Las Curces NM to Monahan TX to Aledo TX

Sunset in the campground

My humans finally took my to a sand dune.  I've been writing about and looking at pictures of all the beautiful sand dunes they have visited and last night I got to spend the night in one!  Let me tell you all about it......

We got on the road early and drove through El Paso,Texas on our trip east.  I couldn't figure out why the houses on the left  side of the road looked so different (neater and larger) from those I could see off to the right.  Then Ron pointed out that we were looking at houses in Mexico!  Guess I didn't realize that the boarder was so close to the freeway.  We drove on through a lot of very little scenery---just flat, high desert with a few hills and mountains thrown in for good measure.  Everything seemed to be the same color---beige, except for lots of yellow flowers blooming along the roadside.

Nancy found a Texas State Park just off the freeway, so we decided to stop for the night.  What a beautiful place: Monahans Sandhills State Park.  All the campsites were along the dunes.  Nancy took lots of pictures and they ate supper outside on a table in the sand.  Nancy put me down on the ground to play a little in the sand.  I did a nose dive into it and rolled like a fool.  Next thing I knew she grabbed me and I was being dusted off the put back into the trailer.  She didn't do a very good job because when I got back into the camper all I had to do was shake a little and I could leave little sand piles all over everything!  I thought it was funny, but I don't thing neither Ron nor Nancy found the humor in it.  They were walking around muttering something about having to go buy a sweeper before they could go to bed or sit on the couch.

The wind started blowing in the night and by the time we got up in the morning we needed to turn on the heater.  When we got there the temps were 90+ and when we left they were about 50!  It didn't warm up much during the day as we drove on I-20 towards the east.  We drove past a town that had the most wind mills in the US and lots of working and new oil wells.  By the looks of all the camp trailers in make-shift parks, there are a lot of workers in the area working on new wells.  Tonight we are in Aledo, just west of Fort Worth.  As we drove today ,I noticed that we were finally seeing green again and trees big enough to give a little shade.  With the exception of San Diego and some irrigated pecan groves, it has been over two weeks since we have seen green grass and big trees!

How to grow pecans in a desert: Plant trees, hump dirt all around the field, flood field, hope trees get enough water before it all soaks into the sand.

Las Cruces New Mexico

R&N were busy today---I stayed home and took a long nap.  Good thing, because I have a lot to tell you about their day and a lot of pictures to sort out.

They drove up to White Sands National Monument and went to the museum and took the 16 mile trip on the paved road around the dunes.  The area is 275 square miles of white gypsum sand and as you can see from the pictures, beautiful.

Just on the other side of this dune J Crew was doing a photo shoot---I guess they where using these hot air balloons as props

On the way back down the mountain they stopped at the Army base at White Sands Proving Grounds and toured the museum and saw the decommissioned missiles.  The most impressive was the V-2 German missile, which, after it was liberated from the Germans in 1945, gave us the knowledge to help develop our space program.

V2 Missile, like the ones that were dropped on London in WWII

Lake Valley

 Next they decided to go ghost town hunting and they found a gem called Lake Valley.  They didn't realize that is owned by the Bureau of Land Management and they got there after it closed for the day and they couldn't look around.  It was an old silver mining town.

Before settling down for the night (and giving me my well deserved treats) the went to see Historic Mesilla, which was first settled in 1848. 

Billy the Kid was tried and sentenced to hang in this building.

Oldest documented brick building in New Mexico.
 Built in 1860.

 Tomorrow is another driving day---heading across Texas.

Casa Grande AZ to Las Cruces NM

We stopped here for lunch

To day was another travel day.  We saw rocks, desert, rocks, sand, short little palm trees and rocks.  I did see something strange------a windmill with a solar panel attached to it.  I didn't get a picture of it--darn!  I wonder if it was a wind powered solar panel or a solar powered windmill.  Either way it seems a little strange.  Maybe the person the put it up also wears suspenders with a belt.  It was cooler today, only high 90s. We are staying in Las Cruses for a couple days.  The humans want to go to White Sands National Monument and I need a nap and a couple days not looking at rocks.

Here we were not too far from the Continental Divide.  We were at about 4000 feet above sea level.

San Diego California-Casa Grande Arizona

Mountains of rocks

The Mexican boarder is the dark line neat the top of the picture

Very large Cactus

 We left SD SoCal (see---I learned to speak California!) this morning the headed East.  We got to see rocks, mountains, rocks, sand, desert, mountains, cactus, rocks, and the Imperial Valley.  Did I mention there were a lot of rocks? It was another very hot day.  Good trip and the humans were very happy to find the campground had a pool.  They met a couple from Cincinnati Ohio and spent a couple hours keeping cool in the pool, talking to them.

It actually got up to 107, but I didn't get a pic of the gauge.

Last Day in San Diego

Sunset over Mission Bay

It looks like we are moving on tomorrow.  They took one last ride around the bay and now the bikes are back on the back of the trailer and the awning is rolled up.

R&N went to San Diego Zoo Safari Park today.  They got an early start because a high of 104 degrees was predicted.  I stayed home and enjoyed the air conditioning.  They brought me some really neat pictures.  They only stayed about three hours---just too hot and there is lot of up and down hill walking in the park if you want to see anything.

The baby water buffalo is only 3 days old!

Check out the baby elephant

The Strand at Mission Beach

Busy beach!

Yesterday was a beach day.  It sorta seemed like our trips to Florida---the humans go off wearing bathing suits and carrying a packed cooler and come home smelling salty and fishy and a little sun burnt.

Still in San Diego

View of harbor from the Coronado Bridge

It has been a great couple of days for me---we haven't moved and I've gotten to catch up on my cat naps while my humans have been busy out running around. Yesterday they drove up to Oceanside and then came back along the ocean.

Harbor Seal

When they got back they went to the Maritime Museum at the harbor downtown.  After hearing all about their trip and seeing the pictures, I think I might have enjoyed the tour of the boats at the museum.  All of the boats there still  are taken out at least once a year.  Some of them are huge, like the 212' Star of India, that was built in 1863.  She was first used to transport emigrants to New Zealand and then she was used as a lumber and cargo ship.  There are two submarines, the Surprise looks like a Pirate ship and there is a Victorian  1898 steam ferryboat that is beautiful.  It even has colored glass windows.They took a ride around the harbor on the 1914 SD Harbor Pilot. While they were on the boat ride they got to see a harbor seal sunning on buoy and the tall sailing ship, California coming in from a charter.  After that, they made a grocery run and we all ate supper together.

Today they took a ride over to Coronado Island and had lunch.  Then they walked around the Old Town area of San Diego.  They got home mid afternoon and it is a good thing that they did.  The circuit breaker had tripped and my air-conditioning had turned off.  It kept tripping and finally Ron tracked it down.  Some of the wires in the circuit box had gotten crossed and the connections melted.  I thought I smelled something burning or maybe melting.  Ron got it fixed and straightened out all the wires in the box, so it won't happen again.

Tall ship California

Boats in dry dock.  Note how the various parts were wrapped in shrink wrap.

There is a heat wave predicted for the next few days, so I bet it is going to be a beach day!

California...Here we are!




Pacfic Ocean

 
 

Sunset over the ocean

 We made it to San Diego California yesterday.  It was a short trip, so they didn't even put my liter box in the truck.  After seeing all the traffic, I think Ron could have used it :).  We are at a campground right on Mission Bay.  It is all asphalt with little strips of grass and trees.  After we got set up R&N took a bike ride around part of the bay.  There are lots of bike trails here and I bet they take more rides.  They said I could go along in a basket, but that looks scary to me.



Speaking of scary....they brought me back the pictures they took at the San Diego Zoo today.  Sure glad  that I didn't go along.  The place was huge and there were a lot of animals to see.

Orangutan

Gerenuk

Giraffe

3153 Miles and Counting..........

Today was a travel day so I spent a lot of time curled up in the back seat.   We went from Kanab, Utah to Hesperia, California.  We drove through three states, went over two mountain passes, and through the Mojave desert.  Tonight we are in the high desert of California.  On the way we stopped in Baker CA to see the worlds tallest thermometer.  By the way, Baker is very near the town of Zzyzx ,CA.  Interesting name for a town.  Apparently the gentleman that named it, Curtis Springer, said that he wanted it to be the last word in any dictionary.  Tomorrow we are off to San Diego.





Mojave Desert

 

Worlds tallest thermometer





Lots of Rocks and Canyons!

It has been a busy three days---at least for the humans!  I held down the fort at the camper while they spent lots of time at three different National Parks, 1 state park, and a pet rescue center.  Now I have tons of pictures to sort out and lots to tell you about.

Their first stop was North rim of The Grand Canyon  on Saturday.  There are no words to describe how impressive it was. They walked out on a couple short trails to get some good pictures and listened to one of the ranger talks.



North Rim of the Grand Canyon



After they got back to Kanab from that jaunt they stopped by Best Friends Animal Sanctuary, a no-kill pet rescue center here in Kanab.  They expected a small building housing just a few pets---boy they were the wrong.  What they found was a state of the art facility housing not only cats and dogs, but also birds, pigs and horses.  R&N were able to go on a hour and a half tour and were very impressed.  They have 500 paid staff members and lots of volunteers.  When they take on the care of an animal, they make a lifetime commitment to the pet, no matter what its disability or problem.  The ultimate goal is to find it a forever home, if that isn't an option, the pet lives at the facility for its lifetime.





Sunday they took a longer drive to Bryce Canyon National Park.  Again, a beautiful place and well worth the drive.  The park has shuttle buses so it was easy to get around and see all the different outlooks.  Bryce has lots of hoodoos, spires of rock that have been formed by erosion over millions of years.  Some of the hoodoos are at least 500-600 ft. tall!



Sand Dunes



On the way home they stopped to see the Coral Pink Sand Dune State Park.  Wow----what a great big litter box!  It looked similar to the sand dunes in Michigan, except they were pink.  People can drive four wheelers and dune buggies on them, but not passenger cars.  It isn't busy like the Michigan dunes.  One can just get on them off the road and there are no rangers or anyone checking flags etc.



Today's trip was to Zion National Park.  This park was totally different in that instead of viewing the park from the rim of the canyon, you drove down into the canyon and looked at the beautiful formations by looking up at them.  I'm sure glad I didn't go along---they had to take a steep road with lots of switchbacks to get to the canyon floor.  I probably would have gotten carsick.  Then they had to go through a mile long tunnel.  Once they got to the welcome center, they had to take shuttle buses to see the rest of the park.



Zion National Park



Busy three days!  Tomorrow we head towards California.



(Don't forget to click on the blue words if you want to read more about anything I've mentioned)



Zion National Park



Kanab, Utah (The Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon and More)

Friday we traveled up Rt. 89 to Kanab Utah. It is centrally located to some of the things R&N wanted to see.  They parked the camper  at the Kanab RV Corral so I can have a few days of rest while they run around.  It is a really pretty little campground in the shadow of the mountains with a pool and wifi.  On the way we stopped at the historic Cameron Trading Post for lunch and then on to cross thru a pass near Lake Powell.  We stopped at the Glen Canyon National Park Welcome Center to learn more about the area.  Saturday the humans were off to see the Grand Canyon and more.

Lake Powell



Pass near Lake Powell




Pretty Scenery along Rt 89 between Flagstaff AZ and Kanab UT

 I'm yawning and it is time for my nap---so I will fill you in about their adventures in my next post.