The Living Desert

February 24, 2012

We went to the Living Desert Museum today. It had been recommended to me by a professional photographer  I met in AZ.  Nice way to spend a beautiful day. It was 85 degrees, but they had the misters on. They have a huge miniature train setup. It was at least 1/4 of an acre. It takes 25 volunteers to keep it up.

The view below is suppose to be the Grand Canyon. They have made little towns and scenes thru out the whole area.

 This is the best shot I coud get of this Ankole cow. It is from  Africa. Each horn can weigh up to 5-10 lbs and be 5' long. WOW! Never seen any cattle with this big of horns. Most of them had a hard time keeping their heads even. Most of the time one side was lower than the other because each horn is so heavy. As many zoos I have gone to, I've seen this.

This African wolf only weighs 3 1/2 pounds. it is full grown

This is an armadillo. Never seen one up close and personal. The skin felt like fingernails, but more flexible. The triangle in the middle is the head. The narrow triangle to the right is the tail.

They had a wild animal carousel. They had lots of kids exhibits and things for them to do and see.

Somehow this overview of the trains got out of order.

PALM SPRINGS--HOT AT LAST

February 17, 2012

We got to Palm Springs last Friday.  Warmth at last. On our travels, it has been alot  warmer than Seattle so far , but not the weather we had hoped for. At least we haven't had rain very often. Moatly in the high 50's to mid 60's.   Finally can put on T shirts, short sleeve tops,  flip flops,  Capri's and shorts.  It has certainly been alot cooler than when we traveled the last 2 years.  In 2009, I didn't take as many hot weather clothes as I should.  When we left, it was 25 degrees. Just couldn't wrap my brain around hot weather. Took too many cold weather  clothes. This time, the opposite. I took alot of carpi's and tank tops. Haven't really worn them much, mostly jeans and sweatshirts.   Of course, the weather has been strange all over the country.

It has been in the high 70's or low 80's since we got here. We have been going in the hot tub everyday. Best hot tub we have run into. It is from natural mineral springs.

I met some fellow geo cachers when I was in the exercise class.  They are avid cachers, they each have found over 3200. We went with them  one day and found 20. Denny and I were exhausted.  Never looked for that many in one day.  We were gone 3 hours but that is a short time for them. Sometimes they go out in the morning and don't come until dark.  We went far into the desert on some roads that were a little scary. The road was so narrow and rough that the bushes were scratching the side of the car. He had bought it just for geo caching so he  could go anywhere he wanted.  You won't find Denny on those kinds of roads. We both agree that the best vehicle for desert caching is a jeep. You can go anywhere.

Our last cache of the day, called "End of the Road". It certainly was. We drove to the very end and then Jack turned into a mountain goat and climbed up onto the rocks.

You can see how far into the desert we were.

We went to Odessa, Texas to visit some relatives on my dad's side.  After we left Odessa, we traveled 1100 miles in 4 days and 3 nights. That is alot of miles when pulling an RV. We were exhausted by the time we got to Palm Springs.

Texas and Arizona have beautiful sunsets. This was taken in our park. There was a working oil rig right outside the park.  For 100 miles around Odessa, all you see is oil rigs, some working, some not.

This is Laura, my father's sister,and her husband, Emmett. The other people make a handsome couple.

This is Denise, my 1st cousin, her husband, Richard and their 2 twin boys. They certainly don't look alike and have completely different personalities.

One last thing to say about Odessa. As I mentioned before, weather has been strange all over the country.  We were there for 6 days, two had a HIGH of 29 degrees. Very unusual for them. Very cold for us.

Odessa, Texas

February 8, 201.

 Left Huachuca City for Texas. We got to El Paso the first day.  The campground is kind of unsettling, but comforting. Juarez is right across the border. Of all the border towns, Juarez is the worst for crime and drug traffic.  El Paso also has a very high crime rate. Our park was  surrounded by a 5' high rock wall, with 2 rows of barb wire on top. YIKES!  Hate to think we are in a place that needs a fence AND barbed wire to be safe, but I'm glad we chose that park.  Luckily we were only there 1 night passing thru. The freeway follows the border for many miles. You can see right across to Mexico. It is the closest we  want to be while we are here.

Got to Odessa today. I have to say West Texas is the flattest land we have ever seen. Completely flat as far as you can see. Not even a little hill to mar the landscape. Missing the mountains and green trees of Washington. We are here to visit my fathers sister and her husband, my  Aunt Laura  and Uncle Emmett. Also 2 of my first cousins are coming down for the weekend from Dallas. Also I  have another cousin who lives here also.  Should be a fun reunion.

Actually when we leave here, we are heading home. Of course, we won't be there for a few more months, but we are on our way. We have traveled 8,376 miles and been gone almost 6 months already.

Geo Caching

February 7, 2012

As you know, I got into geo caching at Parker, AZ.  When we got to Huachuca City, AZ, we decided to venture out on our own.  We went on 4 searches and found  none, nothing, nada. Kind of depressing. First time on our own was a bust.  On Feb. 5th,  2 ladies that we had met at Parker came into the park. They are avid geo cachers so we all went hunting together on Tues. We searched for 9 and found 8. I was so excited. I even found the smallest micro cache we had ever seen. It was a large nail, hollowed out in the center with the paper to sign.  We had about given up and I found it nailed to a post. YAHOO! The nice thing about geo caching ( I think), is that it takes you to places you have never seen before.

I did one stupid thing.  On one of ther other caches, everyone else had found it but me. It was in a private yard  with permission from the owner, a fellow geo cacher. There was lots of yard art. I saw a few catcus that I thought was part of the yard art so I grabbed them to look under. WRONG! They were real cactus so I had to  pull out several stickers. OUCH! Never do that again. Right after that, I found the cache.

The nice thing about traveling is that you see  people from other parks that you had met before. We had no idea that we would all be at the same park. They have a very small trailer, only 16'. A tad tight for us, but they only travel a few months at a time, go home for a bit, then start out again.  We will keep in touch and visit them at Santa Rosa, CA. , right in the middle of Napa Valley, wine country.

A few days before, we had gone to Fort Hauchuca, the home of the Buffalo Soldiers. It is still an active military base, but has a museum about the them. We had to show I.D to get in.   The Buffalo Soldiers were a unit of black soldiers from  around 1846 to after WWII.  The government didn't think African American Soldiers would do well at fighting the Indians or during any of the Wars. They all trained at Fort Huachuca. Some were the most decorated soldiers of any wars. . The Buffalo Soldiers got their name from the the white men and Indians because their hair reminded them of the buffalo. It was very interesting.

Off to Texas