Not snowing here!

We are in Mesa, Arizona now.  It is part of the Phoenix metro area.  It has been about 20C most days since we got here.  Once again the internet service is poor so I am in the library, writing the blog.

On our way here, we stopped at Benson which is on the east side of Tucson - maybe 30 -40 miles.  From there we went to Tombstone to see the OK Corral.  They have a re-enactment - in fact several- but we only saw one.  This was more than enough.  The two main things I learned was that the location of the shootout was not the OK Corral (this was dreamed up on a 1931 movie) but in a back lane and that the fight was rather pathetic.  Sort of like a fist fight gone wrong because they all had guns.  The re-enactment was kind of fun with some humour put into it but the historical accuracy must have suffered.  Anyway, here are some pictures of Tombstone (a tourist haven) and the fight.

He was Wyatt Earp.

                                                            He was Doc Holliday.

Once we got set up in Mesa in a resort called Towerpoint, we took a day trip out to Tortilla Flat, a few miles east of Mesa.  We had been out there years ago and mainly remembered that we drove and drove and then there was just a tiny general store.  We decided to make the drive again because we saw it featured in the tourist info.  The drive up was just lovely and we were surprised that neither of us had remembered how lovely this mountain desert country is.  Tortilla Flat has turned into a tourist place too (surprise!) and had live entertainment, saloons and a couple of places filled with souvenirs.  At least there was a little more to it than last time.  Oh! and we did eat delicious ice cream.

Tomorrow I am going to a quilt show in Tucson.  It is a day trip.  There is a guild here at the resort that seems to be very active.  I have signed up for a class in putting photos onto fabric.  There are a number of other classes running as well.  Many women leave their machines and equipment right in the sewing room.  The resort has provided a couple of  sewing machines and a long arm quilting machine as well as the large room.  It is a pretty impressive  set-up.  I joined the guild for $25 and for that I can go to any of the classes.

I should mention that I have been taking the photos with our little camera rather than the Canon because it takes way too long to upload pictures to the blog.  I guess the Canon would be OK if we had good internet but you know the story on that.

Arizona

Good news.  I can get back into my pictures again.  I don't know what the problem was but I was able to put pictures into my old post so check it out again.

Today we drove to Benson, Arizona which is a little to the east of Tucson.  The land was still dry and desolate but there were more mountains.

The RV park is very nice and has nice scenery around it.

Tomorrow we are going to Tombstone.  Cowboys!  The shootout is at 2 pm.

I forgot to mention that a lot of the photos are taken out the front window of the motorhome at 65 mph.  We drive slowly by the standards here.  In New Mexico the speed limit on the inter-state highway was 80 mph (about 130 in kph).  In Arizona it is 75.  We are passed a lot but since there are 4 lanes, it isn't a problem.  We can't go any faster because we are limited by what is allowed in towing a Honda CRV.

Fort Stockton Snow

You are Going to Laugh

Monday, January 9.  Fort Stockton, Texas

Some Snowbirds we turned out to be.  We are in Fort Stockton, Texas.  It snowed last night and this morning.  It is heavy wet snow and snow melted but the temperature only got to 34F today.

We spent a couple of days in San Antonio and saw a couple of the missions there. They were established in the early 1700s. They were of course to spread the Catholic faith (and Spanish culture) to the Indians  The Spaniards established missions in the San Antonio area to thwart the western movement of the French from Louisiana.  The Indians of the region (Coahuiltecans) had been nomadic but between the nomadic tribes from the north pressing into their areas and the diseases introduced by the Europeans, they were relatively willing recruits for the Franciscans.  They were provided with food and refuge at the missions.  The men were instructed in the use of European arms so that they could assist in the defence of the missions.  Later they were included in armed patrols in Spanish Texas that pursued Apache and Commanche Indians.

One of the missions we saw had been refurbished.  The U.S. department in charge of State Parks planned to restore the remaining missions but the Catholic Church claimed the mission lands back after the first restoration was underway.  The government was not inclined to continue its work when they no longer controlled the missions so no additional restorations have occurred because the Catholic church does not have the money.  It is rather a shame because the first restoration is quite remarkable.

The trip from San Antonio to Fort Stockton ran through some really dry and desolate land.  I know there has been a drought here and it is winter so maybe that is part of the reason it looks the way it does.

January 10 Las Cruces, New Mexico

Most of the snow melted in Fort Stockton before we left this morning. The roads were clear and dry. We ran through more desolate, dry country. We saw and drove through some low mountains which seemed to create windy conditions.

There were a lot of mesas on the road to Las Cruces.  some were very broad and some were narrow at the top.  One was so narrow that it looked like a pyramid from a distance.

We will look around the area tomorrow.

Moving On

We have had essentially no internet access since we got back to Brownsville on December 31.  This access at San Antonio is the first. The trip back was boring once we got through the snow from Regina to Minot.  The weather was pretty good after that.

Some of you will know that when we left for Saskatoon, we knew that our motorhome would not start.  So immediately after the New Year, the fun began.  We had to be towed 55-60 miles to Pharr, west up the Rio Grande Valley, to a truck centre where the motorhome could be fixed.  Luckily, Good Sam (our road assistance provider) sent an experienced operator who knew how to ready a diesel motorhome to be towed. (Much to Dalton's relief!!)  Even better, they paid for it to be towed that far.

We stayed in Pharr at a hotel for 2 nights while they diagnosed and fixed the MH.  It was the HEUI (pronounced hugh-y) pump (for those who are interested in such things).  Many, many dollars later we were back on the road on Wednesday evening and could spend Thursday saying good bye to old friends and new.

We have two nights here in San Antonio.  We are going on a city tour tomorrow to see a couple of things that we missed last time.  We can't do a whole day tour because of Casey (our dog). 

I have three new observations about Texas:

1.  The palm trees here are messy.  The palm fronds grow out in a fan, with each branch being fan shapped at the end.  As the tree grows, it drops the old fronds as well as the outer coating on the truck which I suppose isn't needed as the fronds drop.  Anyway, they leave a lot of debris around as all this falls off.  I don't remember this in California or Florida where I remember the palm trees as taller with just a few flat fronds at the top.

2.  People have memorials for deceased loved ones made out of decal material and put them in the back window of their vehicle.  Some are just a few words (In memory of ...) and some are full back window features with coloured pictures.

3.  Texans fly the Texas flag almost as much as the U.S. flag.

Home Again

We are back in Saskatoon for Christmas.  2200 miles to get home for Christmas in the car seems a bit excessive but that is what we did.  The weather was good for us and we made it in under 4 days.  The trip was worth it to see our kids and granddaughter. And our friends too!! We hope that the weather is as good as we head south again at the end of the month.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

Drugs, birds and turtles

We have just been enjoying the southern lifestyle. We did not go to the Welcome Winter Texans Day as we had originally planned.  We heard that it was poorly attended. We did go again a few days later for a quick shopping trip. It is dead in Progreso and I feel sorry for the people who are not making much money from tourists.  Crossing the bridge over the Rio Grande is like moving into a different world with the American lifestyle on one side and Mexican poverty on the other.  I don't think that I mentioned before that people beg from under the bridge.  You can't really see the people but they stick ball caps through the bridge openings. In Progreso, there is not much begging but lots of entrepreneurship.  Aggressive entrepreneurship! Wanna buy a necklace lady?  Cheap, just for you.

The whole drug thing down there has really taken a toll.  Both the American and Canadian governments do not recommend travel to Mexico.  The resorts might be OK but along the border, the drug trade is a constant concern.  In Texas, they are worrying that it is moving north into their larger cities.  You often see the police vehicles on the highways that are the border patrol.   Several times we have seen rest areas used as areas for the police to flag down transport trucks to check them.  Recently we heard that the cartels are now using smaller vehicles to avoid this. Every day the news has at least one item about drug activity.

On a more pleasant note,we went over to South Padre island yesterday.    It is very small (You can see from one side to the other.) and set up for tourists almost entirely.  They have a lovely bird sanctuary though. Open only 2 years but getting a reputation as a tourist destination, it is on 50 acres of land right near the Convention Centre and of course on the ocean.  South Padre is a first landfall for birds flying from Southern Mexico and northern Central America over the Gulf of Mexico to their northern summer grounds.  There is a long boardwalk system at the centre with blinds along waterways that allow up close viewing of many birds.

Although this is not the best time of year for viewing (Spring is when the birds are flying north.), we saw quite an array of birds as you will see from our pictures.  Here are a few pictures.  I wouldn't live long enough to download them all!  Is this ever slow.

The Great Blue Heron

The Great Egret

                                                                    Roseat Spoonbill

                                                                 Little Blue Heron

                                                                     Tricoloured Heron

                                                                 Snowy Egret

                                                                 Turtle (Don't know what kind)

We were fortunate to see an alligator as we walked the boardwalks.  He/she didn't move but just blinked. I think he was enjoying the few minutes of sun on a somewhat cloudy day.

                                                            They weren't kidding.


Before lunch we also went to the Sea Turtle Rescue centre.  They had tanks of turtles which had been injured or found with deformities.  Some can be released as they recover but others will never be able to survive in the ocean again.  The biggest turtles are wonderful to see up close. The centre appears to be privately funded and looked as if it could use some serious financial help.  They have a small area for public education as well as the tanks for the turtles.

We went for lunch at a place that features live parrots. What colours they are! Although the day was partially cloudy, it cleared as we sat on the deck and we had a nice sunny time watching brown pelicans.  They are a threatened species so it was nice to see so many.  Although the ones near the bird sanctuary were sometimes hunting for fish, these seems content to float with the breeze.

Access to the island is over a causeway.  You have to yield to pelicans.  From the causeway you can see people fishing.  We gathered that the fishing is very good.

                                                  Causeway from Port Isabel

                                                                Brown Pelican

We checked out the RV parks while we were there.  They looked quite nice but we were warned to book early since they fill up.  Everything here seems to fill up in the New Year.  Maybe not so much this year since the drug wars seems to affecting the number of Winter Texans coming to the whole Rio Grande Valley.