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Published: April 13th 2012
The last blog was March 20 and our situation has changed dramatically since that time - more about that later.
Our last days at Sevillta were enjoyable but also sad. There was a great volunteer dinner prepared by the staff - prime rib, salmon and lots of side dishes - awards and gift cards. But it was also a time to say good-bye to some very special people. We had become good friends with the 7 permanent staff members of the refuge and also the other volunteers. We plan to come back and visit again and also see what the remodeled visitors center looks like.
Our trip home was to involve some wandering to new places before and after we met up with Aaron and Tracy in San Antonio on Easter. Our first stop was at Bottomless Lakes State Park in New Mexico near Roswell. The park was very nice with several small lakes formed by underground springs that have created sink holes. Roswell, on the other hand, was a really depressing little town. Besides being famous for the UFO landings it also has a reputation for homicides - the most of any town in New Mexico - due
mainly to gang rivalries. The downtown area looked like it had once been thriving and alive, but now many of the shops and business are closed and the rest of the places look dusty and old and uncared for. Surprisingly only a small part of the main street is dedicated to the UFO landings in the 1940's. There are only a few tourist shops and a UFO museum. The museum was mainly newspaper articles posted along the walls to read - same thing you can read on line. I'm not sure what we were expecting, but it sure wasn't that. But really what are they going to put in a UFO museum ??
Our next stop was Caprock Canyon State Park in Texas. All the way across N. Mexico and the panhandle of Texas it was perfectly flat with miles and miles of cotton fields being readied for planting. Then, it seemed, we came around a curve in the road and there was a beautiful red rock canyon. The park has reestablished a free roaming bison herd that are descended from the original bison that roamed this area in the olden days.
After leaving Caprock we had
THE accident in a little town called Matador. I'll leave the details of that event to telling in person. We can, however vouch for the goodness of the folks in Matador who rallied around us and quickly towed our still livable camper to a campsite just 1 block from 'downtown'. Someone brought us dinner that evening and several people stopped to see if we needed anything. The Sheriff and Deputy Sheriff went out of their way to help us. The Deputy took us on a 90 mile hair raising ride in his cruiser to get our rental car in Lubbock, which is the nearest big town. The Sheriff offered to take us on a tour of the historical sites in the area and we introduced the owner of the campground we were in to geocaching.
In the middle of all this mess we stopped everything and went to San Antonio for a visit with Aaron and Tracy. What a nice way to just forget everything for a while and hang out with family. We visited the Alamo, of course, and also the missions on the Mission Trail which were established by Spanish Franciscan Friars along the San Antonio River in
the early 1700's. Our favorite place to spend time though was on the River Walk right in the middle of San Antonio. This walkway along the banks of the San Antonio river is one story beneath the street level of the downtown area. It is lined with shops, restaurants, bars and touristy stuff. We sat at river side tables several times and enjoyed the great weather and good company. It was good to laugh again with these two kids.
Then it was back to the real world of insurance and repairs. Today our camper was towed to a Lubbock repair shop that seems very knowledgeable and we are waiting on the estimate. The truck was counted as a total loss and we have found a replacement vehicle that will have no problem towing a camper. We are in a hotel now in Lubbock - 3rd floor - Dave looks out the window and wonders how he will go for a walk now. We were dealing with things on an hour by hour bases for a while, but we have moved on to day by day . Soon things will be back to normal and this will just have been
a blip in an otherwise wonderful adventure. I read that to Ron and he thinks it will be more than a blip for quite a while!
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Jackie Untalan
non-member comment
Positive attitude!!!
Glad to hear you had a great experience volunteering but had the accident. You did not mention what happened but the picture of your truck looks like someone ran into you!! I do hope there were no injuries and your cat was ok. Where did he stay when you were in the hotel??? We too are headed back to the UP of Michigan and just crossed over the line from Utah into Wyoming. We are taking a bit of a northern route this year. Lots to see in Utah. Also some really scary (for me) winding steep roads. I got through them but whew, it takes a lot out of me. We hope to be back in the UP and home by the first week in May. We did have a good winter; much better weather this year then last and were able to do a bit more bike riding then last year. I am looking forward to my own home and bed though.....and my two cats. Be well, Jackie Untalan