UH...it's still cold here?!?

Making our way through Arizona, New Mexico and Texas...finally arriving in Boerne (30 miles west of San Antonio) where we will be setting up shop for the next month. When we got here, the sun was gone, and it was 50 degrees. I know that's pretty darn warm for most of the US right now, but not what we signed up for. So we paid for a month, and looking at going all the way to the southern tip of Texas for January and February. There are some nice coastal RV parks along the ocean. We'll see how that works out. We fly back to Spokane for a couple weeks - Dec. 20 thru Jan. 4.

Thought I would share a couple pics from our trip down here...

Nice calm campground...

 

We ran into  a sudden sandstorm at our first stop in Anthony, Texas...

Just after a long drive, we were settled in for the evening...the wind kicked up a little...then turned into 35 mph winds with 50 mph gusts! This campground was basically a sand/pebble covered parking lot. We got blasted by wind and sand for over 8 hours! We had to close the big slide because it was moving too much. Made for an interesting night.

2 hours later: 35 - 50 mph wind and sand gusts.

 

 And if that wasn't bad enough...the next night in Fort Stockton, Texas, we were attacked by the natives while we stayed at the Comanche RV Park...

 

And let me tell you, those were some REALLY BIG INDIANS!

Luckily Sheila was able to carefully pull out the arrow and saved my life! She took this picture first of course, since we knew nobody would believe us!

We wish you all a Happy Holiday with friends and family. We can't wait to get back to see ours!

Merry Christmas and Thanks for Reading!

 

Whatcha been doin? (Part 3)

ARIZONA

This last section will catch us up to our current location in San Antonio, Texas.

We've been to Arizona before when we had a client in Phoenix for 3 years. (always in their the summer) This is our first winter "snowbirding". We weren't sure of anything, like when to leave, where to go, how long to stay, what to prepare for...etc. This was also going to be our longest stretch away from Washington and what we used to know as home. It's unlikely that we will be able to return anytime before May.

What we found out immediately was, if you're under 55 years of age...your campground options are MUCH slimmer. This doesn't sit well with me...seems MOST of the top RV parks in Arizona (mostly the warmer areas around Phoenix) are reserved for only those 55 or older. WTF?!? The best reason I've been given so far: "to keep out the rif-raf and noisy kids". SERIOUSLY?!?

Looks like everywhere you look in life, there will ALWAYS be first class and coach. Nuff said.

We ended up much further south in Benson, AZ. Just outside of Tucson (Cochise Terrace RV Resort) This park now tops our list of best parks so far. The spaces are all double wides. Which simply means you get twice as much space : ) We really felt like we had a ton of room here. We stayed a month, and I think it was sunny everyday but two. We did not miss green grass. The sand and gravel was much better for laying out our patio rug etc. We would have stayed here the whole winter had we not already booked airfare from San Antonio to Spokane over Christmas break.

We saw a lot in Arizona. Our first real month in one spot on the road. Temps ranged from 65 - 80 in November...SUN, SUN, SUN! We actually looked at some lots for sale in the area. A few in this park.

First on our list was Tombstone. Mixed reviews here...sadly, this town has become very touristy. The only original thing left was the Birdcage Theater. Everything was 10 bucks a person. We paid that to see the Theater and watch the Gunfight at the OK Corral.

We purchased a new pocket camera...our 3Gs phone just wasn't cutting it. We chose one that gave us some really nice panoramic pics...still playing with it, but hopefully you'll begin to see the upgrade.

The above pic was the Birdcage Theater main room. The bar was out front. Below are the original stage, the viewing booths (where the lady's entertained their gentlemen for a fair price) and the famous poker table in the basement. $1,000 buy-ins regularly played at this table. Yes, including all the famous ones (Earp's, Doc, etc.) That was a ton-o-dough back then!

The gunfight was a fun history lesson since it played out in the exact location. I didn't realize from the movies how close these guys were to each other when the shooting started!

One of our recommendations to our readers would be our next trip. Apache Trail. Located outside the town of Apache Junction. You can google it : ) Anyway, fantastic drive! You start on a paved road passing a couple old gold mines (touristy stopping places). The fun begins at the end of the paved road, where most turn around and head back. For the next 22 miles you drive on a single-lane, dirt road with steep climbs,  hazardous turns and switch-backs...you get the idea. Lots of head-on decisions with cars coming the other way (who gets to back up to a wide enough spot for passing).

The scenery is breathtaking. Lots of pull-offs to hike around. Wish we had more time here, but we'll be back. MY CAUTION...make sure you can make it out the other side before dark! I can't imaging trying to drive that road at night. 22 miles took us 3 hours!!!

I happened upon a small ad in one the Tucson newspapers for an intimate illusion show. A husband-wife team that travel the country in a small bus (based in Tucson) put on magic shows. These are set-up like the old parlor shows performed for small groups of famous people.

They only sell 35 tickets to each show which makes the magic all that much harder, as it's up close and personal! Anyway, awesome couple...really different type of magic show. And actually a few tricks we couldn't figure out : ) This was the room they performed in.

We spent some time in the Arizona Science Museum and Planetarium. The science museum was ok. More for kids, but they had a traveling Pirate exhibit that was interesting. NOW I know why people (even respected naval personal) became pirates in the old days...you should look into it : ) If I had the choice, I would've been one too!

 The better museum was the Arizona Desert Museum. This place was well thought-out. You can tell they have a lot of pride in what they do. Informational, cool displays, very interactive and again fantastic scenery. They had a hawk demonstration while we were there - stunning display of flight.

 Our campground always had activities going on. We joined the Thanksgiving potluck and listened to a guitar player named Johnny B. He plays an 18 string guitar! From what we understand there are only three of these around today, and Johnny is the only musician currently playing one. Johnny tells us that John Denver had one of the three and played back in the day. What was really different about JB outside of the 18 strings, were his song books...two of them, jam-packed full of cowboy lore. Every song had a story that he loved to tell. Fun evening!

I think that gets us up-to-date as we head out, towards San Antonio. One thing that impressed us most, were the big sky's in Arizona. Lots of stars against dark backdrops. Utilities in Arizona are 18 cents a kw. Compared to Idaho's 8 cents for instance. Everything is pretty dark around here at night : )

Every sunset here it seems is picture worthy.
Thanks for reading!

Whatcha been doin? (Part2)

OREGON

Eventually we wanted to end up in San Antonio, Texas for the winter and after a short visit with friends in Montana we head west for another side trip to Oregon for a client photoshoot. This was supposed to be a 3 day photoshoot and then down the road. However, we encountered our first real trailer problem here and ended up staying 3 weeks. Our axles were out of alignment and caused some severe tire damage. As it turns out, not just anybody can align trailer axles so it took some time to locate a fairly close specialist and get things going straight again.

We stayed at a Casino Resort (Seven Feathers). The campground was fantastic. One of the best we've spent time in so far. The campground was up the hill and separate from the Casino, but had a free shuttle that picked us up at our door when we wanted to try our luck at the tables. We checked out a couple of surprisingly good shows, danced, played some bingo and a few slots.

We were very excited to spend some time near the ocean, so took a 2 hour drive to Coos Bay! We walked miles along the beach and searched for shells.

 On our way out of Coos Bay, we happened upon these posters in the window of one of the town shops. We missed this zombie bash by a couple days! We were bummed...evidently they have a zombie beauty pageant and zombie parade. Already on our calendar for next year : ) 

 We spent some time riding around on our scooter, checked out a Harley Poker Run and Bike Show. (Yes we rode up proudly in our scooter : ). We also went to an Autumn Festival in a small local town. We listened to some story telling, took in a unique scare crow competition and watched them weigh in some HUGE pumpkins. This pumpkin competition is a big deal. The weights get entered into a national competition for biggest pumpkin bragging rights.

Up next we head to Tucson, Arizona!
Thanks for reading!

Whatcha been doin? (Part1)

Figured it's about time we talk about things we've been doing on the road right?

I will catch you up here on the last few months and then I promise to write a monthly "what we've been doing" column. We'll start here - way back in September!

MONTANA

While visiting friends in Montana, we stopped at the Car Museum and Prison in Deer Lodge. (Yes they are together and yes, that is kinda weird : ) But the Montana Auto Museum was the best I've ever seen. There is no way I can do it justice here in the blog. It's really a complete history of cars...and there are rooms and rooms and rooms of them! (200 plus cars, give or take) It just goes on forever. If you ever had a favorite...I'll bet it's here.

On a side note: my high school muscle car wasn't in the museum (AMC Matador) LOL! Bet you're sayin, WHAT?!? It was actually a pretty cool car with a very strong 360 V8 that rivaled a lot of the muscle cars of the time.

(AMC Matador - not in the museum)

The old Montana Prison complex was a self guided tour, and pretty much took up the rest of the day. Lots of history to tell in it's nearly 110 years. They focus on a 1959 riot, how the prison was completely self-sufficient and some odd stories like inmate "Turkey Pete". This "lifer" purchased and operated the prison, while paying all the guards salaries (I"ll let you figure that one out). If you're ever in the Deer Lodge, MT area this would be a day well spent with the cars and prison : )

We also spent some time in Yellowstone, entering through the Roosevelt Arch at the north entrance.

I truly wish we had more time here (but we'll be back again soon). We spent the entire day and walked miles of trails and paths through much of Mammoth Hot Springs. Fort Yellowstone was bustling with visitors, locals and bull elk who roam free throughout the streets and lawns of the historic district : )

There were several incredible campsites available within Yellowstone. From what we could see, even our 37 footer could fit in a few spots : ) Everything is first come, first serve. The word is that campers stay in the little town just outside the entrance and drive up each day or so to see if anything opens up. I wish we had our trailer with us, as there were a couple of fantastic sites available that day. We promised ourselves a couple weeks of dry comping in the park next time out.
 

 

 Most of what we saw were the hot springs and geisers. And no, we didn't even make it to Old Faithful. Just tells you how much time you can spend here to see everything! It was an awesome day! 

Next post we head to Oregon. Thanks for reading!