May 31, Tucson, Az.

Hi everyone, We left camp after lunch and drove to Tucson. Quite a nice city. Not one American did we encounter. But that's O.K. They are lovely and friendly people. We drove to Saguaro Nat'l Park. This is the site of the world's largest cactus. Awesome!! It has been dubbed the "desert monarch." It looks like a burly giant with arms and at the tip of the arms beautiful blossoms and figlike friuts grow. The Sonoran Desert is the only place in the world where these giants grow. All over the mountains and desert you see hundreds of these plants. All sizes. They don't develop their "arms" until they are 75 years old and can live as long as 200 years.
We drove all over the desert and were amazed at the beautiful homes. We drove to old Tucson . They re-enact movies and dances in the old West. Interesting place. We love Tucson, even though we prefer smaller cities. More tomorrow. Eddy, we have a Canon power shot camera.

Saguaro National Park, AZ

May 30 Tombstone

Hi cowboys and cowgirls,
We rode into Tombstone today and had a really good time. Would you believe the highlight was the cemetary? Oh well, we still have to get a life! They had the main street closed off. Only pedestrians and horses are allowed on the street. The shops are unique. Very Western. We ate in the Crazy Horse Saloon. We pigged out on veggie burgers. I wouldn't have believed that the saloon would all have veggie burgers on their menus. What is the wild west coming to?

On another note, we noticed in our travels through New Mexico and Arizona that there are a ton of pecan and pistachio trees. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought some pistachios. Yummy! Well, enough for today. We are going to Tuscan tomorrow. Love

May 28, 29 Crossing the Continental Divide

Hi loved ones, Yesterday we left our little mountain hideaway and visited the White Sands Missile Range. You will see the pictures of the missiles. ( It's a guy thing) Our last night in New Mexico was spent in a nice campground. We left this morning and crossed into Arizona. We are going to Tombstone tomorrow and spend the day. We spent some time studying the various plants, trees and cactus. The prickly pear seems the most abundant here, as well as the Mesquite tree, the Desert Willow and the Ocopilla plant. I am having trouble distinguishing the various cacti. There are so many. I am still in awe of the beautiful mountains and the desert. Did you notice our little furry friend we took a picture of? Not something we want to pick up and play with. We will write more tomorrow. Love ya

May 27 White Sands Monument

Well, what a surprise! We thought New Mexico was all barren desert. Notta! It is a bouquet of beautiful trees, flowers and gorgeousness. We drove through the Sacramento Mountains on our way to our campground. It was spectacular. We passed through San Patricio, Tinnie, Ruidaso, Mescalaro and Tularosa. The contrast of the green valleys with the starkness of the brown desert was breathtaking. Lots of Mexican influences with their adobe buildings and also a strong Indian influence. We drove into Alamogordo and camped in Dog Canyon, at the base of the 8100 ft. peak shown in the picture. After setting up we drove to White Sands Nat'l Monument. Just when I thought I saw the best, I couldn't believe this! Miles and miles of beautiful sand dunes. Rising from the heart of the Tularosa Basin, it is one of world's greatest natural wonders. Great wave-like dunes of gypsum sand have engulfed 275 sq. miles of desert and created the world's largest gypsum dune field. The while dunes are always growing, cresting, then slumping, but always advancing. Slowly but relentlessly, the sand, driven by strong southwest winds, covers everything in its path. There are unique plants and animals that have adapted to this harsh and constantly changing environment. We drove the road in the dunes noticing how plows have to keep cleaning the streets. Eddy, you would be jealous of the white sand that I have. Just a little bag. This was truly a beautiful day! Love to all.

White Sands (remind you of anything else?)

Tues. May 26

Today we only drove a couple of hours and arrived at The Bottomless Lake Campground around 12:00. It is a saltwater lake that has 3 springs that feed from underneath a mountain. How cool! This is a very dry climate. Not beautiful country but the climate is fantastic. No humidity whatsoever. But I feel I have to moisturize my skin constantly. George worked on the (or I should say) under the motor home all afternoon. I think he misses his putzing around. This is a short post today but I'm sure it will get more interesting in the days to come. We will soon be heading to the Grand Canyon. Love you all and thanks for your comments.

Mon. May 25

Memorial Day! We started out at 8:00 a.m. We headed to Carlsbad Caverns and what a place! We now have quite a cavern vocabulary. Words such as spethethen, calcite, stalagtites, stalagmites, popcorn and soda straws. Such intelligence! Ha, Ha. We had a great time walking 2 1/2 miles inside the cavern. Quite a show! What a natural wonder! We then had lunch in the organic restaurant which we enjoyed. We then drove 33 miles to the Guadalupe Mountain Visitor Center. Since the whole park is walking trails, we opted for a off-road trip in our Jeep.
We had to get a permit from the NPS, and we got a key to open gates to access thousands of acres of restricted land. We drove 15 miles and it took us 3 hours. At the end of the trip, we visited the Williams Ranch (see picture). It is so far off the beaten path that when the house was built, the bride of the builder only stayed for 24 hours and then went home to her parents. She wasn't having any of that isolation! The mountains are gorgeous. So different from the Chisos. Both beautiful in their own way. We love them both! We feel so blessed to be able to do this. Gratitude fills our hearts. Thank you friends and family for sharing this trip with us. We love you up to the mountains and stars.

continuing on

Almost done! The next day we took off after lunch and went back up to the Chisos. That was our favorite part of our trip. We saw tons of roadrunners, our first Javalina, which looks like a big pig and a coyote. How about that! The bird life is amazing. We walked a trail there and that was fun. We looked for bears and panthers but didn't find any. We talked to the volunteers at the Visitors Center and they were very interesting to talk to. They are volunteering for 5 months there.

The next morning we took a long bike ride and headed out of the park toward Carlsbad. We drove 385 and there was a bridge with 11,000 lb. limit so we had to take a 100 mile detour. Bummer! I quess that is part of travelling huh? We arrived at our campground at 6:00 mountain time. We are in New Mexico now. We will send pictures as soon as we have a faster internet connection. Love you all.

continuing from last post

Continuing on: We started early the next day for Panther Junction Headquarters and went right up to the Chisos Mts. On the way, we saw some spectacularly, stunningly beautiful views. We felt like little kids because we were in awe of the scenery. We couldn't get enough. We visited the visitors center and walked around and just took it all in. How big is our world? Words cannot describe how we felt. It was wondrous. After walking around we drove to Castalon which is a gorge on the Rio Grande River along the Sierra del Carman Mts. in Mexico. That was a 33 mi. long car trip. Breathtaking views. We stopped and I hiked down to the Homer Wilson ranch where they raised 4000 sheep and goats. They escaped in the 40's. Why? They didn't say. We packed a picnic and ate at Goat Mountain. Such history! It is hard to imagine that these mountains were formed 29 million years ago with volcanic action. We stopped at an overlook and saw a mountain called "Mule Ears" and that is exactly what it looked like. We hiked some of that trail. We drove through Cerro Castella Mt. Caps. A lot of color because of different eruptions over the years. White ash looks like piles of sand. We then drove down to Santa Elena Canyon. We drove 14 miles on a dirt road. We drove to Terlingua which is a ghost town. However, it is coming back to life. We visited the trading post and the cemetary. We will send pictures. Very interesting town. We talked to 2 of the people that lived there. The whole day we drove 175 miles. Grand day!

May 21 through May 24

Hi everyone, Sorry, we haven't had an internet connection since May 21. So, sit down, have a cup of coffee or beverage of your choice, and I will fill you in on our adventure.

We left Wal-Mart at 7:00 a.m. and arrived in the Big Bend Nat'l Park at 9:30. Then we drove another 29 miles to the entrance and Visitors Center. We camped in a primitive campground for 3 nights. The weather was gorgeous. Cool nights and warm days. The rangers said the week before was 113. Our timing was pretty good, huh? We rode our bikes getting the lay of the land close by and after lunch took the jeep and saw some beautiful sites. We drove to Hot Springs. It is a spring that is 105 degrees bubbling up out of the ground. We walked a trail and on some big rocks we found some crafts that the Mexicans left for tourists to buy. What they do is swim across the Rio Grande River with their crafts and set them up on big rocks with prices on them and a plastic jar for money. I bought a walking stick and a couple of other little things. We found out later that it is illegal for them to do that and for tourist to buy. They could have confiscated everything I bought if they saw me. I'm glad they didn't catch us. Whew!!

We then drove to Bouquillas overlook which is Bouquillas Canyon overlooking the Mexican City.

Wed. May 20

Hi guys, We are in Fort Stockton, Texas and decided we had to by-pass the San Antonio area for now because some people in our last campground said we had to be in the Big Bend Park if we wanted a site on the Rio Grande River. If we are not there by noon tomorrow we may not get in. It is 75 miles from the park entrance. Because it is a holiday weekend makes it all the more urgent that we get there early. We are staying at a Wal-Mart because there are no campgrounds close by. We had a beautiful drive on Rt. 10. Our first intention was to go 90 but we decided to drive 10. It was beautiful driving. Sylvia drove for a couple of hours and did a great job so I could rest. We may not have cell or computer service when we get into the park so if you don't hear from us for a few days that is why. Until next time, George and Sylvia

Tues. May 19

Hello everyone! We arrived in Texas about 10 am. We drove through Houston and are here right now outside of San Antonio. Our campground is nice, lots of walking trails and little streams and lakes. We are going to take 2 more days to get to Big Bend Nat'l Park. Not too much to add today but it was a good and beautiful day to travel. Love

Mon. May 18

Hi guys, We sent you pictures of yesterdays happenings. The blow-up hand grenade says it all, doesn't it? Bourbon street in all of it's glory. The Cathedral picture is our favorite. So we are finished in New Orleans and are in the St. Charles area in Louisiana. We drove 250 miles today. We are staying at Sam Houston Jones Campground. It is a lovely, shaded park with a beautiful lake. We took a nice bike ride and I took a long walk. Tomorrow we will be in Texas. All in all, our experience in New Orleans was high fun. Wish you were here. Oh, Tom said that when we get into Texas our I.Q. will go down 20 points. I say it will probably be more. Love you all

Final day in New Orleans

We have had a wonderful time in this fun city! We went back to the French Quarter today and walked some of the streets. Bourbon street was interesting and we walked Royal with all the galleries. We chose a restaurant called Pe're Antoine and ate gumbo, jamalaya, creole and topped it off with bread pudding. Yummy! Perfect meal for our last night. After dinner we took pictures of St.Peters Cathedral and some of the balconies that are so pretty. We are a little disappointed because we saw only one transvestite. We have to go back to Key West if we want to see more of them.
Weather was a little rainy today and it cooled off quite a bit. Quite a difference from yesterday which was hot and humid. We are taking off in the morning for our last Louisiana stop and then off to Texas. We'll send picture tomorrow. Love you all.

Sat. May 16

Today was a fun day. We took the ferry over to the French Quarter with our bikes. We met an ecentric young man who gave us lots of tips for things to do. (you will see the picture George took of me with him). First stop was Cafe du Monde for beignets but the line was so long that we said no way. But we did find a cafe called Cafe Beignet that you could actually sit down to eat them. They are wonderful pastries dusted with powdered sugar. We rode all the streets and saw lots of beautiful wrought iron balconies. That is a big thing here. Everyone said it is so dirty but I didn't find that to be true. We ate lunch at the French Market Cafe and had Po boys and listened to Jazz while we ate. But the big event of the day was our free jazz concert in, of all places, the National Park Service building. It was great! I think that we are now jazz enthusiasts. How about that! After that we took our bikes and rode around until we caught our ferry. I hope you are all enjoying our trip and pictures with us. Love you all

Friday, May 15

Hi everyone, Here we are at our new home, Bayou Segnette State Park. We had an interesting trip. Traffic here is horrible. On the bridge, coming across Lake Pontchartrain , we heard a loud explosion and thought we had a blow-out. We could not pull over because there was no berm. After a few prayers and a few choice words, we pulled over and found all tires intact. Whew!!! A close call, wouldn't you say? Something either back-fired or someone else did. We settled into camp and rode around on our bikes to scope things out and will set out tomorrow for the French Quarter and parts unknown. Do you like my new friend I sent a picture of? Thanks for your comments and Cathy, good job!. Love

Thursday, May 14

Hi, We spent the most wonderful day at Bellingrath House and Gardens. You will see the pictures. We also took a cruise of the area, included in our tour. Before we went to the Gardens, we visited Battleship Park. You will see the picture of the battleship Louisiana. Quite awesome!

The gardens started out as a little fish camp for recreation purposes for Mr. Bellingrath. He bought one of the first ten Coca Cola franchises in the early 1900s. He was told by his doctor that he had to learn to relax. He and his wife used it as a cottage and eventually built it into a 10,000 square ft. house and 950 acres of ground. The antiques and collections were outstanding. George enjoyed it too!

We hope you got our e-mail about posting in our blog for your comments. Let us know if you have success

Bellingrath Gardens

Wed. May 13

Hi folks, After our bike ride this morning, we scadadled out of the park and hurried to this one. They only had 5 sites left so we had to hurry. It is Meaher Park. They have a great birding trail and a wonderful view of the Gulf. We drove into a little town called Fairhope. (Thanks, Tom for telling us about it). It is lush, with so many beautiful trees and plants, we couldn't believe it! We took the scenic route and enjoyed it so much! Tomorrow we plan on going into Mobile to see the sites. Oh, by the way, we are in Alabama now. We are now quietly enjoying our campground and blogging you wonderful people. We love you, and keep the comments coming. George and Sylvia (by the way, our memory card had a meltdown on our camera) We lost all our pictures except the one in the blog, so we will send some as soon as we get some good ones.

Tuesday, May 12

Hi everyone, I kept my date with the beach. George met me on his bike, hence the picture on our blog. We started out for Panama City, Destin and Pensacola Bay. A beautiful area in our beautiful state of Florida. We are staying at Blue Lagoon campground, another wonderful state campground. We biked the whole area and found wonderful little spots to explore. We, of course love the ocean, but it is not as beautiful as the Keys. It is beautiful in its own way. Lots of white sand, everywhere. This is our last night in Florida. We will be in Mobile, Alabama tomorrow. Love you all. George and Sylvia

Monday, May 11

Hi friends and family, We hope you're not too bored. We really haven't started the West leg yet. But we have to start somewhere, don't we? This morning after our bike ride we headed towards Panama City on Rt. 98. We passed historic St. Joe and stopped on the road at Mexico Beach. After lunch, I snuck out for the beach while George worked on our itinerary. I play and he works. What a team! Then we headed for St. Andrew's campground on the Gulf. What a gorgeous place! I have a date for the beach tomorrow morning before we head out. We have to figure out how to send a picture once in a while so you can see the sites. So far the weather is gorgeous and warm. We are so blessed. Love you all (Oh, George said we are headed West. We are in the Central time zone in case you want to know. ) So it is an hour earlier here than it is where you are.

May 10

Hi guys, Yesterday we spent with friends in Sun City Center. We had a wonderful time as we haven't seen them for 5 years. Today we spent all day driving from Sun City to Sopchoppy. Isn't that a cute name? So we are staying in Ochlockonee River State campground in Sopchoppy Florida. Don't ask me how to pronounce it. We saw our first white squirrel. I hope we have successfully set up our blog. Let us know what you think about it. It is a work in progress. We love and miss you all. G.&S