Big Tex

It didn't look as if Big Tex loaded on the past page. Perhaps he feels he needs a page of his own!

Tightwaad Air Ranch

We arrived at Tightwaad Air Ranch mid afternoon on Sunday and enjoyed the trip with a lot less wind!

Monday we had a fun time exploring the local area with Judy and Ed and then introduced them to Geocaching. This plaque was recently set up to commerate yjr Chisholm Trail and the Bufferfield Stage Routes.

This spring they have three new calves and of course "Big Tex" is King of the Ranch!
Two new litters of kittens have arrived and the mamas still have them hidden.

Ed Morrison has been a friend of Gramps since they were in high school and also at the University of Rochester. He was one of our ushers at our wedding - now almost 51 years ago. It is such fun to see "old" friends.

Friday and Saturday

Friday morning we departed A;buquerque and headed directly to Amarillo via I-40. As the day advanced, we had increasing winds as the big storm center affected the high plains. We were in the campground before 3 pm and Wilt and Barbara Greenwood camped next to us. Barbara cooked supper for the four of us and then we had fun playing the game Password which was new to us. and the coaches rocked with the high winds all night.
Saturday morning we headed to Crowell, Texas with a good tail wind on route 287. Barbara and Wilt stayed in Amarillo since they would have heavy side winds. We arrived at the Longhorn RV and Steak House and we were the only paying RV guests. The restaurant looked pretty deserted but come dinner time the parking lot filled up and so did the restaurant. Our dinner there was outstanding and we could cut our steaks with our forks.

Museum of Nuclear History Monday

We spent a few hours today at the Museaum of Nuclear History and these are models of the two necular bombs dropped over Japan. I wondered where the fuse was since my Dad worked on it and they were produced at Picatinney Arsenel if my memory is correct.

I also wondered about Uncle Jack and his telling us he worked on the Manhatten Project. We still wonder if he did or didn't.

Tonight we had happy hour at the Elks Club parking lot outside our coaches and then headed to Papadeaux Restaurant with three other couples for dinner - was good food. Loved the spicyness but was almost too spicy for Bill.

Tomorrow the convention actually starts although there were a few activities today.

Staying at the Elks Club

This area of Albuquerque is called Nobs Hill and one of our friends have changed it to Snob Hill because we have such a great location and plan on staying here for the whole rally! Tonight we have 3 motorhomes here and we are the second one over. We have 30 amp electricity and water and a dump about 2 miles away.

This view is great and especially so at night.

Tucson to Albuquerque

We had a leasurely departure from Tucson and had difficulties with the switch that brings in Bill's side of the bedroom (slide) and Beaudry, Monaco, and the supplier were all out of stock. Fortunately Brett Howard had one and they overnighted it to the Elks Club in Albuquerque since we needed a street address for delivery. Balloon Fiesta Park just did not have a location for us!

The day started off as a beautiful day but as we crossed from Demming on Route 26 to Interstate 25 our beautiful day became VERY difficult! I was driving this stretch when the winds and clouds picked up and the sand storms started. Tumbleweeds and sand were flying across the highway aand the visability dropped to about zero. I finally found a place to pull off in Nutt and Bill continued the driving - very carefully! We made it to our destination in Truth or Consequences, NM safely but the winds made driving most difficult!

Saturday started off as a lovely day but a phone call from friends allerted us to the snow and closing of I-25 north of Albuquerque and of I-40 east of Albubuerque. As we stopped at a truck stop we learned of motorists stranded for 14 hours and tents being set up to protect the travelers.

We phoned ahead to the Elks Club to allert them to the fact that we had a package being shipped and it had already arrived! We stopped and loved the location, when for fuel and returned!

Whoever planned this location for a convention has to be half crazy because it is in two venues about 8 miles apart. All the seminars and vendors are at the Expo (about two miles from the Elks Club) and all the RV parking is at the Balloon Fiesta Park. Parking due to 4 inches of snow at the Balloon Fiesta Park was very backed up and many had to be relocated due to the softness of the ground. The more we heard the better our location at the Elks Club seemed - they were even serving pizza for dinner at $6.00 per person!

Unfortunately we did not take pictures of the bad road conditions on Friday or Saturday morning. We had to drive through some falling snow but nothing was sticking to the roadway.

We had the opportunity to enjoy some of the miles by chatting with Lindsay who was enjoying her Spring Break with Tom visiting colleges.

Rally in Tucson (Sat through Fri)

We had a busy week in Tucson with Bill's conductioning (as President) the Monaco's In Motion luncheon business meeting on Tuesday and my having a board meeting Tuesday morning and being reelected on Thursday morning at the general meeting of Monaco International. It was a busy and fun filled week with friends old and new.

Brett Howard on right in top picture is our wonderful friend that fixed our door and had his company overnight us a switch for Bill's bedroom slide.

Music, entertainment, drinks, and food - great week!

Saturday - off to Tucson for the Rally

Something we don't see in Georgia are the check points along the roads looking for the "illegal aliens" and the Stat Patrol Cars with cameras that mount on poles that take pictures and send you tickets for speeding!

Old Friends Are The Best!

We headed to Sierra Vista to visit with Kay and Bob Stain. We had not seen them in years and it was such fun to be with them again. Bob took us to the old mining town of Bisbee which is now a very colorful hippie town. Karen joined us for dinner with her husband and I forgot to take pictures. Couldn't believe she is 55. It seems like yesterday when we all lived on Kenneth Street in Monsey!

Tombstone, Arizona

We visited Tombstone, Arizona and of course had to see the reinactment of the gunfight at the OK Corral!

Kartchner Caverns State Park

We arrived at Kartchner Caverns State Park by mid afternoon and were able to join a tour. We had a most knowlegable guide and this cavern was discovered by two students in the '70's and now is a well protected treasure!
We awoke in the morning to snow - too bad I didn't think of taking a picture before it started disappearing. It did not seem to melt but just dissapear in the dry atmosphere.

Dinner Companions

It is rare when I take my camera for dinner but not every night do you have such interesting dinner companions. The roadrunner was really cute and we assume the cat was a domestic one but well fed. The peacocks posed beautifully and displayed their full fans and strutted around and then flew up onto the roof as the cayote arrived. They all feasted on steak - as we did only ours was cooked!