Friday, November 23, 2007

4Wheeling in Yuma

On Tuesday we joined 60 other rvers at the Yuma County Fairgrounds for a 4wheeling rally. We had just survived some transmission repairs without as much monetary damage as we were afraid we might have so it was especially nice to be joining the 4wheeling group for a few days of fun.It was really good to get back to climbing rocks and enjoying the southwest scenery. This is sure a nice way to take in the mountains and valleys.

Today's trail had many challengng spots and everyone enjoyed inching, tipping, squeeking through and climbing them all. The trail we were on today is called HarRon Pass, named after the two guys in this club that actually laid out the path up these big rocks and over the pass. It is rated a 4.0 out of 5.0. There were several places that took some real maneuvering. In fact we got our first trail injury in terms of a few scratches on the right rear corner of the Jeep. One of those nasty rocks actually jumped up and got us! But we survived for another day of wheelin.

Here are a few of the scenes from today's escapade.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Tracks Around Tucson

Last stop -- Three sunny days in Tucson area at the Casino Del Sol -- We enjoyed our spot in the casino's ampitheater parking area, shared with three or four other rvers. It was a nice place to hang out a little while to see some sites. One of our stops was the mission in the desert -- San Xavier Mission-- an awesome place to see. Built in the late 1700s by Franciscan priests out in the middle of the desert, it is still a functioning church and school for the Indians living on the reservation. As we walked through the courtyard we noticed the animals were very comfortable visiting with St. Francis of Assisi (patron saint of animals). In the first photo above you see a snoozing mutt all comfy with him and here is a friendly roadrunner -- Both at home and at ease with us.


The ornate stonework and artwork inside the church is very unusual and striking. A major, eight-year restoration just brought many of these works back to life.



On another day we took off to find the Desert Museum, just a few miles outside Tucson. This huge privately funded facility is home to many animals, all housed in their own specific habitat. It was larger than we imagined and we 'll have to come back to see more another time. Some of our favorite parts were the Life Underground exhibit where you walked through a tunnel with views under the earth of the animals in their homes, the raptor presentation of a family of Harris hawks and the mountain life exhibit with the black bears and mountain lion. The Pima mountain lion lives in the higher elevations of the southwest. This sneeky creature was difficult to spot at first but then I spied him peeking at me from his little home.



Can you find him in the photo above???



Then some of us came around the bend to find him staring at us through his picture window.


Isn't he beautiful?!!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Another Great Find

As we were meandering across west Texas, traveling the state highways through the communities as we like to do, we chose to stop in the little town of Andrews. What a hospitable place. Behind the Chamber of Commerce there are six parking places for RVs, complete with electric, water and sewer, all of them level and FREE. We noticed as we drove in some kind of display of flags and memorials. Of course curiousity pulled us to see what there was to see. We've happened across many veterans memorials in other small towns and admired them all. But this one was absolutely outstanding. The entire exhibit is done with so much class and reverance. It's a salute to courage and a thought-provoking history lesson. There is a marker for each conflict beginning with the Revolutionary War to Operation Enduring Freedom. Each has a quote from the President during that era and a collage photo depiction. On the back of the stone marker is a short historical outline of that war. In the circle around the flagpoles are memorials to all the veterans of the county. Here are a few photos. Thank you to any veteran who may be reading this message for defending this country. And also to all those who came before who we appreciate on November 11 and every day we live in a free country.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Exploring Fredericksburg Area

Today was a gorgeous day and it was our day to explore some of the “Hill Country” surrounding Fredericksburg (Tx.). Why not make the first stop the Sister Creek Winery in Sisterdale, population 25. The trip would take us 25 miles through the rolling hills southeast of Fredericksburg. Turns out this little winery is in the 1882 Sisterdale Cotton Gin, a place showing evidence of it's age but still a great spot for producing some good wines. Since it was a Monday the tasters were scarce at the wineries. Nice for us. Sometimes we learn interesting facts just talking with locals and this was one of those times. The wine merchant mentioned that in the little town of Comfort, Texas, about 10 miles away, there stands the only monument to Civil War Union soldiers in the south.
Sounded like somewhere to go - just to see for ourselves. The monument honors a group of German immigrant settlers who because of their decidedly anti-slavery views were determined to join the Union army. They were on their way east when massacred at the Neuces River in Mexico by Confederate sympathizers who pursued them across the border. After the war a group of their friends and family brought their bones back to Comfort and erected this monument to them. Hence, here stands the only monument in the south to Union soldiers.

Comfort is a pleasant town that suffered the same fate as many whose railroad business dried up in the 1900s. But wait just a minute, now there are Bed & Breakfasts and antique stores and quaint cafes recovering some of the life of the old place. We enjoyed our few hours there reading about the historic sites and having lunch at Cathy's Hen House, near the Comfort Hatchery.

Traveling the countryside today we saw some beautiful scenery and a part of that is the ranches indicative to Texas. Most of them have an elaborate gate with a stone wall or towers marking the road onto the property. But this one seemed so imaginative, a fence of drift wood and a lovely tin vulture perched ready to take on anything weaker.


Gave us a chuckle.

Tomorrow we'll pull out of this area and find other places down the road to explore. See you later.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

A Great Museum

We arrived in Fredericksburg, Texas, yesterday afternoon and found our spot at Lady Bird Johnson Municipal Park south of town - a decent place to spend a few days seeing the Hill Country

This morning we decided to first stop in town to gather some more information on the wineries in the area and check out what we remembered as the Admiral Nimitz WWII Museum that we missed on our visit a few years ago. We were curious about the famous Admiral Nimitz who was born and raised in this little town in the early 1900s. As sometimes happens we learned this place was more than we thought. The museum is the National Museum of the Pacific War, including a Nimitz museum and much more concerning WWII in the Pacific. There are many extensive displays of memorabilia, some of it personal items donated by veterans' families. One of the most striking exhibits to me was toward the very end. There was this flag, a bit tattered, that would maybe be similar to many old flags that you see displayed in historical exhibits. But then we read the explanation of this one tacked to the front of the plexiglass holding this old specimen. It told the story of this 48 star flag made by POW Paul Spain and two other inmates while prisoners of the Japanese. Just before his unit surrendered he and other prisoners destroyed their flag to save it from being captured and burned. Somehow they tore the flag apart and saved the stars for 3 and 1/2 years of captivity. Waiting for their liberators to rescue them, Spain and his fellow prisoners managed to use a nail in an old sewing machine to construct a U. S. flag using these saved stars and the remnants of U. S. parachutes that dropped supplies to them in their POW camp. This was one of many stories told in the museum.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Granger Lake - A Nice Spot

We're meandering our way from Livingston to Fredericksburg, Texas over a couple of days. Tonight's location is a favorite Corps of Engineers Park near Taylor, Texas, - Wilson Fox Park on Granger Lake. It's a nice spot to stopover, just northeast of Taylor off State Highway 95 and FM1331. Preferring to take state highways, especially avoiding Houston all-together, the park is on our favorite route through middle Texas. If you are eligible for the Golden Age Pass, this park is well worth the $7-9 fee. Here's an example of one of the sites, empty tonight but, just waiting for the weekenders who have reserved it. There are also these unique little screened shelters on some of the sites with tables and a sink inside - great for a family. There are just a few of us in the park tonight. I'm sure that changes on Fridays when, surely, there are fishermen and families everywhere.
Today is also a test day for us with our new Verizon air card. Usually when we have a one night stop in a park such as this we don't have the internet. It's too short a time to make it worth setting up our Direcway satellite dish and there's no free wifi available. But tonight is a new scenario for us! This blog posting is our first using our new air card system. So far we are doing well. There is a glitch with one of our computer's wireless adapter's communicating with the router. But the air card is working great tonight and we expect increased usage due to the convenience. Just makes us slightly closer to our goal of simplifying our lives for more travel.

Tomorrow we'll roll along into Texas Hill Country, avoiding interstates and seeking out new scenery.