Today was a recovery day for us back at the motorhome. We had to unpack the suitcases and then pack the winter clothes back into the suitcases. Between that job and washing clothes, unloading the ice chest, we managed to shoot most of the day. Some days are like that.
We went to the potluck dinner at the clubhouse last night and were very surprised to see how low the attendance was. Usually this is a popular gathering and the place is almost full. Not so this time. I wonder what that was all about?
The Verizon internet signal has been very slow the past few hours. Of course when this happens, you can never get an answer from Verizon what the problem is. This problems pops up and then goes away.
The big bad wolf was blowing at our door last night and really shaking the motorhome. It wasn't bad enough to bring in the slides, but the forecast was for 45-50 mph wind gusts and I think we reached that speed. There was a period of calm and we both mentioned that the forecast must have been wrong. Nope, we were. We were so tired that we managed to fall asleep and can't really report on when the winds died down.
When the wind blows out here you get a lot of dust in the air. That is the case now, with the mountains to the south covered in a haze. West of Tucson there is a fire on a mountainside, but it isn't a threat to us. Everything is so dry out here and I think they will have a lot of problems with fires unless they get some rain.
Well, that was our exciting day as fulltime rvers. Some days are like that.
Sabillasville, Maryland farm
Clark Travels
Our Geocaches ---
http://www.travbuddy.com/maps/6730401
I have been getting more and more spam from bloggers since I let anyone respond to the blog. One way to stop the spam is to cut off anonymous comments. It is very easy and painless to get a Gmail email account and use it to post on blogs. You don't have to actually use the account, but it gives you a portal into my blog.
NOTE: Double click photos to enlarge them and links will also be shown in red.
http://www.travbuddy.com/maps/6730401
I have been getting more and more spam from bloggers since I let anyone respond to the blog. One way to stop the spam is to cut off anonymous comments. It is very easy and painless to get a Gmail email account and use it to post on blogs. You don't have to actually use the account, but it gives you a portal into my blog.
NOTE: Double click photos to enlarge them and links will also be shown in red.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
Ruidoso to Tucson
We got up early this morning and Judy prepared a delicious breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon and juice. We really needed the coffee this morning to jump start these old bodies. We wound up chatting until 1:00 pm and loaded the car and left Ruidoso for Tucson.
It was a beautiful clear day in Ruidoso and reasonably warm and we left with the windows on the car open. The tourists had left from the weekend and the streets weren't busy at all. This is one of the views we had as we left. How would you like to see this view every day?
We made pretty good time getting through Las Cruces and I convinced Gerry that we had 30 minutes to pick up some caches west of town. There are 100 caches honoring service personnel from the Vietnam War. We found three caches on the way to Ruidoso and picked up 12 more today. It took about 45 minutes for these finds and we have 85 more caches left in this series. Hopefully we can pick them up on the way home in May. Gerry managed to get this picture of me finding one of the caches today. As you can see, it is wide open desert out there.
It was a beautiful clear day in Ruidoso and reasonably warm and we left with the windows on the car open. The tourists had left from the weekend and the streets weren't busy at all. This is one of the views we had as we left. How would you like to see this view every day?
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| Ruidoso Mountains |
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| Geocache in the desert |
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Lincoln, New Mexico & Up With People
We decided to drive up to Capitan, NM and check it out, plus pick up some geocaches. Capitan is where Smokey The Bear is buried and they have a very nice park there for his resting place. It is a garden with various local plants, benches to rest and reflect.
I had downloaded a number of geocaches including three virtual caches to show Judy & Herb how they work. The first cache was a roadside historical sign describing the early days of Capitan. Quick and easy cache and then on to a Smokey cache which Judy found very quickly. We combined geocaching with sightseeing and had a great day with both.
Lincoln, NM was the scene of the Lincoln County range wars from the 1870's and Billy the Kid was very active there as a "regulator", i.e. hired gun. It was in Lincoln that he escaped from a jail cell and killed two deputies. This area spotlights Billy the Kid and the events of that era. There are many house and building from that area that are still in great shape and open to the public.
We returned to Ruidoso via Fort Stanton which was an early fort to protect the settlers from indians, and bandits of that era. The fort has been used as a TB sanatorium, drug rehab, actual fort and many other uses over the years. The grounds and building are in very good shape considering the age of the fort.
We had plans to attend the Up With People concert in Ruidoso so we headed back early to listen to the group. They have 100 cast members from 21 countries and put on performances all over the world. They were in Ruidoso for a concert and stay with local people and perform community services while they were here. There motto is: " Up with People is a global education organization that aims to bring the world together through service and music. The unique combination of international travel, service learning, leadership development and performing arts offers students an unparalleled experience and a pathway to make a difference in the world, one community at a time."
I must admit they put on a very good performance and we managed to talk with two cast members, one from Switzerland and the other from Sweden. It would be a good group to join for a young man since the girls outnumbered the guys by 2 to 1. Enough said.
I had downloaded a number of geocaches including three virtual caches to show Judy & Herb how they work. The first cache was a roadside historical sign describing the early days of Capitan. Quick and easy cache and then on to a Smokey cache which Judy found very quickly. We combined geocaching with sightseeing and had a great day with both.
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| Judy, Gerry & Herb geocaching |
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| Remains of house |
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| Dr. Woods house Circa 1886 |
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| Early duplex |
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| Torreon Castle |
We returned to Ruidoso via Fort Stanton which was an early fort to protect the settlers from indians, and bandits of that era. The fort has been used as a TB sanatorium, drug rehab, actual fort and many other uses over the years. The grounds and building are in very good shape considering the age of the fort.
We had plans to attend the Up With People concert in Ruidoso so we headed back early to listen to the group. They have 100 cast members from 21 countries and put on performances all over the world. They were in Ruidoso for a concert and stay with local people and perform community services while they were here. There motto is: " Up with People is a global education organization that aims to bring the world together through service and music. The unique combination of international travel, service learning, leadership development and performing arts offers students an unparalleled experience and a pathway to make a difference in the world, one community at a time."
I must admit they put on a very good performance and we managed to talk with two cast members, one from Switzerland and the other from Sweden. It would be a good group to join for a young man since the girls outnumbered the guys by 2 to 1. Enough said.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Casa Blanca
Today was a long day for us here in Ruidoso. For some reason I woke up around 5:30 a.m. and couldn't fall back asleep. What a horrible start to the day. LOL Rather than rumble around the place and wake up everyone else I got dressed and hit the road.
First stop was at a local convenience/gas station for my morning coffee. I got to chatting with the two ladies behind the counter and found out they had moved from Nevada & Texas to Ruidoso within the last 9 months. They had visited Ruidoso during the summer and fell in love with the place and moved their families here. Now they were regretting the move since the cost of living is so high and the pay scale is so low. They both had good attitudes so I am sure they will adjust and love it around here.
I drove over to where one of the large forest fires came right to the edge of town to see how bad it was. It was bad. I imagine there was a lot of concern on those living here while these fires raged. I hadn't brought my camera and that was the first time I missed not having it. Later on during the ride I watched the sunrise over the town. The mountains to the west lit up first and were beautiful with their snow tops glistening in the early morning sunlight.
Later in the day Gerry, Judy, Herb and I met Russell & Karen for lunch at the Casa Blanca restaurant. Gerry and I first discovered this place in 2001 on one of our visits out west.
We met Russell and Karen in 2006 on another of our trips to the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta while at the Santa Rosa State Park east of Albuquerque. They were our neighbors there and had just begun full timing in their 5th wheel camper and we hit it off with them right away. Over the years we have run into them a number of times and always enjoy visiting with them.
Since they were in the area, I contacted him and we set up the lunch date at the restaurant. We all had a few drinks and enjoyed the large portions of food served. Since it was after the busy part of the lunch rush, we were able to sit around and chat for a couple hours and get caught up on what was going on with them. They recently became grandparents for the second time and there is another one on the way later this summer.
It was 4:30 by the time we left the restaurant and went our ways. The 4 of us toured a little around town and then went back to their house for some more chatting and relaxing. Russell & Karen went back to their campground after the luncheon.
First stop was at a local convenience/gas station for my morning coffee. I got to chatting with the two ladies behind the counter and found out they had moved from Nevada & Texas to Ruidoso within the last 9 months. They had visited Ruidoso during the summer and fell in love with the place and moved their families here. Now they were regretting the move since the cost of living is so high and the pay scale is so low. They both had good attitudes so I am sure they will adjust and love it around here.
I drove over to where one of the large forest fires came right to the edge of town to see how bad it was. It was bad. I imagine there was a lot of concern on those living here while these fires raged. I hadn't brought my camera and that was the first time I missed not having it. Later on during the ride I watched the sunrise over the town. The mountains to the west lit up first and were beautiful with their snow tops glistening in the early morning sunlight.
Later in the day Gerry, Judy, Herb and I met Russell & Karen for lunch at the Casa Blanca restaurant. Gerry and I first discovered this place in 2001 on one of our visits out west.
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| Gerry at Casa Blanca 2001 |
Since they were in the area, I contacted him and we set up the lunch date at the restaurant. We all had a few drinks and enjoyed the large portions of food served. Since it was after the busy part of the lunch rush, we were able to sit around and chat for a couple hours and get caught up on what was going on with them. They recently became grandparents for the second time and there is another one on the way later this summer.
It was 4:30 by the time we left the restaurant and went our ways. The 4 of us toured a little around town and then went back to their house for some more chatting and relaxing. Russell & Karen went back to their campground after the luncheon.
Friday, March 2, 2012
Ruidoso, NM bound
We are leaving this morning in the car to visit with friends Judy & Herb at their place in Ruidoso for the weekend. They drove in yesterday from Arlington, TX to open their summer place. It is about 20 degrees colder there than here in Tucson, so we had to bring out all our winter clothes. I should be refreshing up there to say the least.
More to follow once we get there and settled in.
We made it to Ruidoso through about 100 miles of heavy dust that almost blocked the road at times. It was the heaviest dust clouds that we have ever seen out west and with the 40mph winds it wasn't a pretty sight. From Las Cruces to Alamagordo the mountains were completely blocked from view.
Once we got nearer to Ruidoso the skies cleared up and we had a beautiful finish to our drive. The temp dropped from the high 50s to 37 degrees as we arrived here.
We chatted with Judy & Herb and then went out for a fish dinner. After dinner it was more chatting until almost midnight. Lots to catch up on since we last saw them in early December.
That was our day, how was yours.
More to follow once we get there and settled in.
We made it to Ruidoso through about 100 miles of heavy dust that almost blocked the road at times. It was the heaviest dust clouds that we have ever seen out west and with the 40mph winds it wasn't a pretty sight. From Las Cruces to Alamagordo the mountains were completely blocked from view.
Once we got nearer to Ruidoso the skies cleared up and we had a beautiful finish to our drive. The temp dropped from the high 50s to 37 degrees as we arrived here.
We chatted with Judy & Herb and then went out for a fish dinner. After dinner it was more chatting until almost midnight. Lots to catch up on since we last saw them in early December.
That was our day, how was yours.
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