Tuesday, 4 February, 2014 I was going to wait until tomorrow or the next day to post another blog, but I took so many pictures today in Death Valley that I thought I’d go ahead and post tonight. First let me say that Death Valley is a beautiful place in spite of its name. This afternoon we drove to a couple of places we had not been before. In the past, we had only driven through, hitting the high spots on the way. Since we are staying here for two nights, we have more time to explore. We did the usual drive from the south end up through the valley along the Badwater Road, stopping at Ashford Mill ruins, which used to be where they processed gold from the Golden Treasure Mine. We stopped at Badwater, ... read more

Thursday, 30 January, 2014 We drove through downtown San Diego to the waterfront, specifically to the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier built in the 1940’s. We first visited the statues honoring Bob Hope and his many years of entertaining our troops in war zones. Next is a huge statue of the iconic photo taken in Times Square of a sailor kissing a nurse on VE Day. Then we boarded the Midway, my first step aboard a US Navy vessel. Kerry spent some time aboard ship (LSD Ashland) and it was interesting to see the size of the bunks (berths) assigned to enlisted personnel. It’s hard to see how he fit in the bunk, much less how he ever was able to turn over once in it. While the Midway seems small compared to carriers of ... read more

Thursday, 23 January, 2014 We drove into the town of Elephant Butte and found the post office, finally mailing the post cards we’ve been carrying around since Big Bend. There is a nice resort/rv park in town with a wonderful laundry that they have opened to the public, so we were finally able to wash clothes. The wind picked up as the afternoon progressed and temperatures have dropped. It is supposed to get down into the 20’s tonight. It was quite windy by dark, with gusts probably up to 30 mph. Fri, 24 Jan This morning the thermometer showed 21 degrees when Kerry got up, but the wind had calmed some. We drove south on I-25 to the town of Hatch, the self-proclaimed chile pepper capitol of the world. Everywhere you looked were chiles, both red ... read more

Sunday, 19 January, 2014 Last night we did go up to the McDonald Observatory for the Star Party, held Tuesday, Friday and Saturday nights. We didn’t know quite what to expect or even if they’d be sold out, but we went anyway. It was AMAZING!! We sat outside (it was cold) at their outdoor arena while one of the staff gave us a talk on the night sky above us. He pointed out constellations with a laser pointer and told stories about them, as well as pointing out stars and satellites passing overhead. We saw the Hubble telescope pass by and numerous other satellites. It was just after dusk when the program got started, but as the sky got darker, the stars became more and more crowded in the sky. The Milky Way was the densest ... read more

Sat, 11 Jan, 2014 After last night’s rain, it was nice to wake to sunshine. It was an easy drive through Lake Charles, LA, and on to Houston. The traffic through Houston was surprisingly heavy for a Saturday. We still don’t know if it was construction or just lots of cars that caused the backups. We drove down Hwy 59 to SW Houston with the intention of going by and seeing our first house there. The main road down, Bissonet, didn’t look at all familiar. What had been scrub lands and cow pastures, were now strip malls and apartment buildings. We couldn’t remember the name of the street that connected to ours, but some road names seemed familiar. We never did find that house. The streets we went down were full of apartments or houses. We ... read more