http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Rubber-Bums/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Rubber Bums en-us Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:25 +0000 Mon, 21 Dec 2009 13:24:25 +0000 A long time after our 99 day trip I'll wrap up our blogging.When we got home we got a sign put on the back of the fifth wheel. We've gotten comments whenever we're on the road again. We found out that when Rich fell in the creek on our first night out he partially tore his posterior cruciate ligament. The doctors told him there was nothing they could do about it so he waited patiently for http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Carson-City/blog-438827.html Well folks we made it on our over 10000 mile and almost 100 day trip In Las Vegas Rich got his oxygen bottles exchanged and got the propane filled so the heater would work while we were in Dyer. Nancy did a load of laundry while he was gone so we would have underwear The jets going in and out of the airport went right over us in the morning. They must have been on the storm track. It was clo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Carson-City/blog-358810.html My apologies for yesterday's misspellings etc. The RV wifi threw me off their website just as I was saving my editing. When I signed back on and got back to the website I published the blog before I realized that the edits had not been saved. Again my apologies.We had a slow morning. Then we drove around town to do some last minute shopping. We got a prescription refill at Walgreen's. We found http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-356410.html We took it slowly this morning after driving 400 miles yesterday. Why did we do that There was a nice lake to look at while we had coffee. We left at 1030. We were passing through a veritable forest of saguaro. Since there had been rain for several days recently the saguaro were all fat and stretched out. This will be an awesome sight in the spring when the whole desert is in bloom We had al http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/blog-356402.html There is no wind today and only a few clouds. We got ready to go and then went over for our free breakfast. We were on the road at 800. Not far out of town at about 830 there was a Border Patrol Inspection Station for the Westbound lanes that we were wondering about the other day. We were just waved on through. We traveled through flat plains with distant mountains. There were range cattle. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Arizona/Tucson/blog-355979.html We began the day in the lovely showers at the RV RESORT. They were all tile and very nice. Then we went to the complimentary breakfast in the main building that was also tile and oak. We had waffles and orange juice and coffee. We could have had cereal or toast or bagels as well. We talked to some of the other travelers. One couple from Long Island were fulltimers in their RV. They said this was http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Las-Cruces/blog-355964.html We were on the road at 710 so that we could get to El Paso in time to get a doctor's appointment for Nancy's eye checkup. The sunrise was glorious and red this morning. Now we have Red sky at morning Sailor take warning. Now which one do we believe last night's red sky or this morning's red skyHmmm. The mountains had a rosy glow at first then the bridges and bushes had a golden glow then http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/El-Paso/blog-355942.html The wind stopped howling sometime during the night. We got ready to travel and Nancy noticed all the cowbirds in several trees. During yesterday's wind they sat in the mesquite trees facing into the wind. We've never seen such flocks of cowbirds They're interesting birds. They lay an egg in up to five separate nests of 200 possible species. They don't even care if the other birds are the same si http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/blog-355481.html We woke to high winds It was too windy to travel as we had planned so we had a rest up day. We went to WalMart to get Rich's medicine and some supplies. We went to the Post Office to send mail. After waiting in line for a long time we went back to the truck and the radio said that today was the busiest day of the year at the Post Office We returned to the camper and had a luscious lunch of http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-355436.html We started our day with a pancake breakfast at the campground clubhouse. Then we headed out into the Texas Hill Country. North of San Antonio there really were hills From the freeway we saw a store called The Look advertising country furnishings. On the roof it said Cowhides Mean Romance. Well that got Rich's attention so we had to investigate. They had deer antler chandeliers furniture m http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/Fredericksburg/blog-355430.html T o all of our loyal readers Merry Christmas We're writing this now in case some of our teacher friends won't have access to our blog over the vacation.We plan to spend Christmas with Rich's mom and dad in Dyer and hopefully Jodie will bring us joy by coming down for the day. We plan to be home on the 27th folks What a trip Let us know when breakfasts and lunches are during the holidays L http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-Mexico/Las-Cruces/blog-355334.html We were tired this morning from all that walking yesterday We changed our minds about boarding Daisy and decided she could come with us. The kennel was going to be closed on Sunday so we couldn't pick her up until Monday No way Rich filled our propane tanks and we took showers. Then we went off to the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park. The first one was the Espada Mission San Francis http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-355195.html We spent a lazy morning at the camper. The last couple of driving days were stressful Rich called the VA about medicine for when we get home and made January appointments including one for his leg. Then we went to the Alamo Everybody remembers hearing about the Alamo and the famous people who died there but unless you're a Western history buff like Rich it's hard to remember why it was impor http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-354576.html We left West Houston on a windy cloudless day and it was 40 degrees. The land was flat and the ranching was cattle and grass hay. We could see how cattle could be hard to find and hard to round up in these live oak and mesquite trees and tight brush. A lot of cattle were wild before the great cattle drives started and we could see why. Rich says that cowboys wore chaps to prevent scratches and te http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/San-Antonio/blog-354527.html There was a little rain and a little wind during the night. A cold front was moving through and it was 41 degrees this morning. There were refineries again. The countryside has scrubby little trees and bushes in the grass. Later it was 38 degrees rainy and windy The RV parks we passed were full or nearly full. We are in snowbird country where the people escape snowy places and fly south so w http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Texas/blog-354319.html Before we hit the road at 840 we left two bowls of food for the stray cats. There was light rain overnight. Today started out cloudy breezy and humid. As we passed over sandy creeks we realized that we haven't seen a rock in three days. There were cotton fields that had been cut but at the ends of the rows there were little drifts of white cotton balls like snow. There are actually some roll http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Louisiana/blog-354014.html We started our day of touring by going to the Emerald Mound a Native American temple mound built by the Natchez and used from about 1250 to 1600. The mounds were used for ceremonies and sometimes the chief lived on top. Some local mounds were being used when Europeans came and they observed some of the ceremonies including human sacrifices at the funerals of high ranking people. The mound was bu http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Natchez/blog-353754.html We spent a leisurely morning and left the RV park around 1100. Jodie and Nancy spent a half hour on the phone going over the mail. We saw our first dead armadillo by the roadside. Will we ever see a live one A highway sign for an upcoming rest area said Security Provided. We decided we didn't need to stop.We passed through Jackson the state capital. According to the guidebook it was nicknam http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/Natchez-Trace/blog-353535.html We decided we had to see the lion before we packed up and moved on. We drove over to the park and it was closed. It opens at 500 but only for the trainride through the lights. We drove down the park roads to see if we could see any cages and we did. We found an open gate on a service road. We didn't see any sign that said Keep Out so we didn't. We wound around on the road down to the cages a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Mississippi/blog-353529.html As we got in the truck to drive back to Bob's in Boaz we heard the lion roaring again. We met Bob at his house and then went to eat breakfast. We had pecan waffles. MMMMM Then Bob drove us all over the Boaz area. There was corn stubble in the fields. People's vegetable gardens were still growing especially cabbages. We're still amazed that so many places have vegetable gardens without fences ar http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alabama/blog-353186.html