Movin' East - Day 65

Friday, November 7, Day 65 - Wichita Falls to Lewisville, Texas

Once again, I have to apologize, since we have no pictures to post again today. The trip was quite uneventful along Rte. 287. We passed through a few smal towns, and a couple of bigger ones, but, all-in-all, nothing worth photographing.

We left Wichita Falls at 9:30AM and headed southeast toward the Dallas area. Our destination was Lewisville, Texas. This town is the next town east of Flower Mound, Texas, which is where the Fugere's live. We are about 20 minutes from their home. We arrived in Lewisville, and made our way to the campground we will be staying at for the next two nights. This is quite a nice campground, located on Lewisville Lake. This lake is quite large, and this is a gorgeous spot on the lake. We are located in a City Park and are surrounded by: the Lake, a golf course, and several athletic fields, which are ALL lighted! There are soccer fields (8), a football field, and two baseball diamonds. The campground sites are all paved pads, with shade trees to shade the motor home from the sun.

Tonight, we just chilled at the motor home. Tomorrow we will spend the day with the Fugere's. Since we will see some of the more interesting Dallas sites, there will be pictures. So, be sure to check back tomorrow.

Movin' East - Day 64

Thursday, November 6, Day 64 - Wichita Falls, Texas.

Sorry, no pictures today. We left Amarillo this morning around 9:30AM, and headed southeast on Rte. 287 for Wichita Falls. The trip was uneventful, and there really wasn't anything to photograph along the way. All we saw were wide-open spaces, a few cows and horses, and what we guessed might have been wheat fields. We also saw lots of cotton fields along the way. About the only thing we might have photographed, but couldn't because they were too far off the road, were camels, yes, I said camels!! I believe there were actually 3 of them grazing about 200 yards off the road.

So, anyway, we arrived in Wichita Falls at around 3:30PM, and immediately found another Wal-Mart parking lot to stay in tonight. We are actually less than 150 miles from Flower Mound, Texas, and we will travel that way tomorrow. After we arrived, we drove the car around Wichita Falls to see if there was anything interesting to see here. Around 4:45PM, we found an "On The Border" restaurant in a mall. We decided to stop in for a margarita and some nachos. On the way back to the motor home, the GPS was guiding us, but the roads here were so confusing because of construction (not the margaritas), that we had to make several course corrections before we finally got onto the correct roadway to get us back to the Wal-Mart lot. Good thing too, 'cause the dogs were waiting for their dinner when we finally made it back.

Check back tomorrow, as we might have some pictures to show you. Sorry, again, for the lack of photos today.

Movin' East - Day 63

Wednesday, November 5, Day 63 - traveling to Amarillo, Texas.

The photo above shows (somewhat) the decorative design of the overpasses in New Mexico. We thought it was limited to Albuquerque, but as we traveled eastward through New Mexico, we realized that all of the overpasses are decorated this way. Some of them are painted to match the RED dirt, with either a green or a blue stripe across the bridge of the overpass. Others are decorated like the one above. This makes for an enjoyable trip through the state by enhancing the visual beauty of the landscape.


Here we are, entering the "Great State of Texas". Interestingly enough, as we crossed into Texas, the odometer on the motor home turned 60,000 miles! I started to calculate the miles we have traveled since we left Beverly on September 2. We have traveled approximately 7000 miles (a bit over that, actually). In addition, we have put over 4,000 miles on the car! That means that our Honda has actually traveled OVER 11,000 miles! Speaking of the car, I had the oil changed in Flagstaff, AZ, since we had put on about 3,500 miles since the last oil change.

We arrived in Amarillo at about 3:45PM today. I made contact with Brian Fugere, and we will see Brian and Kara and the kids on Friday. We are planning on spending the day on Saturday in the Dallas area, leaving on Sunday AM. Tomorrow morning, we will leave Amarillo and head east to the Wichita Falls area tomorrow night. That will put us about 150 miles from Dallas, so we should be able to get to the campground and get settled by early afternoon on Friday, leaving plenty of time to spend with Brian and Kara on Friday evening.

The weather in New Mexico, when we left, was just beginning to turn colder and wetter. It had sprinkled a bit in the morning, before we left. However, the trip into Texas was dry, and we did get into sunny skies once we hit the Texas State Line. However, we have been helped (?) by a quite strong tail-wind since we left New Mexico. Tonight, here in Amarillo, in a Wal-Mart parking lot, the wind is really blowing hard. I'm not sure how hard it is blowing, but when I walk the dogs, Beasley almost takes flight, like a kite!

Don't know what kind of photos we might have for the trip tomorrow, but check back for the details of our trip. I promise we will have something to report! Hasta la vista!

Here's the link to today's web album (not much to see today!):

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay63TravelingToAmarilloTX?authkey=6ONcC-nJDcE#

Movin' East - Day 62

Tuesday, November 4 (Election Day), Day 62 - Petroglyph National Monument, Albuquerque, NM.

We awakened to another beautiful day. I know, you folks back in New England don't want to hear that, but it's the truth. We have not seen any rain since we were in northern California (Klamath, CA, to be exact). We began the day with a trip to Old Town Albuquerque, again, to walk around and visit the many shops there. We did purchase a few Christmas gifts while we were there. We also met some very interesting people in Old Town. In all, our morning and early afternoon could be described as, in a word, delightful!

Next, we headed back to the motor home for a quick lunch, and to attend to the doggies. In case I have not mentioned this before, they would much rather be in the motor home than being dragged along in the car with us! Afterward, we headed out to explore the Petroglyph National Monument, just to the west of the city.

I have to say, to begin here, that I/we have never seen anything like what we were about to discover. Petroglyphs, for those of you who may not have any idea what they are, are etchings in the stones which represent what is believed to be religious symbols of the various tribes that inhabited the area. The stone surfaces here appear very dark, called "varnish". The indians who etched the drawings, discovered that, by using tools, they could carve images in the stone. Under the "varnish" coating on the stone, the color is much lighter. Petroglyph National Monument contains over 20,000 of these images pecked in stone - some recognizable as animals, people, and crosses, others more mysterious. Only the carvers know the petroglyphs' true meanings. Be sure to check the web album, as we took lots of pictures of these carvings, along with some pictures of modern graffiti, which, in some cases, has disparaged the petroglyphs.

Finally, we sign off tonight with a magnificent shot of the New Mexico sky at twilight! See the web album for more shots of the New Mexico sunset here in Albuquerque.

Tomorrow, we once again pull up stakes and head east into Texas. Hopefully, we'll make Amarillo before sunset tomorrow (Wednesday). If we find anything to photograph along the way, be assured that it will be in the album tomorrow night.

One more thought before I sign off tonight: we would really appreciate ANY comments regarding the blog, the photographs, anything. Just to let us know that you are reading and enjoying our daily entries, or even if you are not enjoying following our adventures. Simply click on "Anonymous", if you do not wish to identify yourself. Otherwise, click on "Name/ID", and put your name in. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE let us know you are reading and following.

Thanks!

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay62AlbuquerqueNM?authkeyf=cSz7j9Xlhok#

Movin' East - Day 61

Monday, November 3, Day 61 - Albuquerque, New Mexico (and the start of month #3 "on the road"!). We left Gallup at 10AM, destination Albuquerque, about two hours east on I-40. We did take some photos on the road to Albuquerque, so be sure to check the web album.

The above photo was taken as we crested a rather long uphill grade on I-40 East. We are about 7 miles outside of the downtown area of Albuquerque, but you can see how the city sprawls out in the valley below us. Just above and to the right of the highway, you can see the tall buildings of the downtown area.

Our first stop is at Enchanted Trails RV park, on Route 66, about 7 miles west of the city. After we got settled and had lunch, we drove into the city to visit the Museum of Natural History. This was a very good take. There is a fee to go into the museum, but it was well worth the money, as the exhibits are fascinating. We took pictures of some of the exhibits (mostly for Aaron, as he is "into" dinosaurs) in the museum, so check the web album.

Next, we drove to "Old Town" to walk around and take in the "local culture". The photo, above, was taken at Old Town Plaza, right across the street from San Filipe de Neri Church. There are photos of the church in the web album, as well.

From here, we went to see about taking a hot air balloon ride in the morning. I had made a couple of calls to different places, but one did not answer the phone, and the other one wanted $199/person for the balloon ride! We had one other brochure, for a business right there off the Plaza, so we walked over to inquire about balloon rides there. The girl behind the counter phoned the "pilot", but they would only take up a group of 6 people, since the balloon basket was a 6-passenger basket, and the balloon was extra large. Their fee, though, was $160/person. So, I guess we won't be taking a hot air balloon ride this time around.

As we walked around the Plaza area, we noticed that the shops were beginning to close for the day, as it was about 5PM. We decided to return tomorrow and spend the day. Next, we both felt like having a Margarita here, since the restaurants were all Mexican. We went into the bar at Casa de Fiesta (see pictures in web album), and ordered their "Fiesta Original" margarita - delicioso! We were informed that, in order to have just drinks, we HAD to order at least one appetizer, so we ordered the Chili con Queso, which was also delicious.

Tomorrow, back to Old Town, and whatever! Check back for the exciting details!

Here's the link to today's album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay61AlbuquerqueNM?authkey=oKvVSxnE57I#

Movin' East - Day 60

Sunday, November 2 (Happy Anniversary to Don & Toni - who forgot it was their 1st anniversary since renewing their vows at Sacred Heart Church in Manchester-by-the-Sea last year!) - driving to New Mexico.

The drive was quite uneventful for us! We left Williams, Arizona at 11:30AM, destination Gallup, New Mexico, about 20 miles into NM. Along the way, we had hoped to stop at the Painted Desert in eastern Arizona. However, when we got to where we thought the exit WAS, there was nothing there but wilderness! According to our atlas, it should have been around Exit 311 in Arizona, but there was nothing there. Soooo, we continued along and finally stopped at the Visitor Center in New Mexico. I have to say that, as Visitors' Centers go, this one was very good. There was so much information available there that it was hard to decide what to take. And the people, all Native Americans, were very helpful to me, answering every question I asked. I think that the Center was brand new, because eveything was in such good condition.

We left the Visitor Center headed for Gallup, which was about 18 miles further east. We had targeted the Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Gallup as our stop for the night. We are now parked in the Wal-Mart lot for the night. Since we got here early (4PM), we decided to take a trip into Gallup, since there seem to be a lot of interesting places to visit here. As luck would have it, everything is closed here on Sunday, so we just drove down "Historic Route 66" thru Gallup. If you've never driven on Route 66, you are missing something. We have had the opportunity to drive on parts of Route 66 in Flagstaff and Williams, Arizona, and now in Gallup, NM. We will be staying a couple of nights in Albuquerque, also on Route 66!!

Tomorrow, we will make the last few miles into Albuquerque, where we will spend the next two nights (Monday and Tuesday), before heading east again, toward Dallas, TX, and Brian and Kara Fugere's, where we hope to be able to spend a little time visiting before going on to Florida.

Tune in again tomorrow, as we hope to have lots of pictures of Albuquerque.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay60DrivingToNewMexico?authkey=Z5Di6eZ0vMs#

Movin' East - Day 59

Saturday, November 1, Day 59. A special "Happy Birthday" to Jeff Wilkins!


Jerome, Arizona....what can I say about Jerome? This is a quaint little town nestled on the side of a hill, located about 27 miles south of Sedona. Jerome was a copper mining town back in the 1800's, with a population of about 15,000 in its heyday. A walk down the main street in town will give you a sense that you are back in the 1800's, since some of the buildings do date back to when the town was built. Unfortunately, we didn't spend very much time in Jerome, for a couple of reasons. First, parking in this town is at a premium, and all the GOOD spaces were taken. Secondly, in order to get anywhere, it involves walking UPHILL, unless you go downhill first, but then you have to get back UP! If you happen to visit Jerome in the future, make sure to bring water, and good walking shoes, and be prepared to do some climbing.

We much preferred Sedona. There's plenty of FREE parking, and you don't have to do very much UPHILL walking. Also, the streets are wider, and less crowded. Also, Sedona has the ONLY McDonald's Restaurant which does not have "GOLDEN" arches.
This is a picture of the McDonald's in Sedona. Notice that the "Arch" is TEAL, not GOLD. The reason why the sign at this McDonald's has teal arches is that the "town fathers" thought that the GOLDEN arches would clash with the RED rocks which surround the town. As a result, the McDonald's Corporation suggested using TEAL arches. The "townies" bought it, so.... Anyway, now you know a bit of trivia which, perhaps, you can use to impress your company at your next gathering.

We spent the rest of our day wandering through the shops in Sedona, making a few purchases, having lunch, and talking with people who work there. A lot of the people who own shops there are transplants from other places. One woman we met, the owner of the "Dream Catchers" jewelry shop, hailed originally from Long Island. She and her husband relocated here about 5 years ago. She said the only thing she misses is the ocean!

After returning to the motor home to tend to the doggies, we drove into Williams in time for the 5:30 Mass at St. Joseph's Church. In contrast to some of the other churches we visited out here, this Mass actually started at 5:30PM!! We have noticed that, when we visit churches out here, they all do things differently. Back at home, in Beverly and the surrounding area, when you attend a Mass, no matter which Church you visit, everything is the same.

Tomorrow, Sunday, we will pull up stakes here in Arizona and head east toward Albuquerque, NM. I doubt that we will get to Albuquerque tomorrow night, as the distance is over 350 miles. Instead, we will try to make it to Gallup, which is about 30 miles into New Mexico, and spend tomorrow night there. On Monday, we will head on into Albuquerque for a couple of days before seriously heading east to Florida. We hope to be in Florida on, or about, the 15th of November.

Here's the link to today's web album:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cbenoitiii/TheTripDay59JeromeAndSedona?authkey=nTd9kh9R_2w#