Everwhere, Texas

Just some random pictures I took along the way.

I bet everyone wishes they had this after they had a big chili eatin' night ;-) Or maybe your wife wishes she made this instead!

I don't really know other than to say it was in San Antonio and I had to turn around to take a picture of it. Where we have the camper parked is in what I would consider the pits of the city. The RV park is real nice but outside reminds me of Tijuana.... Lots of strange stuff.

This rig was parked next to us at a campground near Waco,TX. It has a smart car parked on the tractor behind the cab and pulling the 5th wheel! They were from Manitoba.

San Antonio, Texas

We visited the Alamo today. No pictures allowed inside which doesn't help the blog posting much. We never really knew much of the history of the Alamo or the significance so this visit was very interesting. To think that under 200 men tried to defend and ultimately made their last stand here against an army of 2000 made you think. Mexican General Santa Anna ordered the bodies of the soldiers burned.. Some women and children were the only survivors. Reading and listening to the story and what events happened in the years after that led to the Independence of Texas and how important this was.
Later when General Sam Houston's army charged at the battle of San Jacinto they shouted "Remember The Alamo" and later capturing Mexican General Santa Anna and winning the battle for Texas.

The Cathedral of San Fernando.

Remains of the defenders of the Alamo in the Cathederal of San Fernando.

Went to the Riverwalk and had a good feed of smoked beef brisket and sweet tea at the BBQ joint on the river. We took the river barge ride and it gave us some brief history of the surrounding area of the city. The riverwalk is below street level and is lined on both sides by restaraunts and shops. Nice way to spend the afternoon wandering and eating along the San Antonio river.

Abilene, Texas

Whats does Abilene, Texas have you ask? Harold's Pit Bar-B-Q.... and we found it. Wasn't sure if we would still find the truck or wheels missing outside after we came out but good BBQ... Not in the best neighborhood as you can probably guess from the fine exterior but right up our ally for dining choices ;-)

Fort Worth, Texas

Visit to the Stockyards was interesting but in early on the week not much going on. They do a long horn drive twice a day through the streets of the stockyard,

A trip here wouldn't be complete without seeing this... Where is Boss Hog?

Will Rogers Colosseum. They hold various horse shows and rodeos here throughout the year

Again, during the week..... The Apaloosa's were here for shows but just training a bit inside. We did catch a small jumping show in one of the other buildings.

Carlsbad Caverns National Park Carlsbad, New Mexico

Entrance to the park enters the Guadalupe mountains and in about 6 miles up the mountain to the entrance to the caves.

You can take the natural entrance to the caves which winds its way down and takes about an hour to the bottom or take the elevator which takes 57 seconds to drop you 754 feet. We opted for the elevator as it was a little late in the day and Deb was a little unsure about all this cave stuff and closed in spaces.... Above picture is a walkway through the great room which is really big and dark. Very hard to get good pictures.

The walk through the great room was about a mile and a half and a constant 56 degrees. Really a spectacular place and worth the trip.

Can't you see me smiling? Even though I am 754 feet under the ground??? Sure this is a real smile, no I don't want to explore more caves with a lighted helmet... ;-)

Roswell, New Mexico

What trip would be complete without a stop in Roswell to visit the "International UFO Museum"? Well we decided to find out along the way to Carlsbad Caverns.

It was somewhat interesting to read all the information they have on what happened out tin the desert back in 1947 and it does make you wonder...

I am happy to see they did not leave out my good ol' hometown of Beverly out of the picture. I bet Teddy Kennedy saw lots of aliens too.....

In a nutshell, this is really what Roswell, NM has to offer visitors, but they "really" want to be a tourist destination and are using our $5 entrance fee to go to a new UFO museum down the street. I can't wait........

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

Entrance to the south rim of the park. Just up the road the canyon just appears in front of you and all we could say is WOW.....

This is one of those places that pictures can't possibly describe what we see in person. I came back with 100 pictures that all look similar but not when I was taking them..

The canyon looks very different at sunset with all the reds coming out. during the day the reds get washed out. We listened to two ranger presentations and someone asked what the haze was from and they said a big portion of it came from pollution from southern California. Amazing that it can drift that far.

Hoover Dam, Boulder City, NV

Look at the size of one of two giant overflow spillways. I know it would be easier to get an idea of size of a truck was passing by but.... Take a look at the sign in the left side of the bridge and make believe ;-)

More dam pictures.... (I had to say it)

Intake towers for the generators. You can see how far the lake is down where the white calcium is showing on the canyon walls. Lake Mead is huge.

Here we are with the new bypass bridge in the background.
We are in Boulder City for another day or so then we are off to see the Grand Canyon (South Rim).

Hoover Dam, Boulder City, NV

I can see where the government says its an "innovation" to pay the public back for a project that makes money. In reality it would be an innovation for any government project to actually make money.. But here it is!

View of the new Hoover Dam bypass bridge scheduled to open three weeks after we leave. We can cross over the bridge with the rv with it being subject to inspection. For our trip heading east from Boulder City it will save an hour and a half travel time. The roads leading to and from the bridge are narrow and steep. They really needed a bypass.
The two buildings below the dam on either side of the river are the generator houses. The one on the left is in Arizona and the right in Nevada.

We took the power plant tour which you take an elevator down some 500+ feet to the generator rooms. The hallways down there leading to the room are all tunnels cut in the stone. A little creepy.... The small generator in the lower right corner provides all the house electric for the dam and visitors center. The overhead cranes in the rear are 300 tons capacity each, they say one rotor in one generator weighs 600 tons!

Deb's two sons live in Las Vegas and went with us on the tour of the dam and generators.

Redwood National Forest, CA

The redwoods are huge and hard to capture on film. Walking through just makes you feel small among these giants.

Called the "Big Tree"...

A fallen tree with a tunnel!

Look at the size of them next to my truck! The road is lined with them. Some encroaching in the road, they put a reflector on them and that's it...

RIP Big Kitty.... We will miss you..

Well there was a lot of things during this trip that we said "who would have thought" This was one we didn't plan on.. Having to say goodbye to our longtime pal.. She was 11 years old and had some complications that were getting worse over time until we had to make a hard decision at the vets office in Crescent City, CA. They were very kind to us and her during this difficult time and assured us she would be "chasing birds soon" and finally without pain. We like to think she is still riding with us...

She will be and is missed everyday and we were happy that we could spend so much time with her on this trip for the past three months. We travel the way we do because we enjoy taking her with us. She traveled to many states on this trip (about 8500 miles) and she spent about three months with us cruising in the trawler from our home in NC to the Florida Keys and back in 2003. She can tell all her new friends all about her adventures..

Keeping watch while I navigate the waterways.. Making sure I don't miss any seagulls!

Starting out on this trip, she was scared to go out on deck because the wind was blowing her hair! She wanted to get out there so bad that she got used to it. This picture was at anchor in Islamorada, FL. She was watching fish while hanging off the bow. So much for that fear she started out with..