Troyce and Lisa could only stay until Wednesday, because he's still a working man and had to get back to work. We stayed a little longer and then, tagged along with Jere & Ronnie to a rally they wanted to attend in Sherman, TX. It was a local chapter of the FMCA'ers that were getting together, so it was nice meeting new friends. The big plus was, we were going into a full hookup RV park, so it gave us a good chance to try out our new air conditioner that Ron had installed when we were in California.
Let me tell you, it is so quiet, you can't even hear it running either inside or outside and it works GREAT!! We are really pleased with it!! Of course, the coolest place in the whole rig is the bathroom, as it's blowing directly in there, but, we have fans going to direct it in other parts of the bus. It was turned on right when we got there & we didn't turn it off until this morning when we left the park.
We are now in Coffeyille, KS. We might be working for Amazon.com for the holidays and we wanted to stop and see what RV parks are available. Of course, the ideal one would be the one that was supposed to be opening in July & a mile away from the plant, but, it's not even built yet & won't be until the new highway/freeway gets built in 2 years time. So, if we come, we'll be staying at the same park we're staying in tonight, which is about 6 miles away. Tomorrow, we get back out on the road and travel on...
Thursday, May 27, 2010
May 27th
Since I last posted the last pictures, we've spent about a week & a half in Texas. We stopped in Graham, TX, to visit some bus friends, Troyce & Lisa, and stayed in their yard. I never got any pictures of that, because I forgot. The first day after we got there, I went with Lisa to her weekly art class which her mother teaches, painting, mostly. I hadn't decided if I wanted to learn how or not, I'm not that great at drawing. One of the ladies I met at the class talked me into trying it, so I did and I must say, it came out pretty good. I painted a picture of flowers in a field with trees in the background, with plenty of help from Lisa's mom when I needed it.
After the class was over, they drove me over to see Billy Bobs, a famous country western nightclub in Ft Worth. We had to pay to go in to the place, which I thought was outrageous. True, we only had to pay $1, but, still...I remember seeing the dance floor on some country western videos back in the 80's, so was looking forward to seeing that famous dance floor.....well, things certainly have changed in 30 years. Most of the floor space has been taken up with table & chairs for concerts that they hold there. The only dance floor they have is now very small.
We got there on a Tuesday afternoon and on Friday, both of us started up our buses and headed towards Linden, TX, which is in the northeast corner of the state. What should have only taken around 6 hours, ended up with us having to stay overnight on the road, because first we had a problem & then Troyce had a problem. His problem just took longer, but, at long last, everything got fixed & we arrived at another bus friend's house, Jere & Ronnie on Saturday morning.
On Sunday, Jere's car club was having a rally. Since he has three old vehicles, he let each of us drive one, which was pretty nice of him. Troyce drove the 1964 Ford Galaxy 500, we drove the 1064 Corvair Monza & Jere drove his 1947 Ford truck. We got all the cars spruced up, met up the other car club members a few miles away & all caravanned to Texarkana to eat. Not many members showed up, unfortunately, but, still we had 5 old cars going down the road. It looked quite impressive.
After the class was over, they drove me over to see Billy Bobs, a famous country western nightclub in Ft Worth. We had to pay to go in to the place, which I thought was outrageous. True, we only had to pay $1, but, still...I remember seeing the dance floor on some country western videos back in the 80's, so was looking forward to seeing that famous dance floor.....well, things certainly have changed in 30 years. Most of the floor space has been taken up with table & chairs for concerts that they hold there. The only dance floor they have is now very small.
We got there on a Tuesday afternoon and on Friday, both of us started up our buses and headed towards Linden, TX, which is in the northeast corner of the state. What should have only taken around 6 hours, ended up with us having to stay overnight on the road, because first we had a problem & then Troyce had a problem. His problem just took longer, but, at long last, everything got fixed & we arrived at another bus friend's house, Jere & Ronnie on Saturday morning.
On Sunday, Jere's car club was having a rally. Since he has three old vehicles, he let each of us drive one, which was pretty nice of him. Troyce drove the 1964 Ford Galaxy 500, we drove the 1064 Corvair Monza & Jere drove his 1947 Ford truck. We got all the cars spruced up, met up the other car club members a few miles away & all caravanned to Texarkana to eat. Not many members showed up, unfortunately, but, still we had 5 old cars going down the road. It looked quite impressive.
These next few pictures, you can see how windy it is, because there is dust in the air. If you didn't know where we are, you'd think we were up in the arctic or something, all that white!! I'm climbing a dune & the whirling sand was unbelievable, especially once I got to the top! You can believe we were both covered from head to toe with sand by the time we got back in the rig, especially our hair...well, mine at least...
Monday, May 24, 2010
We had such a great week, running around, seeing everything there was to see. Of course, there are still things we want to see, but, that is for another visit. Our friends are such great hosts and I think they had fun, too, with all the stuff we did. I think they needed a vacation by the time we left on Friday morning.
Our next stop, again, about 5 1/2 hours down the road, was Las Cruces, NM. Paul & Stephanie, Boomer friends of ours, who have gotten off the road & settled down into a house they built for themselves, have a place to stop for a night or several in their side yard with hookups. We had stopped by there in late October of last year & since we were going right through there again, stopped again for a short visit. And, as usual, were wonderful hosts. We didn't get any pictures because we took them last time we were in town & are on this very blog.
We stayed the weekend & on Monday morning, we were off again, headed to Texas. We had driven past the White Sands National Park before but didn't stop, so this time, we decided to do so. Never mind that it was a windy day, we went anyway. We did stop at the visitors center first & saw a short film about the park.
We learned about the yucca plant and what happens to it when it gets engulfed by a dune. It sends out shoots higher than the dune to stay alive. So, the next time you see a 30 ft dune with a yucca plant on top of it, remember, that is a 30 ft plant! So, what happens when the dune moves on? The yucca plant collapses on itself because it can't sustain the height by itself. On the other hand, the other grasses that are growing on the dunes, take enough sand to adhere to the roots of the plants, so when the dune moves on, there are little cones of dirt and plants left behind. I took pictures of that so you can see what I'm talking about. Very interesting stuff! Also, that is not sand you see, but, gypsum, so when we went in there, it was like a white out, almost like looking at snow.
Did I mention it was a very windy day and we're going into this sandy area????? I guess we should have waited for a calmer day, but, we just decided to go for it. You could see the sky was hazy from all the dust in the air. When you see the pictures, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It's a fairly narrow road going into the park, but, when you get to where all the dunes are, it's almost impossible for two cars going in opposite directions to go through at the same time, (never mind RV's), because of the drifting sand over the road. The tractor with the shovel was having a busy day.
Our next stop, again, about 5 1/2 hours down the road, was Las Cruces, NM. Paul & Stephanie, Boomer friends of ours, who have gotten off the road & settled down into a house they built for themselves, have a place to stop for a night or several in their side yard with hookups. We had stopped by there in late October of last year & since we were going right through there again, stopped again for a short visit. And, as usual, were wonderful hosts. We didn't get any pictures because we took them last time we were in town & are on this very blog.
We stayed the weekend & on Monday morning, we were off again, headed to Texas. We had driven past the White Sands National Park before but didn't stop, so this time, we decided to do so. Never mind that it was a windy day, we went anyway. We did stop at the visitors center first & saw a short film about the park.
We learned about the yucca plant and what happens to it when it gets engulfed by a dune. It sends out shoots higher than the dune to stay alive. So, the next time you see a 30 ft dune with a yucca plant on top of it, remember, that is a 30 ft plant! So, what happens when the dune moves on? The yucca plant collapses on itself because it can't sustain the height by itself. On the other hand, the other grasses that are growing on the dunes, take enough sand to adhere to the roots of the plants, so when the dune moves on, there are little cones of dirt and plants left behind. I took pictures of that so you can see what I'm talking about. Very interesting stuff! Also, that is not sand you see, but, gypsum, so when we went in there, it was like a white out, almost like looking at snow.
Did I mention it was a very windy day and we're going into this sandy area????? I guess we should have waited for a calmer day, but, we just decided to go for it. You could see the sky was hazy from all the dust in the air. When you see the pictures, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. It's a fairly narrow road going into the park, but, when you get to where all the dunes are, it's almost impossible for two cars going in opposite directions to go through at the same time, (never mind RV's), because of the drifting sand over the road. The tractor with the shovel was having a busy day.
After leaving Bisbee, Jack & Jeanne wanted to stop in Tombstone to eat lunch at Big Nose Kate's. Every other time they'd been there, it had been crowded, but, this day we got in with no problem. Back in the past, it was the Grand Hotel and one of the original buildings in town. It was great on decor, but, the food....well, we weren't exactly thrilled with it.
Then, it was on to the town of Bisbee & a cute little town it is. Most of the townspeople live on the hillsides of town, as there really are not very many flat places around the downtown area. As I said, there is a now-defunct copper mine in the area with tours available. Since Jack & Jeanne had already been on that tour, we will save it for another visit. Lots of cute little shops line the streets of the main shopping area, filled with unique gifts by the local artisans, a nice change from the run of the mill knick knacks we usually see. This place is a must visit for another time, so we can stay longer to see all that it has to offer...
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