area is upstairs. We have come from an altitude of about 4000 feet to 7300 here at the Condo. We had to clear our ears a couple times coming up the mountain. The Condo is sitting on the side of Camelot Mountain and overlooks the town and the surrounding mountain peaks. The tall mountain to the south is snow covered and has a Ski Resort up on top that opened on Thanksgiving day.  Ski Apache peak is at 11,500 feet. they have a big tubing operation up at the ski resort that is very popular here. We have decided if we are going to go sledding we will go to White Sand Dunes and sled on the sand where it is warmer. The Condo will furnish us with sleds if we want to go. Saturday morning there was a meet and greet with coffee and rolls to give us new comers information on what to see and do in the area, wow their is allot to do. They gave us a list of 93 hiking trails with maps. Their is a hike to some Petroglyphs that we are going to try today, they say their were 24,000 Petroglyphs on this trail. Billy the Kid is from a town nearby and they have a museum. Their is a Space Museum in White Sands down the road. Smokey the Bear historical park is just out of town, that is where Smokey is buried. Spencer Theater is a world renown theater ranked sixth in the world for it's architecture. The sound proof doors weigh 2 1/2 tons and the theater will seat 550 people. The list goes on and on and we will never see it all in a week.

The Mountain pictures were taken from the balcony of our Condo.

This the vally looking North.

This is the town of Ruidoso looking South.



The living room in the Condo. It has a little more room than the motorhome.

This is the first deer we seen and Lynn thought it was a statue.

Their were about four bucks in this bunch.

These deer have no fear of people.

During our meet and greet they told us their was a family of a mother and two black bear cubs living under one of the condos. I guess mom comes out and throws trash out of the dumpster for the cubs. They also said their was a family of mountain lions near by with young and to keep an eye open. We took a drive up the mountain yesterday and seen a group of about ten Mule Deer that were not afraid of people. Here are a few pictures.