Page 52 - EL PASO WEEK ENDS...

March 11, 2005

We've been in El Paso for the past week, and will travel to New Mexico tomorrow. Stayed here a week to get some computer problems corrected and to wait for our mail (Thanks Jen!). Daughter Jennifer sends us bills and amazing offers that will always create new bills if you respond.

El Paso translates to The Step in English. I have no idea what that means. All the signs are in English and Spanish pretty much. Even road names are sort of half English half Spanish, like Bob Hope Blvd. and Lee Travino Way, etc. The town is booming, and they are building chain restaurants and chain businesses wherever they can find a spot near the highway under construction. Lots of truck traffic! Must be all the stuff that is coming into the USofA. El Paso is on the Rio Grande, which is nearly dry, even in this "wet" time of the year here. They are happy here because they've had 2+ inches of rain this year, and that's way more than normal. Pretty dry here. Half the homes or more go with gravel or concrete or brick lawns rather than grass. And that makes complete sense to me. Don't have to mow gravel.

So, we did the computer thing, and laundry, and almost all the taxes, and then went out to play tourists. Did the Wyler Aerial Tramway, which goes up a mountain and overlooks "3 States and 2 Countries." Okay, just don't ask me what that 3rd state was that I saw. The mountains are pretty sparse here, but this is the season of the blooming poppies, and they were at their peak on certain mountain foothills. Hundreds and hundreds of acres of orange and yellow flowers, and all these people out there taking pictures and painting pictures of them. And signs, in English and Spanish, saying watch out for the rattlesnakes. And of course, the bodies of Japanese and French and German tourists who could not read the signs.

Did the museums of El Paso History, El Paso Archeology, and the National Border Patrol Museum. Interestingly, the Border Patrol Museum has a lot of items about the Canadian Border and the Florida Border, etc. Didn't expect that. And we drove along the scenic highways though the mountains, and drove by a least five WalMarts, and the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP), which has a beautiful campus, yet overlooks the poorer homes of Juarez, Mexico, just over the nearly dry Rio Grande. Lots of contrast there, and a completely logical reason why anyone in their right mind would like to get to the north side of that little river. Juarez does have industry in their town, and there is funky smoke that does haze up the valley here. Luckily, there is usually some winds blowing through the area. And all the diesel trucks can't be helping the situation that much.

Our neighbors at this RV park are two travel trailers full of carnival workers. Each trailer has been divided into 5 or 6 little apartments. (And I thought this RV was compact.) We didn't know exactly what the group was doing until they loaded up two pickup trucks full of stuffed animal Sponge Box Square Pants. (How do you make Square Pants plural?) So again, we have found another way of making money on the road, as long as Donna and I are willing to get a bunch of tattoos, which seems to be a requirement.

Going to Las Cruces tomorrow to visit our friends, who we have never met in person, John and Penny Duncklee. John is a prolific author, usually specializing in Westerns with a bit of twisted humor. We've been e-mailing for years. SO, all of you just jump over to Amazon.com and order all his books. Do it now, so you don't forget.

We might miss the Carlsbad Caverns this trip, as we may be meeting so friends in Death Valley. We'll see how it goes. Better remember to fill that reserve water tank, right?

You all take care. Spring is on the way. At least the trees are budding down here in The Step, and huge flocks of birds are heading North every evening. (And we really have to post some pictures soon. Donna is a cactus snapping nut.)

El Paso desert flowers ...	... which cover some mountain sides.

Page 52 - MARCH MARCHES ON ... MADNESS AND ST. PATRICK

March 16, 2005

Hello Amigos,

We spent a few days in Las Cruces, NM, so we could visit our friends Penny and John Duncklee. They have been E-friends for years, and now we have finally visited in real-time! And we had a GREAT visit in this very nice Rio Grande valley town. Recommendations: La Posta Restaurant, and the greatest used bookstore I have ever been in (forgot the name, but it's right down town ... let's just call it La Booka). Las Cruces (The Crosses) is so much nicer than El Paso, that if you are ever in this area, just stick to the New Mexican side. And you always get a fantastic view of the Oregon Mountain chain wherever you are in town. For the college sports fans, this is where Aggies come from.

We did take a day to slip up to White Sands National Monument Park. Donna had visited the place when she was 10 years old, and she wanted to see it again. Very interesting place, if you like giant clean white sand dunes that seem to go on for days. We didn't know to bring our snow sled saucers, which are popular here with the kids. The Park Service has built vehicle roads through the dunes, and they keep them plowed open with snow removal equipment. So most of the roads and parking areas look like freshly plowed snow, except it doesn't melt. It's not silica sand. It's gypsum. (It does, however, melt in your mouth, and not in your hands.) And if they get rain, it will turn to plaster, until it dries again. Since they had some rain up there, some roadways were still wet, and I got a coating of plaster in all the wheel wells of the truck. Didn't see any critters, buy you could see their tracks. The reflected light there made it very warm and dry, even if it was only in the 60s. That place has to be an oven in the summertime. The road to White Sands park gets closed if the White Sands Missile Range is running a test. Also, White Sands is just south of the site of the first atomic bomb blast that was done in 1945. That area is still closed to the public. Don't know why ... I would have visited that historic site.

Saw more roadrunners, and got to run over our first tumbleweeds. Hey, the wind can really blow in the southwest. They have these road signs in NM that say: SAND STORMS MAY EXIST. Odd way of saying it. Like SANTA CLAUS MAY EXIST. But when they DO exist, you don't want to be out in them. We missed them all, even though the winds were up. Guess it is still too wet here to blow much dust. Actually, when we left Las Cruces, we left in a snow squall. Hey, they have a few mountains down here that have snow on the tops. And the northern part of NM got a big snowstorm yesterday ... in feet! ... while we stayed to the south.

Author John & Artist Penny - Organ Mountains in background	Donna says these White Sands picnic tables were the same as 40 years ago
Donna makes a sand angel in the white sand at White Sands	Larry makes it up a smaller dune, and leaves the larger ones for the kids

We are now in Benson, Arizona. We'll go down to Tombstone today. Benson is a nice little town, and all the old guys at the supermarket look like grizzled old prospectors. Along I-10 getting here, there is a place at the top of the mountain gap called Texas Canyon. Amazing rock formations, but no one makes a big deal about it. I guess amazing rock formations are common in this area.
Everything is going well except for the prices of diesel fuel. And just when we are getting into the mountains! Blame Bush! He's in office and he's from Texas! But he is working on Social Security Savings Accounts so that when it is your turn to retire, you can use all your monthly benefits to top off your tank. But I can't complain. Heating this RV is cheap. Heating that giant old house in Hancock had to be a bear this past winter.

You all take care. We've got to go look for the Old West today, like good tourists.

Page 52 - QUICK ONE...

March 17, 2005

John Duncklee says we were in the Organ Mountains, not the Oregon Mountains. I should have known that. There is no "e" in Mountains. Also, the name of the great book store is Coas Bookstore. And who knows what the hell that translates to.

John Molloy informs me that you CAN visit the atom bomb site. He says: "The Trinity Site is open two days a year -- the first Saturday in April and the first Saturday in October." There are basically two ways to get there. One is to drive from Albuquerque. If you are doing that, you might want to spend the night in Socorro. Then you can drive to Stallion Gate first thing in the morning. Go south from Socorro about 12 miles to San Antonio, N.M., and then head east on Highway 380. Drive about 12 miles, and take the road to the right into the White Sands Missile Range. About five miles down the road is the Stallion Gate entrance. You are allowed to drive the 17 miles to the Trinity Site unescorted. The gates are open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

And B.S. Pyle says: I thought Aggies emerged when you kick over a rock.

My associates have always been filled with .... well ... useless information of this kind.

Went to Tombstone AZ today. Donna was disappointed with Boot Hill. The town is really a tourist trap, and we didn't pay to go into the O.K. Corral. However, the Crystal Palace Saloon is worth the trip. Appears to be totally authentic, and has been in continuous use ... as a saloon ... to this date. Also, things were simple and to the point. Lunch was BBQ or Prime Rib sandwiches with fantastic chili and coleslaw. What a GREAT saloon! The "re-creation" folks in town were also very good, even if most of them are probably snowbirds from Minnesota. But all the other buildings are trinket stores. Best part of the trip to Tombstone -- we saw a bunch of javelinas running across the road. They sure are quick for fuzzy hogs.

The countryside is very pretty. Lots of GREEN trees along the little river here, which still has a strong trickle running through it. Leaving Benson, the sign says Watch For Animals Next 114 Miles. After mile 114, I guess you can stop watching. Caught some bluegill and bass in the ponds here at the RV place. The fishing spots here are few and far between. Ya'all take care.