Monday, April 21, 2008

We were on the road this morning by 8 o'clock headed for Stein's (Steen's) Ghost town.  Stein's is located right on the AZ/NM border just off the Interstate.  In fact you can actually see the town from the highway.  We got there about mid-morning but were sorely disappointed.  The town was closed permanently according to the man that we talked to there.  According to him it was because "people can't keep their hands off of things."  It was a shame cause it sure looked like a neat little town.  A lot of the buildings seemed to be well preserved, by no accident, I'm sure.

We continued on and arrived in Deming about one o'clock having lost an hour on the way.  We were still in time for the Mexican Buffet at the Cactus Café.  We got ourselves set up at The Little Vineyard Campground and left almost immediately.  We went downtown and had lunch since we were both pretty hungry from the trip. The food was very good although it was a bit pricey.

We stopped at Wal-Mart to pick up a few items before we headed back home.

Before we even tried the satellite dish we hooked up the free cable.  The wind was blowing hard enough to give us fits so there was no point in getting aggravated over it.  We also have free Wi-Fi while we're here.  Another nice little touch that we didn't expect.

Sharon decided that she would catch up on the laundry today as long as we had some time to kill.  She took the laundry and headed to the laundry room right after the Wheel of Fortune.  She was back before the "real" TV started.  We didn't have a TV Guide channel so we had to surf for programs.

We both stayed up until 10 and then headed for the padded room for the night.  We will be on the road again tomorrow headed for Tularosa, NM.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

We got a leisurely start this morning since yesterday's early start was a total bust.  We were on the road by 9 headed toward White Sands Missile Range just on he other side of Las Cruces, New Mexico.  We arrived about 10 o'clock and went through the rigamarole of getting on the base.  It's still an active missile testing range so there are mounds of restrictions that have to be met in order to just walk on the range, much less drive on as we wanted to do.  We had to provide them with vehicle information, our own personal I.D.'s and then get a sheet of paper which was the approval to get the vehicles on the range.

The museum was quite an interesting place and the missile park had replicas of most of the missiles that had been tested at the range over the years.  We were severely restricted about which way we could point our cameras in order to take pictures.  After about an hour we were done with our pictures and headed to the gift shop.  We found Astronaut food in foil pouches for $3 a package so we bought enough for all the grandkids.

We left and headed out for Tularosa, New Mexico and the Ceshker Ranch where we would be staying for the next few days.

We arrived about 2 in the afternoon and immediately sat down to carry on some conversation.  Dennis was gone delivering toys and stuff to Mexico so he wasn't there when we arrived, but he came back shortly afterward.  As usual, he was "rattling our cage" about how long we planned to stay.  We told him we'd stay longer if he wasn't careful.  The beer began to flow as he and Sharon share a common interest in the "nectar of the Gods."  I was helping them since I've been back on the grape for a couple of months now.

We lasted in the house til about 9 watching early election returns of the Pennsylvania Primary.  We're all Republicans so who won made no difference at all except to say that Operation Chaos is working very well.

We came back out to the camper and watched TV for another hour before we finally gave up the ghost and went to bed.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

We didn't have anything to do today except lay around and visit with Dennis and Mary.  Actually Sharon and Mary found themselves jobs to do when they took, up cutting and stringing bags for Mary's Charity, God's Storehouse.  Sharon sews the bags for Mary in the summertime and then we bring them out when we come in the fall.

I mostly just sat around eating and watching TV which suited me just fine.  I got a chance to catch up on a few shows on Food Network which I watch incessantly at home.

Mary took Sharon and I out into her shed to show us the dust proof storage area that Dennis built for her to store her Charity stuff in.  The wind blows around a very fine dust that gets on, and into, everything out here.  We had to walk past Molly, the horse on the way to the shed and I was a little leery about getting stepped on.  Mary was offering her a treat and I guess she thought that I might have something too, so she sidled up to me. I didn't.  But she was fine and I was worried over nothing.

We ate Dinner around 3 o'clock which is quite unusual for us, but normal for Dennis and Mary.  I think I'm going to have to find myself some snacks to hold me over between meals.  It won't be a problem.

We sat around watching the tube for entertainment tonight.  We have, over the past couple of nights, only stayed in the house til 9 and then came out and watched the last hour of TV in our coach.  Usually by the time I go to bed Sharon is already in there reading a book.  She's become quite "the reader" this past winter.  It probably has something to do  with me being not much fun.  Hopefully I'll be better next year and this summer at home.

By 10 we were both ready to call it quits for the day.  It wasn't that it had been a long day, we were just ready to give it a rest.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

We were all up early and ready to go this morning.  Sharon and I went into the house for Breakfast where we had Ham & Egg McMuffins.  Mary put a little blackberry jam on the English Muffins which was an interesting little touch.  It was very good.

We left early and headed for Lincoln, New Mexico the site of the Lincoln County war that made Billy the Kid famous. We walked through all the historic buildings and spent pretty much the whole day here today.  We also learned how you manage to get 9 passengers on an Overland Stage Coach.  The movie "Chisum" starring John Wayne was based on the Lincoln County War.  Hollywood stayed pretty close to the true story only taking dramatic license on a couple of occasions.  The additional history lessons that we learned today were a very interesting experience.

We got back home about 3 and we were all pooped to say the least.  Me particularly from walking most of the time through Lincoln.  But we got an album full of pictures from all the places that we stopped.  And this was my type of day where you can sightsee and learn history about the country.

We were into relaxing for the rest of the night.  We sat in front of the tube and just watched someone else do the work for the night.  We stayed in the house til our usual time at 9 and then retreated to the motorhome.  Sharon went to bed but I stayed up for another hour til the bewitching time of 10.  She was still awake by the time I got there.

I think Sharon has already decided that tomorrow will be our last day here and we'll pull out on Saturday morning.

Friday, April 25, 2008

We were up at our regular "Breakfast" time this morning.  Mary was making Breakfast Burritos this morning and if we wanted to eat we'd better be in the house and sitting at the table...........and we were.  The Burritos were very good.

Sharon and Mary took off this morning for the 'God's Storehouse" warehouse this morning to pick up material that Sharon would be taking home with her to Michigan, to make bags for the kids.  While they were gone Mary got a call from White Sands National Monument saying her Gecko pin was n at the gift shop.  So before they came home the girls made a side trip to White Sands which was not far from Alamagordo where they were.  Sharon picked me up a new T-Shirt while she was there.  They also made a stop at Wal-Mart to pick up a few necessities that we'll need on the road in the next couple of days.

This would also be a "get-ready-to-go" day today since we'll be leaving tomorrow morning.  While Sharon was gone I fixed a couple of things in the motorhome and dumped the holding tanks.  It's great that Dennis and Mary have a dump station right here at the house.  I only had to drive about 100 feet to get everything empty and ready to roll.

Dennis had gotten the Pork Roast in the oven earlier so by the time Sharon and Mary got back we were almost ready to eat Dinner.  Mary whipped up some Corn, Gravy and Mashed Potatoes and we were all set.  Sharon had picked up a Boston Cream Pie and dessert was also taken care of.  Dinner was fabulous.

After Dinner Sharon caught us up on our laundry and then we surfed until we couldn't find a thing on TV and opted to watch a  movie instead.  We settled on "About Schmidt" starring Jack Nicholson.  It was kind of a slow mover but we all enjoyed it.  Dennis and Mary had seen it before, but we hadn't.  By the time the movie was over the bewitching hour was fast approaching and we headed out to home about 9:30.

We put a few things away in the last half hour before bedtime and then settled into the feathers at 10.  It hadn't been a long day today but it will be tomorrow.

Saturday, April 26, 2008

We were up early this morning since Dennis had to leave early to go and clean stalls next door.  So we gave out our hugs and kisses, ate Breakfast and were on the road by 8.  Almost immediately we went by a gas station that was selling gas for $3.43 a gallon.  We didn't realize at the time that we would see that price again until we hit Dallas, TX.  We thought about turning around and filling up but we didn't.

Turning east on highway 82, south of Tularosa and just outside of Alamagordo, we went immediately into the mountains where we spent the next 3 hours.  We knew we'd be in some mountains, but we were burning a load of gas in these babies.  Of course when you have to go up you always have to come back down again.  The only problem was the winding roads made it impossible to coast down the other side.

Our next surprise came on the Interstate just west of Abilene.  The Driver's side front tire blew out on the car tearing up the fender, hood and front door and ripping off a piece of trim on the quarter panel.  I had never seen so much damage from a blown tire.  Another driver signaled us to pull over and by the time we did we were riding on the rim, and the tire was gone.  So now we also had to buy a new rim for the new tire.

We arrived at the Abilene Wal-Mart where they had a Tire and Lube Center about 7 and we decided to forget our troubles by going out to eat.  We had eaten here a few years abo at a steak place called Sharon Allen's Lytle Cattle Co.  The name had been changed to Sharon Riley's Lytle Cattle Co.  Sharon went into Wal-Mart and got the directions so we could find it.  In a half hour we were there.  We both had the Tenderloin Medallions which were absolutely delicious.  Sharon had a Baked Potato and Salad and I had Fries and Red Beans.  We also had 3 nectars apiece to wash them down.  When we got back to the motorhome we drowned our troubles further with a couple of Bailey's Irish Creams.  Yum, Yum.

While watching TV later we found out that all around us were going to be serious Thunderstorms all night accompanied by tornadoes.  I guess all day today was going to be disastrous.  We went to bed at 10 but with the wind and rain going all night it would be fitful sleep for the both of us.  And the prediction certainly came true with the weather making a ruckus all night.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

We both got up late this morning cause we both stayed awake for most of the night or got awakened during the night.  The wind and rain was still going this morning.

When we got ready we took the car over to the Tire and Lube shop at Wal-Mart.  When we got there we were informed that they had no access to rims which we would need to fix the car.  They called 3 or 4 salvage yards but they were all closed.  So we'll have to wait for tomorrow to get the rim.

We came back home and decided that we'll need to sit for at least 24 hours while we wait for the junkyard to open tomorrow morning.  We ate our Breakfast and sat and watched my Sunday morning shows on TV. 

After lunch we went into Wal-Mart just to browse around for awhile.  I jumped on one of the Handicapped scooters so I could get around for a longer period of time.  We needed a couple of items for next week and I picked them up while Sharon browsed through the crafts.  I also wanted to browse through electronics while I was in there so I did that for about a half hour or so.  Sharon picked up an 8 piece Chicken Dinner for supper tonight.

When Sharon got back she took a nap before we sat down to supper.  There wasn't much else to do.  I sat and watched more TV.  It's something I've been doing for most of the winter.

We would be watching TV on the dish tonight since the wind has settled down again for now.  We'll have to wait and see tomorrow how many RV's show up in this lot for the night.  We had about a dozen last night.

We lasted until 10 tonight and then hustled off to bed.  I'm sure we'll have a busy day tomorrow.  We're hoping to back get on the road again after the car is fixed.  It probably won't be until late morning or early afternoon.