RIVERS AND DESERTS AND SCULPTURES, OH MY!

Flowers in Anza-Borrego

We left Phoenix for the banks of the Colorado River at Blythe California!  The campsite was right on the water and it was delightful.  Across the river was another time zone, and a few miles back was Quartzsite, AZ.  It was an easy drive and as we passed by Quartzsite, we knew we would be back.  But first, Dave pulled through and got me a site with actual TV for the last night of Downton Abbey.  I got a bottle of wine, and my fill of Ladies Mary and Edith, and watched the wrap up on the whole Upstairs, Downstairs characters. 

On Monday, we decided to check out all of the “exciting” pins Roadside America had put in Quartzsite.  Before the Civil War, Jefferson Davis had the idea to transport people and goods through the desert with camels. He imported 70 of them and a Syrian caretaker named Hadji Ali.  No one could pronounce his name, so he became “Hi Jolly.”  Hi Jolly had a tough time recruiting “camel wranglers” because the animals smelled and were so mean.  After the Civil War broke out and Jefferson Davis directed his energy elsewhere, the experiment died.  The camels were turned loose in the desert; the last one (or its descendent) was sighted in 1942 (almost 100 years!).  While Hi Jolly’s  camels were not popular, however he was, so he stayed in Quartzsite.  His tomb is a national landmark.  The townsfolk, to honor him built a pyramid with a camel on top over his grave.  It is the historical highlight of the town. 

Quartzsite’s other claims to fame are its rocks, and rock shops, along with a huge flea market.  Dave  priced some petrified wood but decided to wait until we go through the Petrified Forest on the return trip.  The flea market was the junkiest of junk!   We landed a few bargains, the best of which was an electric heater for the RV for $5.  Of course it broke almost immediately, but came back to life with Dave’s magical lubrication (the desert is tough on moving parts).  After thinking about it for a while, I realized that poor towns like Quartzsite and the general countryside looks so junky because, #1 folks are fairly poor, and with nothing but desert, there are no landfills for junk.  Everything just hangs around folks’ yards:  old cars, bikes, broken tools, etc.  I guess there is no “large item pick up” in the desert.

Tuesday, it was a quick drive to Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.  Just driving in, we knew we were not going to be disappointed by the desert bloom.  The desert has a very green glow to it, and the flowers and plants are amazing.  Our campsite was nice, if shade-free.  After settling in, we followed the ranger’s directions to 2 flower fields.  We had met a couple on the Colorado River who had come from there, and they said, “You’ll take more pictures than you can imagine.”  And they were definitely right.  My favorites are the huge (10-15 ft.) ocotillos.  They look like green and orange fountains.  But the cacti and wild flowers just carpet the ground.  There were places that looked almost manicured, and out-shown the Botanical Garden in Phoenix by far.   Tuesday night we hiked into the slot canyon, but did not go all the way through, because we were near sunset.  This is NOT a place you want to be in the dark.  It intrigued us enough though that we decided to repeat the hike plus more the next day.

Wednesday, we made the rounds of Galleta Meadow home of the sculptures of Ricardo Breceda.  He has created HUGE rusty metal sculptures of camels, mammoths, a HUGE  Chinese dragon, dinosaurs, farm workers, even a jeep!  To see them you must follow a trail for 10 or more miles.  Abbella had a great time posing on many of the sculptures and the detail and work was amazing. 

After getting our “art fix”, we revisited the slot canyon.  This time, taking our time and going all the way through and then climbing partially up the canyon walls.  At one point the floor of the canyon was littered with caterpillars.  They would literally “rain” down from the canyon walls and then try to climb back up.  The slot was so narrow in parts, that you had to walk side-ways, and then it would open up with a natural arch.   After buying very expensive groceries in town, we built a fire and enjoyed the company of 2 couples from South Dakota.  We shared traveling and retirement stories.

Thursday we got up early to hike the Palm Canyon Oasis.  Dave had gone part of the way on Wednesday, while  I was in town and knew that it would be completed best by starting early in the morning.  We started out at 7 and didn’t get back until 11!  Granted we went slowly and took waaaaay to many pictures.  The hike consisted of a “gently climbing trail” to a palm grove oasis tucked in the “fold” of 2 mountains.  The trail was not especially steep but was extremely rocky.  The fan palm grove at the head of the spring-fed creek is truly amazing.  It forms a “cathedral” and you feel like you are tucked away in a jungle.  The heat truly got to us on the way down especially after Deb took a shortcut off the alternative trail that added half an hour of hiking!  It took us most of the afternoon to recover.

Big Horned Sheep on the way to the Palm Oasis

Abbella in the Palm Oasis

We have 3 season days:  we snuggle under blankets and sometimes run the heater overnight or in the morning, and run the AC during the day.  By 4 pm, the sun has sunk behind the mountain and it is pleasant outside especially after David builds a fire.

As I write this Dave is working on his segway….again!  First it had a flat tire and we had to go to a segway tour dealer and bike shop in Phoenix to get it fixed.  Then he got the dreaded red wrench, which means a major failure.  He has determined that it is not the electronics or “motherboard” which he had repaired just under a year ago.  But one of the batteries has failed.  This has been almost, but not quite as convoluted as the trials of Bert and Bessie last trip.  Which to catch you up, Bert’s AC still seems to have a mind of its own.  This stop has been the first that we’ve needed it, and it has “mostly” worked.  Dave plans to try a few more “fixes” when he gets a chance and I just heard him order a new battery and ask that it be delivered to our next stop.  God Bless the Internet!!  

After supper we shared our fire with Debbie and Jerry from California via St. Louis and Atlanta.  They are newbie RV'ers and we had a good time sharing our "expertise".  LOL  We realized that we are pretty seasoned having done the grand circle 4 times!!

Tomorrow (Friday) we leave for Lake Elsinore, where we will be based for the whale festival and whale watch at Dana Point.  We’ve begun discussing what we do after that.  So far we have no firm plans.  Check back and see!!

BERT AND BESSIE: TOGETHER AGAIN!

After an easy 2 hr. drive from Truth or Consequences to our RV Storage unit, we held our breath as we cranked Bessie for the first time.  She caught on the 2^nd try and just about everything is working great.  Dave needed to fix a leak in the kitchen faucet and the rest of the repairs; he pronounced “maintenance” so we were off.  Of course once he said that, Deb started planning our social agenda and Dave began to sulk, “When will I ever get to work on the RV!”  LOL

A Bunny at our first campsite - you don't get this at the Holiday Inn!!

One thing we didn’t plan on was Spring Training for the various baseball teams in town.  This made RV spaces scarce.  We were able to stop and restock at the KOA we used on our outward bound trip, but for only one night.  It was so different from when we were there before.  Last fall we were on of 2 or 3 RV’s in the whole park.  This time they were full to capacity.  We watched the sunset with a couple from British Columbia who had a big rig plus 2 Harleys.  They were fun, and we exchanged road stories, but I didn’t want Dave getting any motorcycle ideas!!

Deb’s social planning took a little tweaking on logistics from Dave, as I hadn’t factored in having to move campsites.  But Dave and Google Maps took it in stride.  Friday morning we went out to the Desert Botanical Garden near Tempe for a crash course in desert flora.  I don’t think the wild flowers in the “real” desert in California will be quite as manicured or compact.  But we did learn a good bit.  Unfortunately, when I was getting out my notebook to take some notes, Ellabbie  jumped out and decided she wanted to live among the cati, hummingbirds, and wildflowers.  We checked at lost and found, and left our name and address, but we are not hopeful that she will be returned and hope she enjoys the garden.

After switching campsites over lunch, we headed out past Scottsdale, to Taliesen West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter camp and architecture school.  We had done this tour before (we think about 10 years ago) but they had changed it some, and our memories were pleasant but short on details, so it was almost all new to us. 

We drove into Scottsdale, but many of the galleries closed at 5:30, just as we were arriving.  Our favorite gallery’s sign said they were open til 9 pm, but they were not.  At least we didn’t have to lie and become “Glenn and Pat” or “Mike and Diane” (we had plotted both!) so that they couldn’t look up our past history and do a hard sell on us like they did the last time.  I sure wanted to know if they still had the Miro’s though.  Guess that’s another place we’ll just have to come back to!  We did pick up a new doll  and named her Abbella.

Wright missed his icicles from Wisconsin, so he made some wooden ones!

Saturday morning, Dave had finally got up with a Segway dealer and he ventured back to Scottsdale to get his flat tire fixed.  He did not have the proper tools, or a tube to fix it himself and you just don’t stop at any tire store and buy a tube to fit the tires.  We were really glad we were able to get this chore done, because segway dealers just don’t have shops in the little towns we will be in for the next few weeks!

When he returned we drove up to Sedona.  We never made it to the main galleries “down the hill” as we found 3 pieces before we got there.  One piece will go in the kitchen for sure, and we aren’t sure whether the fused glass and glass and iron pedestal will go upstairs or down.  There are possibilities everywhere and that will be the fun part!

Abbella on our art pedastal

Tomorrow we hope to get half way to the Mojave Desert.  We booked 2 nights on a lake eastern California.  

THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES

Our backyard in Truth or Consequences

Truth or Consequences was originally named Hot Springs, but “won” a contest to be renamed Truth or Consequences for the 10^th anniversary of the game show.  As a result Bob Edwards came to T or C every year for 50 years (1950-2000) to lead their Fiesta Days Parade and celebration.  There is a room to him in the local museum.  The hot springs still drives what economy there is and spas and wellness facilities abound. 

Recently they are reaping the consequences of New Mexico and Sierra County building the Spaceport outside of town, (waaaaay outside on multiple dirt roads in the desert!).  They were poised for a boom, and then SpaceX had a launch fail and Virgin Galactic crashed a space plane.  Activity at the Spaceport has dwindled to a few “ACME” companies, but they hope with the new space plane arriving soon, perhaps, SpaceX may also return.  But it has devastated their downtown businesses.  Most of the gallery owners have pulled out and the junk and antique dealers seem to be barely hanging on.

Our B&B reminded us of a slightly newer version of our old Lake Murray trailer-cabin in SC.  It still had the trailer harness but had new porches and decks.  And in the scheme of things, I’d say we were “upper middle class” in the town!! LOL  (population 6000 and dwindling!)  The  7 foot round tin spring fed hot tub in the back yard was the draw for us and it didn’t disappoint.  We enjoyed several long soaks and the mineral water left you feeling smooth like a baby!  It was nice to have a break from restaurants and grill steaks by the hot tub and watch rented movies.

On Tuesday morning we rode out to Elephant Butte Lake.  It was a smaller version of Lake Powell, and unfortunately just as low.  The dam was built in the early 1900’s (1917-20) and was the largest man-made dam at the time.  Its claim to fame is it started the controversy of international water rights, as they were damming the Rio Grande, right above Mexico.  (BTW, the funniest T shirt in town was… welcome to New Mexico:  it’s not new and it’s not Mexico!)

Note "mushrooms buildings" in background

Then we drove out to the Spaceport.  Without a reservation, or joining a tour, we knew we probably wouldn’t see much and we were right.  The guard was really nice, and pointed out the best places to take pictures without crossing the barriers.  The buildings looked like giant portabella mushrooms, and the crescent sculpture at the entrance was intriguing.

We left Truth of Consequences Wednesday morning and headed toward Tombstone, AZ on our way to Tucson.  We enjoyed the Old West Town, even if it was a tourist trap.  We bought tickets to the shootout at the OK Corral and it was fun and included 2 old time newspapers that I’m taking back to Abbie, along with the required T Shirts!! We called Daddy and he was disappointed we didn’t go to the epitaph graveyard.  I guess we’ll just have to go back!!  BTW  my husband gets the  “Son in Law of the Year Award” for fixing Daddy's computer remotely!! 

Tonight may be our last hotel night.  I'm posting this from Borderlands Brewery where Dave is meeting with his business partners.  Tomorrow (Thursday) we will be in Phoenix and will retrieve Bessie.  Cross your fingers.

DRIVIN’ ‘CROSS TEXAS IS A TRUE TEST OF A MARRIAGE… AND WE STILL ARE!!

HELP!!!   Our RV has been captured by a giant!!

Driving across Texas is a long boring exercise.  We’ve done it at least 4 times now, so we should have a good strategy … and in some aspects we do… but there’s just so much that can break up the sage brush, prickly pear cacti, and ranches.  Since it’s so different from our vistas back east, it’s fun to look at… for a while.

We have discovered a few things that help:

·      Books on tape or Audible are great.  We had to try out a few, but we’ve finally found a good Bluetooth speaker that works well in Bert.  As noted before we listened to a murder mystery about Birmingham, and now we are into a spy novel.  I mean, let’s face it, in 2 weeks we will have been married 43 years. We can still make each other laugh, but there’s not enough conversation to accompany all of this landscape!!

·      And at least for this leg of the trip, Bert has a relatively small tank (12 gallons) and only mediocre gas mileage, so we are finding Flying J’s or Pilot’s every 3 hours or 200 miles of or so.  This helps break up the driving and provide needed potty stops!

·     Then there’s what Dave likes to describe as Deb’s Damn Dilemmas and Disasters.  I’m forever frustrating and entertaining him with lost items inside our tiny truck (the seatbelt cinch keeps disappearing), my internet and cell phone ineptitude, (especially Google maps!) spilled coffee and the graceful way I search for snacks in the back…..  Of course we won’t mention his constant fiddling with Myrtle the GPS, talking to the trucks and traffic, and asking me to find a gas station or restaurant within two tenths of a mile when he needs it!  BTW… we decided you know you are in West Texas when you put “fast food” into the GPS, and it starts the list at 200 miles!! 

·      We’ve discovered a new website that has interesting stories and guides to stops along the road with quirky folk art and interesting things.  It’s called Roadside America.com.  You can map your route and then discover “pins” nearby.  Sometimes we stop and sometimes we don’t.  For example we skipped the miracle horned toad casket in Eastland, TX but loved the story!   When they reopened the cornerstone to the courthouse 31 years after sealing it, the “dead” horned toad they encapsulated dusted himself off and jumped out at them!!   Of course he didn’t live forever, so they have a tiny casket in the court house. (Go to the site and read the “rest of the story”…there’s fame fortune and controversy; too much to relate here!) We also enjoyed reading about, but missed the sugar sculpture in El Paso that surrounds a house with sugar models of religious figures and buildings (It also said the owner was “creepy” and suspicious. I suppose he is leery of sweet toothed vandals).

·       But there have been some good stops, too.  Sunday, we found out about some Seuss and children’s literature sculptures in Abilene, TX.  Unfortunately, the museum to children’s illustrators was closed, but the sculpture garden was fantastic!  We skyped Ella and Abbie and enjoyed showing the sculptures to them, especially, Bob the Dino!  Monday we stopped at the 5 million barrel oil “tank”, which leaked the first time they filled it!  It’s really a concrete lined 5 acre crater in the ground that had a wood floating roof.   Somehow the Shell engineers didn’t figure out that the weight of the oil would crack the cement.  Thirty years later it was “repaired” and promoted as the area’s “Great Lake” and a boat ramp was added.  Unfortunately even with the repairs, the concrete didn’t hold water any better than it held oil.  The resort opened on October 7, and closed on the 8^th!!  And I thought engineers were smart!!!  But today, it is the centerpiece of the little town and they’ve made a museum and use it for events.  At least the politicians were in this case smarter and knew how to make lemonade out of lemons! 

     Then as we were leaving Texas, the website led us to Hatch, NM where Teako Nunn collected large fiberglass sculptures of pigs, dinosaurs, characters, and Uncle Sam.  I guess with a name like that, he had to do something quirky!! They are randomly displayed around town.  The funniest one was this huge guy holding an RV, next to an RV that had a piano coming out of its roof.  Just funny random stuff!!

I asked Dave if he wanted a restoration project!! LOL

·      Sunday night Dave decided about 6 pm that he wants some “real Texas BBQ”… so I began searching Yelp!  And various websites.  Oh, there were plenty to choose from.  The only problem was, it was Sunday and most small Texas towns roll up the sidewalks on Sunday and everything we’d try was closed (some we found out ahead of travel, some not!).  We were about to give up and settle for an Outback at a mall, when I spied 5 food trucks in a parking lot.  We had to negotiate several exits to get back to it, but the BBQ beef was terrific.  So the real trick to surviving Texas is to keep your eyes peeled to the side of the road!!

After 3 days driving across Texas, we rewarded ourselves with 2 days at an Air B&B in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico.  More on that later….its time to join Dave in the hot springs fed hot tub!   

ON THE ROAD AGAIN - SPRING 2016

Our mascot "Ellabbie" in the back of the truck.... 'I swear we are not the Beverly Hillbillies!!

We’re “on the road again” in Bert, the towable truck.  He got new “shoes” before we left and so far we’ve only used his heater.  The AC is still questionable, working on its own terms!!  At least David has reinstalled the glove compartment (for now!! LOL).  We are headed west on I-20 with only a brief outline this time.  We are determined not to over plan this trip and to see a few things well, instead of just “hitting the highlights” of waaaaaay too many places.  Our general outline includes, checking out Birmingham (more on that later), Borderlands in Tucson (the brewery that Dave owns an interest in), picking up our RV near Phoenix, perhaps a day trip up to Sedona (depending how much time and attention Bessie, the RV, needs), then over to Anza Borrego Desert State Park near Palm Springs, CA,  for the desert wildflower bloom spurred by el Niño, then to the Dana Point Whale festival where hopefully we will witness the blue whale migration.  That will put us near San Diego on the 2^nd week of March.  After that we have nothing definite planned.  Now, David is telling folks we’ll be home in 5-6 weeks, and I’ve said “hopefully by Easter” several times.  Time will tell!!  Of course Bert, the truck and Bessie, the RV, have an equal say in the matter.  (Or perhaps veto power! YIKES!)

We left Thursday morning for Birmingham after getting our absentee ballots in the mail.  We managed to get there with just one major stop at the contemporary furniture stores I’d been eying every time we drive to or through Atlanta.  It was a fun hour and we saw several items that might be good for Dave’s new room that we might come back to on our way home.  The only real cost was it put us in Atlanta’s rush hour traffic, but then when are you NOT in rush hour around Atlanta!

We arrived at an AirB&B Dave had booked in Birmingham just a little after dark.  We were Ellen’s first guests, and it was our first AirB&B so we were a good match!  She was in a very nice townhouse community in Mountain Brook, a Myers Park type neighborhood near downtown.  After settling in, Ellen gave us a few suggestions for dinner nearby.  We ate at a farm-to-table-fast-food place.  I know, it sounds like an oxymoron, but somehow it worked.  For my SC readers, imagine an organic/hippie Lizard’s Thicket, with fewer choices.  We were tired after the long drive, so instead of exploring further, we went back to Ellen’s to crash.

After leisurely coffee with Ellen in the morning, we went off for a day exploring Birmingham.  During breakfast, we finished our research, filled out our absentee ballots and had the waitress witness them.  For once David was glad he is still technically registered as a Democrat so that he did not have to vote for any of the “Dysfunctional Republicans”. (they stopped putting the fun in dysfunctional a few months ago!!)

One of our most fun finds in Birmingham was the Sloss Furnaces.  When they closed down the furnaces in the 70’s (EPA standards and lack of modernizations) they were later preserved as a National Historic Landmark.  Though rusty and at places overgrown, it was fascinating to be allowed to wander around the giant industrial site.  We could see inside the boilers and the huge pistons that drove the blowers for the blast furnaces. And with only a few restrictions we could climb all over everything.  They have converted the slanted sand casting floors where they cast the pig iron, into a stage and event venue and according to the lone docent on site, there are weddings there every weekend.   From there we went to Birmingham’s free art museum, but both commented that we can do art museums in almost every town we visit (and many times do!), but the Sloss Furnaces was a unique experience!

After the art museum (great Wedgewood collection and a total of 8 contemporary pieces) we drove by a few landmarks from BuzzFeed’s “50 Things to Do in Birmingham” and then drove over to Red Mountain and the Vulcan statue that stands watch over Birmingham.  The information center/museum was both a history of Birmingham and of the statue.  It was forged and cast for the St. Louis World’s World Fair where it won the international prize for metallurgy.  One of his key and prized features (from every local who mentions it) are his naked buns from the rear!  The view from the catwalk around the statue high on the mountain gave a great panoramic view of the city.  We liked it so much we came back after supper to see it in the dark, with the lights blazing.

Deb can always spot a Chilhuly

Ellabbie on Vulcan's foot

No caption needed

Vulcan's hands from the catwalk

Bi

Birmingham by day....

.....And by night!

As I write this we have just driven into Texas where we will spend the night in Tyler outside of Dallas.  We have driven across the other half of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana.  Our only real stop has been in Tuscaloosa (we drove by Bear Bryant Drive) where we toured the Kentuck Arts and Craft Center.  I bought a really interesting bracelet.  Not the type of jewelry I usually wear, but I just liked it! Gifts to yourself are sometimes the best!.

Today as we drove across the Gulf States, we finished Murder Runs in the Family by Anne George,  A Southern Sisters Mystery.  They are fairly silly and definitely chick-lit, but it was fun as I knew they all took place in Birmingham and use many of the landmarks we saw (Vulcan, Mountain Brook, Red Mountain, etc.) as a backdrop.  And it made the 8 hour drive today much more fun.  One of the best lines in the book was when “Aunt Sister” (I love that name!) turns to a babbling Patricia Ann and says, “And me in the middle of the pasture without my shovel!”… a line David and I vowed to remember!