Ed sledding at White Sands

On our way to Roswell, we stopped at White Sands, NM. On the satellite map, it’s a big white blob, and that’s exactly what it looks like close up. The sand is very nearly white and it looks a lot like snow. This is the only national monument I know of where you’re encouraged to muss it up. The visitor center has sleds so you can play on the sandy hills.

The sand is soft and tiny, so it is more comfortable than sledding on snow. We slid down the hills very slowly even though they were steep. We arrived when a storm was approaching, so it was warm, windy, and cloudy. This was a good thing since it's usually burning hot on the sands. Apparently, most tourists visit during the hottest parts of the year, so we were almost completely alone.

The only difficult part was getting up to the top of the hill, especially while carrying the sled. We decided that one of us would climb and then the person at the bottom would throw the sled up to the top like a frisbee. That worked really well until the wind caught it and it flew along the ground for about a quarter mile. It’s a good thing we have a teenager to chase runaway frisbees.

We brought Pablo out, thinking he would love the sand. He hated it and was anxious to get back into the RV. The rest of us, including Gussy, had a great time. Pablo invented his own fun later.

There goes the frisbee-sled.

There goes the frisbee-sled!

Gussy at White Sands

Gus-Gus turns into a puppy whenever his feet touch sand. When there's no water in sight, he's even happier.

Pablo sitting in the sled

Pablo had no use for the sand, but he claimed the sled as soon as we were ready to return it.

I've noticed I've repeatedly been making references to my childhood in these blog posts.

When I was little I liked to draw a lot.  My father brought home used printout paper from work and I would turn the pages over and draw on the blank sides.  There was a lot of paper, and I kept up with the supply pretty well as I created heaps of drawings.  I liked to draw houses, and animals, and trees, and cars.  I drew people too, but they didn't hold my interest as long so I never got very good at drawing people.

Color drawing of camper and house in the trees
The month I turned four I drew this picture of a house in the trees with smoke coming out of the chimney.  I told my mother the vehicle next to it was a camper.  I was apparently intrigued with campers.

Line drawing of car camper and house
Here's another scene I drew the same month.  My father had a 1966 VW Beetle for over 30 years.  I seemed to like tall houses.

Color drawing of a tall camper
So why not a tall camper?  Here's one I drew the following month.

A "living car" with curtained windows and driver
Over time I became particularly enamored with homes on wheels.  I called them "living cars."  Here's one with a long-necked person, perhaps the driver, sitting on top

A child's drawing of a city on a large wheeled platform
Creativity has no limits.  If you can have a house on wheels, why not a whole city?

Scrapbook photos of airplanes and a class-c motorhome
By the time I was about eight years old, I still hadn't lost interest in the camper idea.  I put together a scrapbook using cut-out pictures of animals and other things I was interested in, such as airplanes.  RVs were there too.

1970s Volkswagen camper van caption Home is Where Your Bus Is
I really liked this pop-up camper van.  I even came up with names for the kids enjoying their hideaway spot inside

our campsite at Sea Rim State Park with surrounding structures
Here's our living car parked at Sea Rim State Park.  The boardwalk connects the campground with the ocean and provides an elevated view of the surroundings.

Huge oil refineries in the distant background

Oil rigs dot the horizon at sea and oil refineries on land (pictured above, distant background) remind us we're in Texas.

State stickers mark the states we''ve traveled through so far
We're now more than halfway across the country

Ladder next to motorhome with clothes hanging on it
A ladder makes a usable makeshift drying rack in the Texas sun

A boardwalk trail across the wetland with sunset in background
The Gambusia Nature Trail is entirely across water, all 3/4 mile.  But be careful...

Sign says don't get near the alligators
Better take this sign seriously

Jadelyn and I enjoyed wading into the ocean here.  The water is so warm you could stand in it all day.  We watched pelicans swooping for fish along the crests of the waves.  I stepped on something hard that turned out to be a hermit crab.  We let him crawl around on the beach for a minute or two before returning him to the waves.

Right now we're sitting in the RV with the windows open to let the evening breeze blow through.  It's much cooler now, and the winds are working on blowing in some more thunderstorms, according to the weather report.  We'll have the hatches all battened down before bedtime.  Life is but a dream...

Next stop:  Baton Rouge

I think New Mexico just went up several notches on my list of favorite states.  You see, I'm a space fanatic, and besides maybe Florida and Texas, it seems that New Mexico has more to do with space than any other state.

Robert Goddard, the father of modern rocketry, tested his early designs not far from Roswell.  I didn't know that before.  What I did know is that "Spaceport America" is being constructed near Truth or Consequences in New Mexico.  One of these days it may be the first place paying tourists go to hitch a ride into space.

Three large motorhomes flank ours at Eastern Arizona rest stop

Humpty Dumpty doesn't look so monstrous when surrounded by large expensive motorhomes at a New Mexico rest stop.  The one on the left was towing a jeep which was itself towing a trailer!

We had to traverse a 7,500-foot summit on our way into Roswell.

A colorful mural in a parking lot in Roswell depicts aliens

One of several murals in central Roswell depicting a colorful alien scene

Jadelyn and I checked out the Roswell UFO museum.  I don't believe in aliens of course but I've been curious about what might be behind these kinds of incidents.  Are they government secrets or something else?

Roswell UFO museum

International UFO Museum and Research Center

I typically get overwhelmed whenever visiting a museum because I feel impelled to try to fully absorb every exhibit.  At this one, I actually did look at all the exhibits, and I actually got the feeling that the exhibits only scratched the surface of the subject.  Which is fine since the admission fee is only $5.

Inside the entrance of the Roswell UFO museum

The ceiling in the UFO museum resembles a flying saucer, complete with flashing lights

One of the two main walls is devoted to the "Roswell incident" and the other covers UFO sightings in general.  To me, one of the most interesting contrasts is the way the government handles Area 51, which clearly hides government secrets, and the way it has dealt with the Roswell incident, which may or may not involve actual government secrets.

The government tried for years to deny the existence of "Area 51". But in recent times they have gradually revealed general information about its existence and purpose.  Contrast that to the multiple "cover stories" that continue to change regarding the "Roswell incident", despite many years having elapsed and little reason for a change in official story after so many years.  It almost seems as if they are doing it to keep people's minds curious rather than otherwise.  I'll leave it to you to draw your own conclusions about why that might be....

First stories of strange crash landing in Roswell

More recent official explanations of the Roswell incident

The official story is, the Roswell incident involved a weather balloon, no wait, a nuclear testing balloon.  Actually, it was a crash dummy drop test.  Wait, what?

I would have enjoyed getting to know more of the local residents of Roswell who very much do not resemble aliens, but other than eating at a Denny's and fueling up at a gas station, we mostly just did the alien-loving tourist thing.  Fortunately, it only took a couple of hours, even with my very careful examination of the museum exhibits, and we were on our way.  My impressions of the locals: The restaurants we checked out were all very busy (it was a rainy Saturday) and the hostess at Denny's was very attentive while our waitress was not.  The lady at the gas station was also very attentive and had a steady stream of Hispanic customers whom she spoke to in Spanish.  (It is, after all, New Mexico.) It seems fairly average for a town of around 50,000 people.  Rather unlike the town portrayed in the TV show Roswell which we used to enjoy watching (at least the first couple seasons).

The Roswell Space Center - not a UFO museum

Follow the alien footsteps to... a tourist trap!  The signage leads one to believe they'll find some kind of educational experience, but they just sell alien-themed stuff there.

I mentioned the heat in my last two posts.  Our last two days were noteworthy for the lack thereof.  Big rainstorms swept into the Southwest on Friday night and the spectacular nighttime lightning displays were accompanied by rain and much cooler temperatures.  Thursday our low temperature was 63, which corresponds to the high temperature yesterday.  We actually ran our furnace yesterday morning since the temperatures were in the high 30's.

Alien face on fence outside Wal-Mart

Guess which Wal-Mart this is?

We had another first during our overnight stay in Roswell.  We parked at Wal-Mart, both that night and the next one in Lubbock.  Wal-Mart has a corporate policy of encouraging RV overnight parking, but many localities have prohibitions that prevent this from happening.  None of the Portland Wal-Marts allow overnight parking, possibly due to the prevalence of homeless RV dwellers.  However, New Mexico has very few stores with prohibitions.  In fact, some stores offer free Wi-Fi specifically in areas where the RVs are parked.  An appealing proposition for people like us.

Along the way, we've had a few minor mechanical malfunctions but I won't cover those right now.

Jaden smiles as she eats her "chicken fingers"

Happiness is opening a box of Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers.

Central Kingdom Hall in Lubbock

Where the Lubbock Central Congregation meets

We arrived at the Kingdom Hall in Lubbock by 9 am hoping to join the Sagewood congregation in field service.  I wondered if anyone would show up with the strong winds and unseasonably cold temperatures.  No one did.  While we were waiting, though, we got to meet some of the friends who were arriving for the 10 am meeting.  The first brother I met is in the Spanish congregation.  I'm quite familiar with the friendly and hospitable manner of the Spanish Witnesses in Portland.  When they arrive at the meeting they shake the hands of everyone they see, and they do the same before they leave.  On coming into the Hall we had the same experience and at first we thought we were at a Spanish meeting.  We soon realized that those in the English congregation in Lubbock do the same thing!  We could get used to this.  Cultures are different in different places, but I think the hospitable, welcoming nature of the Texans, both English and Spanish, is worthy of our imitation.

Our goal was to meet the Chinese group in the Sagewood congregation.  Most of them were out of town, but there were a few still there.  The meeting program was a video feed from Taiwan, but we still had a great experience.

Man riding a horse through flowers

Monday was devoted to traversing the great state of Texas (most of it at least).  There's a Chinese saying, 走马观花, that can well describe my experience with Texas at this point:  It means to look at flowers while riding a horse.  Just as a horseback rider can't get a good look at the flowers he's racing past, I can't say I've really seen Texas.  But we did spend quite a bit of our drive on Texas Route 6 which passes through a lot of small towns.  We also zipped through Houston.  So I've got a lot of mental images to recall when I think of Texas.  The part I most treasure is the part I value the most about every trip I take, which is meeting the local Witnesses.  The friends in Lubbock left a very good impression on me.  I imagine our experiences in the next congregation we visit in the South will be similar.  There's a reason God considers these people the precious things of the nations.

We spent less time in Waco than we did in Roswell, so I don't have much to say about it.  Maybe Julie will mention something in her next post.  I did spend some time thinking about the mental image of Waco I had before visiting, which was connected with the turbulent events nearby that happened in 1993.  I find it interesting that the local officials in the city of Waco have no desire to memorialize the events that became synonymous with their town in the minds of most U.S. residents.  Fortunately, the lives of ordinary Waco citizens are as distant from those events as the lives of Roswell residents are from space aliens.

Upon arriving in Texas we learned that tornadoes had done massive damage in the Northeast part of the state. Sadly, several people died and many others lost their homes.  We were fortunate to have missed the storm entirely but it was a good reminder of the tenuous nature of life in the present world.

As I write this we've overshot Galveston and are headed for Sea Rim State Park near the McFaddin Wildlife Refuge.  Julie found an RV park here she wanted to stay at, and it's right along the same coast as Galveston. 

When I was a kid I learned that staying busy on long car trips was a way to make the time go faster.  On a four-day car trip to Iowa, I spent most of the time drawing copies of the maps from the road atlas my father used to plan the trip.  It's a nerdy thing to do, but it sure made the time pass quickly.  I spent the rest of the time looking out the window to avoid succumbing to carsickness.

I don't have to try to stay busy anymore.  Back then I'd always have some kind of project I wanted to work on, and I still do, but now most of my time is taken up with things on my to-do lists.

I had three to-do lists going this winter, one for the house, another for the RV, and a third for everything else.  It seemed the faster I'd do things on the list the faster more things would be added to it.

Obviously, I've finished my sell-the-house list.  As the days got closer to leaving Portland I worked furiously to do everything else on the other two but I eventually realized there were some things I didn't have to do before we hit the road.  So I created a pre-departure master checklist and put everything else from the other two on it, divided into two categories: Things I have to do before we leave town and Things that I'd like to do but can wait if necessary.  My goal was to finish everything on the first and dig into the second before we left.  However, as the time grew closer I discovered that there were a few on the first list that could actually go on the second and so the day we left I sighed and added them to the second list.

One of the items on the first list that got bumped was "plan out travel route."  I'm the kind of person who likes to plan things in advance but sadly, so many other things were more urgent that I knew this one would have to wait.  I did however download a bunch of apps to my phone that would help us find things like low-priced campgrounds, free RV parking spots, and dump stations, so I wouldn't have to plan those in advance.

We did know that we wanted to stop in Kingman in time for the CO meeting, so I decided to resume tackling my list when we got there.  As you know I did spend two full days doing just that.  Well, "replace fresh water pump" wasn't on the original list but it ended up being added right on top, since of course running water is a pretty high priority for us typical modern people.

Sadly, before we left Kingman I still hadn't reached "plan out travel route" on my list.  Thankfully, I had some more free time in Tucson.  So last night I finally sat down and looked at our planned destinations from this point on and developed an itinerary.

At the same time, I noticed my to-do list was still called "pre-departure master checklist" so I changed it to "post-departure master checklist."  After all, we left Portland nearly two weeks ago.  Most of the items left on it are pretty small and I'm realizing now some of them can probably wait until after we arrive (if I even need to do them at all).  The future is now....

Here's our tentative itinerary at this point:

4/28 head to Roswell via White Sands 9.5 hrs
4/29 explore Roswell, head to Lubbock                   3 hrs
4/30 meetings and service in Lubbock  
5/3 drive to Waco, TX 7 hrs
5/4 drive to Galveston, TX 5 hrs
5/5 drive to New Orleans 7 hrs
5/6 Meetings and Service in New Orleans  
5/10 Drive to Leesburg 8 hrs
5/11 drive to NC 8 hrs
5/12 drive to Bristol, VA 5 hrs


Roswell was high on my list of places to visit and Julie and Jadelyn really want to visit Waco.  Jadelyn is a fan of Luke Bryan, so she wants to see his hometown of Leesburg, Georgia.  We also want to visit Julie's cousin Leslie and her husband Darryl in North Carolina.  The rest are tentative stops along the way in between.

Now that the majority of my business (as in busy-ness) is behind me I can relax a bit.  Which is what I did yesterday.  Travis, my roommate in Fossil back in the early 90s, lives with his wife Shary (Shar-ee - I mispronounced her name enough times I better get it right now) in Tucson.  Travis had the day off and Shary had to work but was able to join us for lunch.  Travis drove us around to get some necessities in the morning and then he and I took a hike in saguaro country in the hills above town in the afternoon.  The weather was a bit on the hot side but still tolerable so we hiked farther up the hill than he had in the past.  In fact I, being the crazy adventurer I am, felt compelled to go up until I was standing on some kind of peak.  Travis had more sense and patiently waited in the shade below.

Tucson Mountain Park with Saguaro cacti

Tucson Mountain Park near Saguaro National Park.  Travis took me to the place I most wanted to see!

Looking up toward a small peak I hiked to

It's not all that high, Travis.  You don't mind waiting here while I climb it do you?

photo of Travis waiting and looking up

Travis waits patiently and looks up at the crazy climber

After Travis went home to get ready for his meeting I joined Jadelyn in the pool for a spell.  By that time most of the pool was in the shade but I swam a bit before we both climbed out and I sat on a lounge chair in the sun.  The breeze was cool but I quickly warmed up in the sun's gentle glow and I thought to myself, I'm on vacation!

It was a nice thought.

Six months of intense planning and activity which started in September and mostly ended two days ago finally bore fruit.  The future is now.

Today was probably the longest drive of the trip.  From Tucson to Roswell is only about 8 hours but of course it takes us longer.  Besides, we couldn't pass by White Sands National Monument without checking it out and decided to drive in.  They rent sleds at the visitor center, which looked like a lot of fun.  Jadelyn came back looking dejected when she found out the place was closed, but just a few minutes later a kind-hearted man drove in wanting to return his sled but when he found it was closed and we were in need he gave it to us.

I didn't get any photos of White Sands but Julie did so maybe she'll post some.

Next stop: Roswell

looking back over the hills toward Tucson

Tucson, as viewed from our path back down the hill

Life is good.  That's always a true statement, but it doesn't always feel true.   It does when you are well-fed, have some free time on your hands, good air conditioning, and good Wi-Fi.  At least those are high on my list right now.

We really enjoyed spending time with Larry and Paula again.

When I was growing up my father used to take the family camping.  Camping to me meant we drove way out into the woods and pulled into an unimproved spot where we pitched a tent.  There was a water spigot a few steps away from the campsite and a restroom even farther away.  In fact, if I recall correctly during the first few years the restroom didn't even have flush toilets.  But it was camping, and we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs and got close to nature.  It was restorative.

One time I told a friend about our camping trip and he was impressed.  "You were really roughing it," he gushed.  I didn't even know what "roughing it" meant.  A few years later I went with another friend to a "campground" that to me looked just like a parking lot.  There were parking spaces for recreational vehicles and there was a lake nearby, but I don't remember even seeing a single tree on the site.  To some people, that's "camping."  To each his own.  I already feel like I'm living in luxury in the motorhome, but I've discovered that "camping" can bump it up a notch.

I think I mentioned in my last post that Larry and Paula have a spot with full hookups right next to their house.  We tested our electrical and water connections when we still had the motorhome next to our house, and of course we've made frequent use of the sewer connections, but we'd never actually made use of a full-hookup site before.  With three connections, water, sewer, and electric, the "monstrosity" instantly transforms into a semi-normal house.  Suddenly you don't have to watch your water usage and you can take a long shower if you want.  Things most people in developed countries take for granted suddenly seem like giddy luxuries.

Water sewer and electrical hookups

I didn't make any comment about electricity in the paragraph above because we already feel like we're enjoying luxury without being hooked up.  We already have all the electricity we could want (at least in the summer) with our mega-battery bank and solar array.  But here in Arizona, we have a compelling reason to hook up to electricity - air conditioning.  Our dual air conditioners do a fine job of cooling the rig (at least so far - we haven't hit the high 90s yet!), but they don't run on 12 volts.  In fact, together, they don't run on 110 volts.  We need a 50-amp connection to run both these power-hungry appliances and 30 amps to run just one of them.  Larry and Paula generously let us connect to theirs.  RV air conditioners are notoriously inefficient, and they probably took as much power to cool the RV as their heat pump uses to cool their home (also seen in the photo above).  Well, maybe not quite.

Air-conditioned comfort is great, but it becomes a necessity when you have a dog.  Dogs are very sensitive to heat, and Gus-Gus let us know on our way into Kingman that he wasn't doing well.  Fortunately we can also run the A/C units off our generator, so we fired it up on the road and - ah!  Cool air again.  I've tested the generator and run it a few times to keep it healthy, but this week was the first time we've really needed it.

We arrived in Kingman on Saturday and were able to enjoy service and the meeting Sunday.  My "house" projects stretched into two days but I really needed to spend that time to get things done I hadn't had time for up till now.  I finally finished putting the trim on the floor, a project I started in December.  The room slide-outs are properly lubricated (need that especially where it's hot), and I replaced the fresh water pump that was giving us trouble.  It took longer than expected, like most repair projects.  Apparently the old water pump (old being a relative term, it's stamped 2014) was going out when we bought the rig, because the newer one is the exact same model but much quieter.  It took three tries to get the plumbing components we needed, but it feels good to have it fixed.  Running water is pretty nice to have...

Despite being busy Larry and Paula were gracious hosts, as usual, but unlike our visit last year where we stayed in their house, it felt a bit more like we were next-door neighbors this time.  I spent two full days working on the RV and Larry was out doing his studies on both days.  We spent some time together in the evenings but we attended the Tuesday night meeting in the other congregation because they had the CO.  So we got his visit in reverse, Sunday first then the midweek meeting and talk.  We enjoyed visiting both Kingman congregations.

This brings us to today and our visit with Paula and Larry was quickly over.  It was time for us to head to Tucson and we wanted to get going before it got too hot.  We made a quick stop at the RV store for more parts (which gets to be a regular thing when you drive an RV) and hit the road.  We drove through Phoenix around rush hour but other than a minor delay caused by an accident on the freeway we sped right through.  At one point we got in the HOV lane and got a rare feeling of passing everyone else.  Most of the time we are the passees rather than the passers.

We're in Tucson to see my ex-roommate Travis and his wife Shary.  I used my Passport America app to find a reasonably-priced campsite 15 minutes from their home.  Technology makes travel so much easier than it used to be.

The heat wasn't too bad today, but we fired up the generator about an hour before we arrived in Tucson.  Once we got into town the weather cooled off pretty fast but it was still nice to have the electric hookup so we could keep the rig cool after we parked.  Travis and Shary were worn out from working hard today, and we were worn out from the drive, so we agreed to meet in the morning since they have the day off.

The Tra-Tel RV Park in Tucson

The Tra-Tel RV Park in Tucson.  Complete with real Saguaro cactus.

Motorhome in campground space with awning deployed

Our first time in a real RV campsite with full hookups.  Old hat already.

After we made ourselves at home with the A/C running we decided to open the awning.  I think the last time we had it open was in November.  It was dripping with residue from the scores of rainy days we had in Portland since then.  No doubt it's dry now.  One of our fellow campers warned us the wind is supposed to pick up in the morning, but I'll wait until then to retract the awning.

Pablo watches the Tucson sunset

Even Pablo got out and took a walk around the campground.  The sunset was brief but beautiful.

Before we even pulled into the campsite Jadelyn was already in the pool.  Swimming is one of her favorite activities so we had to find a campground with a pool.

After a little swimming and exploring it quickly started getting dark.  We checked out the quail and a couple of young jackrabbits on the other side of the fence and then headed inside for a late dinner.  The picnic table will have to wait until tomorrow.