2020 Travels

June 27 Sat was intended to be a relaxing day. Deb and Roz went for an early morning walk on the beach.  Bob went to play golf with a really good friend of many years. I got cleaned up in anticipation of a day by the pool. We had access to one of the many premier condo complexes pools with a lazy river flowing around it.  Bob's son works for Phoenix which owns about 25 condo complexes in the area and is able to provide access to the best amenities. This is one of the more modern ones and adjoins the water with boat docks and lifts for the owners. The afternoon was spent lounging in my brothers condo as the humidity really takes it out of you. June 28 The area is packed with what we hope is more weekenders than people here for the whole week. Going to make today another lazy day. A good breakfast and a little golf on tv. Then we decided on a trip to Culver's for an ice cream treat. After dinner we went to the complex next door where my brother has another smaller unit for a bag...

June 24 We had a wonderful time in Santa Fe but time to hit the road again. Today and tomorrow are mostly road days with the goal today near Bellevue, Tx about 535 miles down the road. Every time I travel across the country I am awed by the changing scenery. Flat plains, rolling hills, scrub plants and tall trees. Weather is warm and dry and we make very good time settling in at the Campers Paradise RV park in Sunset, Tx. Park had good reviews and was good in every sense of the word EXCEPT the wifi. It was sooo sloooow the old dial up modems were faster. Couldn't even get email. IF wifi is important don't stay here but otherwise very nice park with very friendly staff. June 25 Thursday was a more interesting day as we started out on US 287 and relied on Garmin to get through the Dallas - Fort Worth area.She did an amazing job. We jetted across Tx into La  and continued until we got to Jackson, Ms where we turned SW on US 49. As we drove through La we encountered torrential rain...

The day started as we would hope. Blue skies and sunshine. Deb and I did some pre-travel work to make tomorrows departure easier while Dan took his 2 little dogs to the dog park. When he returned Deb was on a Zoom chat with Mom and 2 others. Zoom has been a God send for Mom since she is in an assisted living facility that does not allow visitors or residents to leave right now. When Deb finished we jumped in the car to head to the Bandelier National Monument. Their web site said it was open but on arrival found it closed with an opening date in July. Undeterred we went to Overlook Park. Walking up to the view platform we heard bagpipes.  This gentleman was playing the pipes in order to be filmed for the opening of a virtual music fest scheduled for Aug. Quite the treat. Here are some of the views from the overlook located near Los Alamos, the development and creation place of the atom bomb-the primary objective of the Manhattan Project by the Los Alamos National Laboratory during W...

Arrived in Santa Fe, NM just before 2pm on Sunday, Father's Day. Decided to take the Turquoise Trail, Rt 14 instead of I-25 from Albuquerque. Scenic route through the country side with a couple cute little towns. Madrid was jammed packed with tourists on this Father's Day. Stopped at the Cerrillos Hills State Park for a lite lunch before getting into town as our friend Dan was still at work. He is an air traffic controller at the Santa Fe airport. Dan got off and home at 2 and after getting the luggage in and electric connected to the trailer we had a leisure afternoon catching up. Last time we were together was Nov, 2016. Monday a little tour of Old Town Santa Fe. Lots of places closed and all the museums are closed as well. Some photos from the walk around town.  A distant shot of the Cathedral Basilica of St Francis of Assisi. Museum of Contemporary Native Arts The City Park and some of the architecture. The "End of the Journey" sculpture at the end of the Santa Fe...

It has been 19 months and 2 tax seasons since Deb and I  have ventured away with the trailer. The decision to go was almost spur of the moment, my brother thought it would be nice to see us and they had come here most recently. The trip was planned within a 30 day time frame and the decision to depart June 19 was to not miss any Hospice meetings. The morning of the 19th came and we departed promptly at 6:11 am and got 40 miles down the road when I remembered I had not closed the garage door. Fortunately a friend had an opener as was kind enough to save me from turning around. The goal the first day was Newberry Springs, CA just east of Barstow. We cruised smoothly through Sacramento and we were just north of Bakersfield at lunch time and stopped in a neat little city park in Oildale where we snacked on egg salad and watermelon. Back on the road we easily made Newberry Springs about 3:30 where we stopped for the night at Newberry Mountain RV Park. Really clean park with reasonable f...