The BTCruisers SouthWest 2007

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Day 88, Sunday, March 25, 2007

I forgot what the temperature was this morning- around 50.
I was in a hurry to get on the road home.

Left around 8:30 am and drove the 500 miles home in 8 & 1/2 hours. That is quite a poke with a 30 foot motorhome, tow car, two dogs (and one with a bladder infection needing a "stop" every hour). We did good!

Great to be back! A lot to do to get up-packed and settled back into "home base". House looks great. A big thanks to brother Tim (and sister Dea) who kept an eye on things in our absence.

Thanks to all of you who stayed up with us on this trip and added your comments. Without the comments we don't know who is following us or if our blog is of any interest to you. It meant a lot to us.

We're back and no rain or snow. In fact, we have not seen rain or snow in two months. Lots of bad weather at the start of our trip, but from Tucson forward we have had great weather.

Adios Amigos!

Day 87, Saturday, March 24, 2007

54 this morning in Nashville

Looks like we are going to stay tonight and visit the Grand Ole Opry after all. Talked about it yesterday, but often change our plans "on the fly". Not today!

Record temperatures around this part of the country.

Got well into the 80's today.

Drove to the Grand Ole Opry "complex" this afternoon and it's a mega-attraction with shops, movies, IMAX, restaurants, and more. Wanted to see where we needed to be for tonight's show. Then on into the downtown area of Nashville where all the "action" is.

Back to the motorhome to care for the girls then back to the "complex" for a very good fresh fish dinner. The Opry was great and we saw a lot of "old-timers" and a few "up-and-comers". We enjoyed it.

Ellen caught a cab from the Opry to go back downtown and I drove back to the campground. I think it was Eddie Money who was performing downtown. You know Ellen!

There is a lot of entertainment to see around here. If not at the end of our trip I might want to stay longer. But, definately a place to return to for an "entertaining" long camping weekend from home. Only 500 miles from Elkhart and a lot of fun for us "old timers".

Day 86, Friday, March 23, 2007

65 this morning at Hot Springs, AK

We had to spend the night about 20 miles outside of the National Park (Hot Springs) at Lake Catherine SP. And they were full for the weekend so we could only stay one night. The National Park has no facilities for their campsites and that's why we went 20 miles away to spend the night. Having to move again to stay in the area and no Verizon internet service available we just decided to move on East towards home.

Got as far as Nashville after a 400 mile drive and staying at an RV Park in town- close to the Grand Ole Opry. So we will probably stay one more day to take in dinner and a show on Saturday. The weather is warm and humid here, but cool this evening. Finally in a Verizon coverage area so have internet connection.

500 miles from home. Could drive it in one day or two. We'll see! Nashville for Saturday. Home on Sunday night or Monday.

See Ya soon!

Day 85, Thursday, March 22, 2007

62 at Brushy Lake State Park, OK

Our stop for the night.

Day 84, Wednesday, March 21, 2007

59 in Foss Lake, OK

No internet connection here so nothing was posted.

Nice place, but we are heading home!

Day 83, Tuesday, March 20, 2007

About 50 this morning and foggy

Warmed up quickly when the sun broke through the fog.

We left quickly and are headed for Foss Lake SP in Oklahoma with a stop in Amarillo, Tx for groceries.

More when we get there if we have cell phone service.

Day 82, Monday, March 19, 2007

58 this morning at Oliver Lee SP

We're packing up!

Made it to Ute Lake SP off of I-40 just north of Tucumcari, NM. Big long lake behind a dam but not alot going on unless you fish. Sand burrs everywhere so the dogs could not even go out unless we walked them on the road. On a whim, I bet Ellen $100.00 she couldn't run across the sand burr field barefoot. She did it and it was the most laughs I'll ever get for $100.00. Ask her about it.

Tonight here, and we are leaving first thing in the morning. Oh, the girls did get to go for a swim here so they are happy campers.

Day 81, Sunday, March 18, 2007

55 this morning outside of Alamogordo, NM

I added a little commentary to Saturday's post, so if you already read it, go back for more.

It was a little overcast this morning so the cloud cover probably kept the heat from escaping overnight.

We drove up into the mountains today. Cloudcroft at 9,000 feet and some snow still on the ground. Then on to Ruidoso, Capitan, Lincoln, Hondo, Ruidoso Downs, then back to camp. About 5 hours round trip. We plan to leave tomorrow. Brother Tim called today to give us the official "all the snow has melted" signal to start the trip home. So come morning - we are heading for the barn!

Just another blooming cactus

Alamogordo from the Space Museum with a faint view of the White Sands National Monument in the distance

Side road to the National Forest in Cloudcroft still closed for the "winter". Only 16 miles from our desert campsite at Oliver Lee SP where the temperature is 80!!!

Our last sunset at Oliver Lee

Oliver Lee SP from about 3 miles out. Those are RV's barely visable at the base of the mountain. We are one of them.

Day 80, Saturday, March 17, 2007

48 this morning in Alamogordo, NM

Happy St Paddy's Day! Wow! 80 days out. Our Alaska trip took only 77 days start to finish and we are still probably 10 days from home. Anyway, I'm just rambling on here. Doesn't seem like it's been so long.

We did a 6.5 mile hike up Dog Canyon here at the park today and what an exercise! We planned to leave around 9am to avoid the mid-day heat but left at noon anyway. It was hot and strenous and we were sure happy to get back home. We left the girls in Blueboy with the air on - lucky them. Anyway, it was a 1500 foot vertical climb up the canyon and then 1500 foot drop back down. No shade to be found on the whole trail! However, it was really a worthwhile trek. It's hard to share the beauty and the ruggedness with pictures or words. Happy to be going on a driving tour tomorrow.

Looking down the canyon to the valley below

Tiny bit of shade for a rest and water stop

Mostly sun and rock

Remains of cabin at end of our trail. We turned around here but trail continues another 5 miles. The whole trip would have been about 10 hours. There is year around water flowing here and I guess that is why someone once lived here. Only things remaining are partial stone walls and a bed frame.

Ellen by the stream, what little there is, at the ruins

Corned beef and cabbage for dinner after a hard day in the mountains. Thank you Ellen! This really is roughing it!

Day 79, Friday, March 16, 2007

49 this morning at Oliver Lee SP

Spent most of the morning playing with our new Verizon phones. Ellen's was malfunctioning and mine had to be replaced to continue with Verizon's "data plan" for internet access. My old phone was capable of internet access but Verizon claims it wasn't. So I was racking up $1,000 plus phone bills each month on the road. I got credit for it all, of course, but Verizon finally said I needed a new phone to continue with the data plan.

Into Alamogordo for lunch, the space museum, missed the IMAX, grocery shopped, and back to camp for a fire and dinner and crown.

Here are some pic's-

Ellen on White Sands dune

Hi there!

Dogs for a walk

Our "rig" at White Sands

Mountains of sand next to mountains of rock. Quite a view!

The desert is starting to "bloom" even without rain

Our campsite at Oliver Lee SP

Campground road (we are on the left) looking towards "Dog Canyon". We are going to hike up it tomorrow - Saturday

Another view of our site with the canyon as background

Sunset at Oliver Lee

Day 78, Thursday, March 15, 2007

54 this morning in Alamogordo, NM

It's been a little warmer overnight lately. That's a welcome change. While it always warms up very quickly as soon as the sun rises, not being in the upper 30's or low 40's first thing when waking up is nice.

There is "stuff" we want to do around here (Space Museum w/ Imax theater, day long car trip up into the mountains, and long hike up Dog Canyon) so we are going to stay another 3 or more days here at Oliver Lee SP. So Florida "swing" will not happen. We leave here and it's homeward bound!

Yesterday we stopped by White Sands National Monument on our way into Alomogordo. Huge dunes of gypsum as pure white as snow (probably not a good word for you all back home). Mountains all around us with desert in between, but this one spot (White Sands) just seems to appear out of nowhere.

Revisit todays post tomorrow and pictures will be there.

Day 77, Wednesday, March 14, 2007 (cont)

Finally in a park (Oliver Lee Memorial State Park - just south of Alamogordo, NM) with Verizon's high speed broadband available. So I'm going to spend as much time as it takes to upload pictures from the last 10 days. They will not be on the pages where they went missing from the past - too much time to put them in order. Just a bunch of pictures. Hope you enjoy them.
By the way - this little State Park in the foothills of the mountains at the entrance to Dog Canyon is looking pretty nice. We just may park here for 3-6 days and then head home instead of trying to get to Florida for awhile. Once we leave here the mountains are "history" and we really prefer them to anything else.

Usury Mountain Moon Rise