Cactus, Quail and Thanksgiving.

Well, Vicki, myself and Sue had a great Thanksgiving with Vicki's parents and an additional aunt and uncle whom I had not previously met! Fantastic people and great company! We had Vicki's best friend Sue and one of our daughters here at the same time. The dogs were glad to have a house and fenced in yard to romp around in with relative safety in the Sonoran desert. We did have an incident with a ring tailed cat while Sue was outside having a smoke. She survived and was not injured... Probably scared the heck out of the poor little animal though.

The scenery while driving around this area is out of this world. We were driving back from the Phoenix airport after dropping off Kaitlin and Sue for their flights home, and in the distance you could easily see the snow falling on Mount Lemon while we drove through the desert... Very interesting and quite beautiful.

We also went to the Double Diamond Casino where I lost $21.00, Vicki lost $20.07, and Kaitlin and Vicki's father Ed Cleaned house... On the way home from the slaughter at the casino, we stopped at San Xavier Mission, really beautiful. The interior is so incredible, it is almost unbelievable. We are only posting one photo of the inside of the mission due to time constraints, but if asked, I have detailed shots that are unbelievable! Please notice the shots of the lions guarding the hill, two beautiful bronze statues on the mountain. Some jerk with a high powered rifle put a bullet through the temple of one of the statues cracking the entire back of the statue. Good shot from probably a half a mile away, but I hope the fool pays for it in some way, someday.

I've learned a lesson about the dogs also, when a beagle needs to go... he really needs to go. I was talking with a fellow aussie owner outside the RV when Vicki let the beagle out to visit. I wasn't paying much attention until I realized that my left foot was warmer than my right foot... it was also soaked. Now, I know that I talk too much and ignore my surroundings, but this was a real eye opener. I don't think I like beagles anymore.

We also visited Tombstone, it is a tourist trap with poor quality gunfight re-enactments designed for children... Don't go unless you like the saloons and the history that you need to look closely to find. I feel bad for Vicki, we threw out the back seat for the Jeep not thinking that we would need to carry passengers with less than four legs... WRONG! We picked up Sue, and Vicki has been riding around in a low beach chair in the back of the Jeep while the dogs curl up next to her. Just can't hit the brakes hard or corner too fast...

The volcano's are really interesting while driving across the desert. There are miles of volcanic rock just spewed across the landscape. I would not have wanted to be anywhere near there when they were falling out of the sky.

We got a great little Christmas tree which looks great on the dashboard, especially with a full moon over the RV... Keep in touch everyone!

Moving Fast!

We have been moving much faster lately, because we have a schedule for the first time in the past five months. We spent three nights in a beautiful RV park in Las Cruces where the views were magnificent! Vicki made friends with the local cat, and Sue made friends with everybody else. Sue got to install the New Mexico sticker on the door map and will probably do the Arizona one also, considering that we are in Tucson while writing this.

We went into Old Mesilla in Las Cruces, the town where Billy the Kid was convicted and contained, and then escaped. There is incredible history surrounding this old town, and the homes and views are gorgeous.

Sue has been really anxious to see the views from the roof of the RV, so we went topside and did the shadow dance seen in the photo.

We made a quick run to Tucson on a beautiful day to meet up with family for Thanksgiving, more on that later... Keep in touch everyone!

Moving on!

Vicki got to cross off another dive from the Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives book in San Antonio with a great lunch at the DeWese's Tip Top Cafe. Another signature in the book, and another great meal! I think I like this hobby of her's... We went to the Alamo and learned an amazing lesson on American history. Oddly enough, we learned the most about the battle itself from Phil Collins. He is a history buff, and extremely interested in the Alamo. He narrates a complete explanation of the battle during a presentation with a beautiful diorama that takes up a whole room in a place called the History Shop right across the street from The Alamo. It is a long, weird story how Phil Collins got involved in all this... but we won't go there.

Two travel days in a row is too rushed. We left San Antonio just as a front was coming through, so our first hour or so on the road was in torrential downpours separated by heavy rain. We did drive out of it and the rest of the day was not half bad for traveling. We stopped for an overnight stay in Fort Stockton Texas (in the middle of nowhere) at a very nice campground called Fort Stockton RV Park... Imagine that! Today, we pulled out early and drove to Las Cruces, New Mexico for a few nights at the Hacienda RV Resort. The weather and the drive were beautiful, except for El Paso. El Paso is plagued with smog drifting over the border from Mexico. We don't know what they are burning on the other side of the border, but the fires are everywhere and the smoke is horrible, polluting all of El Paso.