Side Trip to China

5/17 Not quite all the way to china, just as far as San Francisco. We visited the Asian Art Museum where they were displaying some of the terracotta warriors that were unearthed in China  in 1974. These warriors stood guard near the tomb mound of the great Emperor Qin. It is said that the more than 6000 figures each have individual features. It is said that they used eight face molds but each one had additional clay added to change the features to each face. (I used a lot of “it is said” which translates to this is what is written on the displays) The display had only a few figures to represent the army that was uncovered, but among the display was a General, another high ranking officer as well as some

Calvary, foot soldiers, an archer and horses. This young emperor assumed the throne at age 13 and unified all of china by the age of 49 when he died. We are not saying that he was not ruthless in his approach, but he brought about a standard currency and weights and measures. Not bad for such a short lifespan. There were also some artifacts that came from the tomb of the emperor that would be for his enjoyment in the afterlife, one would imagine. Care for some tea with the emperor?

The display was coming to an end and we were glad we got to see the warriors before they were packed up and shipped to Houston, their only other destination in the US.

We continued our tour of the museum by going to the third floor to see other parts of Asia such as India and Japan. We think back to history and the knights of old with their armor and then we look at those terracotta warriors with their armor, now look at this Japanese warrior and his armor.



While interesting, it certainly brings home that we human beings do seem to like this thing called war. This is one of the finest museums we have ever visited and you can certainly spend a lot of time here. It depends on how much time you want to devote to any particular subject, but we were tired and did not make it to the second floor, we were just too pooped out.

Mission Santa Cruz

5/15 A short foray out from our campground north about 18 miles to Santa Cruz. This was the twelfth of twenty-one Spanish missions built in Alta (upper) California. The mission was completed with a church, quadrangle, two story granary and workshops in 1795. This mission seemed to be doomed from the start. Between earthquakes, fires and pirates this was never a very successful mission. Yes, you did read correctly, I did say pirates. At one point pirate Hippolyte Bouchard, known for plundering the coast of California, was reported off the coast of Monterey Bay and the Governor of the time ordered the missionaries to evacuate the mission. The Indian population left the area shortly after the completion of the mission because of the start of the pueblo (town) across the river. Because the population was down and the mission was out of the way, it really was not very productive. The mission was secularized in 1834. There were several wooden churches built over the years which of course burned down. The current church is brick and adobe. In the 1930’s they built a smaller scaled replica of the original mission which stands today. This is used for weddings and weekday masses.

Across the street from the mission is the Church and school, which is quite large.

Arizona into California

4/19 – 5-7 Lots of traveling and not many photos. We left El Paso and went straight to Sahuarita, Arizona where we parked in the driveway of our good friends Steve & Patti. This is a couple that we met on the road in Texas and found that they had lived not more than 5 miles from us in Suffern, New York. Well it’s always good visiting and catching up with old friends. Then we headed north to Casa Grande, and pulled into the SKP park there for a couple of days and some more visiting with old friends Art & Mary who live in Arizona City for some more catching up. Had to play a round of golf while I was there. We entered the state of California on Thursday the 25^th. The campground was located in Jacumba, CA on the edge of the Anza Borrego State Park and located on a dirt road approximately 2 miles long. As we were moving along the road, something didn’t seem right. When we finally got in, I realized that we were not holding air and thought that one of the front air bags had given up the ghost.

Well we were here to visit a bunch of friends, go out and about and play a bunch of golf, so, by golly, that is what we did. Also, we love this area for doing our exploring. One such area is Julian, a small community in the mountains that has become more of an artisan outlet and the home of one of Pat’s favorite  bead stores. In order to reach the town we drive through the Cleveland National Forrest over Mount Laguna. This is one of the areas that had been devastated by fire back when we were here 6 years ago. We stopped in one of the areas and took this picture which I labeled “Fire Artwork”.

People talk about how scary the possibility of earthquakes are, I think the wild fires can be so much more. But, that said we do live in a mobile home that we can shake, rattle and roll a bit and not be bothered.

The following week, Pat and I went out to find someone to work on the coach and after a lot of discouraging answers, found a mobile repair that said he would come out and look at it on Tuesday. Which he did and found that it was not the bag but our “air dryer” was shot. The good news was that it was available and he would fix it the next day, the bad news was $$$$$$.

Thursday we were ready to leave and head up to our next stop near Riverside, but after listening to the news, there were two factors that convinced us to stay put. First, was the Santa Ana Winds and Second was the big fire in Banning. So, I went down to the desert and played another round of golf. Friday, everything settled down and off we went to Riverside for some more visits with friends. I know, we are blazing along and not many pictures. Monday we are finally on the road north to our summer destination of Watsonville, California. Yes, we will be doing some exploring around central CA and we will do some pictures. We are driving north with the ocean on the left.

For those of us from the east coast this is an odd feeling. We stopped one night along the way in Santa Maria and were blown away at all of the Vineyards we saw along the highway. Here is a factoid for you, California now exports more wine than any other COUNTRY in the world. Anyway, on Tuesday, May 7^th, we parked the motorhome in the campground at Pinto Lake in Watsonville. Oh yes, when that Granddaughter arrives, you can expect to see photos of her!

El Paso, NOT White Sands

4/17-18 Our plans were to stop in Las Cruces, New Mexico where we would take a day and tour White sands and then I would take a day and play the NMSU Golf course. Ah the best laid plans…. As you know the refrigerator died, so we stopped in Anthony Texas (just north of El Paso) at the Camping World for repair of the refrigerator. Well I have to say that even if the refrigerator had not failed, our tour of White Sands or my golf would have to be put off for another day. I’ve included the following pictures to prove my point. Picture one was taken on the 17^th and the second picture was taken on the day of our departure.

Mountain? What Mountain.

When I was checking in with the sales person at camping world, he asked what I thought of the weather, little did he know we were experienced in Texas wind. He told me most people reacted to this as wondering if they should worry about a tornado or some other weather phenomenon. The only difference out here was the amount of dust that accompanies the wind.

We decided that while we were here in El Paso, we should do some exploring. I will apologize, that we do not have any supporting photos other than the ones above. There was the Franklin Mountain State Park which borders on Fort Bliss, but because of the high winds, we decided to put that off for another day. Pat and I do like to explore the Missions, so that was our focus this trip. We backtracked through El Paso to reach the first of the Missions. Ysleta Mission & Tiqua Indian Reservation which is an active church and school. We did not find anyone to ask about the history and the store was closed, so off to the second Socorro Mission we went. Here we found a little treasure. Not only did we find someone to talk to, but the lady had grown up there and told us many interesting little factoids about the mission. The one we liked the most was the story of the statue of St. Francis was being transported to another mission. The weather was bad and cart got stuck in the mud so they stopped at this little mission to rest. When they tried to leave with the statue, the door seemed to get further and further away as they tried to carry it out. So, you guessed it, the statue remains to this day. The last mission we went to was the Chapel of San Elizario where again we found a locked church and no information. The last of the missions is the Guadalupe Mission which we did not attempt to go to because, you guessed it, it’s in Mexico. The missions of El Paso did not seem to have the rich history  and older buildings that we found of those in San Antonio, so we were a bit disappointed. Many of these missions had been rebuilt after being washed away by the wild Rio Grande (which is now tamed).

We returned to find that the refrigerator was indeed a lost cause and was replaced. In order to replace it, they needed to remove one of our side windows. And yes, they did a fine job EXCEPT, they put the window in up-side-down. Which of course, we did not realize until we were down the road a piece. That said, we kind of like that the window opens from the forward side, and now gives us a better cross ventilation. Also, the refrigerator is a wee bit skinnier that the previous model, so we need to rearrange the food a bit differently, but it sure works well.

Now, I hope we haven’t put too much negative on El Paso, we did find that there is a wonderful art community, you just have to ferret it out, it’s not just in one location. We’re off to Arizona.

Fort Davis

4/15 Yesterday we pulled out of Big Bend and drove the 150 mile trek, back through Marathon to Fort Davis. We decided to save a couple of bucks and stay at a Passport America campground in town rather than the state campground outside of town. Other than close proximity to the fort, it wasn’t worth the savings. Anyway the day is a full one, starting the morning with a tour of the fort. The fort was established in the mid 1800’s and has a strong history of the buffalo soldiers. Much of the fort has been restored to its last days of full operation. As you walk around the living quarters you want to think how elegant it was for the officers and men to have lived in this the “wild” west. But then you have to remember that the large percentage of the enlisted personnel were black their treatment was anything but elegant. The fort itself had no walls but as you can see was protected by a bit of a mountain.

They have restored the commanding officers quarters, furnished to the time and showed a barracks as well as the hospital. There are displays showing some of the artillery, wagons, and other gear used by the soldiers of that era. As we wandered around we were joined by 4 curious residents that seemed to want to follow and see if we were going to do anything interesting. Two horses and two goats. When I stopped and sat down one of the goats decided to get close and personal.

Many of the structures in the town of Fort Davis are also quite historic. When you arrive you can find a “historic walking tour” of the Fort Davis highlighting more than 20 structures/areas to see. We did drive around a bit, but we were more excited to go see the McDonald Observatory located on Mount Fowlkes at an elevation of 6,790 feet. Yes, Texas does have that kind of elevation. Unfortunately we did not time our visit to coincide with their evening tour, so we are taking their afternoon tour. Talk about going from the old wild west to the modern world from morning to afternoon.

We took the tour and learned the history of the McDonald Observatory and all of the universities involved in its beginning and continuing existence. We were first taken into the dome of the original telescope where they demonstrated the mechanics and it was amazing. Then we went over to the newest telescope that doesn’t move for a view and discussion there. Have to say, it was the best hour and a half lecture I’ve ever attended.

Day Three Big Bend NP

4/13 We are packing a lunch and plenty of water and planning on taking the Old Ore Road which will take us from near the campground north towards the entrance to the park. This is a high clearance 4 wheel drive only trip of 26.4 miles and we are expecting to be on it for 3 to 4 hours. We drove along the Dead Horse Mountains or Sierra Del Caballo Muerto (sounds better in Spanish).  We passed the grave site of Jose de Leon who was murdered in the town of La Noria which we later passed. As we drove along this “road” more like two ruts in the ground, we enjoyed the many views but worried about someone coming in the opposite direction, how would we pass each other? The landscape varied from plateaus to working our way through washes and old riverbeds with a mix of limestone and volcanic rock. There were many turnouts to hike into the various springs, tanks and canyons but we opted to stay on the road. We did stop along the way to visit the William Quail McKinney Ranch house or I should say the remains of it. About 12’ by 20’ and probably considered quite large at the time.

It was built atop a small rise and commanded a nice view of the surrounding mountains. A little further on we stopped and took the picture of the Chisos Mountains from a high plateau.

As we departed our high plateau we descended into a deep wash and were really worried about meeting another vehicle, which we had not seen to this point. The road narrowed where we had to drive over some rough rocks to avoid the pits. As we came out of this we did meet our first vehicle. I had just passed an area I could pull into, so I waved him forward and backed to that spot. That was the only vehicle we saw the entire road. Our trip lasted close to 6 hours and we were exhausted, and glad to return to our sweet home on wheels.

Day Two Big Bend NP

4/12 Our plans this day are to head for the highest part of the park, the Chisos Mountains Lodge. When we heard Lodge, we were thinking of the great lodges we had seen at Yellowstone and at Yosemite. If you go, be prepared to be a little disappointed, no great lodge, just a great view. This was taken from an overlook above the Lodge and I think our elevation was 5,600 ft.

Back to the main road and making a left heading for the Terlingua Ghost Town which is located just outside of the park. One thing you must get used to in Texas is that everything is a far way away. The drive to the lodge was 30 miles and then to the ghost town it was another 30 miles. Well the biggest disappointment about the ghost town was that the ghosts were alive! Yup, there were lots of folks livin’ in the “ghost” town, and lots of businesses too. There are some abandoned buildings from the old mercury mining town which is no longer active.

Anyway, we stopped in the town of Terlingua, gassed the truck, filled the tummy’s and headed back into the park taking the old Maverick Road (dirt) down to the Santa Elena Canyon (another 20 miles) where the Mexican state of Chihuahua forms the left-hand wall and Texas the right. This area was the site for many farms that supplied produce to the town of Terlingua, and we wondered how difficult it would have been to get that produce to the town.

Back on Paved road, we continue on the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive to more spectacular views of the mountains with many stops along the way for some pictures of flowers, mountains, old ranches, etc. It’s just amazing what people went through to live out here in those pioneering days. It was a good thing we started early, because we got back late in the afternoon exhausted after covering 144 miles. While only a little over 20 of that was dirt, it was still a long day. The only bad thing was that when we got back we found that the refrigerator in our rig had stopped working, oh bother.