Mar 8, 2013 - New Orleans.........

March 9th: Daryl and I spent the morning touring the Garden District with it's beautiful homes, antique shops and galleries. Didn't buy a thing, way out of our price range, but fascinating to see the awesome talent. Went back to the campground to meet up with Linda and Judy, just arriving in New Orleans. This being Judy's first trip to New Orleans, we had to take her to the French Quarter for dinner, and experience the area after dark. Dinner was at Pat O'Brien's, one of the Quarters most popular pubs. Then as we were walking around, we...

Mar 6, 2013 - Goodbye Texas

March 6th: Didn't get much sleep last night, wind rockin' and rollin' the coach. Weather predictions said that the wind will calm down by lunch time today. Stayed put until about 10:15am. Still a little windy, but not bad. decided to take the scenic route along the coast on highway 87. This meant taking the motor homes on the FREE ferry from Galveston Island to Port Bolivar, Texas. Very smooth and fast crossing. Not much traffic on any of the roads, even when we went through Port Arthur, home to the largest oil refinery in the world,...

Mar 3, 2013 - San Antonio

March 3rd: Sunday in San Antonio. Had a lazy morning. Didn't get started until noon, We were on our way to "River Walk" when we ran by a HUGE flea market. Did a u-turn and drove in. Again, mostly Hispanic vendors and customers. Didn't stay long. Next stop was the Verizon store, as Daryl is still having problems with her cell phone. Got the phone worked on then headed for lunch at "Dicks Last Resort" a restaurant in River walk that has the best Bloody Mary's ever. The waiters make a point of being obnoxious. Lots of fun. Must be graduation...

Mar 1, 2013 - Long Lonely Road

February 28th: Left Marfa fairly early heading east through the Pecos Mountains on Hwy 90. Took a break at Sanderson and visited the tourist office there. A lovely little old lady was manning the office and told us that there wasn't much to see, as most of the stores in town are closed. Sanderson does have a very small grocery store, but if you want a bigger variety, you can go 65 miles one way or 120 miles the other way. I'd hate to loose my grocery list. Did find a thrift shop though, where we bought books and C.D.'s for 10 cents each,...

Feb 25, 2013 - Back to Deming, NM

February 25th: Left Benson about 8:15am heading for Deming, NM. Uneventful trip, only windy in spots, not much to see in the 179 miles except desert and more desert. Got to the Lo-Hi Ranch (Loners on Wheels HQ) about noon, to find out that we were only a few minutes behind Linda, Alabama and Judy, California. Both are LoW's who we met up with in Quartzsite. After lunch we all (5 of us) decided to go to the "City of Rocks" State Park, which features giant monoliths that were formed from the eruption of an ancient volcano and eroded by the...

Feb 22, 2013 - Favorite Places

February 22nd: This should be the last cold day for a while. mid 50's, but 20's tonight. Today we went to Tubac, an artists village that we visit each time we come through. Some of the best of the best artist's have galleries of their own, or display their work in others galleries. Very pricey goods, but very unique. Daryl has a friend, David Unger, who is displaying some of his metal work in one of the galleries, so we always try to find his new work. Had to go to "Wisdom's" restaurant for lunch again, to treat ourselves to the fruit...

Feb 20, 2013 - Next stop, Casa Grande

February 19th: Left Yuma heading east to Casa Grande, about 172 miles. Going to dry camp at the Escapees RV Club Park. No spots with hook-ups available so we'll rough it for two days. Very nice park, but built when rigs were a whole lot smaller. Have to watch the turns with the big rigs especially Carol's 40 footer. The only problem we have is that we can only use our generators from 8-10am and 5-7pm, and, remembering to charge all of our electronics during those hours. Had happy hour at 4:00pm at the clubhouse where they introduced us, and...

Feb 16, 2013 - Winding down

February 13th: We're winding down. Went to town one last time to finish up the shopping list until about lunch time. Stopped by a store that sold handicrafts called "Desert Mothers". Artists of different skills teach the Mexican women to make items to sell to help support their families. Beautiful work, but we didn't need any of it. Had lunch at home, trying to eat up whatever we can't take back over the border. Started to pack away our outside "stuff". Didn't realize how much "stuff" we had put out, until we started to put it away. At the...

Feb 16, 2013 - Turning the corner

February 16th: Turning the corner, heading home, slowly but surely. Tried to use my credit card twice, and it was rejected both times. Called the bank to find out it had been compromised, so the bank cancelled it. Supposedly they're going to send me another one overnight. This morning Daryl, Carol, Jim, and I went to Algodones, Mexico, to return the visas we had had to buy to travel in Mexico. If you don't turn them in when you leave, they don't know if you left Mexico when you were supposed to, and could be refused entry again. We couldn't...

Feb 11, 2013 - Fun Day

February 10th: Got up this am prepared to ride the fire truck in the Parade, but our fearless leader, who was to drive it, was feeling puny (too many Margaritas???) so we ended up canceling the ride. I guess we'll give the candy to the local orphanages that this group helps out. Instead, we had a great day. Dave took me 4-wheeling for quite a few miles on the beach. Saw how the other half lives, and some really crummy beach front property, with potential, and a lot of money thrown at them. This afternoon, Sharon, Carol, Jim and I went for a...

Feb 10, 2013 - About half way thru the trip

February 7th: Carol, Jim and I left the campground about 8:30 with every other couple/single, who have four wheel drive vehicles, to go to the Baja racing track (I use the term loosely) in the desert. It was 90 miles of deep gullies and hills to traverse in the middle of nowhere. Our guides were members of the Scorpions, a 4-wheeling group who actually designed the course, which is now used for major desert racing. My little jeep liberty did an outstanding job. A couple of times I thought we might roll over, bottomed out a few times, and,...

Feb 3, 2013 - Finally, we are on the road

February 4th: Our Group of 5 rigs left El Centro, CA. about 7:45am We were third out of the 7 groups to leave. Going across the border was no trouble at all. We each had a sign in our front windows stating that we were a caravan, so they were very accommodating. However, when we got to the military checkpoint, we were asked if one of the soldiers could come aboard and look around. Some of our group had their rigs searched thoroughly. My guy (who looked to be about 15 years old, with a gun over his shoulder) looked in a few cabinets, the...