7,443 and rolling

After returning to Linda;s from Las Vegas, we spent a couple of nights resting up, loading the car with everything we had left there before departing for the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas (tent, sleeping bags, etc.), said our tearful goodbyes, and headed east.

 Our next stop was to have been to visit the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico but Betty kinda decided that she didn't really care to go any further underground than the required "6 feet" we all must resign ourselves to some day. So we altered our itinerary and visited the White Sands National Monument instead. The White Sands expanse of 99% pure gypsum dunes encompasses an area of about 295 square miles and is part of the White Sands missile range in New Mexico. It is definitely a very unique landscape. Where we plow snow back in Maine, the National Park Service here plows gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate) to keep the park's loop road open for visitors. The dunes are snow white, can be taller than a 2 story house, and, as I said earlier, are composed of 99% pure gypsum.

All the dune area is surrounded by mountains. In the photo to the right, Betty is just cresting the top of a dune. Notice how small our Ford Explorer looks down below. Most of the native desert creatures (lizards, toads, etc) that live here have evolved to a white coloration instead of their normal colorations of browns and greens when the same species is seen elsewhere in the traditional desert areas. A very unique place, indeed.

A couple of days after leaving New Mexico we stopped over in San Antonio, Texas to stroll the downtown "Riverwalk" and explore the mission "San Antonio de Valero", more famously known as "The Alamo". Contrary to some comments I had read on the Internet about visiting the Alamo, Betty and I both enjoyed the 3 to 4 hours we spent there. Perhaps it's because we have a greater appreciation of history than some of those "bloggers". The historical write-ups and the historical artifacts were very plentiful and very enlightening. They even had Davy Crockett's beaded vest and his long rifle as well as Jim Bowie's famous knife. The history of the whole complex and the eventual siege of the mission by Mexico's president, Santa Anna, and the defense of the mission by volunteers from nearly every state in the union was fascinating to read about. The defenders numbered 189 men and held off Santa Anna's Mexican army of 6,500 men for 13 days before they were finally overwhelmed and annihilated.

Our next stopover, by Betty's suggestion, was Galverston Island off the Texas coast in the Gulf of Mexico. It is here where I am writing this blog post (we leave in the morning for New Orleans, LA). Today, we viewed 2 documentary films. One regarding Jean Lafitte, a pirate who established a colony here and raided both American and Spanish sailing vessels and the other about the destruction of Galverston on September 8th, 1900 by a ferocious hurricane. It was the largest natural disaster in American history. 6,000 people perished out of a population of 37,000. One third of all buildings were obliterated.



Next, we went aboard an off-shore oil drilling rig, the "Ocean Star" and toured the four levels of the oil platform, learning how deep sea oil drilling is done. Very fascinating, very educational, and very enlightening (especially with the "Deep Water Horizon" oil rig disaster in the Gulf happening less then a year ago fresh in our minds). There were no apparent effects of that spill impacting the beaches here on Galverston Island.

So, after having an expensive lunch at "Joe's Crab Shack", we headed for the beach to see how we fit in our newly purchased beach chairs. We had heavy rains the night before, woke up to morning fog, but the warm sun broke through by the time we hit the beach on the Gulf of Mexico side of Galverston Island.

As you can see, it's "just another day at the office" for Betty

Now, here's two problems for you to ponder....... (on the right, I'm in a "basket" used to hoist men and gear from a delivery boat 100 feet or so up onto the working deck of an offshore oil drilling platform).

What is the name of this very rare life form?

What is WRONG with this picture?

That's it for now folks, meet you on "Bourbon Street" in New Orleans.


p.s.: if anyone gets both trivia answers correct, I'll send you a surprise gift.


    Love Y'all !!!



Oh, yeah. Regarding the title of this blog posting ( "7,443 and rolling" ). Today marks the 2 month anniversary of our departure from Maine. In that time we have added 7,443 miles to the old Ford Explorers odometer reading and we still have a good 3 months to go. Gotta keep drilling for oil - need the gas!

Viva, Las Vegas!

Since our last blog post, we have left Flagstaff, AZ and the Grand Canyon area headed for Hoover Dam and then 3 nights in Las Vegas, NV. After "Vegas" we will begin our trek easterly with a 2 night stop-over at daughter, Linda's, in Morenci, AZ to pick up a major portion of our traveling gear which we had stored there.

When in Las Vegas, I gave some thought to continuing on to Los Angeles and the Pacific Ocean cause it was only 200+ miles further west just to say we've been there. But, we decided to head back toward the Atlantic coast and Melbourne, FL instead.

                       (Just can't wait to hug Karen and Harry & Diana and Emil).



Anyway, our visit to Hoover Dam was a little disappointing. The structure itself was quite impressive with a height of 756 feet, Lake Meade at 110 miles in length and with 550 miles of shoreline behind the dam, and the dam's discharge sending the Colorado River coursing through Black Canyon below was pretty awesome.

The cost for us to tour the insides of the dam totaled $67. But, what's inside a dam? Not much for the money. Just the generator turbines and concrete. Concrete and more concrete. The dam is 660 feet thick in concrete at its base and 75 feet thick at its top. My recommendations.... - see it from the outside for free, skip the $30/person inside tour.

This photo is looking downstream into Black Canyon from the top of Hoover Dam.

The Las Vegas Strip

Then it was on to Las Vegas for a 3 night stay at the "Santa Fe Station" Hotel and Casino. We spent our 2 days walking the Las Vegas Strip and visited about a dozen well known casinos (Caesars Palace, MGM Grand, Planet Hollywood, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, etc.) taking in their free show events, eating good food, drinking good beer and good coffee, admiring the elegant architecture, and straining our ageing leg muscles (the "strip" is a couple miles long - and it's down and back yet).

The "Venetian's" canals

This photo to the left was taken inside another of the casinos we visited, The "Venetian". You could ride in a gondola both inside and outside the complex. And of course, the gondolier would serenade you as he propelled the boat through the interior "canals". Pretty cool.









Photo to the right.......

My favorite bar stools. Found in the "Rain Forest" cafe at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.







So, as I post this blog update, we are back at Linda and Jim's in Morenci, AZ after a 514 mile drive yesterday from Las Vegas. Will do some laundry, repack the Ford Explorer, go rock hounding tomorrow and head out on Thursday morning for the Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, then perhaps "The Alamo" in San Antonio, Texas, and for sure, an overnighting in New Orleans, LA with an evening on Bourbon Street. For the coming week, we'll be heading into the rising sun as we travel I-10 from Arizona, through New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and into Florida.

Until I post again.........

                      
                             "Viva, Las Vegas"!
                                              (She's a table dealer at Caesar's Palace)
                              (She might have taken my money, but I took her picture, Ha!)

The unexpected "24's"

Linda and the
 "Monster Truck" she drives

So to continue our journal from my last blog posting, we have been at my daughter, Linda's, for nearly 3 weeks in Morenci, Az. Had a great Christmas and New Years with her and husband Jim. Watched any and all Patriots and Cowboys football games, gained about 20 pounds from Linda's superb cooking, and thoroughly enjoyed time spent with Jim (even though he had to work on emergency call-outs more than normally expected). We left Morenci on January 4th and headed up to Flagstaff for a 3 night stay.

Betty (wish you were here Lynn)

Our first excursion from Flagstaff was to visit the Grand Canyon. In one word..... AWESOME! Betty and I hiked about 2 miles along the canyon rim (elevation, 7,120 feet at the rim - 6,000 feet down to the river) and took about 65 pictures (which I won't bore you with). We also viewed an IMAX film presentation documenting the first transit down the Colorado River thru the canyon in open boats by John Wesley Powell in 1869'ish. Dizzying!

On our second day in this area we drove to the town of Sedona (on strong recommendations of my daughter, Nancy, who had been there). I have to say, in everything I have seen so far in our 5 1/2 thousand mile venture to date, across many states, Sedona is the absolute highlight, and I fully expect that our 5 1/2 thousand mile return trip to the east coast, will confirm that nothing could or will surpass it. Thanks, Nancy, for encouraging us to visit Sedona and the "Red Rock Canyon" area. I could really live there, it's probably as close to heaven as I'll ever get.

Oh Yeah, about those "unexpected 24'S".......

#2  -  We are staying for 3 nights at Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas in a "Deluxe" room that sleeps 4 for a mere $24/night! Can you believe that?

#1 -  The temperature at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon just a few days before our visit was -24 degrees (that's a MINUS 24 F or a -32 degrees C) - I still can't get my head around that. Here I am in the American Southwest, maybe the Arizona Desert, and looking forward to visiting the Grand Canyon and it's 24 below zero? Cool hey! I know it was 60 degrees warmer back in Maine ~ 35 above. Actually, on the day we left for there it was only 9 below. Our day there was great though and very comfortable. Sunny, calm winds (no wind chill), 10 degrees when we started the hike and it reached a balmy high of 38 by the time we finished our hike along the rim.

Tomorrow, it's on to Hoover Dam and 3 nights in Las Vegas. Stay tuned........... and Yahoo!

p.s. - If ya'll care to send me some money, I'd be happy to "invest" it for you in Vegas.