Anna's Chronicle

Work

2009-05-06T14:08:00.001-07:00

Greetings all,

I am enjoying my quiet time at the Twisted Horseshoe. Finally the weather is warm, not hot, but warm.

I have been looking for work and have applied for a variety of jobs. It is difficult to know what to look for. My last job entailed plenty of sitting and not only do I hate that, but I get a sore back. I would really like to do something physically active. However, there is not a plethora of jobs, so I will take the first reasonable job that is offered. Having said that, it has to pay enough to live on.

My biggest problem presently seems to be finding an internet signal. Alas, that is always a challenge. If I go to the library I have to pay parking and can only park for a limited time. The library in Penhold has lots of parking, but no Wi-Fi, which means I can't use my laptop where my resume and cover letters are.

I will continue on my search and hope something turns up that I like.

Take care all.

Jim's Place

2009-04-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,
I am parked at the Twisted Horseshoe; Jim's place. It is by the RD airport.....I can watch the small planes and helicopters take off. Jim hooked me up to water and sewer and that is all I need.

I have been just resting the last few days. I went through 3 time changes going east and again going west and that really seemed to take the wind out of my sails.

It is difficult to think that my adventure is about done. I could go on for a long time yet. All things worked out well and I met some wonderful people and saw many different things.

The weather has been warm and sunny, but the weatherman is predicting rain/snow tomorrow and a high of 9C, which I can live with.

I have to look for work and get back into the world of sleep, eat and work.

Home

2009-04-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

5:53 PM 10/04/2009
I am now in North Bay, Ontario. I am rather glad to be out of Quebec. Although it is a beautiful historic province, it is nice to get news in English and to be able to read signs; any signs. I found the people there to be very friendly and helpful. It was also cold there. My old roommate, Pascal, told me it was very cold there and he is correct. I drove right through Montreal, keeping my eyes glued to the highway so didn't see much of any thing there. I also drove right through Ottawa. I would have liked to see the Parliament Building, but being Easter weekend everything is closed.

I got here on hwy 17, which in these parts is the Trans-Canada. It gives a whole new meaning to the term "shake, rattle and roll". I hope it improves as I continue.

6:05 PM 12/04/2009
The road did improve. I drove as far as I could yesterday, finally spending the night at a truck stop in Wawa (so called because of all the geese). It was a very scenic route. I saw both Lake Huron and Lake Superior. They are the bluest blue! I would call them royal blue. There were watch for moose signs all along the route. I didn't see any moose, but I saw a huge black bear on a rocky ledge by the highway. Today I drove as far as Dryden. I have been quite taken since re-entering Canada at how much forested area there is in our country.

I drove through Manitoba, stopping in Winnipeg. The one tire on my car Kaddie went flat and I was thankful that it happened in a city and not on the hwy. There was a lot of water in the ditches and some fields looked like lakes. I stayed at a truck stop for the night and it was a big mud hole, but I was tired from traveling and happy to park.

The next day I drove as far as Moose Jaw, Sask. and parked at WalMart. I had a great visit with my Uncle Mike and his wife Doreen. I drove through blizzard conditions from Moose Jaw to Swift Current. The radio was giving snow warnings for Maple Creek and I was undecided on whether to continue on or wait it out. I spoke to a couple who suggested I continue on as the snow was to last for 2 days. Presently the highway was warm and the snow was melting as it hit, but by tomorrow the roads could be iced up making travel impossible. I took their suggestion and arrived in Strathmore, which is where I sit to add to my blog.

It has been a wonderful experience and I hope I will get to do this once again, although for a shorter period of time. Thank you to all who have sent encouraging emails and comments to my blog. I will write again once I am settled.

Quebec City

2009-04-09T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

If you want to get really, really lost, go to Quebec City. I did a self tour of the old historic district. After awhile, I couldn't find my way back to where I had parked. I stopped and asked several people and showed them the map and where I was parked, but the streets run at an angle to the main street and the buildings all start to look the same.

However, it is a beautiful city. It is of course, very, very old. People have compared it to Europe and I can see the comparison.

It is still chilly here and has been raining all day without a break. I dressed warm as I found I was cold yesterday. We had some sleet last evening, but my propane is full and I was toasty warm. Tomorrow I will be heading west.

It is difficult to find your way in Quebec as all the signs are in French only. I have "cereal-box French" and can decipher some signs, but certainly not all of them. It can be rather dangerous on the highway when there is a warning sign and I don't have a clue what it says!

Peggy's Cove

2009-04-06T05:04:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had lunch at Peggy's Cove. It was very windy and cold there, but the place was very busy with tourists. The waves were crashing into the rocks and I thought that I certainly wouldn't want to live there in the winter months. It must be extremely harsh. It was a very scenic drive, lots of small fishing villages off curving roads.

I have been learning that one could spend a month or more just seeing the Maritimes. I have been doing a lot of driving and decided to head back to N.B. as N.S. was predicting freezing rain for their area and I didn't want to get caught in that. I am taking a day to get organized and tomorrow I will be heading to Quebec.

Amherst, N.S.

2009-04-04T15:00:00.000-07:00

This is as far as I made it this evening. It is a town and I am staying overnight in the old part of the district. I have no desire to be in the new part as they have the same new stores that we have in Alberta.

It was a beautiful day....15 C. The grass is turning green and the snow is almost gone.

I wish to continue on to Halifax tomorrow. The tourist info place was closed by the time I arrived, so tomorrow I will need to get a map so as to find my way around.

Charlottetown, P.E.I.

2009-04-03T16:27:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,

I crossed from N.B. to P.E.I. on a 13 km. bridge.

Here I am enjoying the old part of the city. The first photo is the Confederation Chamber where it all began for us Canadians. There was a peace rally in front of the building while I was there. The second photo is what many of the downtown streets look like here in Charlottetown.

I took the Fundy Drive to get here, but it was so foggy that I couldn't see much. Also, once you get off the main highway the roads are in poor condition. I left my MH at my nephews and just drove down in my car. I am thankful I did that due to the road conditions.

It has been raining off and on all day, but it is warm. I am still appalled by Cdn. prices, as all was so cheap in S. Texas. Restaurant food is double the price! Tomorrow I will leave for Nova Scotia. The Anne of Green Gables property is closed for renovations.

Fredericton, N.B.

2009-04-02T09:40:00.001-07:00

Hello fellow Canadians and American friends,

Today I went into Fredericton, to the old part of the city. The first photo was taken at the Legislative Building. It is a stove. I didn't realize that until I walked by and felt the heat. The second building is a museum and one of the very old buildings here. I spent a couple of hours just walking and taking photos. It is a nice day here today and I rather enjoy the cool, fresh air. On the way back I drove into Gagetown to see the army base.

It seems strange to be back in Canada. I now have to watch my speedometer in km., not miles. Also, after 7 months in the U.S. the Cdn. money looks foreign. I converted my Am. dollars today so that I am not losing 20 cents on the dollar. I saved some ones so that I can do my origami dollar bills as tips.

Some of the places I would like to visit are closed until May. I will go to P.E.I. and Nova Scotia and see what is there.

This is a sign I saw on a door:

"This is a push door. You can have it your way and pull, but this door is pretty stubborn."

New Brunswick, Canada

2009-04-01T06:02:00.000-07:00

Klip, klop past my MH while parked at WalMart in Lancaster, Penn. This is a sight that you don't see at most WalMarts. At night they rode by with their headlamps aglow and their reflectors shining. I would be fairly nervous if I was an Amish on the highway with cars passing at high speed. I got behind a buggy a few times and had to go really slow until safe to pass.

I was getting nervous about my time in the U.S. as it seems every Canadian had a story to tell about people who over-stayed their welcome and got into hot water. I asked one older couple how the Americans knew you were late getting home. They said a red light goes off at the border and they pull you over and then you are in real trouble. I was already a month overdue. So, I flew through many states until I finally reached northern Maine.

Once I was north I saw (excuse the 4-letter word), SNOW! I only had to go through the Canadian border crossing and saw no American crossing guard at all. The Canadian asked me how long I was in the U.S. and I said, "about 6 months". He asked me if I had anything to declare and I didn't. He then asked me if I was traveling alone and I said yes. He looked at my passport and waved me through. SO MUCH FOR ALL THE HORROR STORIES.

I arrived in Oromocto, N.B. where my nephew, Chris, and his family live. Chris is in the armed forces and stationed at Gagetown. I called their number at about 2 pm. and left a message that I was at Cdn. Tire. When they got home from work they didn't check for messages until almost 10 pm. when Chris saw the light flashing on his phone. He then rushed to Cdn. Tire and so I am now parked at their place. His wife, Patti is a real sweetheart and their two children are a joy.

I am not sure how long I will be here. The week-end is supposed to be extremely warm, so let's hope that transpires.

Update for Anna

2009-03-29T14:18:00.000-07:00

Hi, my Mom called me today and asked me to update her blog as she hasn't been able to get an internet signal in the last couple of days. It has been raining there quite a bit I guess. When she called me she was in Keene, New Hampshire. If you want to see where that is, click here.

Baltimore, MD

2009-03-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,

This is my third night in Baltimore, MD. The weather has been chilly and wet so haven't really been out too much. I spent so many days in a row traveling that I have been content to sit about for awhile.

Yesterday afternoon my pen pal, Robyn, came to visit me at the RV park. It was like we have known each other forever. This afternoon she took me out to see some of the sights. We went to the U.S. Navel Base. The buildings on the grounds are beautiful. She said the streets there are usually packed with people, but due to the rain there were not too many about. We could see many out on their sailboats in the harbour. This was an old area of town and what they call the Historical Section. There were many old brick houses in the area. We then had a fabulous supper at a Greek restaurant.

Tomorrow I leave for Amish country...Lancaster, Penn. Wish me luck driving in the rain.

Kentucky

2009-03-22T18:13:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,

Today I drove right through Tennessee and am now in Kentucky. I didn't stop in Tenn. and drove right through Nashville. OMG! The problem is that I can't see and do everything I would like to do. Tennessee is a beautiful state and is on my "come back and explore" list. I passed many stately country mansions, both new and very old.

As you can see the trees are in bloom in Kentucky. I am parked at an RV park as I needed to do laundry and MH maintenance. My grey water was getting full and I needed a shower badly. Free parking is great, but every once in awhile you need fresh water and the like.

I am heading towards Maryland as I have a penpal there. We have been in touch for about 15 years and have never met. It will be good!

I drove for just over 7 hrs. today and am pooped, so will call it an early night.

Jeff Busby Park

2009-03-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family,

I took these photos in Kusciusko, Miss. It was a small city but had many gorgeous buildings. There were a lot of Victorian style homes. If you click on the photos they will enlarge.

Early this morning I got back on the Natchez Trace and drove a short distance to Jeff Busby Park. You are allowed to park there for 2 weeks at no charge. It is beautiful there, but has no hook-ups or dump site. Fortunately, I parked directly across from the bathrooms (no showers), so will use their facilities instead of mine.

I drove 10 miles into Ackerman to use the internet. The library is closed, but I can pick up a signal in the parking lot. There are two men in green and white striped pants working on the grounds. I believe they are from a penitentiary, so am sitting in my car with the doors locked.

I am not sure how long I will stay here. The weather in Nashville, Tenn. is wet and cold this week, so will wait for things to warm up.

Natchez Trace, Mississippi

2009-03-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all,

I am following the beautiful Natchez Trace, Mississippi...going north, of course. I am staying at WalMart at Kosciusko, named after a famous Polish military leader, both abroad and in the Am. Revolution. The librarian tells me there is a monument to him across the street, so on my way out I will take photos.

I just passed through Louisiana; didn't stay there too long. The most interesting sites there are south and I am headed north. I stopped at a gas station and there was a woman talking to the cashier. I know she was speaking English, but I did not understand one word that she said.

The Natchez Trace makes for relaxing driving. No commercial vehicles, speed limit 50 mph and many places to pull over (historical sites). There are even some free overnight parking places. The weather here is absolutely lovely...cool mornings and hot days.

Yantis, Tx

2009-03-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Hello to you all;

I just spent a wonderful week with Wes and Jude at their lake front property in N.E. Texas. They are #1 on my list of kind, generous, hospitable people. A special thank-you to you both!!!!!
The photo was taken on their property. It was so peaceful and serene...no sounds other than the birds, of which there were many. I met some of their neighbours, ate in some funky restaurants, made friends with Pockets (their dog) and even tried my hand at the casino. Those of you who know me know that I don't gamble, but I did have fun and did come out a winner!

N.E.. Texas is beautiful; oaks, wisteria, elm, evergreens and trees I've forgotten the names of. Flowers are in bloom and trees are leafing.

I am now in Shreveport, Louisiana. I just arrived at WalMart and haven't had time to check things out or find the library. I will try to take things slowly from here on as spring weather can be rather iffy, so will check the net for the weather as I travel.

Sunday

2009-03-06T08:13:00.000-08:00

Hello friends and family,
I leave Donna, Tx on Sunday morning. Many are leaving the park now and two more left this morning. There are many hugs and tears as friendships have been formed and saying good-bye is always difficult.

I plan to go north to Victoria, Tx and spend the night at WalMart. It will seem really strange to be on the road again. The activity directors for the park, Wes and Jude, invited me to spend some time with them at the lake in northern Texas and there is nothing I would like better, so will aim for that.

The photo is a dancer in Progreso, Mexico. They put on quite a show! I will definitely miss going there. Cactus Jack and I had a great time going from lounge to lounge and dancing the evenings away. After the great Mexican music I have a hard time with the country sounds you hear at the dances in the valley.

I will attempt to keep up my blog as computer signal access allows. I am getting a bit homesick for Canada, but definitely too cold there to be heading home. Who knows what adventure is around the corner!

Wish me luck on the road y'all.

Monterrey/Saltillo, Mexio

2009-03-01T11:09:00.001-08:00

Greetings my friends:

We just returned from 3 days and 2 nights in Monterrey/Saltillo, Mexico. It was a wonderful experience. We had only been to Mexican border towns, never to a Mexican city. We were very surprised at how modern and beautiful the cities are. The old 17 century buildings are mixed in with the new modern architecture. The new buildings are a work of art in themselves. The main streets are at least 3 lanes in each direction and well paved and demarcated. It was a good time to travel as the trees are in bloom as well as the cactuses.

The first day out was extremely hot. Our tour guide, Abel, said it had reached 110F. The next day was perfect and the third day had a somewhat chilly wind blowing, but was still nice. We visited new structures as well as the old city. Our bus driver, JoseLuis, was extremely proficient at turning down narrow, narrow streets with parking on both sides. A couple of times we all gave him applause for making, what looked to us, an impossible turn.

The first photo is a close-up of the cathedral in Saltillo. The detail is incredible. Everywhere are monuments; statues of some Mexican general, president, hero, etc. The parks are well treed, beautifully tended and flowered. The second photo is of the governor's palace in the heart of Monterrey. It is on a huge plaza with many statues and a park.

We also went to Horse Tail Falls, which is high in the mountains and surrounded with a beautiful park where families can picnic and enjoy the scenery. We stayed at a very nice hotel in Monterrey, walking distance to shopping and night life.

Things were more expensive in the cities than in the border towns. There are many huge factories there, which employ the Mexicans. We were told that most factory workers make $1/hr. but are striving to have that increased to $2/hr. For such low wages, a huge percentage of the vehicles were new. We saw rows and rows of the pigeon, chicken and turkey houses that my guide on the border trip had explained. Our guide explained many things to us, from important dates in Mexican history to how squatters eventually own their property. He had two years of post-secondary education to become a tour guide over 30 years ago. Now, he said, you need 4 years of post-secondary to become a tour guide. He had a great sense of humour and told us several jokes, which were very funny with his accent.

All in all it was indeed a trip to remember!

La Gloria, Texas

2009-02-22T17:36:00.001-08:00

Hola amigos,

We've been extremely busy as of late. On Saturday the owners of my RV park hosted a barbeque as an appreciation day. There were two different entertainers...one before the meal and one after. In the evening we went to La Escondidas, as we had been invited to a birthday party there.

This afternoon we went to see bloodless bullfights in La Gloria. There were 3 matadores and 1 matadora. Lupita Lopez is one of the world's 5 female matadoras. She was grace personified. After each of the matadores performed the judges would ask the audience to wave their hats or hankies to relay whether the matador should get the prize of one bull ear, two ears, or two bull ears and a tail (all fake). Lupita won the top prize. The custumes were gorgeous, and there were a few near misses.

Ending the performance was a Mexican performer on his dancing horse. He called himself El Guapo (Handsome). He sang while riding and had his horse do tricks.

It was an event worth seeing.

Spring is here

2009-02-15T18:20:00.000-08:00

Greetings Y'all,
Cactus Jack has arrived in South Texas and you see him here looking "cool" and having a drink by the ocean on South Padre Island. We went to Boomerang Billies to see Leslie perform. We scooted out of there leaving enough time to get ready for the evening's dance at an RV park in Weslaco. Today we went to Pepe's on the River and danced again, so tonight we are both tired. Pepe's was absolutely packed!

Spring has arrived and today I saw many shrubs in full bloom and they were gorgeous. We had a bit of rain today which is great as it has been very dusty here as of late.

We will be very busy as I would like Jack to see the many sites of Southern Texas and parts of Mexico.

Hope you are all well and happy.

Dancers

2009-02-10T17:28:00.001-08:00

Hola,

Another day in Progreso to finish the dental work. Finally finished!!!! Our friend, Carol, took Gab and I to a restaurant/gift store called Garcia's and also called the Canada Store. It cost us each $5.50 to enter. For that price you got unlimited pina coladas, margaritas or tequila sunrise. They had a live band and dancing for part of the time. For the second part a company of dancers performed for us. They were fantastic! The male's dancing reminded me a lot of the riverdance. It began at four and was over by 6 pm.

It is extremely windy this evening so hope we don't blow away!

Gabrielle

2009-02-06T08:18:00.001-08:00

Buenos dias mis amigos,

These are photos of Gab in Mexico. She was surprised at the size of the pinatas, so I had to take her pic with one. There are many stores in Mexico and here in the valley that are party stores and sell a variety of pinatas and huge bags of candy to fill them with. Mexicans like to celebrate whenever possible, whether it is a birthday, anniversary or whatever.

We went into a cantina for a margarita and there was a man all dressed and painted in silver. He would walk around acting like a robot and you could have your picture taken with him for a dollar. Anyway to make a buck!

We were there most of the day and you do get weary of the hawkers trying to sell you their wares. You cannot walk down the street without each and every merchant trying to get your attention. Add to that the dentists, hairdressers, etc and it is non-stop. But, it was an experience for her and she was able to find some gifts for friends back home.

On Sunday we plan to go to South Padre Island for the day. Today is a rest day!

Aloe Farm

2009-02-05T09:55:00.000-08:00

Greetings all,

Yesterday Gabrielle and I went with our park to Mercedes, Tx to the Aloe King Farm. It was extremely interesting. The top photo is an aloe vera field. They have about 40 acres planted in aloe. When the outer leaves get big they cut them off and sell them by the leaf....a dollar a leaf. Our guide showed us how to fillet an aloe leaf so as to just have the slippery white stuff inside the leaf. Some of the leaves are filleted and sent to factories to be made into aloe vera products, such as cosmetics and lotions. The aloe plants have suckers and these are cut and sent out as young plants. They sent 70,000 of these young plants to Uganda. Aloe plants are extremely hardy except when it comes to cold. Temperatures just above freezing will kill the plants. No pest will attack the aloe plant. They do have blossoms, but no one knows why. The blossoms do not go to seed, so they seem to serve no purpose.

They also grow citrus fruits, papaya and avocado on this farm, mostly for their own use.

J.R. Sigrist and his wife own the farm. She is 86 and he is 87 years old. He is also known as "The Sandman" as he does sand art. They collect different colored sand from all over the world. He was explaining that there is no blue sand, but there is sand of all the other colours. Green sand is becoming difficult to find. We watched as he made a bottle of his sand art. He packs the sand so tightly that even if you roll the bottle the artwork stays intact. He then seals each bottle with wax before putting on the lid. It was something to watch!

His wife runs the gift store and does a presentation on the history of the farm. She was a pure delight!

It was a great day.

Bo Rivers

2009-01-28T18:52:00.001-08:00

Greetings from Donna, Tx.,

This evening we had live entertainment at our park. The artist is Bo Rivers and he was fantastic. You can find him on the Internet. He sang some Willy Nelson and songs from the 50's and 60's. There is a lot of talent here in Southern Texas.

My daughter, Gabrielle, is coming for a visit on Feb. 1st, and I am very excited about seeing her. I haven't seen my children live since September and I miss them lots. We do talk on Skype and MSN and web cam each other, but it is nice to be able to give them a hug and get one in return.

Tomorrow I go back to Progreso, Mex. for my final dental work. So glad that will be over with.

Hope you all are keeping well and happy, and warm.

Pepe's

2009-01-25T08:27:00.001-08:00

Buenos dias,

I had company from Alberta for 3 days. My friend, Doug, from Red Deer was passing this way and stopped to visit. It is always nice to see someone from home. Of course, one wants them to see as much as possible while they are here so one day we went to South Padre Island and then to Progeso, Mex. We also got together with friends and had a great time.

Yesterday we went to Pepe's in Mission, Tx. That is Pepe's in the photo. It is on the Rio Grande River....the river that separates the U.S. from Mexico. They have live music there on the week-ends, so we ate and danced and visited. At one point some folks there were attempting to hit golf balls from the U.S. side of the Rio Grande to the Mexican side.

A couple from Quebec was part of our group. In many places in Mex. you cannot put toilet paper in the toilet as their sewer system cannot handle it. So he said that he just puts his in his cowboy hat and raised his hat to show us all the paper. Of course, he was just kidding around, but it was pretty funny.

I know I will find it difficult when it is time to leave in March, as I have made such good friends here and the people in my RV park are so kind and friendly. At least it is easy to keep in contact with email.

A cold front has moved in so for a couple of days the temperatures will be cooler here. It is only 22C in my MH with all the windows open. Guess I will have to trade my sandals in for socks and sneakers today.

Bus Tour

2009-01-16T16:53:00.001-08:00

Today we went on a one day bus tour. We visited 3 Mexican cities: Metamoros, Progreso, and Reynosa. We had a really good tour guide and he explained various things to us as we traveled. For instance, Mexico produces 3 kinds of alcohol. There is tequila, mezcal and pulque. All 3 of these spirits are made from the agave plant. Mezcal is often bottled with a worm (larvae) in it. The purpose of the worm is to add flavor to the drink. The maguey worm is found on the agave plant and is considered a delicacy in Mexico and is often found on restaurant menus throughout Mexico. Pulque is a white liquid that apparently tastes a lot like beer. It is purported to be an aphrodisiac, but loses its potency within 24 hours. Our tour guide said he took a group out and gave them each a small glass of pulque. They were supposed to go to see the pyramids after that, but they all wanted to skip the pyramids and go to their hotel rooms.

As we were traveling through the Mexican countryside, he pointed out several rows of small white houses. There were 3 sizes: the pigeon, the chicken and the turkey. These small white houses are built by the Mexican government for low income people. The only requirement is that you have to be employed. They range from $20,000 to $35,000 depending on the size. This includes the lot. This house becomes the property of the purchaser and they have to pay it off in 12-14 years. They are free to sell their house if they wish.

All Mexicans who complete high school, after passing an entrance exam, are allowed to attend a Mexican university for free. They have both public and private universities.

They have only one gas station in Mexico called Pemex. The price of gas is not posted at the station as everyone knows it is $2/gal.

The painting on the bottom is a 3 dimensional painting that was in a cantina in Metamoros where some of us stopped for a margarita. The photo on the top was taken in a church in Reynosa. The church was build in the 16oo's.

All in all I had a great day and learned many things.

Ropa Usada

2009-01-15T07:29:00.001-08:00

Buenos dias mis amigos,

Yesterday a group of us ladies went to the ropa usada outlets. As near as I can figure, that means used clothing. There was a string of such stores. The clothing arrives in those huge bails that you see in the photo. The bails are opened and dumped in big piles on the floor. When the piles spread too far, the forklift comes and scoops them back into a pile again. Some of the items are used and some still have the tags on them. You sort through the clothes and as you can see you often climb to the top of the pile to search. You buy items by the pound. One store had a 30 cent a pound pile and a 60 cent a pound pile. At another store it was 20 cents a pound.

Some of the customers must have been there for awhile as they were leaning against piles, fast asleep.

John Wayne and Paula Cravens

2009-01-10T18:32:00.001-08:00

Greetings from a Winter Texan,

This evening in our rec hall we had John Wayne and his wife Paula Cravens. John is an author and has written books about The Duke and has also authored other western books. His real name is Ermal Williamson. He is also an actor. He impersonates John Wayne in a Coors commercial and has been on the Golden Girls and done some movies. You can find him on the internet.

Last evening my friends Carol and Bill and myself went out to La Escondida, which is loosely translated, the hide-away. Here they differentiate between liquor and beer. Apparently a liquor license is very expensive, so some bars only serve beer. However, you can bring your own liquor to the bar and ask for a set-up. A set-up is a bucket of ice, a glass, pop, lemon and perhaps salt. When Carol whipped out her container of liquor I said, "you can't bring that in here!" but you can. Different isn't it?

McAllen, Texas

2009-01-07T06:56:00.001-08:00

Hello,

Yesterday a group of us went to McAllen, pop. 130,000. We wanted to see the International Museum of Art and Science. One room was called "Icons" and had 10 large scale stained glass windows. They were from a private collection that had once been in St. Paul's Episcopal church in Albany, New York in 1914. They were absolutely beautiful.

Another room had this huge globe that you see in the photo. The narrator explained various weather phenomena and while he did so the globe would change to reflect the topic. It was a really neat affect.

They had a room of torture instruments, but it was closed yesterday. There were also art displays of paintings, carvings and sculptures. All in all it was worth seeing.

We had lunch at a smorg restaurant and there was a large variety of foods and it was all good.

Donna

2009-01-05T15:24:00.001-08:00

Hola mis amigos
This is pretty much what it looks like at my park. Today is a bit cooler, in the 50's, but tomorrow it is to be back up in the 70's. Temperatures here can vary quite a bit day to day. All last week we were in the high 80's.

Today we had a jam at our park. One of my guitar strings was broken I discovered once I got to the rec hall, but they put my name on the list to sing. I was extremely nervous, but sang anyway. There were 2 banjo players, a bass guitarist, 4 guitarists and multiple singers. Add to that those who came to listen and there were quite a few of us. It was a lot of fun.

Tomorrow I am going to McAllen with a couple from the park. We are going to the museum so later this week I will share photos.

Keep warm, especially those of you in the frozen north.

New Year

2008-12-30T15:04:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to You All,

Yesterday most of our park went to Progreso, to a place called Arriba's for lunch, drinks and dancing. Each time I go to Mexico I am amazed with the talents and creativity of the Mexican people. I watched a young man make me a bracelet with my name on it. He worked so quickly you can hardly see his fingers move and in less than five minutes he had made the bracelet complete with hearts. I also like to watch the painters who spray bottles or canvass with spray paint and using a small piece of cardboard do incredible paintings. The handwork is just beautiful.

And then there are the musicians, who sing in English, but don't speak English at all.

Tonight, being Tues. is once again potluck, but I decided to skip it this week. The lady across from me says that this isn't an RV park, it is a fat farm. And she is right. I have over-indulged myself at the two potlucks I took in, so decided to stay away from them. There seems to be many occasions to get together with food.

Tomorrow, being New Year's Eve we will be getting together for finger foods, having a band, and indulging in drinks and dancing. We are supposed to dance in the streets of our park, but apparently the forecast is for rain tomorrow, so we may end up inside the rec centre.

I hope you all have a SAFE and happy New Year.

A Hot One Today

2008-12-26T13:21:00.001-08:00

Hi Y'all,

I hope you all had a good Christmas. As you can see there was tons of food at my Christmas dinner and, as usual, I ate far too much. There were enough left-overs for supper. What you see doesn't include the dessert table! But, that is part of what Christmas has always been about, isn't it?

Santa arrived and we had a gift exchange and I got the most beautiful hand made cushion for my MH....the nicest gift there!

It has been beautiful here weather-wise and I see that it has warmed up at your homes as well. After that deadly cold, it must seem not too bad there! Hope you are all keeping warm.

Christmas

2008-12-23T13:37:00.000-08:00

The season is upon us. In a couple of days you will be sitting down with your family to enjoy Christmas. It will seem rather weird for me as this will be the first Christmas away from my family and it goes without saying that I will miss them. I will also miss my friends.

We in the RV park will be having a Christmas potluck in the recreation hall and I'm sure there will be tons of food and goodwill. The weather has smartened up and by Christmas Day we should be in the high 80's.

I would like to wish you all a safe and happy Christmas. I'm sending a big hug to you all.

Flea Market

2008-12-20T12:39:00.001-08:00

Today I went to the flea market just down the street. They sold a bit of everything. There was live entertainment as well so I sat for awhile to listen. I was wearing the brown T-shirt that my daughter, Gabrielle, had bought for me.

A couple came and sat by me and she said, "I like your shirt" and told her husband to look at my shirt. He was an artist, and while his wife and I visited he sketched this picture for me. Cool!

Festival of Lights

2008-12-18T18:04:00.001-08:00

Greetings All,

Today was another busy day. We women went to Mexico today to eat and shop. I didn't eat since I had a dental appt. and I am a poor shopper, but I wandered about looking at all the jewelry and clothing. There is tons of beautiful jewelry and clothing and the prices are pretty good as well.

This evening a group of us went to Hidalgo to view the Christmas Lights. We took the trolley around town and the lights were gorgeous. They had peacocks, butterflies, dragons, bears, etc. The house across the street from City Hall belongs to a famous singer from these parts and his house was extremely well lit.

All in all it was a great day!

Mexico

2008-12-16T07:19:00.001-08:00

Hola,

Yesterday I was back in Mexico to get my dental work done. Nuevo Progreso seems to be your standard border town. As you cross on the bridge over the Rio Grande River, there are people under the bridge on the Mexican side. They have their caps out and are asking that you throw them a penny, a nickel, a dime.

The merchants seem to sell similar items: jewelry, leather goods, blankets, pottery and CDs. The prices are very reasonable. You can buy a Mexican blanket for $2. Much of the pottery is beautiful. The little children are on the street with their parents and attempt to sell you items. They give you the most pitiful look. There is also an abundance of pharmacies, dentists and beauty salons. Traffic is extremely congested.

It is difficult to pass by the beggars on the street and frequently I put money in their cup. I think that for some of them begging brings in their only income. Wouldn't it be nice to have the money to change their lives?

Today is a wet day. We are all supposed to go to Hidalgo for the Festival of Lights this evening, but I think it will be cancelled, unless there is a major weather change before then.

Nuevo Progreso

2008-12-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

Hola mis amigos;

This morning my neighbours and I went into Mexico. We had breakfast at this comida, where we were treated to this trio's music. We wandered around a bit looking at the merchandize and then I went for a haircut. It was $5 for a cut, product and blow dry.

Tomorrow I hope to go back and have some dental work done. A filling is $15 as is a cleaning. Many Americans go there for dental work and medications. Can't beat those prices!

Today is windy but 26C, so can't complain. I do feel sorry for y'all in Alberta as I watch the weather network and I can say with all honesty that I'm glad I am here and not there.

Edinburg, Tx

2008-12-11T07:09:00.001-08:00

Good morning y'all,
Yesterday 4 of us went to the South Texas Museum in Edinburg, Texas. It was a neat museum in that they had period costumes you could don. It was hilarious.

Last night was very chilly, in fact, there was frost warnings out. Today is to be back into the 70's and warmer from there. I used 3 comforters last night.

I went to a dance in Pharr, Tx. It was good except that most of what they played was quite slow and I don't really care for the slow ones.

The towns here all run into each other. Pharr is the 3rd town east of Donna, but only takes about 15 min. to get there. I always take my trusty map with me in case I get disoriented. This one fellow is concerned that I will get really lost and offered for me to follow him and his partner back, but I figured if I could find my way from Alberta to here, then I could find my way 15 min. away. Donna is a good town to be in as it is rather central in the valley, making it easy to partake in activities in other towns. I have a Rio Grande Valley map that shows the location of the RV parks in the valley. That is a huge help.

Today the women in my park are off to Nuevo Progreso, a Mexican town, so we are off at 11 a.m.
I was told it is a good place to get a haircut and I need one. Looks like I have a mop on top of my head.

San Juan, Tx

2008-12-10T07:49:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I went to the Basilica of Our Lady of San Juan which is a national shrine. I also wanted to see the Cezar Chevez Memorial, but couldn't find it and nobody seemed to know where it was.

Last evening I went to the dance. I asked the couple I was with if there was a singles club here and they said every dance had a couple of tables of singles. Sure enough I found a table with a sign saying singles so I sat there and danced all night. I'm really not a fan of singles clubs. I'll tell you why. I danced a couple of dances with a fellow from Maine called Ted. He then says that he has every afternoon free and would like to spend them with me. I told him, "I don't think so". Shortly after he has his hand on my knee and I had to brush him off, and ignore him for the remainder of the evening. I also danced with a farmer from Ontario named Keith. He kept saying, "drag your feet" and "I can feel it when you take your feet off the floor". And I'm thinking it is almost 2009, when do we women get to lead. But, all in all, it was fun as I love to dance and am going to the biggest single dance tonight.

Friends Brenda and I made at Falcon State Park (Marilynn and Butch), dropped by my site yesterday and invited me to jam at their park on Friday afternoon, so I plan to go see what that is all about. I will take my guitar, but don't know if I'm brave enough to play.

A cold front has moved in and it is cold this morning. It is 42F. Dropped 40 degrees since yesterday! At 11 am I am going to a museum with the neighbours. I will dress warm.

Sight seeing

2008-12-09T06:00:00.001-08:00

Good Morning,

This is the patio here at the park. Isn't it pretty?

Today is 86F, but the temp is to drop tonight to the low 70's and rain for tomorrow.

Yesterday I went to the Tourist Info centre and she loaded me up with info and maps concerning what there is to see in this area. I will begin planning day trips tomorrow.

This evening I will be going to dance to the Texas Country Band. Don't know who'll I'll dance with as my dance partner is in Alberta, but even listening to the music will be enjoyable. I can always dance the mixers.

I've been following the Canadian news and weather on the internet. Keep warm y'all.

Sunday

2008-12-08T06:17:00.001-08:00

This is the mercado we went to yesterday. It was a hot day, but as you can see everyone, other than me, was in long pants and jackets. Go figure.

After the mercado we went for lunch and then to the new mall. The mall was cool in that there were stores on both sides of an open air walkway. I had left my camera in the car, which was too bad as there was a band I would have liked to have taken a photo of. It was a high school mariachi band. There were 10 violins, three guitars, a big mariachi guitar and a harp. The students were clad in Mexican garb and each student took a turn singing, with hand movements, and dancing. They were extremely good. One young fellow even serenaded me.
I could have listened to them all day.

Hot Here

2008-12-07T07:53:00.001-08:00

Good Morning

Still no photos from Donna, so sending a photo of Dirty Al's. We danced on the roof.

It has turned deliciously hot again. Yesterday one of the park women took me around Donna to show me where everything is. It is an old border town and many of the bldgs are ramshackle, although there is new development as well. People in the park are very friendly and a couple is taking me dancing on Tuesday. Each MH park has activities and people go from one park to the another to partake. Tues. is potluck at this camp.

Donna, Texas

2008-12-05T10:59:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

I am now in Donna, Texas. Arrived about 11 am. with no mishaps. Not much to report as just set up. It is pouring rain here; hope the sun comes out soon.

This photo was taken at Boomerang Billies on South Padre Island. I don't have a clue who that man is; he just happened to be sitting there when I took the photo. It was a beautiful setting to have a couple of beers and listen to live music.

Will write more after I have time to do some exploring.

Last Day here

2008-12-04T08:19:00.000-08:00

Last night a group of us went to the Schlitterbahn Shrimp Haus for drinks and dancing. I guess there were about 10 of us. Part of the group is a set of twins. One twin is called "A" and the other is "B". "A" is the oldest and her husband's name is "JD". They are identical twins. We had fun line dancing and just visiting. Leslie was singing there; she does a wide variety of music.

The last couple of days have been extremely windy. Today is cool and I have jeans on...first time in a long time. I hope the wind settles by tomorrow as I hate driving on that long bridge when the wind is so strong. I'm afraid of getting blown off.

Tomorrow is the big moving day. I'm a bit nervous about driving again after having been in one spot for a month. Like Donna said, it will feel really strange after 3 months. I'm hoping it will be less windy in the valley. Yesterday I went for a long walk on the beach and the sand was moving like drifting snow . There weren't many people on the beach, just a lot of wind surfers. I stopped at the marine research centre and took photos. Today's photo is shark's teeth. Scary.

Elvis

2008-12-02T09:22:00.001-08:00

Last evening a group of us went to Dirty Al's and Elvis was there. He was pretty good. After the show he was talking with Dirty Al and Dirty Al was saying how he used to take women's bras off with his teeth and had bras decorating the walls of his restaurant/bar. I had a good evening.

Today I went to the shops about town. Things are 1/2 price everywhere, but I don't really need anything, so came home empty handed. The wind has been from the north so the last couple of days have only been in the 70's F. I wore my jacket to begin line dancing, but took it off part way through. Line dancing is harder than it looks. Some days I am a total cluts. Only a couple of more days here and then off to Donna.

They have an International Idiots Club here. It costs you $5 to become a certified idiot with a card. You can also buy T-shirts. Once you have the card you get 75 cents off every beer at Boomerang Billies. There are quite a few idiots here.

Busy

2008-11-30T08:05:00.001-08:00

Hi Everyone,

The days just seem to be getting busier and busier. We went one evening to Laguna Vista to take a line dancing class from a Texan by the name of Lynn. He is a competitive line dancer and is very particular on how we do our steps. So we had danced for 1 and a half hours in the morning and another 2 hours in the evening.

Yesterday my neighbour, Carol, woke me up to do breakfast with her at a little restaurant on the bay. I had 2 eggs, 4 strips of bacon, two slices toast and coffee for $3.25. Then we went to the Mercado, an open air market here on the island. We stopped to watch the belly dancer for a bit. From there we went to Bommerang Billy's to watch an entertainer named Leslie. This pub is right next to the sea and is open air. A nice setting. She sang mostly songs from the '60's and could really belt it out. In the evening my neighbour, Donna and I went to Pelican West to hear the band there. I was pooped by 11 pm.

Much of the entertainment is in the early afternoon, so we can usually be in bed by 9 or 10 pm.
They have a law here, an actual law on the books, that men's ties are not allowed on Padre Island. If a man refuses to take off his tie you are allowed to take a pair of scissors and cut his tie off.The convention centre has a sign on the outside of the bldg. saying "No ties out".

The temps have been in the high 80's all week, but today the wind is from the north so it is cooler. They have been spraying for mosquitoes here. I hate to think of them spraying a pesticide, but the mosquitoes have been incredibly bad. My legs are all bitten...they were just descending in a cloud whenever outside. I did use a repellent, but any little bit of skin that was missed was eaten up.

American Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

We began the day dancing on the top deck of Dirty Al's. It is a seafood restaurant and the owner is kind enough to allow us to dance on his deck. We have a view of both sides of the island from up there. Today this big tanker was going by so I grabbed my camera and took a couple of shots.

Today a group of us went for a free Thanksgiving dinner at The Coral Reef. It is a lounge here on the island. We had a dinner with all the trimmings and live entertainment. Everyone calls the owner, Ya Ya, because anything you ask him he responds with ya ya. After dinner he accompanied the piano player with his banjo. I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera.

Free food is common here. In some bars at happy hour they put out free appetizers. They all have $2 beer, but the beer here a lot weaker than Canadian beer.

We are having a mosquito problem after last week's rain. Most of us are holed up in our MHs as they attack as soon as your door is open. It's terrible.

Winter Ready

2008-11-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Dan and Carol took me to Donna and I made arrangements to winter in an RV park there. It is $180 month; apparently the cheapest park around. It was nice and has computer access and a new hall for potlucks and the like. They have an activities coordinator and we will be car pooling for various activities such as going to Progreso, Mexico, the big flea markets, etc. They have karaoke once a week and live music once a week. I think it will be a lot of fun.

I will be the first to leave this park. The friends I have made will all be leaving about the 15th of December and all going to various places in the valley...not far from where I will be parked, so we can visit each other. I'm glad about that as I have met some really fine people here. I'm also glad about computer access. We all roam about this town trying to find a signal here and there. Places advertise wifi, but when you get there you find that it doesn'twork. The library is only open until 1 pm, so can't always get there in time. Oh yes, this life is very busy.

Christmas

2008-11-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Good morning,

It seems rather odd to see the town putting up Christmas decorations. It is difficult to get into the spirit of things when surrounded by palm trees. The weather is hot once again.

I had company in my MH last evening; the neighbours came over and we visited until almost 3 am, so I slept in and missed my dance lesson this morning. On Friday we are going to Laguna Vista for a dance lesson from a fellow named Lynn. It is $3 a lesson.

This photo was taken in Matamoros, Mexico. As you can see there is fresh fruit for sale. Brenda and I had bought some grapefruit from a fruit stand in Port Isabel. They are the biggest grapefruit I have ever seen and yet are sweet and juicy.

Rainy

2008-11-22T11:31:00.001-08:00

Greetings,

Yesterday was quite chilly...in the high 50's and pouring rain. Today it is warmer, but still raining. I even wore my flannel p.j.'s last night.

We went to the dance in San Benito last evening. The dance floor was huge; I've never seen a dance floor that big before. The attendance was low due to the weather and because the winter Texans don't come up until after Thanksgiving. I did a lot of line dancing and it was fun. I lost my steps many times, but there were quite a few of us learners there, so it really didn't matter. The men stayed at home and just us women went. They only sold water and sodas there, but you are allowed to byob.

There isn't much to do in your MH in this weather, so yesterday I spent the day doing crosswords. Carol brought over some books for me so today Iwill have my nose buried in a book.

Beach

2008-11-20T11:10:00.000-08:00

Everything will be O.K. in the end. If it's not O.K., it's not the end.

This photo of me on the beach was taken by Brenda. Yesterday my neighbour, Carol, and I went for a long walk on the beach. We both burned. I guess I will now be a shade or two darker. The water was lovely and warm.

Apparently cooler weather is moving in and it will drop to the low 70's F. by tomorrow.

I have been line dancing all week and tomorrow is the big dance. I will be traveling with another neighbour, Judy, and her husband. It is about a 40min. trip each way. I will probably sit out most of the line dances as I am not ready yet for public hoofing.

Last evening I went to a bar called the Brewing Co. and yes, they brew their own beer there. I went as they advertise a wifi connection, but the connection didn't work. I met two really friendly people from the island and we had a good visit. He wanted to know what Canadians think about them owning Alaska. I've never heard a Canadian mention it, so guess it is not really a concern for us. We discussed a lot of topics and it was an enjoyable evening. There is still a lot of talk about Hurricane Dolly that came through in August of this year. It hurt a lot of businesses due to damage. One of the big hotels closed down permanently.

A bill was passed in two states that allows parents to just drop off their children at Social Services if they don't want the kids anymore. The drop-off point is a hospital. Apparently they have had an abundance of parents dropping off their pre-teens and teens. You would think children would now be afraid if they needed a hospital stay. When I heard of this bill I was truly shocked. Still am.

Gorgeous Day

2008-11-18T13:30:00.000-08:00

Today I met a woman, Bonnie, who is staying at the KOA campground. She is from BC and is traveling with a female companion. She was a social worker from Vancouver, but found her job was stressing her out and making her ill, so decided to call it quits and go traveling. They went through Canada first and then down to Texas. They plan to travel all the way to Belize. They have friends who just arrived in Belize with their camper van and didn't have any difficulty. They will be meeting with other travellers and going together as a group. I told her about the fellow we met in a state campground who met with the Mexican border police close to Belize.The police charged them $2000, and would only allow them to turn their motorhome around and head back into Mexico. She told me I was welcome to join them. It was tempting, but I think I will stick to my original plan. I don't have extra funds to pay off Mexican police, don't know what road conditions are like there, availability of service stations, etc. However, I gave her my email address and she will let me know how she fairs, hopefully.

There are birds everywhere here and one could spend days just watching them and listening to their interesting bird calls. I don't know what kind of birds they are, but certainly, not birds we have in Alberta.

Here it is only 5:48 pm and I am ready for bed. I probably walked a couple of miles today after an hour and a half of line dancing (that is me in the centre) and it is taking its toll. It will take a couple of days to get my strength back. But, what a beautiful day it was today. Hot sun, gentle breeze...what more can a person want?

More campers are arriving each day and this end of the park only has 3 spaces left. According to Marge, the librarian, there is another single woman parked close to me. Just have to find her. What is happening to women today? They are packing it in and taking off in record numbers. I could do a good psychological study on this topic.

Line Dancing

2008-11-17T10:23:00.001-08:00

Hi Y'all
Today I took my first line dancing lesson. There were 5 of us this morning. It was the immersion method of teaching, but the teacher, Donna, is excellent and surprisingly I picked up a few steps. The lesson was an hour and a half long and having worn blue jeans I was getting fairly hot by the end. It felt good to be moving again. It was also nice to meet two new ladies.

I believe I am on the mend; last night being the first since Wedn. that I was not sick to my stomach and throwing up.

This photo was taken at the Port Isabel Museum. There was some interesting history in there.

I wanted to share with you a few things I have noticed about American youth that is different than Alberta youth. I haven't heard the F word since leaving Alberta. If an elderly person needs assistance a young person will step up and say, "Can I help you, sir/ma'am?" and help. Also, there was no grafetti in the state park bathrooms and I have seen very little of such anywhere. Those are a few of the things I have noticed so far.

Until tomorrow.....

Cooler

2008-11-16T11:38:00.001-08:00

Hola,
The weather is a bit cooler. Funny, now that I have been traveling during really hot weather I find I am chilly when it is 70F. The sun is bright in a cloudless sky today, but the wind is from the north and I have a hoodie on. Part of the reason for this, I'm sure, is because I am still ill. The virus I picked up takes a long time to go on its way.

Brenda left on Saturday morning. I drove her to Port Isabel and she caught the airport shuttle to Brownsville. I haven't heard from her yet, so hope she made it home without a hitch. It was hard to see her go, we had a great time together.

South Padre Island is windy most of the time, but I signed up for a month so decided to stay put. I paid the monthly rate and should I decide to leave sooner, I will be charged a weekly rate and it will cost me more, so grin and bear the wind. There is lots to do here and am getting to know some of the RV women and finding out more info daily. The staff here at the park don't really tell you much of anything, so I have to find out details from the regular RVers who have been here more than once. I was invited to go to a dance with the couple next door, on Friday in San Benito, so I will take that in. Cost: $4.

Today I took The Wave into Port Isabel and went to WalMart and bought headphones for my computer, so now I can speak to those on msn. It will be nice to hear a familiar voice again. I also discovered that I can pick up wifi by the office here, so it saves me going to the library. Another tidbit I picked up from an old time RVer. By the time I finish my 10 month stint on the road I should actually know what I am doing, how to save a buck, etc.

Stormy

2008-11-14T08:08:00.001-08:00

Good Morning
Brenda and I went to the Turtle Rescue Centre to see the turtles there. Most have missing flippers from shark attacks or whatever. One little turtle was blind in one eye, having been attached by red ants. Some of the turtles were huge...over 2oo lbs. and will double that when fully grown.

I gave you some misinformation the other day. Hurricane Ike didn't reach here; it was Hurricane Dolly that did all the damage. Some businesses were closed for 3 months to repair the damage.

I have been down for two days, having caught what Brenda had. I didn't have it to the same degree as she did, but then after she went to the Dr. I knew what to do or not do.

We had a terrible rain yesterday, it just came down in sheets. I was in bed with my window open and woke up with wet sheets, etc. I have never experienced rain like that, that lasted for so long; at least 12 hours. Today is calm and bright.

South Padre Island II

2008-11-12T11:05:00.000-08:00

Hola mi amigos,

I should tell you a bit about the island. The island is 34 miles long and 1/2 mile wide. Most of the businesses lie along Padre Blvd. There are beautiful homes on either side of the blvd. There are also many high-rise hotels. You can see that many of the hotels have sustained damage from Hurricane Ike and one is closed down completely. Most of the homes have outside shutters which are probably there to protect their windows in high winds.

Fishing seems to be a popular sport here. The phone book shows pictures of the various fish with a brief description and also has recipes on how to prepare the fish. Todays photo was taken just behind our MH park. There are various boat tours you can go on, but they are fairly costly for a poor girl like myself.

Yesterday Brenda and I took the free bus (The Wave) to town and back. The bus picks you up wherever you are standing on the curb and lets you off wherever you ask, as long as it is on the route. It runs every half hour from 7 am to 7 pm. It is a nice service to have. It covers the island and Port Isabel.

I met a nice woman, Judy, in our park and she invited me to go to free line dancing lessons, so tomorrow I will begin those.

South Padre Island

2008-11-11T07:18:00.001-08:00

Brenda is feeling a lot better day. The lady at the library, Marge, said there is a flu going around the island. She had it a couple of days ago...same symptoms as Brenda had.

Today I went hunting for an RV garage as I would like an oil change. Not easy to find. I finally found a diesel garage and he said he would give me an oil change and check the air in my tires. I would also like to have my propane topped up. There is a mobile propane truck that comes around and that way you don't have to unhook. Sounds good to me.

They have a free paper here called The Bulletin. It lists all the entertainment on the island and elsewhere. There is live music here every night of the week. Also on Tuesdays there are tango lessons, so next week I will give that a try. Marge said next week there are RVer groups starting next to the library and there are a lot of activities to partake in. There are also groups starting here in the RV park tomorrow. They have a free transit bus here that goes up and down the island and also to Port Isabel, so that could be a savings for me. Beginning next week I will walk everywhere on the island. I need the exercise.

Still windy and Marge said it is always windy here except July and August, so guess I just have to live with it.

Today we are going to the turtle refuge and see what that is all about. There is also a marine research centre open to the public, so if Brenda is up to it, we will take that in as well.

Windy

2008-11-10T08:39:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone

This statue is on the beach here. Lots of people fishing on the beach everyday. It has been very windy the last couple of days and the librarian tells me it is always windy here, except July and August.

Brenda took ill last night. She had it coming out of both ends. We wondered if it was from eating in Mexico, but really she began having stomach cramps the day before that. We had the identical meal in Mexico and I am totally fine so far. The librarian said she was sick yesterday as well, so could be the flu. Anyway, I really feel for her and hope I don't get it.

What is the weather like there? It has been running about 82F the last couple of days and 72F at night. It is nice with the breeze.

Matamoros, Mexico

2008-11-09T08:47:00.000-08:00

Hola,

Yesterday evening, Brenda and I went to Pelican West Bar. The band was of the same name. The female lead singer was great. They played requests from the song list they had on each table, plus their own numbers. It was fun to see so many people dancing. On Tues. they begin winter hours and will have live music beginning at 7 pm.

Today we went into Matamoros, Mexico and walked through the markets. It was fun. This fellow tried to sell us some jewelery and said they were authentic jewels. His first price was $7 per necklace, but he was down to 25 cents a necklace when Brenda began walking away. The hawkers were quite insistent with us, but we just ignored them. We got lost a couple of times, but finally found a restaurant where we could eat outdoors and had a great visit with the cook.

There were three bridges that you could cross over on. Brenda and I made a big mistake as we didn't know the name of the bridge we had crossed over on and had to walk about a mile to get to the bridge where the car was parked. All three bridges were reached by going through Brownsville. Brownsville is a pretty city of 167,493 population. We had to stop and ask for directions once, which isn't too bad. I plan to go back for a day and just see the city this time.
An interesting shop sign we saw was the Curl Up and Dye Hair Salon. Brenda is always cold and I am always hot, so it makes our days interesting. Today was just a beautiful day, for both of us.

Brenda whooped my ass at rummy last night. Just luck!!!!

Port Isabel

2008-11-07T13:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone,

Brenda and I drove across this long, long bridge to get to South Padre Island. I rented a RV space for a month. It will be nice to sit still for awhile and there is a lot to see here.

This part of Padre Island is more developed than the north part by Mustang Island. We are here off season, so everything seems so cheap. We passed a lot of stores that are selling T-shirts for 99 cents, so we will have to check that out. Also, we passed many fruit stands selling grapefruit and oranges so will pick up some for tomorrow's breakfast.

This lighthouse first opened in 1855 and we went to the top and took some photos. It is very windy today and we felt like we would blow off the top of the lighthouse. We had some rain, but it seems to be clearing.

I have the address now for an internet cafe on the island, so will try to keep my blog updated.

Hope you are all well and happy.

Rio Grande City, Texas

2008-11-06T12:38:00.001-08:00

Today we left Roma, Texas and are now in Rio Grande City. They have an old fort here and many old historical buildings. The trick is to find them. We went to the chamber of commerce and they gave us a pamphlet listing the historic buildings, but there were no addresses. We just drove around until we found them. The population here is 13,651. We found the Robert E. Lee house and that is it in the photo. We could only see the outside.

We went to Our Lady of Immaculate Conception Church and the grotto. The grotto is a replica of Our Lady of Lourdes in France. After a bit of sight-seeing we went for lunch at a little Mexican restaurant called Tehas Cafe and had steak. It was very good.

We always like to drive around the residential areas and see how the locals live. As with anywhere, there are the wealthy and the poor. Almost all buildings in Texas are either brick or adobe. Many of the buildings are over 100 years old and deserted.

These are all border towns that we are passing through. We are presently parked at WalMart and plan to spend the night here, thus saving a bit of money.

It is a bit cooler today...about 72F, but after a week of extreme heat we have our jackets on.

Another Day here

2008-11-05T08:28:00.001-08:00

We decided to stay at this park another day. We love the butterfly garden. It was begun 3 yrs ago by the camp hostess, who used to be an English teacher. It now has 514 types of butterflies; 5 rare species and 2 rare species of moths. The black butterflies are huge. They also have a butterfly that is about 6 inches across. It is nocturnal, but you find them in the tree branches during the day.

The folks at the restaurant are so friendly, and today they made us biscuits and gravy for breakfast. It was delicious, but the servings are big enough to feed three people.

Yesterday we came into Roma to use the computers, but the library was closed due to the election. It is not easy to find an internet connection in these south Texan towns. Most citizens in Roma are Mexican and the signs on the stores are in Spanish only. There is a border crossing here and all along the highway you see border crossing guards checking for illegals attempting to cross over.

There are no more state parks from here to Brownsville, but apparently 500 RV parks. It seems to be a popular stretch to winter in. Guess that is where I will find myself shortly. Brenda has another 10 days here...I will sure miss her when she leaves.

Falcon State Park, Tx

2008-11-03T09:47:00.000-08:00

Brenda and I returned from WalMart to find those small biting ants all over the kitchen. They were in the sink, on the floor, in the stove and in the cupboards. We were horrified to say the least. Fortunately, I have a small vacuum and I vacuumed up most of them. Brenda wiped them up with a damp rag. I then put a juice can and some banana outside and they seem to be leaving us alone for now. I also put some tea tree oil around the door and they don't seem to like it.

We are now in Falcon State Park. They have a butterfly garden here that is beautiful, with hundreds of butterflies on the various plants. Here is Brenda coming out of a little camouflage hut where, if you are very quiet, you can watch the birds.

This is the first state park with a restaurant so today while doing laundry we treated ourselves to breakfast. Last evening Brenda heard a live guitar, so checked it out. We spent a couple of hours playing guitar with this gentleman and his wife. It was great. They gave me some good ideas on where to winter. It is still very hot. I expect it will stay this way.

Laredo Nuevo, Mexico

2008-11-01T12:20:00.000-07:00

Buenas tardes amigos,

Today Brenda and I went to Mexico, just walked across the bridge that crosses the Rio Grande River. I was looking for a small backpack, but they wanted more for them then I would pay in Canada. I finally found a place that had a small leather one for $8, so purchased that one. We ate lunch in a nice restaurant and it was cheap. I had a chicken salad and Brenda had French fries. We both had a bottle of water and the total came to

$4. Gas is now $1.68/gal.

It was very, very hot there and crowded. Basically it was the same as this side of the border. This side is pretty much all Mexican people. We are going to attempt to find a place that plays live music tonight and just relax with a corona or two. We sure seem to do a lot of relaxing. Our days are busy though. What usually takes the longest on the first day is finding a place to use my laptop. I can use it here at the library, but have to use their computers to check my email.

I sure appreciate having Brenda here to navigate around these larger centers. The problem is I am getting fat as she does the cooking and made a cheesecake the other day which is absolutely delicious.

Laredo

2008-10-31T12:16:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
We just arrived in Laredo, so haven't had time for photos yet. After we leave the library we will go to to the old downtown district, which is always my favorite in any city. It is very hot here, we are about 150 miles south of our last campsite. We are surrounded by cactus and, yes, the same little ants are around my rig. They are the smallest ants I have ever seen, but when they bite it is like having an ice pick through the skin. Then, the bites get itchy and when you rub them they burn and welt up. It makes sleeping uncomfortable.

Tomorrow we will cross the border into Mexico...there are 3 bridges you can cross over on. We plan to sit in a little cantina and enjoy some cervazas and do some shopping, or at least, some browsing. Neither Brenda nor I like to spend our money on souvenirs, which is good, as we are both poor. I figure I already have everything I need.

Hope this finds you all well and happy.

Lake Corpus Christi State Park

2008-10-31T12:05:00.001-07:00

Today we moved to Corpus Christi Lake State Park. It is a beautiful park and our spot is right close to the lake so we have a great view. Lots of wildlife here. We saw an armadillo, many small deer and a family of javelinas(the wild pigs in the picture). The javelinas came within several yards of our motorhome and as you can see they let us get near enough for a picture. We drove into Mathis today to do some shopping and look around. Groceries are very cheap here, about half the price of home. Many of the houses are on blocks or stilts due to the severe floods that come after the heavy rains. Anna and I went for a walk around the park and while kneeling down to take a picture I got bitten by the same kind of tiny ants that attacked Anna a couple nights ago. They have a very ferocious bite for something so small. We were planning to go canoeing tomorrow but the state park ranger informed us that they only rent them out in the summer. No worries, we will find something adventurous to do.

Lake Corpus Christie State Park

2008-10-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
Brenda was to be guest blogger today, but we couldn't find a wifi signal, so couldn't use the laptop, so no picture today either.

We are at another beautiful state park and this one has wild pigs called javelinas. We took photos yesterday and will pass them on when able. We will be here two more days and then hopefully have a signal. You may not hear again until we move.

Corpus Christi

2008-10-27T15:35:00.001-07:00

Brenda made it safely and her plane was right on time. Today we went to Corpus Christi and walked through old downtown and along the beach. We saw the USS Lexington, which is a huge aircraft carrier. We wanted to see the museum, but closed Mondays. Yes, we got lost, but did find our way home. Filled up my car gas tank at $1.99/gal....cost $14 to fill.

Today the morning was extremely windy and we were a bit afraid that the top of the MH would blow off as could hear it making strange noises. We took turns climbing to the roof and saw that air was getting in under the top and making the metal billow a bit, but I think it sounded worse than it was. Nothing I could do about it anyway.

We did a walk along the beach and Brenda was really surprised at how fine the sand is here. However, with the wind, it wasn't as warm as it hadbeen before her arrival.
This evening we are going to the Pelican Lounge to do my blog and check emails. Brenda will be guest blogger tomorrow.

Company Today

2008-10-26T10:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry, I cut off her head!

Had a few problems lately. First, my MH door gave me locking problems. For a couple of days I had to enter/exit through the cab door. Then this couple from Calgary parked next to me and I asked for assistance. It was easily rectified, when you know how.

Secondly, I noticed my rear car tire was low when preparing to go do laundry. It was even lower when laundry was finished, so I went to the service station and pumped it up. Then I went to WalMart and had them check it. Sure enough it needed repair. No sense in taking a chance on the road.

Since things seem to happen in threes, I re-hooked my kaddie so no one will walk off with it.

Brenda is arriving at 6:32 pm tonight, so I will give myself lots of time to get to the airport. It is on the far side of Corpus Christi, so I will need lost time.

Had a good time at the Pelican on Friday night. The female singer was fantastic and when I left the place was packed.

Moved

2008-10-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

Today I moved off the beach and into an RV space. I had to unhook my kaddie and it wasn't so hard after all. It is the re-hook that I am concerned about for safety sake. I decided to move as last night I was the only one spending the night on the beach and it was a bit spooky. I will sleep better tonight. Also, I don't like to leave my rig all alone to come into town.

I am now closer to the showers and have electricity for the fridge. It doesn't always work with the propane....keeps going off and has to be reset. I am still walking distance from the beach. The water temperature this time of year is 76.6F (average). Just perfect!

This is the Pelican Lounge where I come most days for the internet. I will come back tonight being Friday night. I didn't come the other night because of the storm.

Have a good weekend y'all.

Storm

2008-10-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

Hi

It was a dark and stormy night.....yes, it was. Last night the wind shook my MH and it was rather scary. Nothing fell out of the cupboards so I figured I would survive. Sleep came late.
This morning I went to use the showers and was talking to a woman there. Her and her husband had slept in a tent on the beach. She said there was sand everywhere and they didn't sleep at all. I can't imagine being in a tent on the beach last night. They are renting a condo for tonight. She said after last night they deserve some spoiling.

This morning I thought I should move my MH as there were dunes around it from the wind. I got stuck. Just then the rangers came by and with a chain they pulled me out. As they were doing so a fellow in his truck stopped and said to the rangers, "Look familiar?" They had pulled him out yesterday.

I stopped at the ranger station to get a weather forecast. The wind is supposed to die down but today will be a little cooler than it has been. That doesn't hurt my feelings at all.

My girlfriend from Vancouver is coming on Sunday to spend some time with me. I am so excited! We will follow the coast down to Brownsville.

Until tomorrow.....

Padre Island

2008-10-22T09:44:00.001-07:00

Hi Guys and Gals,

This is a photo of a store here on the island. It is really cool.

Had a hard time sleeping last night because of the sound of the surf. It sounded like a stormy night, which it wasn't. The humidity is so high it was like trying to sleep in a tub of water. Forget about curling your hair. My MH will be full of sand for awhile.

There are free beaches to stay on here on the island, but they have no rangers. I spoke with a ranger on the beach today and told him I was traveling alone. He said the rangers would keep an eye on me for safety sake. They patrol the beach until 5 pm and then a policeman cruises all night. He advised me to stay away from the free beaches as there is some riff-raff there and no rules. In the state parks there is no public consumption or display of alcohol. Also, they have showers and dumpsites. This park even has a place to do vehicle maintenance.

The sun was beautiful shining off the waves this morning. I went for a long walk on the beach. The sand is lovely, hardly any shells or debris. I love the ocean; I think I was meant to live by the sea. Tonight a cold front is moving in with winds of 40 mph. The ranger said I would be OK as I am parked behind the dunes.

Tomorrow I will go into Corpus Christie and get lost. It is 227,000 pop. wise, but with my little car I'll be OK.

Mustang Island

2008-10-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone,

I MADE IT! Here I am on Mustang Island, Gulf of Mexico! I am parked right on the beach. It is $8/night to park on the beach and $16/night to park with hook-ups. The hook-up sites are almost on top of each other, but on the beach there is mega-space.

The park ranger tried to discourage me from parking on the beach as people have gotten stuck there in the past. She asked me if I had ever driven in snow, because she said it is like that. I don't think she has ever driven in snow, because sand is not like snow. There are other trailers parked on the beach. I said I would give it two days and then if satisfied, will stay for another 12 days. I believe you are only allowed 2 wks. If my Echo is washed out to sea, then I'll wish I had listened to the ranger. Does AMA rescue vehicles washed out to sea? High tide is around 1 a.m. There are sharks here as well.

Tomorrow I will explore the island and take some photos. I am so excited to be here.

I had a bit of a time finding an internet signal, but I am at the Pelican Lounge, in the corner and it works fine.

Choke Canyon

2008-10-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

Hi Y'all

Met some ladies from Ohio today who are traveling together. They told me they had just seen wild pigs here...I haven't seen any. I did see 14 egrets on the lake. I also some some black birds that have a really strange cry. There are quite a few bird watchers here. One fellow has a tripod and camera and I see him in various places taking photos of the birds.

I think there are fireflys here..not sure, but I see these lights go off and on in the darkness. It wouldn't be fire sparks as there is a fire ban on here due to the excessive dryness.

I seem to have a resident cricket in my MH, but I can't find him/her anywhere. He is really quite annoying. He is over the bathroom 'cause everytime I slam the bathroom door he stops for a few seconds.

Yesterday I was in the laundry room of the BassInn, close to the modem, to get a signal for my computer. The manager said most people get a bettersignal in the laundry room. Even so, it would weaken and strengthen, and so I was with/without a signal. He said I could come back today. He asked me if I would check the schedule for the Redskins, so I wrote down all the info until the end of November. They are just a young couple; his name is Gabriel. I told him I had a daughter named Gabrielle, and he said they just named their third child Gabriella Rose. That's pretty, huh?

The weather has been fantastic. I stay in the shade during the day or wear a big hat...like my hat? One of these days I will get a thermometer and actually know what the temp. is. I know it is over 80F everyday. The nights aren't as cool as they were in N.M., but still cool enough to sleep most nights.

I'm not far from Corpus Christie; should be there in a week or so I would think. I'm not sure what camping will be like there as some of the devastation from the last hurricane has not been totally cleaned up yet. I guess it is wait-and-see.

Choke Canyon SP

2008-10-19T09:41:00.001-07:00

Howdy,

I am at Choke Canyon State Park (Calliham), 11 miles from Three Rivers. I will be here for three days. This park is on a lake. Once again, no pull-throughs, so I just asked the first gentleman who walked by and he backed my unit up for me. I give these guys lots of praise and they say if I need anything else,just ask. The foliage just gets lusher with palm trees added. There are butterflies everywhere; of all colours. Since being in Texas the crickets and cicadas are extremely loud at night. They seem to stop their song just before dawn and the quiet wakes me.

As you can see I have a bigger hat to ward off the sun. I drove into town shortly after arriving and made it back just before sunset. I haven't driven at night since leaving home. I have presbyopia (old eye). There are so many deer and elk on the road, plus smaller animals like raccoon and armadillo. There is an abundance of roadkill. The stores cater to hunters and even the grocery stores sell hunting supplies.

The towns around here are small and groceries are expensive compared to the larger centres. I hardly ever eat in restaurants, I prefer to buy and prepare for myself. I don't do much cooking, just eat raw food. I get tired of restaurant food really fast.

The hwy I took to get out of Kerrville was very narrow, with lots of twists and hairpin turns. There were a lot of motorcycles on the road and I had to keep pulling over to let them pass. There were double solid lines for about 20 miles. I was sure glad to get off that hwy.

Finding an internet signal is difficult and I am at a lodge about 5 miles from camp. This campsite is rather far from any town...11 miles either way and not much in town either. It is farther than I like to be.

Kerrville Again

2008-10-17T07:47:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am attempting to plan a route around San Antonio. I could take hwy 10 to San Antonio and then ring road 410 around the major part of the city. However, something tells me the ring road is many lanes, lots of traffic, and from the map I know there are many exits. Knowing me, I could get lost. I concentrate so much on the traffic that I don't see a damn thing of anything else when in a big city.

Or, I could take hwy 173 and completely bypass San Antonio and later get onto hwy 37 to Corpus Christie. If I decide on that route, there are no state campgrounds but there is a WalMart in Hondo; pop. 8,000. I checked on the internet. Wish me luck everyone!

Yesterday began cloudy and then in the afternoon the sky turned a deep blue and the sun was hot. I went for a long walk on the trails and it was kind of spooky as there is just a small walking lane enclosed by trees on both sides. Very pretty, but isolating. I also checked out the city and it is fairly easy to find my way around. Some cities I seem to get lost in, no matter how many times I travel the roads, but this one is easy.

It was pretty crisp this morning making it hard to get out out bed, but the sky is blue so it will be a nice day. I am close to 2 second hand stores so will check them out for reading material. Some of the other campers and I exchange books. Saw a gas station this morning advertising gas at $2.84/gal. Wonderful!

Kerrville, Tx

2008-10-16T08:34:00.001-07:00

One of those days. Went to the library to use msn and couldn't get on for some reason, so went to a parking lot and was on for about 5 min. and then lost the connection. Since it is rush hour I decided to come back to camp and try later. This park is very similar to the last one; deer everywhere. I checked out the showers and there are no curtains on the stalls. I don't know about that! I suppose one has to consider that you will probably never meet these people again so...

Even though it is raining here it is still very warm. I will be leaving here on Saturday, which is really dumb, as I have to go around San Antonio, and the traffic could be bad. After being at the last park for a week I rather feel like I've left my friends behind. Yesterday morning the ranger came to my little home and asked if all had gone well during my stay and we discussed the park here in Kerrville. I think park ranger or hostess would be a great job. You get to meet so many people and the environment is so beautiful.

While highway driving I saw all these black things floating in the air. They looked like big pieces of soot. I finally realized that they were monarch butterflies, thousands of them. Migrating, I guess.

Next day....I found a little coffee shop that has wifi. They only sell sweets and beverages, so I could get fat these next three days. It is chilly this am. I put jeans on today; first time in a long time.

I drove around Kerrville this morning and there is not much that is really different. I am probably getting used to the landscape. The photo is the Kerrville Museum.

Kerrville, Texas

2008-10-15T12:45:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,
I am in Kerrville, which is only 57 miles from where I was this morning. No picture today as this library does not have wifi, so I can't use my laptop. It is raining today which the locals are happy about. This park is a city park (used to be a state park) and I haven't had time to do any exploring yet. I had to get to the library and pay a bill that I forgot to do yesterday, and time is running out.

More tomorrow, after I have time to run about taking photos. I will be here until Saturday.

Almost time to leave...

2008-10-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

Sounds like you all had a good Thanksgiving. A lot of campers came into the park last night as they had a bow and arrow deer hunt today. This one fellow was telling me that when you get a permit to hunt deer you are allowed 5 deer. There is such an abundance of them here. This photo was taken really close to my lawn chair.

This afternoon I went to a short class on snakes. The park warden had a baby rattlesnake and a coral snake. The coral snake is the most dangerous of the two, as its venom is the most lethal. It doesn't have fangs like the rattler, instead it has to chew through your skin. Most snakes will avoid you, if possible, but sometimes people step on the baby snakes and then get bitten. The venom of a baby rattler is as potent as that of an adult. Other than the grass, the most common place to find the snakes is under the picnic tables. That is because people drop food, the mice go to eat the food, and the snakes feed on the mice. However, no one in this park has ever been bitten. What a relief!

I've seen quite a few armadillo here; one live one and many road kill. The common trees seem to be oak, pecan, mesquite and cedar. The locals say it is too dry for this time of year.

Tonight is my last night at the park, so today I am doing laundry and mailing out postcards and buying a few groceries. It is good to see that the price of gas has fallen. I'm not too sure where I will head next. I will figure that out tonight. I am only about 100 miles from San Antonio, but it is a city of about 1,120,000 people and I prefer to miss the bigger centers. I will have to find a way around it. It's been good to sit and rest awhile, but I am getting bored, so time to be "on the road again", as Willie would say.

South Llano State Park

2008-10-10T08:10:00.000-07:00

I did something for the first time yesterday; I unrolled my awning. There was never a need before as either I was at WalMart, where you can't set up, or I had a shelter that I could sit in to escape the sun. Now the test will be to get it rolled back up again and secured so that it doesn't roll down while I'm driving. Since I will be here for a week, it is nice to have the shade. It also helps to keep the MH cool.

Tonight is a class on owls, so I think I will take that in. The poster says to bring a flashlight so you can find your way back. I will use my flashlight to check for snakes on the way back. The ranger station has a huge, stuffed rattlesnake on display, so I take that as a warning!

The nights are cool here, around 40F, but the days are hot. It is nice for sleeping. I attempted to take a long walk during the heat of the day, but had to turn around and wait until just before sunset. It is strange here; there is no twilight. At 6 pm it gets dark, immediately. Also, the constellations are in the wrong place.

This evening the park will fill up as there is a wild turkey watch planned and also Monday is Columbus day, which makes for a long weekend. It is fortunate I came when I did as people were reserving sites for the weekend.

The shower was just the right temperature. I usually like to use my own shower and just dump if I have to, but with the kaddie I would have to bother the host to back me into my site again, so am using the public facilities as much as possible.

Not much new and there won't be until I am on the move again on Wednesday. I will miss having Thanksgiving with my family. The library will be closed for the long weekend, so I'll have no internet connection. So......HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO YOU ALL! and have some stuffing for me (my favorite part of the meal), and an extra piece of pumpkin pie. There are wild turkeys all around me, but they won't fit in my oven!

Junction, Texas

2008-10-09T08:36:00.001-07:00

Hi Ya'll

Yesterday I drove far too long; six and a half hours. It was a long way from state park to state park, with no WalMart in between. This park, South Llano River State Park, is the prettiest park so far. It is a wildlife refuge and is full of wild turkeys and deer. When I say deer, I mean herds of them around your campsite. It is heavily treed with oak and the campsites are far from each other. When you park at a RV park, you are spitting distance from your neighbour and you are fortunate if you see a tree on the property and it is at least double the price of a state park. I avoid those if possible.

When I arrived I asked the camp hostess for a pull-through since I am towing my car. She said you need to back into all the sites. I told her that I really didn't want to unhook my car kaddie, but guess I would have to. She said her husband was a trucker for 47 years and he could back it in for me without unhooking the kaddie. He was smooth. One attempt and it was perfectly parked. Those truckers do have enviable skills.

Some parks have rangers and some have host/hostess. Some lock the gates at night and some don't. Some have posted rules a mile long and some don't. You never really know until you get there. I bought a Texas State Park Pass which gives me a discount at all the sites. I don't need electricity and water, but had no choice at this campground, all sites are serviced. It is so beautiful here that I think I will stay a week.

This part of Texas is not so desert like. There is some kind of tree (shrub) on the sides of the hills and completely covering the ground. While driving, every once in awhile, I would smell something sweet, like blossoms, but couldn't see any blossoms. It must have been one of the shrubs.

Oh, by the way, yesterday, at Balmorhea, I was longing for some reading material. I checked around for used books and finally tried the library. The librarian said to help myself and gave me a bag to fill. She said next time I am passing through to drop some books off. Since I doubted I would be passing through again I left a donation. How cool is that?

Observatory

2008-10-06T14:12:00.001-07:00

Today I went to the McDonald Observatory outside of Ft. Davis, Texas and saw the largest telescope mirror in the world at the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. I took the guided tour which lasted 2 and a half hours. The observatory is part of the University of Texas. It was very interesting and extremely windy way up there. I am glad that my policy is to never buy a jacket unless it has a hood. To say it was bad hair day would be to understate the wind. It took me an hour and a half to drive there...up hill all the way, but the route was very scenic and I stopped several times on the way back to take photos. I saw real trees; first time in a long time.

Last evening I went to "The Cutest Little Restaurant in Balmorhea", which is really the name of the restaurant. A man sitting at the table behind mine struck up a conversation, and being that I had to keep turning my head to answer him, I asked him to join me at my table. He was a Texan, who was a truck driver, and had been through most of Canada. I enjoyed our visit. All restaurants in both New Mexico and the one I ate at last night offer tacos with refried beans and rice.

After supper I drove around Balmoreah. It is an under-privileged little town consisting of mostly Spanish speaking people. In a way it reminded me of the Dominican Republic. At least a quarter of the homes advertised themselves as restaurants. Signs on the vehicles were obviously hand painted.There was supposed to be country and gospel singing along with cowboy poets, but because of the rain it was cancelled. Not to dispair, however, as the event is to last 3 evenings so I will try again this evening. Town is 4 miles from my campsite. I asked the waiter if Icould get internet at the restaurant and he said no; not even the library had internet. This morning I stopped at the ranger station and discovered I could get a signal at the picnic bench outside of their office.

It is another gorgeous day.

Balmorhea, Texas

2008-10-06T07:22:00.001-07:00

Friends are like thighs...always sticking together. LOL. Read that on a poster at the gift shop.

I am at Balmorhea State Park in Texas. Getting here was an adventure in itself. Hwy 54 was a nicely paved road, but the new sign was "Watch for water on Hwy". It should have read, "Watch for lake on Hwy". It was raining when I left Carlsbad Caverns this morning. Hwy 54 has dips that collect the water. Two of the dips were particularly deep. I didn't realize how deep the first one was until I drove through it and the front windshield was covered in a sheet of water. When approaching the second one there was a half-ton truck coming towards me, so I thought I would let him go first and just watch to see how deep the water was. IT WAS DEEP, but he made it through so I took my chances and made it as well. Those were the two worse spots.

I turned from Hwy 54 to Hwy 10, which I was supposed to do. But somehow I ended up on I-20. I didn't takeany exits or see an exit I should have taken, but that's what happened. I finally turned off I-20 at a service station and there was a sign pointing the way to Balmorhea. I had to go an extra 24 miles, but was thankful I made it. It was a long day of driving.

I no sooner got myself arranged here, and it began to pour buckets and buckets. I hope it washes my vehicles because they are pretty sad looking from the "water on hwy".

Thank you for the encouraging emails~yes, you know who you are. When writing a blog you of course don't know if anyone is reading it until you get comments on the blog or emails. I am actually surprised that there are people out there following my travels. Who'd a thunk it!

Carlsbad Caverns2

2008-10-04T08:41:00.000-07:00

Good morning all. This is the view from the caverns visitors centre. It is beautiful. This morning I drove up there again and just stopped at the overlook points. The vegetation here is varied, with many different types of cacti and succulents.

Yesterday I had to drive 20 miles to Carlsbad to pick up groceries. It is off season here, so they have little to choose from. There is road work going on just about everywhere I travel. I feel sorry for those poor people working all day in this hot sun; especially working with tar and the like. I couldn't do it, I know that for sure.

Today I think I will visit some of the gift shops...just to look. I haven't bought any souvenirs. I just finished downsizing before I left Alberta and figure I have my photos for memories.

My girlfriend, Brenda, is considering flying down and staying with me for 10 days! That would be so cool!

I have been looking at maps for a week now trying to decide where to go next. I think a month in Texas would be about right and I would really like to go to Tennessee, but have do some research on the weather there this time of year. The last thing I want is to travel in snow and have my water freeze up.

Hope you are all well and happy!

Carlsbad Caverns

2008-10-03T11:07:00.000-07:00

Where was I today? I was 754 feet below ground in the Carlsbad Caverns. An elevator took us down and took 1 min. to get there. IT WAS INCREDIBLE! I took the self-guided tour, which is about one and a half miles long. The tour was of the Big Room. The Big Room is approx. 600,000 sq. ft. or the size of 6 football fields. I don't know what the height would be...very high and very low. One section was the Bottomless Pit. The formations are indescribable. I took 80 photos but it was impossible to record the size of the cavern because of the darkness. There were lights to highlight certain formations, but basically it was dark in there. This is a good time of year to be here. It was steady today, but in the summer months, I'll bet it is packed. It was only $6 to get in. If I had come this far just to see the caverns it would have been worth it.

At 6:15 I went to see the bat cave and the bats leave the cave. Over 1/2 million 3-tailed bats left the cave. There is an amphitheatre that you watch from. It takes approx. 4 hours for the cave to empty. I didn't stay the full 4 hrs. as darkness fell. Again, incredible. They eat approx. two and a half tons of insects a night. You could see, hear them and smell them. We were not allowed to take photos and all electronic devices had to be turned off. We were also cautioned to be very quiet. The bats migrate south about the middle of October.

I was happy to leave the Brantley State Park campground. It seems wherever I go there is a "Dave". Those of you who know where I live in Red Deer, may remember my neighbor, Dave. The parking stalls in the park were quite distant from each other compared to most campgrounds. But, at the stall next t:o mine was "Dave". He had a makeshift campsite, with tarps everywhere.He also had two big chained dogs that barked at everyone who walked by and he was constantly yelling "shut up" to the dogs. Last night while trying to sleep I could hear this booming noise and didn't know where it was coming from. It sounded like it was coming from under my MH, so at 1:30 am I went outside to check. It was "Dave", playing his music. Quiet time in the parks is from10 pm to 7 am., but he just disregarded that rule. I made ear-plugs out of kleenex and finally got some sleep. Also, the bugs were really bad and at night the lake smelled like sewer.

I was visiting with this young woman at the bat cave. She works for a company that makes the equipment that allows cable to come into your home. I forget the name. I was telling her that I have a SPOT. She said that since they came out they have saved 200 lives. Good to know. For those of you who don't know, SPOT is a satellite personal tracker. It has 4 buttons...on/off, OK, HELP and 911. You clip it onto your belt. When you register the SPOT, you list who you want to get emails or text messages. Once a day I press OK and those people get a message via email saying Anna is OK and it gives my coordinates. They can track me on google maps as well. We have an agreement that HELP means I broke down on the road and have no cell phone signal, so call AMA and give them my coordinates. If I press the 911 button my coordinates are given to the nearest police station. It cost $100/yr for the satellite subscription. It is good for people traveling alone, mountain climbing, or whatever.

I am staying 3 nights at White's City Resort the closest campsite to the caverns. I only travelled about 38 miles today. That's plenty.

Where should I go from here? Any suggestions?

Living Desert Zoo, NM

2008-10-01T12:33:00.001-07:00

Today I decided to take in the zoo. There was much to see and read. For instance, I discovered that most rattlesnakes come out at night to feed...so much for my "before bed smoke". When the sun goes down it is very dark in my campsite. I wear my hat light when I need to go out for some fresh air and check the ground around my RV steps carefully before venturing to put my foot down. There are also multiple types of tarantulas, which they claim are quite harmless. It is about a mile and 1/4 walk to see the whole z00. I felt sorry for the black bear; wonder if he was hotter than I was.

Tonight is my last night at Brantley Lake Park, which I am thankful for as the flies are driving me crazy.

Brantley Lake, NM

2008-09-30T09:14:00.001-07:00

This morning I decided to wash my rig before taking off. I just made it into the stall, but my car was hanging out the end. My MH took up most of the stall width wise making washing difficult. The soap wasn't taking off the dried flies, so I thought I would use the foam brush and turned the dial to brush.The brush was broken where the hose met the long pole that the brush was attached to and I got a good dose of foam all over me.

The library was closed, being Monday, so I went to a computer store and the owner let me sit at a desk and check my email and blog. I guess he was lonesome as he talked my ear off while I was attempting to get my computer work done. Every time he would stop to take a breath I would turn my chair towards my computer and type a word or two. It's a good thing I have plenty of time.

I am now at Brantley Lake State Park (12 mi N of Carlsbad). I was going to park at the primitive sites, which are only $8/night, but they are extremely primitive and I would be the only one out in the middle of nowhere. When I got out of the cab to read the sign I was attacked by a zillion grasshoppers. There I was, all by myself, screaming and running for safety!

I traveled further up the highway and saw another sign for Brantley Lake State Park that had campsites with hook-ups for $14/night so decided on that instead. The first thing I did upon arrival was dump my sewer. Not all dumps are created equal. This one is the BEST EVER!. Often I find that the whole load doesn't dump; I guess because I am at the wrong slant or something. But this one was built just right because I completely emptied and washed it nice and clean. I am here for 3 nights, so will clean out again before leaving the park.

By the time I got set up I was sweating like a race horse and decided to take a shower. The shower stall has only one button that says "hot", but the water is barely tepid. I needed to shampoo but by the end of the ordeal I was fairly accustomed to the water temperature and felt like a new person. It is a nice park and pretty full of campers.

There was a nice breeze blowing, but the flies...OMG! I had to take shelter in my MH and today was the first day I used the air conditioning and it was GREAT!
Tomorrow I venture out to Carlsbad; a city of 30,000.

Artesia

2008-09-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here I am at Artesia, so named because of the huge underground water supply, which is pumped to the surface via artesian wells. It is a pretty little city of over 10,000 inhabitants. The roses are still in bloom and there are various types of huge cacti and succulents. The grass hoppers are huge!

I am parked at the Super Wal*Mart and until just recently, I was the only RV here. I prefer the campgrounds as I meet so many nice people there, but it costs (and I'm El Cheapo).

Tomorrow I will leave for Carlsbad after sending off some postcards (to Caitlan and Jim, who have no computer) and adding to my blog. I'm not sure where to camponce I get there. The Tour Book says there is a National Park by the caverns, but no camping. Jim said he camped there, so I guess I will take my chances and see. There is a State Park, 12 miles north of Carlsbad, but the caverns are 2o miles south of Carlsbad, so that would be a lot of driving. I can't go much longer without dumping, I know that for sure. Perhaps one night at the State campground and do my maintenance and then move south the next day.

Today I had my propane topped up and it was expensive. Over $30 for 10 gallons. Tomorrow I will go through the car wash as my rig is pretty bad with dead flies. When I pull over to check the straps on my car tires I must remember to roll up my windows, or the MH is instantly full of flies. Speaking of car straps, if I am on a bumpy road,they come loose in no time at all. Thank goodness I also have chains.

Today I drove around Artesia to find the post office, the car wash, and the exit. My little Echo is great for running about finding things. I've only had to fill the Echo once since leaving Canada.
I generally hit the sack fairly early and read in bed for a bit. I find the heat really zaps my energy. Fortunately the desert nights are cool making sleep possible. I get up fairly early as well and that gives me time to have my coffee and shower before preparing for take-off.

I generally don't eat until about 2 pm. If I'm travelling I just stop at a Rest Area, hop in the back and eat. Food is my cheapest expense as US prices on most items are far cheaper than Alberta prices. WalMart here is incredibly cheap. Today I treated myself to a bottle of white wine from WalMart....$2.97 for 750 ml and it is really good. I'll sleep well tonight! If the city was any bigger than this they would have two WalMarts, both open 24 hr. This one is almost at the edge of the city and they bus the workers in ,in a big white school bus.

Time to say Buenas Noches.

Roswell, NM

2008-09-28T09:26:00.000-07:00

This is what an alien looks like for those of you who don't know. I toured the UFO museum which consisted mostly of newspaper clippings hung on the wall.

There are alien images everywhere in this city of 50,000. There is also a huge military school here.

Yesterday was the chili/cheese festival so I took that in. I am parked at WalMart and don't know how long they will allow me to stay so am considering going on to Carlsbad today. It is 79 miles from here. It has been very hot, but thank goodness the evenings and nights are cool.

Yesterday I got my hair trimmed in Santa Rosa. I was suffering from a sinus infection. The hairdresser sold Aloe Vera products and other concoctions. She sold me some Garlic/Thyme, bee propolis and a health drink. It worked well...the swelling went down and I feel normal again.

I am sitting in my car outside a coffee shop using my computer. I drove around trying to get a signal and this is the first I found.

They have a state campground here, but it is quite a ways out of town. I drove there to see what it is like and decided to stay in town instead. It seemed to cater to the very, very old and conservative and the gates closed at 5 pm. I hate that. Also, it was in a canyon and extremely hot. The road leading there was very narrow and twisty. It was one of those super organized spots with camp hosts and a zillion rules. It was pretty there though, with red cliffs and caves.

Before I begin to boil in my car I better sign off.

Santa Rosa

2008-09-26T11:09:00.001-07:00

Here I am in Santa Rosa. It is about 60 miles S.E. of Las Vegas. Again I am staying at a State Park, but only signed up for two days this time. I met a really nice couple at the Las Vegas campground. She is an artist and does about 23 shows a year all through western US. He helps with the framing and setting up, etc. She seems to do mostly water colours and they were very good. Her and I played our guitars one evening...taking turns with the songs. It was a lot of fun and having a few Coronas made the music sound pretty good...to us, anyway. They are going to the balloon festival in Albuquerque the first weekend in October and really encouraged me to go. However, that is quite a big city (over 1/2 million people) and it is apparently difficult to get a reasonably priced campsite during the festival. I'll think about it.

This campsite is also by a lake. Too bad I don't have any fishing gear. Not that I know the first thing about fishing. Des' kayak would be fun! My site is fairly shaded, which is good, as it is hotter than it was at Las Vegas. I am in what they call a Primitive site, which means no hook-ups. There seems to be a lot more insects here at night and before bed I try to kill most of them. There are no overhead lights at this site, so when it gets dark...it is dark! I just love those signs posted in the washroom warning about snakes! My favorite highway sign is "High Wind Area".

I am about 7 miles from the town of Santa Rosa. I had supper at a little restaurant on the old Route 66. It advertised authentic Mexican food and it was good. It was very much like what you would get at Los Palmeros in Red Deer, and the prices were about the same. Next time I will choose a small local restaurant. I drove around town seeking out the library and didn't find one. As it was getting late in the day I decided to wait until tomorrow.

I'm getting low on propane so guess I'll have to have that topped up soon or I won't have any hot water to shower with. Bummer!

Friday....found the library. Stopped at an antique dealers to ask directions to the library and visited for over an hour. The woman had moved here 6 years ago from Las Vegas, N.M. and is helping her daughter get her business off the ground. She had a ton of stuff, mostly still in boxes waiting to be put out.

I spent some time planning my next move. Tomorrow I will head off for Roswell, which is the big UFO area. Some of you may have seen the documentary about Roswell, stating that they had actually found an alien. There is a big UFO museum there. Then I will go to Carlsbad, which is famous for its caverns and bats. I will skip some of the caves as according to my info you have to crawl on your hands and knees for quite a distance to reach the caverns and I don't do confined spaces well. In the evening you can join a tour with the rangers to watch the bats take off at night...thousands of them. Could be worth seeing.

Until next signal....

Last night here

2008-09-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

Tonight is my last night at this campground. I have to spend some time this evening planning my next move. Part of every plan is how to get out of the city the fastest and on to the right highway. Also, I need to find a gas station that I can get in and out of easily.

This campground has been very comfortable, but I hate the idea of being locked in at 7:15 pm. It doesn't allow me to take in a movie, late shopping or whatever.

There are always pros and cons to each situation. I hit the hay fairly early and get up fairly early. Sometimes I feel like a little kid being sent to bed.

Will keep you all posted as soon as I am internet connected again.

Hotmail

2008-09-23T09:45:00.001-07:00

For some unknown reason I can't get on to msn messenger today. I was on and then lost the connection and once re-connected it won't open msn. Could be just too much traffic.

Each of the camping spots has one of these picnic areas. I use them to get out of the hot sun and read, but find that once evening comes there seems to be a lot of spiders in them. Ugh!

One of the RVers lent me a motorhome manual yesterday and I did find some useful information, like how to light the pilot light for my oven. Much of the manual was devoted to repairs and I have neither the tools or the inclination to repair anything should it break down. Let's hope I won't have to! I don't use my stove very much; basically to make coffee in the morning. I eat most of my food raw or go to a restaurant. Restaurant food is cheap here. I had a good helping of chicken quesadilla for $3 and steak and refried beans for $3. No wonder my stove gets dusty!

It is another beautiful day...no wind. The lake is smooth and reflective.

All for now...

Library

2008-09-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Here I am at the library once again. Two more days here and then time to move on. I was checking out the maps this morning, but haven't made a decision yet on where I will go. There is another national park about 50 miles from here. I may just spring for a yearly pass. It costs $225, but then you have unlimited stays in the parks.

Yesterday, being Sunday, there were a lot of families having their picnic and enjoying their latino music. The speed boats were also out on the lake.

I have read all my books, so back to Salvation Army today to pick up more reading material. I also have to find a laundry mat. Today is a little cooler than yesterday. Yesterday was breezy, but it was a hot breeze and I burnt my knee caps pretty good.

I was visiting with the park ranger yesterday. He said they get their first snowfall around Halloween and spring doesn't come until about April. Just like home! I guess I want to be far away from here when the snow flies.

I hope this finds you all well and happy.....

Still Here

2008-09-20T11:06:00.001-07:00

Not much to add to my blog. I am settled until Wednesday and then I have to decide whether I will move on or stay another week. This week has been very restful; sitting about and reading, seeing the sights. There are many beautiful old homes in Las Vegas. I wish I could take photos of them all, but don't want to invade anyones privacy. This afternoon there is a tour of Montezuma's Castle and if I am out of the library in time I will take it in. It is about 5 miles from here. Until next time.....

Las Vegas, N.M.

2008-09-19T10:00:00.000-07:00

I am now in Las Vegas, N.M. I didn't stay long in Taos (although I would have liked to) as everything was so expensive there. WalMart was not camper friendly and the campgrounds started at $42/night with no hook-ups. I am now parked at Storrie Lake State Park and it is $10/night with water hook-up. I signed up for a week.

There are many old buildings here ~ 900 are historical monuments. They have Montezuma's Castle, which is now a college. I was not able to go to the top as school is in. They have a building there called the House of Light. The windows are cut as prisms and there is light everywhere...very peaceful.

There are two Indian Reservations on either side of Las Vegas. Walking downtown you see those who are spiritually and physically lost souls.

I have met many RVers who are full timers. Their rigs are a lot bigger than mine, although I find mine sufficient. There is no internet signal at the lake, so I am presently at the library. It is nice and hot here. Last evening there was a thunder storm, but it cooled everything off and made for a nice sleep. The nights are cool in New Mexico. It is a beautiful state...very mountainous and heavily forested. It is hell driving through the passes and I find that if I clench the steering wheel until my knuckles are white and hold my breath I am able to make it to the top. It sure feels good to stop and park.

Until next time....

San Luis

2008-09-17T13:46:00.001-07:00

Today I stopped at San Luis which is famous for having the oldest church in Colorado and for the stations of the Cross. The church is way up high on a hill and as you walk up you see the different stations. Past the church are busts of martyrs, probably about 30 or so. I stopped at the Visitors Info to have a visit, of course.

I am now in New Mexico, in Taos. Even the WalMart is adobe. There appears to be lots to see here so plan to stay a couple of days at least, unless WalMart sends me on my way. I checked with them and they said I could park here, but I forgot to ask them how long I could park. The traffic in Laos is crazy. The streets are very narrow and there is road work going on. I had to ask a gentleman to move his truck so I could get through the WalMart parking lot. I had no room to turn. He was very gracious.

I would like to find a place to park in N.M. and stay a month or so. One can weary of driving.

Keep in touch.

Sand Dunes National Park

2008-09-17T09:31:00.001-07:00

I decided to go see the sand dunes~something I always wanted to see. If I knew I would have had to climb a high pass I would have skipped it, but I'm glad I continued on. It was strange to see sand dunes between the mountains. I did climb the dunes, but not to the top as the sand was very, very hot and I didn't have the proper footwear. I stayed overnight in the national park and it was really pretty. The parks have the nicest campsites. Of course, there was no internet signal.

I am presently in the library in San Luis. I had to have internet to pay some bills on line. Isn't the internet great? I'm not too sure which direction I will go from here. I know that I will stay away from mountain passes. I barely made it up the last one. Until next time.....

San Isabel

2008-09-15T13:51:00.001-07:00

Today I went to San Isabel National Forest and then to Pueblo. San Isabel is breath-taking. When you drive for about 45 min. into the park, you come across this castle build solely by a man called Jim Bishop. Nothing has been developed in the interior. You can find info on the internet. It was difficult to get a photo showing the whole castle as I was in the forest and could only back up so far. In San Isabel itself I stopped at a restaurant for lunch and being the only customer the waitress and I had a good visit. She knows Jim and says he is kind of a nut. He has signs all about the castle explaining how the US gov't has robbed them all of their freedom, etc.

The waitress is 50 years old and just returned to college to study culinary arts. She wants to open her own restaurant.

From there I drove to Pueblo. I wanted to see the Montrose Museum, but alas, it is closed on Mondays. I drove around Pueblo and stumbled across a very pretty park with loads of flowers and perfect green lawn. On the grounds is a Pueblo Art Store so I stopped in there. It was really closed but the fine ladies inside said I could come in anyway and see the art. They were the nicest ladies and I spent about an hour there chatting away.

It is very hot here today with a breeze to keep one cool. This is a gorgeous area and I wonder if I could find a place more beautiful. It has the mountains, the forests and the valleys.

I must be gone by noon tomorrow ~ too bad. Perhaps I will stop and stay at the next town south.

Colorado City, Colorado

2008-09-14T16:35:00.001-07:00

Early this morning I left Cheyenne. I stop at all the rest areas if possible. I asked a clerk there what he thought the Denver freeway would be like today. He said as long as I got there early I should be O.K. He said there was a big game there this afternoon (football?) and then the traffic would be congested. I arrived in Denver about 10 a.m. and drove through with no mishaps. I stayed in the centre lane with 3 other lanes on each side of me. The traffic on the Colorado interstate highway is much busier than in Wyoming or Montana.

It is really pretty in Northern Colorado, but the altitude is high and it was very chilly. I wanted to stay at a place called Pueblo, but I couldn't find a WalMart and the campground office is closed on Sunday, so I drove further. I found a KOA campground here in Colorado City (blink and you miss it). It is costly, but 2 nights here is cheaper than a hotel. I want to stay another night as I want to drive into Rey and San Isabella, which has a castle. It is so nice to have unlimited water, electricity and sewer, not to mention WiFi.

This campground is rated #1 in Colorado and #11 in the U.S.A. This is the first really warm spot I have hit since leaving home. It is a beautiful day and although there are many RVs, I hardly see a soul, except for the occasional person walking their dog.

The owner talked me into getting a video to watch tonight so I will be watching "RV" on my computer. She is a really nice lady and has a small gift shop here and a small convenience store.

Americans must have a lot of money because the motorhomes are huge! I will take photos of the castle and send them tomorrow.

Have a good night.

Cheyenne, Day 2

2008-09-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. I went downtown to see the giant cowboy boots and some historic buildings. I also went to the used book store and did my laundry at the laundry mat. I put

$20 in the change machine and it gave me 80 quarters. I felt like I had hit the jackpot. I thought it would give me dollar bills. Now I have change next time laundry needs to be done.

I went to the info centre and got a city map. People mean well when giving directions, but usually steer me wrong. I asked a woman yesterday how to get to a place and she said you take a right, then a right, then a left and another right. I had forgotten what she said before I walked away. Now I carry a pad and pen when I approach someone. But, all in all, a map is easier.

It is very windy here. I will take off for Colorado tomorrow I think, before WalMart shoos me away.

I spoke to a fellow camper and he said the freeway is not so bad...you just have to move real fast. He didn't think it was any worse than HWY 2 in AB. He was from Florida, but works in the oil and gas business in Alaska. I asked him if the hurricanes are terrifying and he said he rather enjoyed them and insurance covers any damage. Different strokes for different folks, I guess. Personally, I would be terrified.

Looks like there was a vehicle accident just across the street. I heard the sirens, but really didn't pay any attention. Now I see a police car and a tow truck.

All for now.....have to do things fast before I lose the signal.

Cheyenne, Wy

2008-09-12T18:52:00.001-07:00

I have written this 3 times and then lost the connection. It is very frustrating!
This is the old Governor's House. I toured it and then the State Capitol Bldg.
Cheyenne is about 50,000 people and has a lot of brick houses. It is a pretty city.
Yesterday I was in Caspar and needed to dump my sewer. I stopped at a campground and asked if I could dump there. He said no. He used to have a common dump site, but since 911 he has to guarantee that terrorists are not dumping toxic waste down the sewer. Each spot has a dump and that seems to be OK, but he can't have a common one.
I spend a fair amount of time lost. Trying to find my way back to WalMart I ended up on an airforce base. The young soldier gave me directions to WalMart, but they were not accurate. A girl at a service station led me in the right direction.
I have to pass through Denver-on the freeway! There is no way around it. A woman at WalMart told me she had been on it once and once was enough for her. I will head in a straight line and end up where ever the road takes me.
It has been raining on and off most of the day. I have had to wheel my home through some tight spots, but so far haven't done any damage to anyone or anything. It's a miracle!
Tune in tomorrow for the continuing saga; if I can get a signal.