Monday, February 5, is a holiday in Mexico, Constitution Day. Our first stop was Obregon’s bookstore to find a Mexican American Dictionary. No luck, just Spanish/Amer. The Centro shops were fascinating but it created sensory overload. They sell everything at stalls inside huge buildings, chickens are being chopped, next to hundreds of jeans on sale, then on to veggies, fruits, loud music, etc. etc. Communication proved to be a problem….at a pizza shop, I thought I ordered two slices of pizza and 2 large cokes. We got two whole pizza and two small cokes. They to [View Full Entry]

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February 3, 2007. We continue to learn about this country, most everyone we have met has been kind and helpful . We did take Spanish lessons in Pittsburgh, but learning a new language is tricky. We can ask directions, order food, pay the bill, purchase tickets, exchange pleasantries, etc.; but we are far from being fluent, so we continue to blunder along. The trip from Bahia Kino to San Carlos/Guaymas is a long one, back to the main road, through Hermisillo, (this time we didn’t get lost) and south on 15. In the congested traffic areas, the driving is a [View Full Entry]

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Feb. 1, 2007. The morning started cold, 37 degrees, and cloudy as we approached the Mexican Border. Fog became a factor as we drove the Toll road #15 south. Our destination was the Migracion Office (where you take care of the people paperwork), then the Banjercito (where the vehicle documentation is done) both are located 19 miles from the border and has quite a bit of parking. Knowing the drill saved us some wait time; the Migracion is the first stop, then the copy window, which is essential, finally the Banjercito. Most people skipped the copy window …and they havve to [View Full Entry]

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Our AM hike today was to the other, Saguaro NP (East). The northern edge of the Sonoran Desert is home to the most recognizable cactus in the world, the majestic saguaro cactus. We followed the Cactus Forest Loop Drive, then stopped for our hike along the Squeeze Pen Trail to the Pink Hill and returned on the Loma Verde Trail. It was a delightful walk in the desert among the saguaros. A visit to our friends, Jim and Joan in Green Valley, AZ, provided us with a wonderful opportunity to see and enjoy this beautiful area. After a Spanish lesson at [View Full Entry]

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We left Bisbee and drove north through Tombstone and on to Tucson. After having our windshield patched, we took a walking tour of the old town of Tucson and the Presidio. Along with the little booklet, the sidewalk actually has a purple stripe to follow as we wandered around this old mission town. Tucson is also the home of Arizona University. It was a beautiful sunny day. Saguaro West National Park was our destination today. The Desert Museum, most of which is outdoors, contains animals and plants native to this Sonora Desert region. It is a natural history and botanical [View Full Entry]

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Texas to New Mexico to Arizona January 20, 2007, Saturday. We leave Study Butte, in spite of weather warnings to stay off the roads. We travel north and west to La Cruces, NM. It felt so good to wipe the mud off our shoes and leave TX. Today was just a travel day and the roads were clear, however, a truck passing in the opposite directions threw up a stone and chipped our windshield. January 21, 2007, Sunday. Our objective today is to drive to Douglas, AZ, another border town, and enter Mexico for the afternoon. So after a few [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday, January 16, and a Ranger visits each of the five campers in our park. The message is: Chisos is closed and the only road going up out of Cottonwood is in bad condition. The winter storm is expected to continue all day and into tomorrow. So, we hunker down and are using the generator, with the ranger’s blessings. We managed to stay still for at least 3 hours, before venturing out for a walk in the mud and rain to the Ranger’s Center and the tiny shop about a mile away. It is hard to imagine that the road out [View Full Entry]

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January 13, Saturday. From Fort Stockton, we stopped at Marathon TX; a cute little town that was our last taste of civilization, before going on to Big Bend NP. The distances in Texas are substantial, from the entrance of the park to the main visitor’s center at Panther Junction is 26 miles, and then another 29 miles to the Rio Grande Campground, so miles start to add up. The park has only one diesel station. Our reservations were from 1/14 to 1/21 at Chisos Basin Campground then another week at Rio Grande Campground 1/21 to 1/28. Plans changed because of weather [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday, January 3rd, we left the Burgh and drove south; first to Charlotte, NC to visit the kids and grandkids, then on to Boone, NC for a visit with Heidi and Adrian. They are doing well and the “fixer-upper” is being transformed into a warm, lovely home. On a warm sunny day, we enjoyed a nice hike just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our trek to the west began on Sunday, Tennessee is one long state. The rain and fog made it seem longer. In Arkansas, we spent the night in Alma, the Spinach Capital of the World. Kel had [View Full Entry]

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Our last big stop was in Missouri to visit the home of Harry Truman and his Presidential Library. We had listened to David McCullough’s book detailing Harry Truman’s life as we drove. It was quite a long, detailed and interesting. So a visit to Harry’s hometown seemed like a perfect culminating activity. The National Park Office was our first stop, where we viewed a brief video of Truman’s Life. The office contained lots of artifacts and memorabilia from the Truman’s home. It was rather late in the day so we found a campground in Independence, affiliate [View Full Entry]

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