Saturday, May 28, 2016

Payson, AZ

Well, good thing the folks in Sierra Vista got our fuel filter situation squared away, because Payson is a good little climb into the mountains north of Phoenix.  We camped in the Tonto National Forest outside of town.  Overall, another great little western town snuggled in a mountain setting.  We stayed 3 wonderful, cool nights with no hookups at all, but we're used to that.  Here are some pictures:
I forgot a picture from last stop.  Sandy was my teacher in 7th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade.  Here we are hanging in their park-like back yard in Sierra Vista.

Tonto Natural Bridge.  I just thought the picture of the walkway was cool, the bridge is somewhat obscured.

Here we go, intrepid travelers after a pretty nice hike down to the opening of the bridge.

It's huge and made of travertine, some stuff as the tiles.  You can see by the people in the foreground how big it is.  The parking lot is directly atop the formation.

Javelina hogs, aka peccary, just nibbling on something in the parking lot at the natural bridge.  I've heard they can be aggressive in defending their young.  This was taken at a distance.

There's a geographic formation called the Mogollon Rim that cuts across almost the entire state of Arizona.  It makes for a nice scenic view up around these parts.

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Tombstone, AZ

Okay, so we've all heard about the gunfight at the OK Corral.  If you're a fan of movies in the last quarter century, you remember Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Bill Paxton and Sam Shepherd starring in "Tombstone."  Well, we had to stop on our way west since we'd missed it in previous outings.  The trip wasn't without incident, but after El Paso we headed for Tombstone.  We had a little trouble with fuel filters, but they got it figured out in Sierra Vista.  Of course, one of the major draws was the site of the original OK Corral.  But, we also wanted to drop in and see good friends Sandy and Rock Kousek in nearby Sierra Vista.  We also got to do a little touring in Bisbee, quite the funky little town that used to be the copper mining king.  Overall, it was a great trip to southern Arizona.  Here are some pics:

The actual stables of the OK Corral

The actual place the short, deadly gunfight happened.  Not really totally in the OK Corral


Our recreationist artists

Allen Street, Tombstone

Me with one of the Earp Brothers.  I'm the one on the left.

A cool rock formation outside Bisbee, AZ.  From the Copper Queen Mine parking lot.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

West Texas

After San Antonio came the long, long drive on I-10.  We overnighted at a Texas state park that was really interesting, and then spent a couple days in El Paso checking out the town with our good friend Nicole.  I have to say, West Texas wasn't as bleak as I thought it would be, and El Paso is a really pretty town.  There are way more mountains in Texas than I ever thought.  Here are some pictures:

Nicole took us on a tour of El Paso. Here's a view of the city from the mountain road that cuts above Ft. Bliss.  The sky was angry that day my friends.

The spring fed pool at Balmorhea State Park between San Antonio and El Paso was full of little fish that liked to kiss your toes.

Nicole, our hostess in El Paso.

The pool at Balmorhea holds millions of gallons of water.  Really pretty sight in the middle of so much desert.

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

San Antonio

Sometimes we stay a little longer in a place than we should and we get bored with it.  This wasn't the case in San Antonio.  We could have easily stayed a week and not run out of things to do.  This place sure has grown since we left straight from Brad's last baseball game, U-Haul trailer packed to the gills, in May of 1994.  There was a lot of construction on the roads, but we still got to see old friends and even make it down to the famous river walk for lunch one day.  We'll have to go back, because there are too many people and too many things we missed.  Here are some pictures:

5663 Misty Glen - The first house we ever owned.  We bought this place by the skin of our teeth in 1989 and sold it in 1994.  The old neighborhood is holding up really well.  Several of our old neighbors are still there.  We surprised the neighbor across the street working in his yard.  It's not everyday somebody walks out of the past from 20 years ago and says "hey, remember us?"

So...we had to do it again.  We rented this house on Stockade for a year before we bought the one on Misty Glen.  The next door neighbors, Greg and Maria, were still there.  Surprise!  They actually remembered us, probably because of our cute little baby boy Brad at the time.

Dad, Brad and me at the house on Stockade in 1988.  Nice shorts!

A view of the Riverwalk.  It goes on for miles.

Dinner with great friends Jean and Louis.  They haven't changed a bit.

Dinner with Dave and Wendy.  Dave and I worked together at Misawa Air Base, Japan.

Paul and Renee have been good friends since they moved to town about 1990.  Paul and I worked together for years at the Air Force Recruiting Service.  They never left.  Among many things, they're competitive BBQers and RVers.  They treated us to some great grilled fajitas and hours of reminiscing.

Saturday, May 14, 2016

North to Alaska

Dear Readers,
As all 2.7 readers of this blog know, Laurie and have set the goal of getting the Alaska sticker on our RV map this summer.  So far so good.  We departed Florida immediately after the cruise (after a requisite 2 day stop at the Ho Hum in Carabelle) bound first for Arkansas, then down through Texas.  Along the way, we camped at a really nice Corps of Engineer park outside Montgomery to see Jeff and Peggy.  They're finishing up Air War College this summer and headed back to DC.  We spent a few weeks in Little Rock visiting Laurie's family, but we took a side trip of a little over a week during that time to see Music City, Nashville, TN.  After celebrating Mother's Day, we started our journey in earnest.  We finally stopped in Dallas, one place we've bypassed a couple times.  While there I stopped in and jammed with Paul Morton, a fellow veteran I served with at Little Rock Air Force Base who was also the drummer in a garage band I was in briefly back in the 80's.  He's awesome, me, not so much!  We also toured the Dealy Plaza museum and the botanical garden.  There's too much to do in a town that size to even scratch the surface.  After Dallas, it's on to San Antonio.

Laurie took this view from our windshield at the Ho Hum RV Park in Carabelle, FL.  It's very tranquil having your own waterfront estate, even if it is just for a couple days.  We stop here routinely now.

After the Ho Hum, it was an easy day's drive to Montgomery to see Jeff and Peggy.  

On our side trip to Nashville, we were able to take in a couple tours of historic mansions.  This one is Belle Meade, owned by a Nashville race horse breeder named Harding.

We also toured the Country Music Hall of Fame, yeehaw.  



President Andrew Jackson retired to and died at The Hermitage, just outside Nashville.  Here's Laurie at the back gate.

The Hermitage is fairly modest by today's standards, but back in the 1820's I'm sure it was quite grand.  Huge white pillars, no toilets.

A panorama of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Garden.  Very pretty, but it was getting hot out.  I know, it's Texas.

Growing their own plants at the botanical garden.

I took this photo standing a few feet from where President Kennedy was killed.  The brick building behind the oak is the former Texas Schoolbook Depository building.  The trees were much smaller 50 years ago.

Dealy Plaza.  That red pickup is right where the fatal shot occurred.

Hanging with fellow veteran Paul Morton