May 4, 2010 to Indio, CA

Palm trees. We are definitely in a different part of the country. It was 51 degrees when we started out. A little brisk, but we would end the day at 99.7 degrees. Thank heaven for air conditioners. It was another beautiful day and minimal wind. Even the diesel gods were looking on us kindly. $3.04. Off we go back out into the desert. We travelled down I8 to the Butterfield cutoff to hwy 85, which brings us out on the west side of Phoenix. If you have ever travelled through Phoenix on I10, you will do anything to not travel it again.

Here is the riddle for today... what is it? (answer later).

After travelling through Quartzite, we knew we were approaching California. OK quick inventory of what fruit we had aboard. All they were interested in were, oranges and firewood. They were also giving us the once over but we didn't have to pull over to be inspected. Yeah!!

There you have it, we are in California. Still some desert but more and more palm trees and other wonderful vegetation. We drove to Jefferson St in Indio to the Indian Wells RV Park. Another Passport America park. We have stayed here several times as it is well maintained and clean. They even pick up your garbage and recycle if you put it by the end of your driveway in the morning. Wish we could have stayed longer as we love this area. Besides it isn't too far to Mark's place. We also had some drop in visitors, Ron and Rose Helmick from the Montana Owner's Club. We met them at the Spring Rally. It was neat that they took the time to look us up. We will try to spend a little longer next time and hope they are in the same area too.

This is a century plant blooming near the entrance to the park. The blossoms weren't open yet, but that stem had to be 25 to 30 ft tall. When the stalk first starts out of the plant, it looks like a huge asparagus stalk. Century plants bloom only once and then they die. It is quite a display.

Answer to the riddle: We followed a truck that was filled with green chop. Bits of it were flying off and one piece of grass wrapped around the antenna. It stayed there for quite awhile.

May 3rd on to Casa Grande

We woke to sunshine and no wind. It was glorious. We headed out down I10. One thing we noticed as we drove were the contrasts in the scenery. Here you can see the desert in between the mountains in the distance and the green shrubs and cactus in the foreground.
We saw this sign several times in the next few days. Glad there was no wind and we sailed right through. One thing we noticed were all the closed rest stops. Another change with the economy.

It wasn't long and we entered Arizona. The scenery stayed about the same as we rolled along. There were even more rest stops closed in AZ. Some of them appeared to have been that way for a long time.

However, the rest stop at Texas Canyon was not closed.

These were at a Flying J. You see more and more of these flowers all the way into Calif. The temps today ranged from 40 deg to 88 degrees. The diesel prices ranged from 3.04 to 3.17. Also Arizona does not recognize daylight savings, so we are on Pacific time even though we are in the mountain time zone. We tried out a new park in Casa Grande, which is a Passport America park. It is called Sunscape RV Resort. It is about 7 miles east of I10, but a very nice park and it only cost 13.50. You do have to call ahead for availability (9am to 12).

May 2nd, day two

The blooming Yucca greeted us as we headed out that second day. There were beautiful white clouds in the sky.

We stopped at the welcome center as we entered New Mexico. In all the trips we have made west on I 10, this is the first time we have stopped. It is beautiful.

Just outside the welcome center is this fountain and that restful sound of the water. Nothing like water therapy on a road trip.

Of course there is the everpresent warning signs. Haven't seen any rattlesnakes and hope to never see any.

Some interesting history of this area.

I always love seeing these markers about the Butterfield Overland Mail Co. My mother was a Butterfield and way back we can find a connection to these Butterfields.

Of course the ever present cactus, which is in full bloom right now. The desert is looking her best.

As the day progressed, the wind got worse. Our mpgs kept going down.. 7.9 mpg was the bottom and the truck was gulping the diesel. Our planned stop for fuel was quickly changed. We barely made it to a little isolated fuel station. Our 36 gal tank took 37 gal. We made it to Deming and set up the Monty for the night. The wind got worse and we were rockin and rolling. We had some rain and then more wind. It finally calmed down for the night and we slept well.

Heading West

Day 1, Garmin on and working..
This looks like the right highway through Austin, TX. Love the lack of traffic.

The wildflowers are still putting on a show. The bluebonnets however have finished their show.

RV park for the night. Ft. Stockton RV Park which used to be a KOA. Still a little pricey, but good distance for our first day. This flowering bush had yellow flowers with long red stamens. The birds loved it. I had fun watching as they fed on either the nectar or the bugs caught down inside. It was a long day, but good to be back on the road again.

August 2008

August was another very HOT month. In spite of that we managed to get some things done. The garden is completely gone...just dried up. Water is too precious and expensive to keep watering it. We managed to keep some plants alive by using the water coming off the a/c.

Brett has been working on an old VW Bug he hauled out of a field. He also hauled out a second one that he used for parts. So the F350 got a run when they hauled what was left to the metal recyclers. At least he got some money out of it to apply towards fixing up the other bug.

Here is the load ready to go to the recyclers.

Our next big adventure was a pontoon boat ride on Lake Travis with the Austin Community of Christ. The boat goes out on the lake and then anchors so the kids can swim off the boat and the adults mainly watch the kids and eat!! We had to cut the trip short when a thunderstorm warning was given.
They slide down from the upper level and also jump off the boat. You can see what the adult activity entailed. Of course some of the adults went into the water also.

Bob got involved with the building committee for the church and the fund raising for a remodel of the main sanctuary, kitchen, restrooms and new entrance. The church has a community outreach project of feeding the homeless breakfast every Sunday morning before church. They have been doing it for 15 years. It is time to upgrade equipment etc so they can continue that ministry and make it easier on the workers. So Bob has been doing a lot of computer time and home visiting to organize the fund raising of $300,000 for the project. So every now and then he meets with the computer guru to help him on things that don't work quite right. Here is Larry (computer guru) and Bob (computer novice) hard at work. We were at Val and Sharron's having shrimp on the barbie!! It was yummy

The other big highlight of the month was a trip to Corpus Christi to participate in Gilbert (Paula's dad) and Naomi's wedding. We stay at a motel where we share a suite with the kids. Ben and Bobby love to get in the pool. We took them down with us and we got in ahead of mom and dad. So straight to the pool we went.

Bobby wasn't too sure of the pool, but he loved putting his feet in the hot tub.

Grandpa Gilbert with 2 of his grandsons before the wedding.

Naomi the bride, waiting for her entrance into the church.

Bobby at the reception.

Ben at the reception

Gilbert and Naomi

July 2008

July 4th and a time of celebration. It was over 100 most of the month and no rain to speak of. Texas is in a very bad drought and water supplies get lower all the time. There is a constant burn ban. However this does not include burning on the grill.... So Brett fired up the barbie and we had a fun picnic in the house with a/c. Here is a picture of the barbecue supervisors.

Of course there is only one main chef...

Here is a close up of the burnt offerings. Chicken and brot's.




As evening came we went to Fisherman's Park by the Colorado River for fire works. Of course Pop introduced the boys to Kettle Corn. It was fun eating it out of the frisbee...




Fireworks over the Colorado was fantastic. They put on quite a show. It actually was better than setting off our own.

We had a visitor in the driveway who was trying to dig a hole in the gravel. Of course she hid her head when I tried to take a picture. It looked like this box turtle was trying to find a place for eggs?

We need to introduce you to our other friend...Inca. A chocolate lab that lives at the main house. She is Brett's dog. Grandma gets to walk her every day when they are not home. She helps me get the mail.

Our next celebration took us to Independence, MO where we shared in Nick and Merilou's 50th Wedding Anniversary.

While we were there we visited other friends like Hazel and Doyle. They took us on a tour of the new sanctuary at the Wood's Chapel Community of Christ.

Then to finish our stay in Independence we went to Verona's on Independence Square to celebrate Myrna's birthday with our friends Ken and Mary Joan.

July also brought a 2nd airconditioner for our 5th wheel. We couldn't do summer here without it. Myrna also had her 3rd surgery and that's all for this year!!! Hopefully no more ever.

June 2008

Happy New Year everyone!! New Year resolution number 1 is to catch up the blog. My resolution is to get it caught up before we start a new adventure and this lodge starts travelling again. What a better way to start than to see the picture of Ben's sunflowers, so bright against the clouds and blue sky. We didn't measure but I am sure they were 6 ft high.

Maybe this one was 7 ft, we should have measured. The white pole is an extensio to the bean pole. The lima bean grew to the top of this extension also.
Bobby graduated from preschool at Montessori. An important day for him.

The best part was a party afterwards. He even wanted candles on his cupcake cake!!

Another special day was the wedding of our friends Gailyn and Evelyn. A beautiful and very meaningful service.

June was also the month of my second surgery. I received a pace maker to keep my heart beating at night at a regular rate. I also had a cardioversion to shock my heart from atrial fibrillation to normal sinus rhythm. They are still manipulating my heart rate etc with a computer and the a/f with medication. Welcome to the golden oldies!!