Wed. Jan 30th
 Woke up in the  San Antonio RV park to a very cold and wicked wind.  Thought it would blow our Casita away!  Yesterday there were some flurries but it was in the 80's!  We jumped in the car and took off after our usual breakfast of cereal.  We headed south on Hwy 37 toward Corpus Christi.  Pretty boring drive compared to the desert.  Whoda thought?
   Big oil refineries as we drove in.  We took the scenic route along Shore front or Ocean Drive.  Lots of gorgeous mansions!  The bay was gray in color and very choppy (not what we had planned) and we kept going south to the Padre Island National Park.  Another disappointment.

Jerry being blown away as he searches for a way to turn around!

 Just grass and flatness so we headed to the first beach access we could find and the wind was so strong it nearly blew the car door off!  White sand was flying every where and we had to do a 6 point turn to get out of there!  They wanted $10 for us to visit so we said "no thanks" and turned around and headed for Port Aransas on the North end of the island.  Did see a bit more civilization, mostly big resorts and hotels.   Saw a big sign in town that called itself the Third Coast.  Hadn't heard that one.
    We were using Maggie to get us to the mainland because the map was a bit confusing.  Then we saw the ferry sign and you know how we are about the water....so we ignored Maggie"s entreaties and just kept heading to the boats (still don't know where she would have taken us!)  It was a very short distance (probably even narrower than the mouth of Humboldt Bay)  While we waited, Jerry began asking questions.."What I want to know, is?....so I goggled "why is there a ferry and not a bridge over Port Aransas Pass".  There was a discussion that in a nutshell said that the boats are too big and a bridge would have to be so tall it just wouldn't be feasible for the traffic...but I did read that if you get out of your car and stand in the front you might see dolphins!  And believe it or not they put us in the very front, we got to stay in our car and out of the wind and we SAW DOLPHINS!!!!  In fact several went cruising by.  It was by far the best part of today!!!

     We finally found our way to Hwy 77.  Not easy, Jerry ignoring Maggie, me balancing two paper maps, following along with my tablet's navigation app, our "jet pak" internet connection thingy, a big Passport America RV campground book, a AAA campground book of the southwest AND a tourist's book of Texas (same size as the other two).  I even thought I could leave the two of them alone while I called New Orleans campgrounds to see if they would have room for us and how much $$$ would they want for super bowl weekend..but no Jerry and Maggie started fighting and I had to jump in and yell" Right, Right, turn right here!"
     Maggie finally found us the Lazy Longhorn RV park in Victoria, Texas.  The second good thing that happened today?!  They said they had no room for us in their lovely park (dozens of huge RV's packed in like sardines) so they put us in the overflow (the asphalt parking lot at their entrance with only an empty for sale RV for company), gave us full hookups (except for cable) and charged us $20 instead of the normal $28!!!  Jerry said his hot tub was worth the $20 by itself and I got the laundry done AND have caught up on this blog on their WIFI!.  Yippee..  I am finding that it seems like it takes a night for the pictures I am uploading to finally make it through cyberspace to the place I grab them for this blog, soo.. I will hopefully add them in the morning

This was Monday afternoon the 28th of Jan

Monday Jan. 28th  

    The trains came by only once in Marathon, Texas about 2:30 am after stopping at 10pm.  Slept really well.  Saw the gorgeous full moon rise last night and a beautiful sunrise this morning.  We set out about 8:30am and the first town we came to after 54 miles was Sanderson Texas.  We stopped for gas and loved the tiny town.  About 40 more miles down the road I remembered that that was where Tom worked as a fry cook on his great adventure back in the 70's.  I texted him to confirm and I was right!
 

Gas price in Sanderson Texas!  cheapest yet.

                                                         On the road
  The sky continued to intrigue us with clouds and hundreds of beautiful sunbeams.  Hwy 90 is a back road so traffic was light.  The road itself is in great shape and the rock formations are amazing.  In Langtry we stopped where Judge Roy Bean held court and walked through their gardens.  The buildings are original.  He was one bad dude and was the law west of the Pecos in the last decades of the 19th century.

This is the Pecos River we crossed over just after Langtry, yep we crossed that bridge!

The road cut through layers of rock. Beautiful.

We found our RV park just south of San Antonio on hwy 37 and hooked up to cable and zone out!

Tuesday Jan 29th

Happy birthday, Susie (Jerry's sister!)

Woke up to an overcast day again but warm.  Expected temp was a high of 86.  Maggie the GPS 

directed us right to a parking lot next to the Alamo!!  $10 for all day parking and Jerry finally agreed to pay after we drove around awhile looking for a cheaper spot.  He keeps reminding me we can do this trip only if we are cheap!  yea, yea.....  The Alamo was so inspiring,  beautifully restored.

     Our next stop was the River Walk.  We walked a couple of blocks and there we were there.  We walked down a flight or so of stairs and we were in a differnt world.  Absolutely beautiful!  Unfortunately I took all my pictures with my regular camera and had a plan to get the pix in my computer by putting them on a disc.  I even found a CVS  along the walk and I broke their machine trying to make a disc.  At that point I decided to just take pictures and enjoy and I did no more technology of any kind the rest of the day!

One bridge railing

The locks which we did in the evening

   

  The San Antonio River runs through town and is about 1 story below street level.  It has been in existence for over 100 years and has been undergoing renovations and improvements since then. There were tour boats and taxis cruising along, restaurants and people meandering or jogging in the more open areas.  Each bridge over a street was decorated differently.  The walkway was about 3 people wide and even the texture and design of the concrete was beautiful and ever changing.  We had lunch on a terrace and then we started really walking.  We walked to the dam and locks and then back on the other side.  We then did the loop and had ice cream.  

     We wanted to wait until dark to see the river lit up at night so we started exploring on street level and found a large plaza with a huge bouquet of Yellow Roses.  It was a sculpture advertising San Antonio as the most romantic city.  We agreed!  On the plaza we found the oldest Cathedral Sanctuary in the United States.  It was founded in 1731 and was spectacular.  It even had the tomb where Davy Crockett,  Mr.Bowie and Mr. Travis (all heroes of the Alamo are enshrined).

     We then jumped on a ferry and rode around on the river for probably 2 hours.  We retraced our walk  (probably 3-4 miles) and everything looked magic at night!  Sooo fun.  Thank everyone for recommending it.

      Maggie found our way home even in the dark. Pictures will follow when I get a disc made.

Still catching up with my pix!  The copper mine in Ajo.  So big that a boat on that green lake in the middle would be about the size of the head of a pin!

This is an Organ Pipe cactus in Organ Pipe cactus Na Park.

The four of us hiking to the visitor center.  please see blog of a couple of days ago.

Camping with the Appels!

A very rainy Saturday morning.  We happened to have an umbrella in the car!

Why Arizona is the best!!!  Check out the sign by the door "Free Why-Fi"  LOL!

Our first road runner.  I have a much better picture on our other camera if anyone needs an 8x10! 

The very first grease rack for working on cars at Poncho Villa State Park in New Mexico.  The first conflict with motorized vehicles and the last battle fought on mainland US soil.

Hey!  a picture!  I am so proud!  This is Doug and Lorna's House in Ajo.  The fence is to keep the Javelina's ( peccary or wild pig) out!  Every house is fenced.

Lorna's cute little trailer, Sweet Pea.  No we haven't got a name for ours...just the casita...

The inside of her vintage trailer.  She has worked so hard to fix it up and it is gorgeous!

 Still working on more pix!

This morning Sunday the 27th (Happy Birthday Tom and Justin!!!)  We woke up in Pancho Villa State Park.  Walked around a bit and we saw our first Road Runner!!  He was in a tree.  Looked him up in my handy field guide to Western birds.  We are only 3 miles from Mexico...Hummm Breakfast.  Sorry Mom, we walked across the border into Paloma (only a block into Mexico!)  Had breakfast in a tiny little local restaurant where no one spoke English.  We did fine.  "The Pink Store" is a big draw for American tourists (esp. the over 60 crowd) and has every wonderful Mexican fun thing to buy that I have ever seen.  We were offered a free Margarita as we walked in!  9:00!??  Of course Jerry said "its 12:00 somewhere"!  I chose shopping instead of drinking.  We walked out and showed our passports to the boarder patrol, jumped in our car headed due East.  We are trying to stay off some of the interstates so took Hwy 9 toward El Paso.  Lots of desolate and beautiful country.  The clouds continue to be spectacular.  We have been at at least 4,000 feet all day.  We crossed the dry Rio Grand in El Paso and headed into Texas!
As we cruised down I 10 and then onto Hwy 90 we listened to "Seven Spanish Angels" by the Highwaymen and so many other old country classics.  Ahhh Texas, we love it! dinner of wings and potato and sweet potato fries in Alpine.  the wings were undercooked and the fries overcooked but the kid behind the counter was sooo cute and helpful.  Now cozied up at a the Marathon Motel and RV Park.  Beautiful with WiFi and cable!  One small problem, the train that has gone by about every 30 min. and is just across the street.  We do have ear plugs.  Will let you know!

Saturday Jan, 26th

Hello, everyone, Sorry no pictures today.  I thought vacations were supposed to be relaxing but trying to get the pictures on this is stressing me out!!!  So, maybe tomorrow (they are really good!)
     Yesterday Lorna and I packed up our tiny trailers and we 4 headed south to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.  We took a beautiful walk in the desert 1.3 miles to the visitor center and back, then fixed Bar B Que steak and baked potatoes and broccoli.  Lovely!  Doug built a fire and we sat and talked til it was dark and time for the Ranger talk at the outdoor amphitheater   With great anticipation we joined probably 30 other campers to hear an educational talk about the area.  Instead we heard all about our national parks in a boring monotone with patronizing jokes.  It was horrible!  About halfway through Jerry whispered he was leaving and would that be rude.  I leaned over to tell Lorna and she bolted out of her seat along with Doug.  We had all been sitting there in agony wanting to leave!  About the time we decided to call it a night it started raining and continued all night!!!
     Rain in the Desert?  Who knew?  Very chilly and wet this morning when we left about 8, the Appels home to Ajo and us East into the unknown.  What a gorgeous drive!  We mostly stayed on Hwy 10 and ended up taking hwy 11 south at Demming.  Doug had recommended Poncho Villa state Park in Columbus and here we are. the rain and sun, rainbows and gorgeous clouds have kept us entertained all day.  Hopefully pictures soon.  Raining again but we are warm and cozy.

Karen and Jerry's next great Adventure

Thursday, January 24, 2013

    This is my second attempt at blogging!  (my first was in the dark of early morning with my tiny tablet and I erased 2 hours of work by mistake!)

   Jerry and I set out on our 2013 road trip to the Gulf Coast on Tuesday the 21st after work in Eureka.  He picked me up on 4th street with the car attached to our sweet little Casita trailer.  The first night was in the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa.  We then started out in the dark to drive through rush hour traffic in the east bay.  Our day ended with a 3 hour trek through rush hour traffic on the LA freeways!  But our new Magellan GPS (Maggie) led us right to Aunt Jerry's door in Placentia.  For those of you who don't have Tom's book or haven't seen my double cousin poster, Aunt Jerry is my mom's sister and Jana's mother.  We had a great visit with her and then took off for San Diego on Thursday morning.
 
   Thursday is the day that Jana and Geno feed the homeless on the beach.  We watched Geno finish the chicken soup he makes weekly, met up with their neighbors and passed out cups of soup to fifty or so folks. On Friday, I followed Jana to a school and watched her do her thing.  She teaches teachers how to use the software her company sells. The software helps students learn and helps teachers keep track of how well they do.  She is an amazing teacher!  After school we went to have our hair done together and the boys brought our dinner while we were under the dryer.  Very pretty ladies emerged.
    The weekend was taken up with walks on the beach, football, shopping, football, visiting with friends and neighbors, more football and lots of laughter! Go Niners!
 
    We left Pacific Beach (San Diego) Monday the 21st (Jana and Geno on their way to the Big Island on Tuesday for Jana's work).  We arrived in Ajo Arizona later that day.  There are lots of Torgersen's here and even a cousin of my mom's side of the family!  Ajo is a copper mining town south of Gila Bend, Arizona.  (check out Google Earth!  The mine is amazing)  Most of the houses are company houses and are so cute and tidy!  Uncle Carl (my dad's brother) and his wife Dolores started the Northern California exudous 30 years ago.  They used to come in their motor  home and finally bought a house 24 years ago.  Several houses later and still building the dream house they come down every winter.  My dad's other brother, Larry and his wife, Audrey, my mother's other sister (this is where it gets complicated!!! but as we say it is legal) moved down once, moved away and returned for good in 2004. Larry and Audrey's daughter Lorna and her husband Doug finally decided to buy a house and become snowbirds in 2009.  Carl and Dolores's daughter Carlene and her husband Mike just bought a house and Carl is fixing it up for them.  All these folks live within a block of each other and they have rentals nearby also.  They are truly taking over the town!  My mom, Helen's mother's sister's son, Ernest lives on the other side of town.  We parked our Casita trailer in Lorna and Doug's back yard (they even have hookups!) and have made it our base camp.

Cousins, Carlene and Lorna

   We have had a glorious time visiting, touring the mine, shopping in antique stores, eating, visiting some more, laughing, reminiscing, and touring the houses.  We had breakfast in Why (the town 15 min. down the road toward Mexico) with Larry, Elizabeth and Ernest and Lorna and Doug yesterday.  It rained last night (eek, the Mayville black cloud!)
   Carlene and Mike are headed back to Ferndale today.  We will check out the new cabinets Carl is installing for Carlene and Mike, Visit again with the old timers and then we "kids", Lorna and I and our husbands are taking our tiny trailers and going camping in the desert!!!  Should be fun.  I'll keep ya'll posted.

   Ok, I'm gonna try to save this...Next is pictures and getting you the address.

Picture above is Karen, Lorna and Carlene on Lorna's front porch.