The Home Stretch

Lois and I left Alpine, Texas on Wednesday morning and drove East through some desolate areas of West Texas. The vegetation was sparse, but the rains had made it green and beautiful. We made one stop at Langtry, Texas, at the small but well-done Judge Roy Bean Visitor Center. Judge Bean was the famous hanging judge who dispensed "law west of the Pecos." More impressive than the buildings at the center was the cactus garden.

We had lunch West of Del Rio at a roadside park overlooking the Pecos River at its confluence with the Rio Grande. This was one of those unexpected sights that we've had so many of on our trip.

After driving through Uvalde (home town of Cactus Jack Garner, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and Vice President under Franklin Roosevelt), we stopped in the small town of Castroville, on the western fringe of San Antonio. We spent a pleasant evening at a city RV park listening to the reports of Tropical Storm and then Hurricane Humberto, which was predicted to hit Houston that same night. We were making plans to bypass Houston, but were surprised the next morning when we woke up and heard that Humberto had made a right turn and produced only light rain in Houston.

Thursday morning, after a stop at an Alsatian bakery in Castroville, we bypassed San Antonio and drove to Houston on U.S. Highway 90A. We had made a reservation at an RV Park just South of downtown Houston, and we trusted Niles to lead us to the spot. He did a good job in getting us there, even though he had us entering and exiting about a half dozen freeways and tollways in the process. We arrived mid-afternoon and contacted Lois' sister Barbara, who had planned to take off work when we got there. Barbara drove over to the RV park, and we had a nice visit before we all went to our friends Weir and Candy Kyle's for dinner. Barbara asked me how long I had known Weir, and I said that I really didn't know that there was a time that I didn't know him. We grew up together in Mississippi and have been close friends since the first grade if not before.

We had a marvelous visit with Weir and Candy and enjoyed a gourmet meal of cedar plank grilled salmon with all the trimmings. At the end of the evening, Barbara drove back to her condo and Weir and Candy drove Lois and me back to our motor home. What a lovely evening we had. Good friends, good food, and lots of laughter.

Friday morning, we abandoned our "no interstates" rule, and drove East out of Houston on I-10. We stayed on 10 across southern Louisiana to Baton Rouge, where we got on I-12 to I-59, where we turned to the Northeast through Hattiesburg to Meridian, MS. We had planned to stay in Hattiesburg, but decided to drive on to Meridian, since we were making good time and it would mean an earlier arrival at home on Saturday.

Saturday morning, we continued to Tuscaloosa and Birmingham on I-20/59 and then turned East toward home on I-20. We arrived at home around 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon unloading the motor home and unpacking. It's amazing how much gear we had packed in the motor home three months ago when we left home and how much stuff we had accumulated on the way. We were exhausted when we got unloaded and had most of the stuff put away.

Today was a busy day with church at Midway in the morning, lunch with our friends Jim and Patti, and a three hour ordeal of washing the motor home this afternoon.

I'm still thinking about how the trip has affected me. I know that it was everything that I had expected and more. I also know that it won't be long before I'm ready to go again. In a few days, however, I want to add one more post to my journal after I've processed more of the impressions.

More later

Heading Home

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Lois and I worked really hard getting the cabin ready for the winter and packing the motor home for the trip home. Our friends John and Ferne came up from Santa Fe on Friday and helped immensely. John and I (but mostly John) were able to cap the water line in the cellar that led to the damaged faucet in the bathtub so we didn't have to shut off the hot water in the rest of the cabin. That will be a big help until we are able to repair or replace the damaged faucet. John also took on the task of looking for parts to fix the faucet. I've had so many friends helping me with cabin projects that I'm beginning to feel a bit like Tom Sawyer. The photos show some of the inside of the cabin as we were working toward getting it ready to close up.

On Saturday, I put up most of the security shutters and finished on Sunday afternoon. I also drained the hot water heaters, shut off all the water, put RV anti-freeze in all of the drains, shut off electricity and propane, and made the place as secure as possible. We spent the night in our motor home on Sunday, finished up a couple of last minute items early Monday morning and headed out a little after 9:00 a.m.

After dropping off our rental car in Santa Fe, we continued South on US 285 through Clines Corners, Encino and Vaughn, NM, to Roswell. We stopped early, and I phoned in for a committee meeting at Midway UMC, our home church in Douglasville, GA. While I was on the phone (sitting in a parking lot at WalMart), Lois did a little grocery shopping. After the meeting, we drove through Roswell and found an RV park on the south side, where we set up camp for the night. The weather was a little threatening, but I was able to grill some hamburgers outside, and we even had our dinner on a picnic table beside the motor home. Soon afterward, however, the proverbial bottom dropped out, and it rained a lot for a long time. Some time during the night the rain stopped, but we could see evidence of high water all day today.

For some reason, we have a problem pulling out before 9:00 a.m., even when I get up around 6:30 a.m. This morning was no different. We left Roswell around nine with the intention of taking in Carlsbad Caverns by early afternoon and continuing on to Alpine, TX. We made good time to Carlsbad and arrived at the National Park around 11:30. That's where our plans went awry. The Park Service is doing extensive renovations on the Visitor Center, and the overnight storms had flooded some of the elevator shafts that lead down into the cave. Because of this, they were evacuating the caves about the time that we arrived and would be making a decision around 12:30 when they would start allowing more people into the cave. Since Lois and I both have been to Carlsbad multiple times, we decided that we would push on and not chance being delayed further with no assurance of entry at all.

We had lunch in the motor home, and reluctantly left Carlsbad a little after noon. We continued South under cloudy, windy skies and drove though Guadalupe Mountains NP. We made a couple of brief stops for pictures and a visit to the Visitors Center. Soon after crossing the Texas State Line, we turned South on Highway 54, one of the most desolate stretches I've ever seen. In almost 60 miles from the turn-off to Van Horn, we met exactly 6 cars. You could also see numerous spots where water had covered the road earlier in the day or yesterday. You should be able to tell from these pictures how the weather has been today. It only deteriorated the further South and East that we went, to the point that shortly before arriving in Alpine, we were driving through "pea soup" fog.

I deliberately routed us through Alpine because I found it to be such a neat little town when Lois and I visited Big Bend NP a couple of years ago. Thankfully it hasn't changed in the intervening years. When we got to town and located a campsite, we splurged and ate at the wonderful Edelweiss Restaurant and Brewery in the old Holland Hotel in downtown Alpine. What a treat! We were even seated right in front of a guitar-mandolin duo who begin playing Willie Nelson- style country songs soon after we started our meal. I don't see how life could get much better than eating a Zeguener Snitzle (sp?), drinking a beer brewed on-site, and hearing "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?"

Now we're wrapping up the day and making plans for the next couple of days. Tomorrow night we should be somewhere just West of San Antonio, and Thursday night we'll be in Houston where we've made plans to visit with Lois' sister Barbara and my childhood friend Weir Kyle.

More later.

News From Taos

I'm woefully negligent in posting my journal. The only excuse I have is that we've been extremely busy working on the cabin and entertaining guests over the Labor Day holidays.

When I last posted, Lois and I were in Vernal, UT, on our way to Taos. We left Vernal on August 25, made a quick visit to Dinosaur National Monument and then headed South on some lesser traveled roads in Western Colorado. By lunch we were in Grand Junction, CO, where we stopped for fast food, and then continued South-Southwest through some beautiful remote country. Except for a stop at a small family orchard, where I bought peaches for 50 cents a pound, we drove and drove. Our route was taking us close to Telluride, where we expected to stop for the night, but we were unable to find a campground with hookups. We considered dry camping at a Forest Service campground south of Telluride, but had second thoughts when we thought about how cold it would be in the morning.

So, as the shadows lengthened, we drove on South, hoping to find a good campground. As luck would have it, this led us to perhaps the most scenic campground of our entire trip. We reached Priest Gulch, north of Dolores, CO, shortly before dark and got one of the few remaining spots that backed up to the beautiful Dolores River. We quickly set up camp, and I cooked some sausages on the grill. We ate before a campfire with the river in the background. All in all, a delightful evening.

On Sunday, August 26, we drove south through Dolores to Cortez, NM, where we attended church services at Four Corners UMC, a lovely little Methodist Church in a pretty town. After Church, we had lunch and then drove to Mancos to the home of our friends Nicky and Trina Lindig. We had a nice visit with them for a couple of hours looking at their progress on their new workshop and planning their visit to Taos over Labor Day. Nicky was also kind enough to loan me some power tools so that I could get started on some projects that needed to be done at the cabin.

We left Mancos around 4:00 p.m., hoping that we would make it to Chama, NM, where we knew of several nice RV Parks. Despite the hour, I foolishly wanted to also explore a new route from Mancos back to Taos. So we turned South just West of Durango, CO, to Aztec, NM. In Aztec, we became temporarily disoriented. Notice I didn't say lost. Like most men, I'm never lost. I am, however, occasionally temporarily disoriented. After we oriented ourselves, with the help of Niles, we continued East. Here I made another slight error. To Niles' chagrin, I chose a highway which appeared to be a more direct route to US 64 than the one Niles was espousing. The highway I chose, however, soon deteriorated into little more than a dirt road with sandy fords over dry creek beds and signs warning of impassibility during inclement weather. Oh, did I mention that it was raining and getting dark?

Happily, we made it to US 64 with little more than a slight delay in our itinerary and a lost "hub cap" on the motor home. These misadventures, however, made us realize that we probably weren't going to make it to Chama in time to get a campsite, and since there were no closer campgrounds, we opted to stay at a motel for only the second time during our trip. This one was actually a casino on the Jicarilla Apache Reservation in Dulce, NM.

On Monday, August 27, we left Dulce early and drove into Chama, where we picked up tickets for the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad for September 4 for our friends Jim and Patti Howell from Georgia, and Lois and me. After leaving Chama, we drove straight down US 84 to Santa Fe and picked up a rental car we had reserved for our time in Taos. On the way back to Taos, we stopped by to visit our friend John Lovelace, who, with his wife Ferne, has made a couple of visits to our cabin since we left in July. At John's, we heard about the improvements that he had made to the cabin and discussed plans for further repairs and improvements.

We got to Taos late in the day and found all well at the cabin. We were thrilled with the new lights that John had installed in the living room and the kitchen. They make things much cheerier and brighter.

On Tuesday, we spent the day unpacking, working in the yard, and generally getting things in order after having been gone for six weeks. Wednesday, we made another trip to Santa Fe in the rental car and did some shopping for linens at Bed, Bath and Beyond, for lumber, etc., at Home Depot, and for good vittles at Trader Joes.

Thursday was spent installing new carpeting and blinds in the dining room/sun porch, more tree trimming, etc. I was able to accomplish my tree trimming much more quickly because of the reciprocating saw Nicky loaned me. Guys, if you don't have a reciprocating saw, get one. They're great!

Friday we spent on final preparations for the arrival of Jim and Patti. They had flown into Denver on Thursday and did some sightseeing on their way from Denver to Taos. We also were expecting the delivery of a new bed that we bought earlier in the week in Taos. Thankfully, the new bed, where we planned for Jim and Patti to sleep, arrived a couple of hours before they did, and we were able to make the bed before they arrived.

On Saturday, Jim and I went to the local Ace Hardware and lumber yard and picked up some lumber for some projects we were planning to work on. Luckily, Jim's rental car agency had upgraded him to a minivan, and we were able to take the seats out and haul 4 x 8 sheets of plywood and 8 foot 2 x 4's. Saturday afternoon we got started building interior security shutters for all of the windows in the cabin. I'll screw these shutters into the window frames before we leave next week so that burglars will have a harder time breaking into the cabin while we're gone for the winter.

Saturday evening, Nicky and Trina arrived with their friends, who were staying in a B&B in town. When we found out that Nicky and Trina were coming to Taos for the weekend, we encouraged them to stay with us, even if they were going to spend most of their time with their friends. It worked out beautifully. We got to see Nicky and Trina in the evenings and for breakfast, they got to meet Jim and Patti, and we all had a great time. Trina also kept bringing us delicious treats from Micheal's Bakery in Taos.

Sunday after Church at El Pueblito, Lois and Patti went shopping in Taos while Jim and I came back to the cabin and continued working on our projects. We were able to complete the security shutters, finish walling in a window on the back porch, and install a plywood sheet behind the glass panel on the front door for extra security. Jim is a hard worker and an excellent craftsman. Working together, we were able to accomplish an amazing amount in a day and a half.

Because we made so much progress on our projects, we declared Monday a play day, and took a tour with the ladies on the "High Road" between Santa Fe and Taos. The High Road traces an old highway that runs through pueblos and small Hispanic communities. Highlights of our tour were visits to Ortega's Weavers in Chimayo and the legendary shrine El Santuario de Chimayo. Believed to be built on sacred earth with miraculous healing powers, the shrine is probably the most visited church in New Mexico.

Tuesday morning we left early for Antonita, CO, for our trip on the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad. Although the trip started out slowly through rather monotonous high desert scenery, as the little train gained altitude, the scenery became more dramatic and more beautiful. Soon we were traveling through some of the most pristine alpine scenery in America. It took us almost three hours to reach Osier, CO, one of the highest points on the trip and our lunch stop. After lunch, we boarded another train which had come up from Chama, NM, and, after climbing to slightly over 10,000 feet, wound down the hill to Chama, arriving around 4:00 p.m. In Chama, we quickly boarded a bus which took us back to Antonito in about an hour, a trip that had taken us six hours by train. When we got to Antonito, we all agreed that the trip on the CTSR was well worth the fare and was one of the highlights of our summer.

Thursday morning, the ladies went to town to wash clothes (no washer and dryer in the cabin) and Jim and I tried to wrap up a couple of projects. One project was repair of a bathtub faucet in the main bathroom. Last week, I had ordered a faucet stem at the hardware store and they had called to tell me that it was in. Jim and I picked up the faucet stem and a few other supplies and thought it would be a simple project to replace the stem. Well, you know about the best laid plans of mice and men. We installed the new stem, but we had a sizable leak when we turned the water on. This lead us to believe that we needed to install a new seat, which was include with the new stem that we had bought. This is where things went awry. We had a heck of a time getting the seat out of the faucet, and when we did (mangling the seat in the process) it looked nothing like the seat that was included with the stem we had purchased. On another trip to Ace Hardware we got the bad news that they had never seen a seat like the one we had removed, and their books didn't have anything like it.

So now we're dealing with having to keep the hot water shut off in the main cabin until we can find a seat or until we can replace the entire faucet assembly (both of which will probably happen next summer). Thankfully, the guest cabin is on a separate hot water heater, and we also have hot water in the motor home. With everything that Jim and I accomplished, I'm not disappointed that one of our projects didn't turn out like we had hoped.

Yesterday afternoon, we took off and made the Enchanted Loop around northern New Mexico, including a stop for Patti at a quilting shop in Angel Fire, which she says was a great shop. We got back to Taos around dinner time, and Jim and Patti treated us to dinner an Graham's, a new restaurant just of the plaza, which was absolutely fabulous. The food was delicious, the service attentive and courteous, and the decor lovely. We'll look forward to more visits to Graham's when we come back to Taos next year.

This morning Jim and Patti left for Denver, where they have a flight back to Atlanta in the morning. We really hated to see them go. I can't imagine greater friends or house guests. We hope their visits to Taos will become an every summer event.

After Jim and Patti left, I wound up a couple of projects that we had not completed. One was trying to stop stop water damage from deep snow on the guest cabin. I was able to staple heavy plastic sheeting about three feet up the side of the cabin and continue the sheeting down into a trench that I dug the length of the cabin. I then covered the sheeting and filled the trench with gravel from some of the paths through the raised beds in the front yard. After this, I used some of the same heavy plastic and stapled it around the screen porch on the back of the cabin. Hopefully, this will keep snow from blowing in on the screen porch.

We're planning on leaving Taos on Monday and beginning our trip back home to Georgia. Until then, we'll be pretty well occupied preparing the cabin for the winter and getting the motor home ready for the trip back East.

More later