Christmas in Casa Grande Arizona

December 20, 2018

Its my birthday today and I spent it on our way to Arizona to meet up with my sister for Christmas,  Our night stop yielded a steak dinner at least at the Petro truck stop somewhere in Texas.  The next day saw us into New Mexico well pas El Paso and another night at a Petro.  Everything I wanted to see was north of the I10 and I didn't want to take time away from visiting with my sister.  We made it into Casa Grande on December 22nd and parked the Mack in their RV hookup spot. 

I couldn't remember the last time I spent Christmas with Gail and was so looking forward to it.  Gail and Milo have a nice place just out of town and come down every year to partake of the sun, and great weather in which to ride their motorcycles.  They also do 4x4'ing with their vehicles often taking off into the desert for days as well as Mexico, Baja.

As we didn't want them to change any plans they may have made, we went and did some cycling around the area, first to check out tires for the truck and second to go up some hills.  They in turn were going out for a ride on their motorcycles,  In the evenings we watched The Furious, 5, 6 and 7 over the nights we were there.  On Christmas Gail made turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing with real cranberries, it was so good.  We also got pointers on places to stop and see on the way to Mexico and in Mexico.  Oh and lots of cuddles and licks from Batman their black lab, who I think found a friend in Chris. A few mornings I woke up early enough to go for a desert walk with Gail and Batman

It was a short stay as we headed out first to get a set of 4 new tires for the back of the Mack and then head into Mexico for New Years eve and left on Boxing Day December 26th.  Next year Gail and Milo said they would probably be heading to Mexico, so I'm looking forward to future travels together.

Cycling Tour

Cycling Tour El Paso to Austin Texas
December 6, 2018 to December 19, 2018

Day 1

We spent the night in the Soluna Hotel in El Paso ready to ride out from it to Fort Hancock.  The day is overcast but still not to cold, temperature is 8 C.  We are taking part of Ride with Rick for Parkinson's.  Jill Oakes and Rick Riewe are the main characters, Rick was diagnosed with Parkinson's and they decided to see the impact that cycling does on the disease, and it has had wonderful results for Rick.

To accompany Jill and Rick are Kristine Askholm who did the ride in the summer with them, Paul Benson an EMT with the fire department, Leigh Anne Parry and Anders Swanson, John Wider who is also an Adventurers cycling Affiliate and our logistics person, myself who is cycling the whole way, and Chris who is backing up the group as a SAG with the little Mac Truck.

Jill, Rick and Anders

Our first stop along the route is breakfast at the Mexican restaurant Taco's where we fueled up our bodies for the morning part of the ride of approximately 25 miles to  Fabens where we stop to have lunch at another Mexican restaurant.  Chris met us about 9 miles before Faben and provided a rest stop for the group.

Fresh Pecans

Leigh Anne, Rick, John and me

Paul devised a sling for Rick's shoulder to rest in

Rick's new sling for his arm with Paul, John and Kristine

After lunch, we continued on to our destination for the night Fort Hancock, another 25 mile cycle, where the community invited us to stay the night in their decorated Fort Hancock Community Church.  The community was very hospital and provided a cake for evening desert.

Fort Hancock Community Church

Paul cutting the cake

We witnessed a beautiful sunset in Fort Hancock before I dropped into bed totally exhausted.

The next days ran into each other as we left Fort Hancock on our way to Sierra Blanca for lunch where I found I pulled my calf muscle, probably from taking the rolling hills to fast.  I decided to ride in the Mack for the rest of the way to Van Horne.  We spent the night at the Flying J in Van Horne and the rest of the cyclist got a hotel.  The next leg of our cycle was from Van Horne to Kent for lunch, which I got up and cycled then gave my leg as rest as the rest of the group was determined to go all the way to Fort Davis, cycling up past the McDonald Observatory, I didn't think it was a good idea for my calf and decided to give it another rest.  The group didn't make it to the McDonald observatory as night falls fast in the winter.  They locked up the bikes together behind some trees and jumped into the Mack for a ride to Fort Davis and a hotel.  In the Morning we took them back up to the bikes and waited up at the McDonald Observatory.  I elected not to ride with them but to actually go up to the observatory on a tour with Leigh-Anne and Anders, I did ride my bike back down a little way until Chris picked me up and took me back down.

From Fort Davis to Alpine I joined the cycle halfway, then it was onto Sanderson.  A couple stopped along the ride and said if we were stopping in Sanderson for the night we could stay at the church.  We also met three other cyclists and Jill had stayed at her place in September as a warm shower.  Funny who you meet while on the road,  It was getting late in the day so we took Rick into the Truck and I called the number when cell service was available to stay at the church hall.  All I can say is what Texas hospitality, the woman made us pulled pork, and we had the run of everything in the hall.  In the morning they made a hearty breakfast for the cyclist and we were once again on our way to Langtry Texas home of Judge Roy Bean.

It was late again getting into Langtry but they were able to secure some rooms in the only run down motel on the highway, Chris and I parked up at the community hall away from the rode traffic and slept in due to my phone not changing time zones.  Everyone was up and waiting past the sunrise which was the accustomed time to start cycling.  From that day forward it turned into the norm.

Langtry to Rio was uneventfully but there was a detour to we had to take Uvaldi due to a road closure.  As we rode out of Uvaldi the sun was shinning as we made our way up to Leakey which was the next stop for the night. 

We seen Chris stopped at Stonehenge II and stopped to take some pictures and then continue on but they decided to stop for breakfast first.  The group decided to take a less traveled highway and it was not as bumpy as the highway although Chris did not know we took it as cell service is not the best at times.  We did finally come out where Chris had stopped for lunch stop with the Mack, I got in and we went and explored Garner State Park where I got to have a hot shower, then went on to meet the others at Leakey.  We were in Texas Hill country now.

The next day the target was Hunt, Texas and Jill wanted to go up the road Chris and I had took from Los Maples State Park, no one else wanted to go as this was up with winding blind curves and no shoulder, but it was Jill's trip and everyone went.  I chose to go up with Chris and cycle out after they had stopped at Los Maples Park for lunch. Chris had gone on ahead scouting out the places to stay the night and the group opted for a night in a condo on the water at a resort.

The next day we rode out and Jill changed the plan once again and we were heading to Harper and a ranch not to far from it.  Of course there was no cell service and Chris didn't know they had changed the plan.  That day I rode 56.5 miles, I did finally get Chris on the phone and give him the address to the place,  He stopped and picked up Rick and Christine and couldn't stop to pick me up the rest of the steep hills up. 

The group were taking a morning off going horseback riding and I went with Chris in the truck as yesterday was a long day.  We decided that the extra day would cut into the time for us to get up to Casa Grande to spend some time with my sister for Christmas so when we stopped in Fredericksburg at another warm shower we said we would drop the bags off at their next warm shower just past Johnson City.  From there they just had to care all their stuff to Austin. 

The morning ride up to Johnson City and the out of the way place for the warm shower done I finished up my Texas Cycle and we headed west to Arizona,

El Paso Texas

Van Horne to El Paso, Texas

November 28,2018 to December 4, 2018

Up early and on our way to El Paso, Texas, memories of my mother come to mind.  She liked Marty Robbins, the singer, and had his LP that I use to listen to when she played it or when he came on the radio.  I loved the song El Paso so I'm extra excited to be visiting this city.

As we travel through along the Interstate 10 when I get a text message informing me of the $12.00 roaming charge from Rogers, which is for international not the US.  It seems that the cell signal is weak in this area so close to Mexico that it's picking up Telcel from Mexico.  I will have to chat with Rogers to ensure they don't charge me for Mexico.

We stop at a rest area where Texas meets New Mexico and take some pictures.  I was on my iphone and booked a week at the El Paso West RV Park as we have some time before Jill and Rick fly down on December 5th.  Time I will need to strengthen my leg muscles and work on my endurance before we do the Ride with rick for Parkinson cycle from El Paso to Austin.

I have a chat with Rogers and explain the situation and they remove the $12 for my next bill.

The RV park is almost full, we have electricity, water, free Wifi, cable TV if we had one.  It also has the cleanest bathroom and shower area as well as a Rec Room with TV, pool table and laundry.

For the next week we ride our bikes the 20 mile return to Walmart for food, a 40.2 mile ride to Las Cruses, another 25 mile ride up to the Trek store, Cabella's, lunch and Walmart.  There was one day we could not ride as there was a windstorm and our final ride of 36 miles to Rosa's Cantina a bar inspired from the El Paso song where we had lunch.  I also got my first flat tire which Chris fixed in no time at all before we left the Cantina.

Tomorrow we meet up with the others for the cycle tour, Chris will be pulling SAG with the RV and I will be trying to get fit with the cycle.  I just hope I can keep up with everyone.

The next part of my blog will be on Facebook as I need to have my cellphone on in case of calling our SAG driver.

Davis Mountain State Park, Texas

Davis Mountain State Park, Texas

November 26, 2018

We are so glad we obtained an electrical spot as the evenings are very cool in the mountains and we can run our little heater.  It’s a cool morning we wake up to, but you can see the sun shining on the mountain tops.  Chris makes the usually morning perked coffee as I snuggle under the blankets waiting for the little space heater to warm the inside of the RV.  The park has Wifi but it’s out of range where we are parked.  After coffee we head up to the interpretive center where Chris works on uploading his blog and I try to get on Facebook, guess they have the sites restricted because I have no success.

We head back to the RV to have breakfast and get ourselves ready for the big cycle up to the McDonald Observatory, the first time I’ve ever visiting one.  

The sun is shining though a bit cool as we cycle the highway up to the top of the mountain.  Now I’m not doing to bad to start out, but as the road winds up and around I find I have to get off and walk up a bit.  I’m use to cycling flat roads not up a mountain.  After about two hours, with lots of huffing and puffing, due to the thin mountain air, I finally make it up to the Tourist Center.  Chris who has been cycling for years of course has no problem and makes it seem effortless.  I only started riding in 2014 so it was a lot of effort for me.

The visitor center is not at the top of the mountain, they have tours that take you up there for there shows, some night time tours.  We decide that the next tour that starts at 2.00 PM will not give us a safety net of cycling back down the mountain in the daylight, so we have a hot chocolate and cookie in the Cafe first.  Then wander around the center with all it’s space paraphernalia.  Outside the area is marked by a huge sundial, we think perhaps on our way out we will come for the tour up to the top and start our descent down the mountain.  Going down is a lot easier then cycling up a mountain.  Before i know it, the pedometer is showing 16.9 miles in record time for me at least.  The ride up was 11.6 and that took two hours the fide down only took an hour, with me only getting off once to walk up for a bit for a total ride of 23.4 miles.

McDonald Observatory

Sundial outside visitors center

A nice cup of tea and a lounge in the chair taking in the sun was in order.  Later is was a walk up to the bathroom for a nice hot shower, felt good to be clean.  As I’m sitting inside the RV waiting for my hair to dry, I start to feel the cooling air of the evening wrapping the inside, so i shut the doors and turn on the heater.  I still have a little cough from time to time, and it's a little wet, I hope a cold is not in the works.

Dinner is a hearty Chicken cacciatore with Pasta, a good meal to fuel back up on after a long hard cycling day.  No pigs came to visit this night and after a few games of crib we call it a night.

Davis Mountain to Van Horn, Texas

November 27, 2108

We are up early this morning and having decided not to take the trip up to the observatory, not a good idea coming down that mountain in the dark as there is no place to park the RV for the night, we start packing up after breakfast.

Chris want to drive up to the scenic outlook before we leave.  I have my video going on the camera.  Once again the hair is raising on my arms as we make our way up the twisting road, with u turns of 15 miles per hour up to the top.  It was well worth the trip as the view from up there is gorgeous, and the trip down not as bad since I didn’t have a camera in my shaking hands.

Top of Skyline Drive

A stop at Porters Food Store in Fort Davis to stock up and then we decide to stop at the Fort but we didn’t stay long as it wasn’t much of a fort and there was a fee to walk the grounds.

On the highway again we make it to the Pilot at Van Horn, Texas where we do laundry, check out the free wifi.  I’m looking for an app for my camera, but the wifi is too slow to download.  Chris gets his blog up, clothes dry and folded we head back for a overnight in the RV.

Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

November 24, 2018

Today is overcast but warm, we quickly have coffee and breakfast then ride our bikes down the hill to the park office.  There is a guided tour of Fake Bell Shelters, the cost is $8.00 per person and there were about 20 people who signed up.  Our tour guide is a woman who offers some walking sticks.  I decide to take one since we will be walking down into the canyon and back up again.  I don’t want a repeat of the night I fell on the road in Magnolia Beach.

The path down are made of stone steps, some are big making my short legs stretch, Chris’s long legs no so much.  The cave or shelters as they are called have paintings from the Indigenous Peco’s people who inhabited the area around 2000 years ago.  This area was once a shallow sea and every now and they you can see the fossils of shells and other stuff in the rocks.  We climb up a few stairs trying not to disturb the bee’s nest in the trees to our first sightings of the paintings made by the Peco’s people.  Then we move onto the other site, where we are told to stay on the black mats as movement on the shelf will send up black dust that will eventually ruin the paintings over time.

As our tour guide tells us about the paintings I take lots of pictures before heading back up the canyon.  A very nice tour I would recommend to anyone.

When dinner is finished we take the bikes and ride up the old road trail complete with rocks and some ups and downs.  I’m able to ride most of the way through the changing trail only getting off once to ensure I don’t fall on the rocks that splatter the trail.  We make our way up to Panther lookout and stop to take a look at the view.  Across the way you can make out the pictograph tail painting of a panther in the shelter,  The view is beautiful with the canyon surrounding the river that runs down to the Rio Grande and Mexico.  We reach the end of the trail and park our bikes to continue along the Canyon Rim trail to the end where you can see Mexico across the Rio Grande.

It was a nice way to spend a day in Seminole Canyon State Park.  A little for sitting in the sun working on the tan, a hot shower, dinner and an early night.  The fresh canyon air takes is toll on us as it’s only 7:15 pm for lights out not my normally bedtime.

Seminole Canyon State Park to Fort Davis, Texas

November 25, 2018

The clouds have settled in as we wake for our morning coffee.  I take the time to catch up on my blog, Chris also until his laptop starts to act up.  Chris starts to pack up the campsite while I finish getting caught up and then make breakfast so we can be on our way.

Highway 90 is rolling hills as we plug along and make a stop in Langtry, Texas.  Langtry claim to fame is Judge Roy Bean, self proclaimed “Law west of the Pecos”.  The visitor center is large, with lots of tourist pamphlets that I pick up for our next stopover. Inside are kiosks depicting holographic scenes of the town of Lantry, Judge Roy Bean.  You accessed these holographs by picking up an old Phone receiver.

We step out back to wander around, there is a building called the Jersey Lilly Saloon and Billiard Room where the judge sold liquor at the bar and made his judgments on all types of crimes.  To the right is a cactus garden and I take the walk stopping to take pictures of the different flora of the area and region.  To the left of the saloon is an Opera House, which was actually the Judges residents.  The judge fell in love with a picture of the English actress and songstress, Lily Langtry, naming the city and opera house after her.  He wrote her often telling her about the town, unfortunately the two never met.  She arrived in her own rail coach a few months after the judge died.

Next stop was Sanderson for diesel, wow! - a high price of $3.69 per gallon, guess they can charge what they want.  We make a stop at the Frenches Grocer to stock up on at least two days of food as we are stopping at Davis Mountain State Park for two nights.

Another quick stop in Marathon to ensure we are filled with diesel for the mountains and we finally make it to the Park and pay for two nights with electricity - another state park second night coupon used for a cost of $30.

We make a walk up to the bathrooms and showers to inspect them, then continue up to the interpretive center where we run into a young couple with three children from Burlington, Ontario.  They are also making their first trip down south trying to find somewhere warm.  They will be heading west also, so we say our goodbyes and maybe we will meet in Quartzite Arizona at some point.

That night some wild pigs decide to visit us at our campsite, but I’m too late to figure out the flash on my camera or so I thought, you can just make one big one out in the background.

Texas Hill Country

Magnolia Beach, Texas to San Antonio, Texas

November 20, 2018

The sun is shining but with overcast skies and still windy as we leave Magnolia Beach.  There are a lot of campers that have also moved on, some to Mission, Texas, others well we just will have to wonder.

Penny the old doll is moving her vehichle, so I flag her down to snap a photo and say goodbye.  Now Magnolia Beach has it's pros and cons.  You can park right on the beach and it's free, people are friendly and respectful, there are bathrooms and hot shower although the hot showers were not open, the con's - no place to refill or dump your water, and travelling the 25 + miles round trip by bicycle does not allow you to grab lots of food for a few days.  They use to be able to dump and refill up at the volunteer fire department but a few ruined that for others by not paying or giving cheques that bounced.It was costing the little community more than it was taking in.

We stop at the Walmart in Victoria and I spy a Samsung Chrome notebook for Black Friday sale for $99,00.  Since Chris's laptop is experiencing fan issues we decide to stay in San Antonio a day extra to try a snag two of them.

We stop at the TA travel Center on the I10 for a hot shower, but it has no free internet, so we head over to the flying J.  We are able to upload our blogs, I"m still a little behind.  Tomorrow is site seeing day in San Antonio.

San Antonio, Texas

November 21, 2018

We rise to cloudy skies today, the rain is supposed to start around 2 PM, so we quickly have coffee and breakfast and make our way around the 410 loop to exit 44 the entrance to San Antonio Missions National Historic Parks with the first one being Espada Mission.  We park and have a walk around taking pictures, nothing is open yet as it's not 10 PM yet.

We unload the bikes, lock up the RV and make our way over to the river walk trail.  The trail is a 25 mile round trip of rolling concrete sidewalks that winds it's way along the San Antonio river.  The trail will take us to the Alamo, and will we be riding, but not in the style of the 1700's or 1800's with horses, but a ride all the same.

From Mission Espada we cycle to Mission San Juan where I notice all the Missions are showing their age, broken stone walls and buildings of what once was a fort that protected the people from the Apache or Comanche nations attacks.  Each mission had a small regiment of army personal to protect it, which in some cases, like the Alamo not so well with just a handful of men.

The next mission past the Spada Dam is Mission Jan Jose, the largest one with a visitor center and tour.  We decide we will see if we want to take the tour, but soon the mundane speech of the tour guide has us off on our own.  We take pictures as we explore the mission and the church inside.

Our next stop is Mission Concepcion a somewhat smaller mission with the same crumbling stone walls with more walking around and picture taking. Soon we are off for the last leg in our missions journey the Alamo in Downtown San Antonio.

Part of the ride takes us off the walkway since no bikes are allowed and we ride through the streets to the Alamo.  The Alamo is small, not the bigger than life, expected of a place in history, puffed up by the big screen versions. Inside was small the inside of a church with barracks that the likes of Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and Captain Travis lived and died in when Santa Anna's army in 1836 finally broke the 13 day seige and killed the men inside defending it.  We heading into the museum which was a gift shop, it also had plaques along the walls mentioning all those who died at the Alamo.

It's lightly raining as we make our way back down the river walk trail, the weather app stated it would start at 2 PM but it started at noon instead.  We make it back before it starts to rain more heavily, a 25.5 mile round trip on my bike speedometer.  After a quick burger for lunch in the RV we are off to a rest stop just before Kerrville, Texas, it has washrooms and a sanitation dump.  

I try to secure two Black Friday Samsung laptop on the internet, but before I can finalize the checkout, Walmart.com goes down.  A check in the middle of the night shows it's back up but now the item is sold out.  I'm still going to buy a Chromebook to record my blog more easily without fear that I will lose it all on Chris's fan issued laptop.

Kerrville, Texas to Lost Maples State Natural Area

November 22, 2018

Another cloudy day after dumping and refilling our water, we make our way through the Texas Hill country along highway 39.  Chris states I need to imprint the highway into memory as he thinks it is the one I will be cycle down as part of the Southern Tier Bicycle route.  It's very beautiful and very hilly, as I contemplate whether I'm strong enough to tackle the cycle through the rolling countryside.

Chris decides to take a detour to Lost Maples State Natural Area, a Texas state park where upon arriving we decide to spend the night.  The park attendant states there are no spots, as it's there busy time, it's Thanksgiving in the US and lots of families go to state parks to celebrate.  She phones one person who reserved and they state they will not be able to make it, so we have a spot for the night.  When staying in Texas state parks it's $6.00 per person plus the camping spot.  We decide to buy the annual pass for $70 dollars which waves the per person fee and gives us 4 coupons for 1/2 price second night.  The cost for electricity and water for a night in this park is $20.

Lost Maples is nestled among hills and has a well preserved Eco system.  There are a few hiking trails that you can only ride your bike a mile in.  The paths are rocky, rolling and crosses the Sabinal River many times.  Chris is making me work this trail with my bike, sometimes I get off because I would rather not break a leg.

Lisa the park manager stops by to take a look at the Mack.  She is amazed by these unique RV's, once a couple from the UK sent a fixed up Army unit over and visited her park as well as North America.  I give her the full tour including the inside. She states that usually you can see the trees a nice red colour but too much rain in the area has stopped that from happening.

Before dinner we try another short trail, these trails were very busy today with lots of families hiking them and only two crazies on their bikes.  Another early night with the window open in the silence of the darkness.

Lost Maple State Natural Area to Seminole Canyon State Park, Texas

November 23, 2018

The skies are still cloudy this morning, after a hot shower and hearty breakfast we say goodbye to this beautiful park and make our way off to Del Rio and the next park.  The road runs along the Sabinal River winding it's way in and out.  Then it's up into the mountains, and me, who is afraid of heights has the drop off on my side of the road.  It seemed like 100 of miles of hair raising turns untile we finally make our way out of it.  Chris was enjoying the views, I was almost sitting in his lap and telling him the speed of each turn and every now and then to slow down being an annoying back or should I say front seat driver. To me it was a completely exhausting experience.  

We were supposed to take highway 334 to Del Rio but it was closed and we had to detour almost 40 more miles out of our way.  A visit to the Walmart and i buy myself a HP Chromebook, mouse and bag, a little more than I wanted to spend, but now I can do my blogging with ease.  We replenish our food supply and head off to Seminole Canyon State Park around 30 miles away, in 24C weather and did I say the sun is shining!

We arrive at the park and spend two nights in a close to water spot, no electricity which was all I could secure over the phone since most of the park was full.  We head up to our spot and out the back of the RV was a beautiful view of the dessert plains.  It brought to mind U2's song "where the streets have no name"  Some fellow campers came by to check out the rig, Chris's touring the men, me the women, all amazed at our little Mack truck.  Tonight was dinner on the BBQ and we uploaded our blogs piggy backing off my cell phone hot spot and then turned in for the evening.