On July 1st, I traveled to Dallas, TX to attend a lecture by the Dalai Lama. There are no pictures, as cameras were not allowed, and my cell phone pics were no good, but it was an adventure nontheless.

What peaceful and compassionate, loving presence!!

Ketchup day, cont...

On Wednesday, June 24th, I traveled to nearby Sunspot, NM to see the National Solar Observatory located there. There are two National Solar Observatory locations in the U.S, the other being at Kitt Peak, AZ, which I visited about 6 months ago in January.

the drive up to Sunspot was absolutely beautiful, and even if you have no interest in the observatories, it is still worth the drive. When i went there was lots of mountain laurel blooming, with it's lavender/purple flowers, and quite a bit of the yellow mountain sumac blooming as well. 

groves of aspen amongst the pine forest, and the occasional meadow added interest to the landscape.

Finally, it's ketchup day!!

I have fallen way behind of keeping up with this blog, and you have my apologies for that. Like the opposite of a murder case, I've had the weapon, but not the opportunity or motivation...


On June 17th, I went to the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. The Three Rivers site is a few mules north of Tularosa, then back to the east about 5 miles.  This was a fascinating hike up a hillside completely surrounded by thousands of petroglyphs.  There is no shade whatsoever, so come prepared with a hat and sunscreen. 

View of Sierra Blanca from the trail through the petroglyphs...

Behind!

I am obviously behind in my posts. More to follow soon!

Missing Adventure...

I missed my Adventure Wednesday on June 10th. I was unexpectedly called to return to Amarillo to conduct a funeral service. I did go on an Adventure on Wednesday, June 17th, and I will write and post pictures about that sometime this weekend. Safe travels to all of my friends, and please don't drink and drive!!

Adventure Wednesday #3..."It's Smokey!"

I'd classify this as a "Little Adventure". I drove up through Ruidoso to Capitan, NM to the Smokey the Bear Memorial Park.  Capitan sits on US 380, where NM state Highway 48 intersects. I had a nice lunch at Renee's Cafe' (remember to bring CASH, no debit, credit cards, and no out of town checks...but the best egg salad sandwich that I've had in a long time!!

After lunch, I drove a couple of blocks up the road to the park. This is a small park, only a couple of acres. There is a nice little museum dedicated to Smokey the Bear, both the iconic cartoon forest fire prevention bear, and the live version who resided at the National Zoo for years.

I wasn't prepared for how this little memorial would affect me emotionally...Smokey was a part of my childhood, up until I was college age. Seeing his grave site was a bit of finality that impacted me more deeply than I had anticipated. The park also has a $2.00 admission charge, and they don't take cards or checks, either...

Museum Entrance

Exhibits of different new Mexico plant life in the park

Smokey's grave...still chokes me up.

Adventure Wednesday #2

For my second Adventure Wednesday, I traveled a few miles past Alamogordo (fat Alamo?!) to The White sands National Monument. This is a fascinating place, with a completely otherworldly feel to it. Pictures do not do it justice. The sand is gypsum, rather than silica, which accounts for the whiteness, and also for the coolness of the sand, even on a sunny day. Lot's of people have disc sleds and go sledding on the dunes. I didn't.

I don't know what this purple flower is, but note the lizard to the left...

Adventure Wednesday #1

I have decided that for the rest of the summer, that I am going on a local adventure each Wednesday. I will try to stay within a hundred miles or so of Cloudcroft, so that I can be back to Tiny Trailer by nightfall. 
This week's adventure was to the New Mexico Museum of Space History in Alamogordo. I was impressed by the exhibits, and the 10 year old science nerd in me was delighted. I remember being fascinated by some of these very rockets and missiles when I was a kid.

Exterior of the museum

View from the top floor looking West across Alamogordo...the white horizontal line in front of the mountains in the distance is White Sands National Monument, and the White Sands Testing Range.

Little Joe II, largest missile ever launched at White Sands

Rocket sled

Nike missile...there was a Nike base just north of Denton, now abandoned.

F-1 Rocket engine. 

The most powerful single chamber rocket engine ever made, with about a million and a half pounds of thrust per engine.

Wreckage of V-2 from White Sands, a German capture that White sands personnel were reverse engineering before its crash.

Mercury capsule, like the ones who carried the first Americans into space.

Sputnik, the Russian satellite which first orbited the Earth

Explorer 1, the first American satellite, launched about 4 months after Sputnik

Next Wednesday, another adventure!!

Tall, cool pines...

I arrived at Cool Pines RV campground on May 2nd, dropped off Tiny Trailer, and headed to Amarillo, to see my daughter in a musical. I returned on the 10th, and have been here for a bit over a week, now.
Cool Pines is located on US Hwy 82, about 12 miles east of Cloudcroft, NM. and about 5 miles west of Mayhill, NM.  The sites are spread out over 15 acres, and there are about 37 sites altogether, but are scattered up and down the hillside,...not "parking lot" style at all. My site is about 35 feet wide, and about 30 feet deep, which is dandy for Tiny Trailer, but too short for some of the bigger rigs that are here. 
It's early in the season (they don't open until May 1st), but so far, it seems like a lot of people bring their 5th wheels trailers up here and leave them for the summer, and come up on several weekends. (seems like a poor utilization of resources to me, but it's their money...)
The surroundings are beautiful, and it is indeed, "Cool". Most mornings are in the high 30's to low 40's and the daytime highs are low 60's. Lots of pine and oak forest, and LOTS of hummingbirds. I'll have to get a nectar feeder. There is an activity room, with wifi available , but no good reception up the hill.
It has rained some since I've been here, but not enough to make me whine...yet.
I will be here until mid-September-to maybe the first of October, depending on the weather.

Tiny Trailer in the cool pines...

View down the hill from my campsite

View straight up from the campsite...

Interim Post

I have been remiss in posting to this blog...however, part of the blame lies with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Most Texas State Parks state that they have WiFi. And most do. It's just not usable. I'm not talking about streaming Netflix movies, I'm talking about trying to read your email, or check in with Facebook. So, until I get to a place where I can upload photos, and make coherent blog entries (not likely, huh?), which should be around the end of first week in May, I won't be blogging here...

Oh...! For those who have been following, and/or who know me, you know that my plan was always to spend the summer in the Pacific Northwest, specifically the Washington Coast. Well, my week on the beach between Corpus Christi and Port Aransas, where it rained every day, and drizzled and densely fogged... convinced me to find another cool place to spend the summer. So later in May, I will be going to Cloudcroft,  NM (elevation almost 9000 feet). Should be cool...and dry!

My reason for summering in New Mexico, rather than Washington...

Pictures, as promised...

Pictures, as promised...

Tiny trailer at Mineral Wells Lake State Park

Tiny Trailer at Dinosaur Valley State Park

Paluxy River

Some dinosaur tracks (?) under the surface of the water in the Paluxy River, Dinosaur Valley State Park

Blanco River, at Blanco State Park

Spanish moss on large live oak tree at my campsite in Guadalupe River State Park.

Meandering south....

I have not posted in the last few weeks, mostly because I have not had much to post. I have been camping at the City of Lewisville/Lake Lewisville campground for about the past month. This has been a regrouping and reconnecting time for me. I met and dined (or lunched) with old friends, and I spent some time working on Tiny Trailer. I covered the vent with a vent cover, put vinyl flooring in the sleeping area, added an air conditioner, and began insulating the roof.

I'm currently making my way down thru mid-central Texas, stopping at state parks along the way. I left Lewisville on Sunday, April 12, and have stayed at Mineral Wells Lake State Park, Dinosaur Valley State Park, Meridan State Park, and am Currently staying at Blanco State Park. I plan to stay at a couple more state parks as I make my way to the Gulf Coast, where I will stay on Mustang Island for about a week. 
Pictures to follow:

Also, I was interviewed for a podcast by Men Seeking Tomahawks, Jack and Dan are former professional wrestlers, who have a weekly podcast the includes music and topics of interest on a wide variety of subjects. Look at menseekingtomahawks.com, number 38.
Men Seeking Tomahawks

Closing the Loop

I reluctantly moved on from Why, AZ on March 8^th, 2015. I will definitely come back next year!! I passed by some interesting things on the way back to Amarillo, to see my family

World's Largest Chile', Las Cruces, NM (about 45 feet long)

VW Bus parked at the Big Chile' Inn, home of the world's largest chile'

Big Chile Inn is a nice and inexpensive place to stay in Las Cruces, and I didn't have to unload Tiny Trailer!

World's Largest Pistachio, Alamgordo, NM. (about 35 feet tall)

I returned to the Lake Lewisville campground, where I started out, on 3/15/15,  but it has been cloudy and rainy since I arrived, so I have been grumpy- More to follow later...

Pima Air and Space Museum

Last Thursday, 2/26/15, I visited the Pima  Air and Space Museum. This is an AMAZING collection of aircraft, with both indoor and outdoor displays.  With 85 or so aircraft indoors, and over 150 outdoors, it makes for an all day delight for the aircraft enthusiast. You can also take a tour of the “Boneyard” at Davis-Monthan  Air  Base. (I arrived too late in the day (noon) and all the spots for the day’s boneyard tours were filled.) I will have to go back next year, and spend  more time.  As it was, I spent  about 3 ½ hours, and took over 100 pictures. Here are a few:

B-17 (like Memphis Belle)

B-36 (a plane like this accidentally dropped a hydrogen bomb on Albuquerque in 1957, while I lived there...luckily, it didn't detonate)

Tri-tail "Connie" (I flew in one of these as a child, from Amarillo, TX to New York)

F-111 (there were a number of these at Cannon air Base in Clovis, NM, when I was a teenager. My dad was career Air Force, and we often went to Cannon to get groceries, both before, and after his retirement)

A-10 (We see these almost daily over the Barry Goldwater Bombing Range from here in Why...)

SR-71 "Blackbird", still the fastest manned airplane ever made. 

B-29, like the ones that dropped the atomic bombs over Japan

F-22 and vintage aircraft flying in formation.  I believe this is an F-22 , a P-51, a P-47, and an F-86.  It must be difficult to match speeds!