9,011 miles later - we arrive home on April 16, 2015

We had a nice visit with Missy in Lansing on April 15. The picture shows how much we love New Mexico chiles!  A fun, interesting winter in our trusty Turtle. We never seem to tire of our time in the camper - have traveled almost 60,000 miles since we retired 5 years ago.

Comments from Eldon: The trip started out rough. By Big Bend we were in our rhythm. Really enjoyed the deserts and the mountains and the endless skies. New Mexico is a gem. Enjoyed small towns like Hatch to bigger cities like Santa Fe. The Turtle continues to be a real trooper - from mountain two tracks to windy interstates.

Comments from Harry:  I, for sure, am the happiest one to be home. I can run, run, run. I like the Turtle too, but enough is enough.

Juke Joint Festival - Clarksdale, Missippi - April 7 - April 12, 2015

What a great way to finish a great trip. The Juke Joint Festival turned out perfect. The fair grounds has a camp ground and the events were only a short scooter ride away. Music all over the downtown area. We just walked around and stopped to listen whenever, wherever we wanted.

Comments from Eldon: I always hate to have too high of expectations, but in this case, it lived up to every thing I hoped for. Nothing fancy - just the blues - everywhere. From young white Chicago boys to an 82 year old black Delta blues man playing Got My Mojo Working while juking (dancing) to it. A wonderful end - and lots of new ideas for more music festivals. I won't even mention the BBQ or the catfish.....

Hot Springs National Park - Arkansas

Way late finishing up this blog! We spent one more night in Oklahoma at Beaver Bend State Park in Broken Bow, OK. A lovely state park with lots of green. I love the desert, but its nice to have green again. We didn't know Oklahoma could be this pretty. We spent 3 nights at Hot Springs National Park (Easter too). The camp site was nice along a creek. It's a different national park as it is in the middle of a city. The national park is the old bath houses. Interesting.........

Headed East

Since Taos, we have slowed down our pace, even for us! The small New Mexico towns we have stayed in are:

Las Vegas - not too exciting, we went to the historic plaza - almost everything on the square is boarded up.

Santa Rosa - a Route 66 town  - also not too exciting. Their popular thing is the Blue Hole. A spring fed deep pond - shocking to see divers in training there - the little pond was packed. 

Next was Fort Sumner - the burial place of Billy the Kid (yes, we went to another museum  

for him) and the Bosque Redondo (top picture), a Civil War era reservation for Apaches and Navajos. The Apaches escaped and walked home; the government got tired of taking care of the Navajos and told them to walk home too. Harry had a new friend come visit in Fort Sumner (2nd pic).

We then stayed 2 nights at Oasis State Park near Clovis in the eastern plains of NM (bottom pic). 

On April Fools Day we arrived in north Texas. We spent the night at a free, small RV park the city  of Floydada owns. It was free because no one would want to pay money to sleep in Floydada - kind of a joke, but seriously, more than half the town is boarded up. 

Tonight we are in Ardmore, Oklahoma. Headed to Hot Springs National Park; then on to the Juke Joint Festival in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

Comments from Eldon: I was sad to leave New Mexico - it really is a great state. I enjoyed the food and people no matter the condition of their town. I hope Hot Springs Arkansas is a hit because Oklahoma is not. Now looking forward to fried catfish in Mississippi! I love America..........

Comments from Harry: It is hot in Oklahoma. Hopefully no tornadoes, but our camping park has a storm shelter just in case - I don't want to be like Toto. 

Chimayo and Taos

From Santa Fe we took the "high" scenic road to Taos. Some of the mountain peaks are almost 14,000 feet, so it really was the high road (and beautiful). Picture 4 is in Chimayo - it is revered by some as a holy place because of its healing soil. Pictures 1, 2 & 5 is the Taos Pueblo where we spent a large part of the day. It is the oldest continually inhabited place in the country - 1,000 years. Fifteen families still live there year round. After the tour, you are allowed to walk around on your own - besides rooms to live in, many of the rooms are shops where residents sell their art. The other living pueblos we drove through in New Mexico do not cater to visitors; it is just their home. Pictures 3 & 6 are the Rio Grande River Gorge near Taos. Taos is a busy touristy ski town - fun to walk around with the crowd. One more week of ski season. This week has been one of the most enjoyable of the trip for me.

Comments from Eldon: I concur - its been a great week. The Taos Pueblo is a world heritage site - you can feel the history. Today was the first day the pueblo was open after their six week break. Many were replastering their homes with new adobe - they replaster 3 times a year. Guess that's what you have to do when your house is 1,000 years old. After the Taos Pueblo, we went to Earthship - world's largest self sufficient residential development.The homes are built totally of natural and recycled materials. A 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house has an annual utility bill of $100.00. They have one for sale for $369,000. But hey, only $100 to heat and cool it annually.

Comments from Harry: Pueblos have the roughest roads in the world.

Santa Fe

Love, love, love Santa Fe. Our RV park was perfect for an easy bus ride to the historic plaza, museums, etc. Plus you do get to see some interesting people on the bus! The weather was perfect. What can I say - I just really like Santa Fe. The top picture is the Native American vendors that sit outside the Palace of the Governors every day - beautiful craftsmanship and fun to look. The next picture is Loretto Chapel - the winding staircase was built in the 1800's by an itinerant, mysterious carpenter - it is still unknown to this day how he balanced it with no support. The next picture is an example of all the adobe buildings all over the city. The bottom picture - a suitcase guitar, hand made by the musician, is definitely an attention getter!

Comments from Eldon: Santa Fe is one of the friendliest cities I have ever visited. I really feel comfortable in Santa Fe - a relaxed, artistic vibe in the air.

Comments from Harry: I made my first friend. A feline senorita, who lives in the campground, came to visit me every day - I think she likes me.

Mountainair - Salinas Pueblo Ruins - Turquoise Trail NM

Way behind again! The pueblo ruins are from 1600's. They were built and run the Spanish Franciscan monks. The bottom picture is from Madrid - a fun, lively, artsy, little town on the Turquoise Trail. The Turquoise Trail is the scenic drive between Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Cerrillos is another interesting town on the trail - it has been a ghost town for a long time that is trying to make a comeback. Not successfully yet....

Pie Town to Socorro, NM

I can write more tonight since I have wifi on my laptop. I've been doing it on my cell phone lately and don't write much. Pie Town was a quick stop - not as good as the segment we had seen on Sunday Morning News show a while back about Pie Town. We tried the New Mexican Apple Pie - it had green chile and pinon nuts. Sounds weird but was very good. The antenna  is VLA Radio Telescope. All of a sudden on the lonely highway, 27 of these appear. VLA stands for Very Large Array. Long story short, they are huge satellites that view outer space. Google it if you need to know more! We are back in jeans and sweatshirts since we are in the mountains again. Beautiful scenery - the peaks were snow covered today. Headed towards pueblos and Santa Fe.

 Comments from Eldon: I'm glad to be back in New Mexico again. People, which are few and far between, wave on the back roads we have been driving on. On a whole, the people are the friendliest and laid back. I never met a piece of pie I didn't like but I've liked some pies I've met better than today's. A little disappointing but still tasty. The Continental Divide crossing was pleasant driving.

Comments from Harry: I agree, the Continental Divide drive today was so much smoother than the Chiricahua Mountains - I NEVER want to go back there. I miss hanging with the kids in Tempe - that was fun! Thanks for the walks and brushing, Daniel.

Silver City and Gila Cliff Dwellings, NM

 Silver City is a neat old mining town.  It has reinvented itself with a lot of galleries and shops.  The Gila Cliff Dwellings were impressive - glad we made the drive and the hike.

Family Time in Tempe Az

We spent a nice week in Tempe at Mike, Daniel,  Sara,  and Marissa's house with Joy, Roger and Eileen. I was lax taking pictures,  but a fun time was had by all. 

Colorado River - Lake Havasu - River Island State Park

 I an so far behind! We spent several days at this state park in Arizona. California is on the far side. Several frendly Canadian neighbors for happy hour. 

Indian Painted Rock petroglyphs & Joshua Tree National Park

 and the beauty continues!

Saguaro National Park West

Top picture is tonight's view from my lawn chair at Tucson County Park.  We spent today at the western part of the park.  Equally beautiful plus petroglyphs.

Tombstone and Saguaro national park

 Tombstone was a lot of fun.  Eldon relived his childhood love of westerns.  Saguaro is beautiful.

Bisbee AZ

Bisbee is an historic copper mining, wild west town. Our campground is on a hill overlooking historic Bisbee. Harry is showing you our view from the camper. There are lots of antique stores, so guess what I did today.

Comments from Eldon: Bisbee is a town of artists and young and old hippies. The walk around town was very mellow. A slogan on t-shirts for sale is Bisbee - like Mayberry on acid. Appears fitting.

Comments from Harry: Whatever.........just OK here for me.

Chiricahua National Monument

We had never heard of the Chiricahua's, but glad we know now. Reminiscent of Bryce Canyon in Utah, but not as colorful. We took the 30 mile gravel road through the park - it took us 3 hours! Glad we did it, but would I do it again? Probably not!

Comments from Eldon: After the 3+ hour adventure up and down the mountain, my adventure spirit has been satisfied for now. There is something to be said for asphalt! The "turtle" handled the road (?) great - see above pictures. While parked in a fork in the road, 2 border patrol trucks stopped to see if we were OK. Turns out both vehicles had illegals in the back of their trucks. Shocking to us, as we were 8,000 feet up and in the middle of nowhere and 70 miles from the border.

Comments from Harry: Where in the world were they driving??? It was frightening in my loft - stuff was flying all over.