El Paso, Texas to Deming, New Mexico (March 6, 20012)

The 115 mile journey from the Ft. Bliss RV Park in El Paso, TX to the LoW-High RV Ranch in Deming, NM took just under 2 hours. Interstate-10 between these two points is, basically, undeveloped desert terrain. Very barren, but pretty. The park is located south of town and on the edge of the desert. Our plan is to spend a week here exploring the area.

El Paso, Texas (Feb. 18, 2012-Mar 6, 2012)

There were several reason we wanted an extended stay in El Paso; first, we wanted to see several places that were not too close; second, we had several errands we had to do that would take several days each; third, there were several restaurants we wanted to experience; and lastly, but most importantly, the O'Doodle brothers needed a veterinarian appointment for medication renewals. It took us over two weeks to accomplish the last item.

El Paso, Texas is located in the Chihuahua Desert and shares a metropolitain area and border with its sister city in Mexico, Juarez.  Ft. Bliss, an Army base, occupies most of the city area and is its major financial contributor.  We had not been to this area before and we were quite surprised to see so much desolation just outside of the city limits.  It is, virtually, all desert.  We were, also, not prepared for the windy conditions that exist in this area and, as we were told, throughout the Southwest at this time of the year.  This is, also, the place where we began to have trouble with our sinuses and noses due to the very low humidity.  Several things we had to get used to.

We tried three of the local restaurants for different foods while we were here.  The first was the State Line BBQ just outside of El Paso. We found they had several locations throughout Texas and New Mexico.  Each of us had something different and neither were disappointed.  The prices were decent, too.  The next was a local taqueria (taco shop), Taqueria Los Canarios.  Excellent! The last restaurant was north of the city on the 88,000 acre Bowen Ranch, the Edge of Texas Steakhouse and Saloon.  Great steaks and drinks.  There were many others we wanted to try, but there was so much other stuff we had to do.

In between our chores and bad weather days we were able to squeeze in some sightseeing.  Saturday, the 25th, we decided to take a road trip to the north so we all packed up and headed to Alamogordo, New Mexico for a look-see.The route we took, TX/NM 54,  parallels the White Sands Missile Range.  This road has very little on it.  Uninhabited desert all the way.  Alamogordo was not too bad, but not a place we would want to live.  It was a small town with not much there.

On our circuitous route back to El Paso, we stopped at the White Sands National Monument on NM 70.  This is an awesome place.  The sands are truly as white as white can be and are in dunes all over this area.  The dunes are formed by gypsum sand from the mountains to the west and are blown by the winds to form the dunes.  Lots of sun, sand, but no surf.  Big sport here was sledding down the dunes just as if they were snow hills.

From White Sands we were going to head west on NM 70 to Las Cruces, New Mexico.  Our plan was to ride through the historic district of the city, but that did not happen.  On the way out of the Monument we noticed a lot of flashing lights on emergency vehicles at the entrance.  Pulling up to the road we were told we could not proceed and we would have to go back into the Visitor Center parking lot and wait.  Seems like they had closed down this road, a divided dual lane highway, in both ways.  In turning around we noticed a motorcycle on the right side of the road.We then noticed the worst-of-the-worst, someone laying face down, not moving, in the middle of the road.  An EMT was standing over the person not doing too much of anything.  It was obvious.  An article on the accident: http://www.alamogordonews.com/ci_20055775

We were told the highway, in the direction we were going, would be closed for 2-4 hours while an investigation was performed.  Now what?  We could go back to El Paso the way we came, but that would be boring so we decided to go farther north and then west to I-25 to Las Cruces.  This would add 200 miles onto the planned 200 mile road trip.  Oh well.  We had the time.

We continued north on NM 54 to Carrizozo, NM then west on NM 380 to I-25.  Again there was not much on NM 54 to Carrizzo.  Carrizozo itself was intriguing.  It looked representative of an old, small southwestern town with a lot of history.

Heading west on NM 380, and just outside of Carrizozo,  we found the Valley of Fires Recreation Area.  This is a lava flow from a long extinct volcano.  It is VERY large and it is quite interesting.  They have a nice campground and an interpretive trail that winds through the flow.  The 44 mile long lava flow is four to six miles wide, 160 feet thick and covers 125 square miles. Good place to stop and explore.  As you can see from this satellite photo, it is very pronounced.

We continued west to I-25 and headed south towards Las Cruces, NM.  We did not waste any time since it was getting late and we wanted to get back to our RV before dark.  We started on our drive-about before sunrise and it was about to get dark.  We made it back just after sunset very tired and morose from witnessing the horrific scene at White Sands.  That put a damper on the entire day.

The remainder of our sight seeing trips were around the immediate area, that is, when the high winds weren't blowing dust all over the place.  As I stated earlier, it seems this part of the country and at this time of the year has high winds almost all of the time.  During our 18 day stay at least 6 of them were so windy one could barely go outside without a dust mask on.  On four of those days the wind was blowing so bad it had the dust coming in on us like a snow storm.  The visibility was less than a quarter of a mile.  Needless to say we kept our RV buttoned up as tight as we could, but still the fine, talcum powder-like dust got into everything. 

 With the last of our chores and errands completed and with us seeing everything we had wanted to, it was time to move on.  We chose Deming, New Mexico as our next stop for it was in the direction we were headed and it wasn't too far from El Paso.  We had decided we wanted to take up the hobby of rock collecting and Deming was supposed to be a great area for that.  We'll see.

Carlsbad, New Mexico to El Paso, Texas (Feb. 18, 2012)

We started out mid-morning to our next stop in El Paso, Texas.  With great weather and little traffic,  we expected the 140 mile trip to be easy and it was.  During the first half of the drive took along the base of the Guadalupe Mountains.  There were clouds over the mountains and the bright sunshine in the valley highlighted the contrasts in the sky beautifully.  We arrived at the Ft. Bliss RV Park early afternoon and setup quickly.  Going to be here a while.

Carlsbad, New Mexico (Feb. 15, 2012 - Feb. 18, 2012)

We departed Ft. Stockton on a very windy morning.  Carlsbad was a short 140 mile drive from Ft. Stockton and the entire trip was in the desert and oil fields.  Nothing spectacular to record for it all looked the same.  We arrived at the Carlsbad Caverns RV park before noon and set up, still in a windy environment.

Our goal here was to visit the Carlsbad Caverns and tour the local countryside. We planned for the Caverns on Thursday, sight see on Friday and depart on Saturday.

Starting out at 8:30AM, we intending on starting the Cavern tour soon after they opened.  The Carlsbad Caverns are actually on a mountain top.  The view from the Visitor's Center is spectacular.  The entrance to the cavern is nothing but a big hole in the ground.  The trail to the cavern floor took about an hour and was an 800 foot descent.  It was an easy walk and the trail was paved the entire way.  We would recommend this descent for those that are capable of it versus the elevators.  The sights along the way are indescribable.

Once on the cavern floor there are several trails throughout the cavern's main room.  These trails are mostly level.  Again, the sights are indescribable. All-in-all it took almost 4 hours for the tour.  It is no wonder this park is on many people's wish-to-visit list.

Once we felt we had seen everything we had wanted we boarded the cavern elevator for the 750 foot, straight up, ride to the Visitor's Center.  Took all of 45 seconds. 

When we got back to our RV we felt we had been hit in the head with a hammer.  Between the elevation and the amount of walking we had done all we wanted to do was lie down.  An early bedtime that night.

Waking up the next morning we felt even worse so instead of doing any sight seeing we kicked back and prepared for our next destination on Saturday, El Paso, Texas.

Rio Frio, Texas to Ft. Stockton, Texas (Feb. 13, 2012-Feb. 15, 2012)

We departed Rio Frio early and headed north on Texas Route 83 through the Texas Hill Country. An hour later we turned west onto Interstate 10 for the remainder of the trip to Ft. Stockton, 271 miles in all. The landscape changed drastically as we continued west. We entered I-10 just a bit east of Junction, Texas. We were still in Hill Country with lots of tress and shrubbery. And hour later we began to see thr trees disappear and the land get less hilly. Another hour and the land was flat and arid. We had entered the Chihuahuan Desert. It seems we had exchanged the trees for oil wells. Every where you looked there were hundreds of the wells.

We arrived at the Parkview RV Park in Ft. Stockton around 3PM and set up for a very short stay. Our next stop will be Carlsbad, New Mexico. Our stop here was to celebrate Joyce's birthday as well as St. Valentine's day.

Rio Frio, Texas (Jan. 30, 2012-Feb. 13, 2012)

The Parkview Riverside RV Park is in a remote area close to Rio Frio, Texas. This is a remote area and does not even have cell phone coverage. A perfect place to kick back for a week a chill and that is exactly what we did.

Spring Branch, Texas to Rio Frio, Texas

The 120 mile drive from Spring Branch to Rio Frio, Texas was short and pleasant. Good weather and little traffic. We arrived, set up and began to relax.

Spring Branch/San Antoio, Texas (Jan. 19, 2012-Jan. 30, 2012)

It had been a while since we visited my brother so we took this opportunity to do so. There had been a lot of changes in his family over the past few years for him and his family. Two of his children added a baby to their families. We were eager to meet them and catch up on everything. He had planned a family get together on Saturday to do just that.

After setting up and getting situated we all went to one of our favorite watering holes and eatery, The Shade Tree Saloon. The is a typical Texas roadhouse and the clientele are very diverse. They have the greatest burgers and the coldest beer in the Hill Country. We can attest to that.

Saturday we prepared for the afternoon's feast with the family and played with the dog's and drank beer; Shiner Boch, of course. Everyone started dribbling in after 1 PM and by 4 PM we had a house full, several grills full and a table full of food, hugs, laughter and lots of talk.  The babies were awesome and everyone enjoyed themselves.  By 8 PM everyone was exhausted, especially the Boys.  The next few days were spent visiting and relaxing.

Our last few days were spent trying to get prescriptions filled at the local Army hospital.  They had mixed up our order and instead of leaving on the Friday like we had planned, we had to wait until the next Monday.  No problem. We took the time to re-visit the San Antonio Riverwalk, the Alamo and have lunch with a dear friend of ours.

We had not seen Jean in several years.  In fact the last time we had seen her or my brother is when we rescued Rosco in June of 2010 (see September 3, 2010 post).  I had worked with Jean back in the late 80s and I and a fellow Signal Officer Candidate School (OCS) graduate convinced her to go to Air Force OCS.  From that time on we remained good friends and kept in touch.

We met her and her hubby, Alan, at a local joint in San Antonio.  We ate great burgers, drank good beer and caught up on old times.  We thoroughly enjoyed our visit with both of them.  Always look forward to our reunions.

On Monday, Jan. 30, 2012, we packed up and hit the road again.  Man, how we love hitting the road.  Our next destination was just a few hours from San Antonio in the Texas Hill Country.

New Orleans, LA to Spring Branch, TX

The 540 mile drive to Spring Branch, Texas was a bit longer than we liked to do in one day so we made it a two-day trip. On the first day we drove 375 miles to Brookshire, Texas and stayed at the Houston West RV Park just off of I-10. Leaving early we arrived at my brother's community RV Park around 11 AM. Was a good trip all the way.

New Orleans (Jan. 11, 2012-Jan. 18, 2012)

We had planned a week for visiting this area, but it was evident after the first several days more time was going to be needed to see and do everything on our list.  We made priorities on the list and worked from there.

First on our list was the famous French Quarter.  We devoted a full day (two four hour visits) to experience the Quarter.  Our first trip was on a late, cool, blustery morning and we walked all over the area taking lots of pictures and sampling a few of the many bars on Bourbon St.  This part of the city is devoted strictly to tourism and there certainly was not a shortage of that.  Even on a weekday and in the middle of January the place was packed.  We were told that in the evening, every evening, it is wall-to-wall people and they do tend to get rowdy as the night wears on.  That may have been our time years ago, but, alas, we decided not to put ourselves in that situation.  We'll stick to the daytime.

Next on our list was a driving tour of the old sugar plantations along the Mississippi river.  There are quite a few of these plantations that have been restored to some degree or another.  Our plan was to go up the east side of the river and return to our RV via the west side of the river.  We took the Boys with us because we did not intend to tour any of the plantations at this time.  This trip took the better part of a whole day and we were not as impressed as we thought we would be.  Many, save just a few, were in disrepair and were not open for tours.  We did, however, mark one for a tour: The Houmas House.

The Houmas House, described during its antebellum heyday as "The Sugar Palace.", is the "Crown Jewel" of the New Orleans area plantations.  Click here for a short history of this beautiful house.  The video shows only some of the awesome restoration that the current owner has made on this place.  If anyone wants to take a plantation tour, skip everything else, drive yourself to the Houmas House and take the tour.  Well worth the price and time.



Our last sightseeing day was back at the French Quarter.  We started early to miss the rush hour and had breakfast at the Cafe Du Monde.  This place should be on everyone's visit list.  Located in the market next to the river, it serves their famous Beignets (pronounced ben-YAYs) and coffee making it a perfect breakfast for walking around a city.

We finished up what we wanted to see in the Quarter and made it back to the Boys by noon.  The rest of the day was spent preparing to depart for Spring Branch, Texas, near San Antonio, the next morning.   Spring Barnch is where my brother lives and we planned to spend a few days with him and his growing family before heading on further west.

Our next visit to New Orleans will have more time devoted for seeing and doing what we missed.  At least another week, possibly more.  For now, though, we are happy to have seen and done what we had the time for.  It exhausted us, though, and we are looking forward to some down time.  Not sure when that will be though.