Westward Bound!

Well, we made it to sunny Arizona. Oh, and, yes, we did make that little side trip to Australia. But before I get ahead of myself, I'll retrace some of our steps getting here from Tennessee, where we last left you.

After leaving The Gardens in Crossville, TN we made our way to Austin, TX over a three day drive. Our thanks to Cracker Barrel and Walmart for once again allowing us to stay for the night. On the second day of our journey we stopped in Little Rock, Arkansas so Lisa could say Hi to and I could meet Tom and Judy Adams. Tom and Judy were the managers of the Guesthouse Inn where Lisa's sister, Kris, spent so much time during her visits to the University of Arkansas to battle Multiple Myeloma. They became good friends who went way above and beyond the call of duty to help Kris, as well as Nancy and Lisa. In the short time we spent visiting I could see why Lisa really wanted to make the effort to stop and catch up with them. Very nice folks! That night Mother Nature put on a show for us at the Malvern, Arkansas Walmart. We found ourselves hunkering down through a severe thunderstorm including 40 mph winds and pea sized hail with a tornado watch in effect. Lisa wanted to head into the Walmart, but before we could make a move all the lights in Walmart and the parking lot went out. We ended up sticking it out in the coach. Radar said the storm wouldn't last long and it didn't. But it did make for a memorable evening.

Guesthouse Inn Little Rock, Arkansas

Lisa and I with Tom and Judy Adams

We arrived in Austin Friday evening, October 3rd, after driving straight through from Malvern. I was loving the smooth, big roads of Texas until we got south of Waco, and encountered what I believe to be the longest stop and go traffic I have ever endured. No less than 25 miles of crawling along at nothing more than 15 mph. Ugh!! While in Austin we visited Dripping Springs to see the Hamilton Pool. Although swimming wasn't allowed the day we were there, we felt it was worth the stop just to see it. Reminded us of Weeping Rock in Zion National Park on a smaller scale. At another stop later that day, we learned that Mexican free-tailed bats cannot be depended on. About 1.5 million bats roost under the Congress Street bridge in downtown Austin and are known for their nightly mass exodus flights March through about the end of October. We actually saw them in 2009 when visiting our daughter Kelly who was working at a college internship in Texas. It was pretty amazing. However, I'm here to report that on the evening of October 4th, 2014 the bats forgot to go out and eat. We sat on the hill next to the bridge along with about 300 other bat lovers until it was totally dark and saw only a few scout bats come out briefly a few times. At least it was good people watching in 'Weird' Austin. On Sunday we visited an old Ford buddy, John Richards and his wife Marilyn. John was always a hoot at work and said what he felt, without regard to what management thought. He was also a good listener with sage advice, despite his reputation as somewhat of a prankster. He has struggled with cancer the last few years, but he is currently enjoying a period of remission and is very thankful for that. John and Marilyn fed us a wonderful meal and we spent the rest of the time catching up on what's been happening since we last visited them in 2009. Great visit with good friends! The campground we used for the Austin area visit was Eastview RV Ranch in Georgetown, TX near John and Marilyn's house. Although somewhat dusty, it was more than adequate. The $14 Passport America rate for the first two nights and free WI-FI contributed to our rating it better than adequate.

Hamilton Pool in Dripping Springs, TX

Early portion of bat watching crowd at Congress St bridge in Austin

One of several bat cruises and pedal boaters

Bat crowd on Congress St bridge

John Richards and I

Marilyn and John

After Austin we headed further west and south to visit Big Bend National Park. We chose Maverick Ranch RV Park in Lajitas, TX as our home base for our three day visit to Big Bend (October 8-11).  We would recommend this park to any RV'ers visiting Big Bend as it appeared to be the nicest park we saw anywhere in the area. It had a nice pool and clubhouse along with functional WIFI and decent Verizon phone/data service. You also have access to the rather nice Lajitas Golf Resort & Spa amenities across the street. The campground inside Big Bend (Rio Grande Village RV Park) a very basic parking lot with no Verizon phone service and WIFI only in the store. Not good for us. Overall, we were glad we got to see Big Bend, but it would probably not be at the top of our 'must return to' list. There were some nice rugged landscapes and views, but it was very remote. It made Lisa a little anxious being in such a desolate area with little hope of getting timely help in an emergency situation. This might be great for more adventurous souls with great back country hiking/camping opportunities, but was not our cup of tea at this time. We were in the process of losing a dear friend, Mark Willmann, to an extremely unexpected health issue during our visit. This was hanging over our heads and I'm sure colored our judgement as Mark passed away just three days after leaving Big Bend.

Ruh-roh!

That's a relief!

Starting to see some hills. 

Hoot is enjoying the Texas scenery.

Why???

State Highway 118 - An All-American Road and National Scenic Byway

View from our site at Maverick Ranch RV Park - Lajitas, TX 

Maverick Ranch

Maverick Ranch

On the grounds of Lajitas Golf Resort and Spa

Lajitas Golf Resort lobby

Fountain on the grounds of the Lajitas Resort

Highway 170 - The River Road west of Lajitas runs along the Rio Grande with Mexico just on the other side

Highway 170 runs through Big Bend Ranch State Park not to be confused with the national park

15% grade on Hwy 170 - The highest grade on any Texas highway

Looking westward down from the top of The Big Hill

Looking eastward down from The Big Hill

We visited the ghost town of Terlingua one evening for dinner

One of the newer RV's in Terlingua

Texas sized mosquito

This motorhome has seen better days

The High Sierra Bar & Grill had unexpectedly good food

View of moonrise from the High Sierra

Full moon from the High Sierra

Our first and only wild tarantula siting (occurred in the Chisos Basin campground)

The Window in Chisos Basin

The Window looking west into the desert beyond

Boquillas overlook in southeastern edge of Big Bend - note there is a rowboat in the opening on the opposite shore. 

Mexican made items for sale. We were told not to buy or get caught with any of these items.

Note describing items for sale and thanks for buying

Mexican shore

Mexican salesmen?

Hiking to Balanced Rock

The last quarter mile to Balanced Rock was fun. At least to me it was. Lisa not so much. She sat in the shade of a boulder while I finished the climb.

Balanced Rock

View beyond Balanced Rock was neat! 

Balanced Rock from the other side 

One of two precarious balance points

Other balance point 

Looking down from the point where Lisa sat and waited. She made it pretty far up.

Balanced Rock trail escort

The Window from the west as viewed from the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Zoomed view of The Window

Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive

Mules Ears Peaks along the Maxwell Drive

Lisa consented to 'wear' the Mules Ears

As close as we got to The Rio Grande

The above sign told the story of Gilberto Luna who raised a large family in this 'jacal' and lived there until he died in 1947 at the age of 108. Unbelievably hardy souls!

Inside Luna's jacal

Lisa wanted a picture of a female Texas Longhorn

Here is her reaction to the request for a photograph!

Saturday night, October 11th we spent near Marfa, TX at the Marfa Lights Viewing Area roadside park. The 'lights' are an unexplained phenomenon that has achieved some notoriety. I relate the 'lights' to UFO's, so perhaps not everyone is gifted enough to see them. We were hoping to get lucky and see something unforgettable. The best part for us was that it is legal to spend the night in the roadside park, hence, no Walmart needed that night. We got to the roadside park pretty early in the day, so we headed into Marfa to visit a somewhat world renown venue, The Chinati Foundation museum. The multiple buildings of the museum house the world's largest collection of minimalist art. It was started by an artist named Donald Judd. We happened to hit it on some special open house weekend, so it was packed with art lovers including bus loads of art students and the best part: it was free. Although I have not one artistic bone in my body I did appreciate the simplicity of this stuff. Back out to the Marfa Lights Viewing area to wait for dark. Cars started to show up just before dark. At any one time there were as many as 50 to 60 people in and around the viewing area. We kept watch for a few hours either at the official viewing area or from the coach, but alas, NO LIGHTS! Perhaps we didn't have enough adult beverages that evening.

Our first encounter with the Border Patrol went smoothly.

The Marfa Lights Viewing Center

The main Chinati Foundation (aka Judd Foundation) museum building

Inside the main building

An example of one of the Judd pieces

Sign giving some history on The Marfa Lights

The next day we set up camp at Whites City RV Park right at the entrance to Carlsbad Caverns National Park. We were a little concerned due to recent negative reviews of the park, but we found the guy at check-in to be very friendly and the site to be very adequate with functional WIFI. We would return again if in the area. That afternoon we toured the Big Room at Carlsbad and then watched the bat flight from the cavern that evening. While there we met another Newmar couple, Kim and Donna Giebelhaus, from Alberta, Canada. 

Saw a couple of these up in the air while driving in Texas. Later found out they are Border Patrol surveillance devices.

Cave entrance/exit from which the bats fly. No photography allowed during bat flight.

The four nights October 13-16 we spent in Alamogordo, NM, so we could explore White Sands National Monument. We went into White Sands onTuesday, the 14th. To truly appreciate the landscape you do have to drive out several miles into the dune field and then hike out into the dunes. However, it is definitely worth the effort. Very cool landscapes created by the huge shifting sands. We did try a saucer ride down a dune thanks to a very nice young man who had purchased a saucer and offered to let us give it a try. It was okay, but not really any comparison to snow sledding due to the relatively slow speed. We were glad we hadn't invested in a saucer. OK, go ahead and call us snow sledding snobs. On Wednesday we drove up to Cloudcroft, a touristy little town up the mountain from Alamogordo. The drive takes you from just over 4300' elevation to just under 8700' over a driving distance of 14 miles. Cloudcroft has a nice history as a tourist destination hosting the likes of Judy Garland and Clark Gable in the 1940's. We saw their names scrawled in the walls leading up to The Tower of the historic Lodge in Cloudcroft. (If you go, be sure to  ask at the check-in desk for the key to the Tower. Kinda cool!) Early in the 1900's The Lodge laid claim to the highest golf course in the country at 9200 feet. It is currently the 7th highest course in the world. 

We saw some other fools doing this. 

So we had to prove we're fools too!

My Angel!

My Saucer Girl!

Do ya think this creature spent too much time in the pub?!

Kiss me you fool!

Give Lisa a good sunset and momma's a happy camper!

Last remaining section of trestle for the historic Cloud Climbing Railroad

Burro Street - Cloudcroft, NM

Up in The Tower of The Lodge

Judy Garland & Clark Gable names scrawled in the wood leading to The Tower

View from The Tower

Stairway down from The Tower

The Lodge of Cloudcroft

On Friday, October 17th we drove to Willcox, AZ and spent the night in the parking lot of the local visitor center. On the way there, Kim and Donna from Alberta (see Carlsbad Caverns above) passed us. We texted back and forth during the remaining drive and found out they were stopping in Willcox also. They invited us over for a delicious dinner which allowed us to become more acquainted. Turns out they are also blessed to be early retirees. However, they still maintain a home in Alberta rather than taking the plunge of going full-time. We hope to stay in touch and hook up again some time in the future.

Kim and Donna passing us on I-10 

Our new Newmar friends Kim & Donna

We pulled into Rincon Country West on Saturday, October 18th. The Dutch Star was a mess from several days on the road, so before letting any slides out I gave her a good bath. I went off to shower across the street and came back to a great surprise. Gary and Donna Kortan whom we met and spent quite a bit of time with in Nappanee during one of our service visits to Newmar were sitting at the picnic table with Lisa. They are from northern California and were making their way home, but stopped in to check out the park as they will be here in March. They had no idea we'd be here, but recognized the coach and Jeep. Just another example of the blessings of this lifestyle, making friends from all over the States and Canada. Rincon West is a very nice park. We were so impressed with it that we revised our March plan to stay there instead of Winter Haven RV Park in east Tucson. It's also closer to my cousins Dave and Terri Olli who live in Green Valley. We plan to get together with them frequently. Speaking of Dave and Terri, we started our stay in Tucson off right by going down to Green Valley on Sunday, the 19th, to watch our Detroit Lions come from behind to beat Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints. Go Lions! Although the majority of our time at Rincon was spent preparing for our trip to Australia we did manage to squeeze in a few other activities. We drove up to our niece Kristin's house in Mesa to visit her and her fiancé Dan. While there we met with the surgeon that will hopefully correct the Dupuytren's contracture condition in my left hand. We went back down to Green Valley on the 23rd to go out to dinner with Dave and Terri, and to meet Scooby their new little companion. They came up to Rincon to see our home and have dinner on Monday, the 27th. Then we went back down to Green Valley on the 30th. Lisa and Terri went for manicures and pedicures while Dave and I golfed.

Surprise visit from Newmar friends Gary & Donna Kortan

Our site at Rincon Country West in Tucson

Watching the Lions with Dave & Terri

Kristin, Dan & I

Terri and her new toy!

Dave, Terri and Scooby!

Dave & Terri visiting our home

On Monday, November 3rd, we pulled up stakes at Rincon and moved the coach up to Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort in Casa Grande. We disconnected all the electricity from the batteries, turned off the inverter, emptied the refrigerator, put on the tire shades and locked her up on the site to which we would come back on November 26th. After saying a few prayers for safe keeping for the coach and safe travels for us we jumped in the Jeep and drove to LAX for our flight to Sydney, Australia.

Our home nestled on a site in Palm Creek Golf and RV Resort waiting for our return from The Land Down Under.