winter time in Texas

We are such silly people! Here we thought we were being so clever and getting out of the Dallas area to avoid the bad weather. Well, here we are in Balmorhea, TX, not far from El Paso and it snowed on us last night. The computer says the temp was 18 degrees when we got up. Brrr. Our water hose was froze this morning. The temp is rising quickly. Barry is putting the heat tape and insulation on the freshwater hose, but he just said, it will probably be 70 degrees by the time he gets it done! We plan on letting it warm up some before we head for Las Cruces. Guess it was pretty nippy in Safford last night. I called and my sister was grumbling pretty loudly about the cold temperature. Last evening we sit outside for cocktail hour and it was beautiful, but when the wind came up it got cold very quickly. Just when you think you have it all figured out, God pulls you up short just to let you know that he is still in charge! Oh well, it is all part of the adventure I guess. Balmorhea is a little bitty place on I 10 about 30 miles south of Pecos.
Night before last we stopped in Sweetwater and low and behold there was a DU banquet going on, so we went. Old habits die hard you know! Living in a small space is a real deterent from buying stuff you don't need. It was fun. Later

Thanksgiving in TX

Sorry I haven't published anything lately. We made our way across AZ into NM and on to TX. It was pretty uneventful actually. We took our time, only made about 150 to 200 miles a day, and that was OK. The last night before we got to Gainesville we stayed in Wichita Falls, TX in the city park. It appeared that Wichita Falls was a little short of camp grounds, at least we didn't find many. Anyway the city park is right in town, next to the interstate. The traffic noise didn't bother us as we both sleep like rocks. The park was nice with paved sites and water and electricity and a dump station on the way out. There were about 10 or 12 of us parked there on Sunday night before Thanksgiving. Barry got into a great conversation with the guy next to us who was stationed in Korea with Jim, Barry's Dad. They never did figure out whether they knew each other, but were at the same place at the same time. About 4 in the morning there was a knock on the door, (brought Tailer out of a dead sleep). Barry went to the door to find a young man needing money to fix a flat on his van...so he said. Anyway Barry finally figured out that the guy was just a scam artist and out for some $ and sent him on his way. The next day another camper told us that he had hit them up 2 nights earlier with the same story. Must work for him though, or he wouldn't continue to do it. Ah, life in the big city, at least in city park!
We arrived at Carol and Mike's the Monday before Thanksgiving. Carol is Barry's older sister. They live on a farm so there was an ideal spot to park the trailer. There were about 30 of us for Thanksgiving dinner. Carol and Mike have 6 kids and they were all here except one with their families. Barry's brother and his family and sister and hers were here as well. It was the first time that Barry and his siblings had been together since their mother's funeral. We have had a great time since we have been here.
Yesterday we drove to Denton and met Dick Burch, one of the DU RDs in MN. He is in TX visiting his daughter, so we met for lunch and had a great visit. Also visited with Cassandra, one of Carol's daughters that lives in Denton.
We plan to leave the trailer here and just drive the truck to WY for Christmas. We will start getting ready for the trip pretty soon. Then after the first of the year, we will come back down, pick up the trailer on our way to AZ. Until later, B&D

Standin' On A Corner In Winslow, AZ

So, after Bethel Island we headed south making our way to TX for Thanksgiving. We have lots of time so no need to rush, we will just putz along the way. We spent 2 nights in a fancy-smancy members only park at Parker, Az on the CO River. The dealership where we bought the trailer gave us a 1 year membership to it so we decided we would take advantage of a couple free nights. The only cost was listening to their sales schpeel. To no avail however, we didn't think it would work for us. Anyway it was a lovely park and huge. 800 plus spots. Yikes! Some were beach front sites, but we didn't get one of those.
Standin' On A Corner In Winslow, AZ

Just as well, as they didn't allow dogs on the beach. It was very warm there. The first night we were there we spoke with a man from Victorville, CA and he knew Debbie Greenwood's brother who owns a car dealership there. Then our neighbors were from MT, he was raised in Spearfish, SD and dated Mike Kelly's sister in High School. Those kinds of things just never cease to amaze me!. You couldn't get away with a thing in this ole world! Makes you wonder how those people manage that go on the lam and manage to stay hidden for years. Must not talk to people.
From there we went to Mojave and stayed in the same park we stayed in when we went west. Nondiscript little park but nice. Then we stayed near Winslow, Az one night. Funny little town it is. They have really capitalized on the Eagle's song about the town and have one corner all fixed up for photo ops. So of course we had to take a picture standin' on the corner in Winslow, AZ. Barry was indeed a fine sight to see. Guess I must have been the girl in the big white Ford slowin' down to take a look at he! OK, Changed the words just a little . It's called poetic license. It was pretty chilly there as it is pretty high. From there we braved the strong winds and made it to Albuquerque. (I always hate the name of this town as it is so damn hard to spell.) We are here for 3 nights as we have some time to kill. Yesterday, (Nov.14) the wind was awful. Sand blowing really bad. Had to take out my contact and wear glasses. After we got here and got set up we went to Camping World and that is always close to a hundred dollar bill for us. So much neat stuff that we really need to have! The wind died down last night but it is still pretty brisk temp. wise. Went to the grocery store and it was pretty fun with all the ethnic foods that we don't have in Casper. 15 different kinds of green chili sauce and posole for sale. Seemed to be very cheap too, as we both thought we had about $100.00 in groceries and it came to 57. Oh well, it works for me. Today we are going to go to Old Town Albuquerque and goof around some more. We haven't done any fishing for quite some time, but guess it must be the time of year. Till later.

ahoy mate!

Bet that title got ya huh? Well, we left Pine Grove after nearly a month there. We miss Pat, Rick and John. So much like family. We went to Sacramento and got our fresh water tank fixed, that was a long grueling story, but I won't go into it as it is not for the weak at heart! One of those deals where no matter what you do, it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. Anyway, we got the tank fixed and the bright spot was, we got our window treatment installed, the one that was never put on at the factory. The rest of them are worn out, but we have one brand new one! (Just kidding!) So we spent one night in Sacramento at Cal Expo...we just pretended the state fair was going on, as we missed it by months! Met two "jokers" (their term, not mine) from Washington. They were very nice and we enjoyed meeting them. They were traveling with their cat. Next day we went to Bethel Island to visit Jon and Kathy Rensen. Island...ahoy mate....get it? Jon graduated high school with Barry. We got to their house while they were still at work so we parked the rig and walked to a local watering hole called the Boat House to find some local color. Two years ago a lady left her leather vest in the bar during rally, she called and we sent it back to her. I only had the couples first names but knew they were from Bethel Island. Jon and Kathy didn't know them (Rensens boat not bike) so I ask the bartender if she knew Diane and Jerald. She said "Yes as a matter of fact they are having lunch across the street." So she called them and ask them to stop back at the Boat House when they finished. They did and we had an absolute ball talking with them. What a rush when something like that happened. God, it is a great country huh? So anyway, we spent one day on Jon and Kathy's boat cruising around the delta area. Bethel Island sits on the delta of the Sacramento River and it is just on the edge of the San Fransisco Bay area. It was very fun. Boated to a place and had lunch, then went to the yatch club that Rensens belong to for a cocktail. Most of the homes on Bethel Island have a boat dock in their back yard. Very fun. Later

Sunny California

OK, we aren't in Southern CA where it is really sunny, (and sadly smoky) but we are still in Pine Grove and the weather is pretty darn nice. Had to have the furnace on the other night, but the days are nice. It is supposed to rain tomorrow so we will catch up on our reading. I tell ya, this retired life is busy, busy! The last two days we have worked in our friends' yard. They are 86 and 84 and their son lives with them but he is very busy with work, etc. Barry was in Nam with him. So anyway, we have been acting like homeowners and being damn glad that we don't have a yard to maintain! It is kinda fun when you know you don't have to do it all the time. And the most amazing thing, the wind doesn't blow here much so the leaves fall and stay put. Something we sure aren't used to!

A few days ago we went to a State Park here called the Indian Grinding Rock. It was very cool. The Miwok Indians, ( as in me don't run, me walk) (no racial slur intended just a pronunciation explanation) lived here for many many years. Their prime source of food was the acorns. They found large flat slabs of stone and pounded the acorns and other seeds into a meal. If you have ever tasted the meat in an acorn you know it is very bitter. (I know, as a kid I tried it once. Blaaa! Really bitter and horrid. ) Anyway the Miwoks pounded them into a meal and then washed them and washed them over and over to get the tannic acid out of them that made them bitter. The big flat rocks are in the park, and from the years of grinding acorns there are cup like indentions, and some of the more creative Indians (The women, as the men were out killin' stuff,...somethings don't change huh?) carved petroglyphs in the rocks. It is believed that some of these carvings are 2 or 3 thousand years old. It is said that the Miwok women ground the acorns and socialized on this large slab. The indentions are pretty close together, so you can visualize women sitting there grinding away. (I had to wonder if the sand from the rock wore their teeth out??..perhaps the sand washed away in the rinsing process.) There is a smaller grinding rock near the big one with only one indention. Guess nobody liked that lady. Anyway it was very cool. Their meat source was deer, so they had no large hides to build teepees so they made conical shaped homes, like teepees but out of wood. The Miwoks still use the state park for cerimonial and cultural stuff. There is a huge round house that is used for cerimonial stuff. Today the Miwoks own a huge casino here in Pine Grove so they are very very wealthy little Miwoks. The casino is Las Vegas style, very large and very busy. John works in the water treatment department of the casino. We went there last Friday night for their seafood buffet and it was really good.
OK, well enough for this time. Talk with you later.