The Road Goes On…

Category: USA

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico to Gila Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico

The morning started with another soak in the hot springs followed by a surf in the Rio Grande at the end of a waterski rope. What a thrill!

It was difficult to say good-bye to this wonderful, tranquil place but had to move on. Our destination was the Gila Cliff Dwelling National Monument. Our drive took us through Hillsboro, an almost ghost town, and beautiful mountain scenery from desert to lush forests.

The weather changed from sunny to dramatically cloudy which made for an even more adventurous journey.

We arrived at the cliff dwellings at 4:30pm, too late to start a tour. We were able to stay at the Upper Scorpion campground, just a few steps from the start of the tour for free. We talked to our camping neighbours until it got dark and the bugs came out in full force.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 4, 2015
Las Cruses, New Mexico to Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Walmart’s auto centre seemed such a logical place to get an oil change done on our generator. Our generator is getting lots of use this year as we run it when parked to produce the electricity needed to run the air conditioner that keeps Pepsi cool when we aren’t at a campsite. It took about an hour to get the answer that Walmart couldn’t do this. Luckily there was a Camping World in El Paso (about 50kms from us) and they said they’d squeeze us in in the afternoon. So, off we went and arrived at about 11AM. Everyone was very friendly at the store, Pepsi was welcomed with a treat and Ruth with a coffee. We explored the store and after having gone through all the aisles, we settled into the canteen area which has some tables, chairs and most importantly, free (slow) internet to write the last two days of blog entries.

The hours rolled by and finally we saw our van come back into the parking lot. Unfortunately, bad news. The service tech had changed the oil in the vehicle engine and not the generator. Off it went into the service bay again. By this time, 6 hours had elapsed and we were starving and bored.

Finally, the van came out again for the second time and we said goodbye to Jami, the wonderful receptionist who had made friends with Pepsi and was the source of many doggie treats.

Happy that everything was finally done, we climbed back into the van and decided to just “test” everything before we left. The generator started just fine, but the air-conditioner now showed an error message. Only another 15 minutes later, the system was reset and we were on our way. Another receptionist had recommended a fabulous Mexican restaurant nearby called The Rose Garden. We went there for lunch/dinner at 5:30pm and were not disappointed.

Our plan for the evening was to stay at a hot springs resort in Truth or Consequences (yes, the town is really called that). Back on I-25, there is a border services checkpoint where all vehicles must stop and our conversation with the officer went like this:

Border Agent: Canadians?
Us: Yup.
Border Agent: Where are you heading?
Us: Truth or Consequences
Border Agent: Have fun!

We made it to the Riverbend Hot Springs just in time to see the sunset make the mountain across the Rio Grande glow. As darkness fell, we sat in the hot springs and could forget about the hours at Camping World and enjoy a soothing evening.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 3, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico to Las Cruses, New Mexico

It was finally time to leave Carlsbad and move onto Roswell. Roswell is famous for an alleged UFO crash in 1947. Debris from the saucer and four dead aliens were reported to have been removed by the military. The military stated it was just a weather balloon that had crashed, but the International UFO Museum and Research Centre has documents from those involved that suggest it might not have been a weather balloon after all.

After touring the museum we drove west on US-70. The drive takes you along a very fertile oasis with fields, trees and cattle. The road becomes more mountainous and we climbed higher than 2000 meters above sea level. On the way down into the plains, the weather changed from sunshine to rain. Big clouds made the ride more interesting.

When the sun came out again we stopped at McGinn’s Pistachio Tree Ranch for pistachio and pecan samples and had a huge ice-cream. We also got to see how pistachios grow on trees!

Our next stop was White Sands National Monument. The weather was a combination of sun and cloud which made for amazing skies and provided numerous picture taking opportunities.

We would have liked to have spent the night in the park but only primitive camping with a tent was permitted. Sadly we had to move on but still had a final impression in the rear-view mirror.

We made it to Walmart in Las Cruses for the night and found a really quiet spot next to the auto and garden centre.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 2, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico (Day 2)

Day 2 at our KOA campground began surprisingly lazily. We had a leisurely breakfast, took Pepsi for a non-rushed walk, admired all the bunnies on the campground and then took our time to write our last two blog entries.

After lunch we made our way to Sitting Bull Falls. The drive was interesting. The roads became smaller, steeper and more winding as we moved into the Lincoln National Forest area. We were not only welcomed by two cows lining the road, but also by very dark clouds and lightning.

The signs, “Don’t Enter When Flooded” became a lot more significant to us. When we were surrounded by three thunderstorms we considered turning back but pressed on instead through the beautiful mountain area.

We were well rewarded. Sitting Bull Falls is 130 feet high and has lovely pools for swimming that create an oasis in this desert-like surrounding.

After our swim in the cool water we had a long talk with Ranger Zane Corman about trails, caves and above all, mountain lions and snakes, a definite reality in this area. We learned that mountain lions cowardly attack from behind and that rattlesnakes do not necessarily rattle before they bite and that they are able to leap the length of their body.

Dinner was at Lucy’s Mexicali Restaurant, an extremely busy Mexican restaurant in Carlsbad. It was definitely worth the wait.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

August 1, 2015
Carlsbad, New Mexico

Today was learning day. First we went on an educational tour at the Living Desert Zoo and Garden and familiarized ourselves with the local plants and animals.

We had seen quite a bit of the vegetation already but knew most of the animals only by name, and for some of them, this was a good thing. We aren’t particularly eager to see mountain lions, bobcats, rattlesnakes up close and personal in the wild.

The cutest animals were definitely the prairie dogs – curious and affectionate.

Once back in our air-conditioned van, we joined Pepsi for rice salad lunch and lots of water before we began our second learning experience at the Carlsbad Caverns.

We very much enjoyed the drive up into the Guadalupe Mountains. The cavern is located at 3599 feet above sea level. Pepsi spent a relatively quiet time at the kennel provided at the information centre and we decided to hike the Natural Entrance into the cavern, walking down 800 feet over the course of a mile.

A walk that should have taken 1.5 hours, took us quite a bit longer because at every turn there was a new amazing view that just needed to be photographed.

Once down 800 feet, there is the Big Room which is a magical place with a feast for the eyes.

We spent quite a lot of time there taking pictures and left only because we were totally exhausted and had to pick up Pepsi before the kennel closed.

The evening program was still to follow. The caverns are home to between 24,000 and 1.5 million bats (depending on the year and season) and they go hunting each night. The National Park Service has a free evening bat watching program where a ranger gives a half-hour interactive presentation about myths and truths about bats and then the audience gets to watch, in silence, as the bats exit the cavern and fly over their heads. Cameras, alas, were not permitted.

Totally beat, we drove back to our campground and arrived at 10PM.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 31, 2015
Junction, Texas to Carlsbad, New Mexico

Today was supposed to be a driving day. Would we make it to New Mexico?

We woke up to the squawking of geese swimming down our river. It really was a beautiful campground and we were sad we didn’t have a chance to use the smoker that was provided at each site.

I-10 was not as boring as we had thought. It showed us the changing landscape from ranches to desert. Seeing this, Martin was adamant that it was time for Mexican food again. According to the exit sign at Ozona, there was a Mexican restaurant to be visited. We drove through Ozona, but weren’t able to find the advertised Mexican restaurant and were about to head back to I-10 when we spotted a bright blue canopy with a number of young women selling food to a long lineup of people. The sign said “Taquitos” and we immediately stopped and lined up and waited for original home cooked Mexican food, in support of a youth group trip to San Antonio.

After leaving Ozona, we entered an area of Texas that has a lot of oil and gas development. The other drivers drove fast and often aggressively and there was a lot of dust.

We made it safely to New Mexico and selected the Carlsbad KOA to camp at. There are bunnies everywhere and we have to keep Pepsi on a short leash. There is a dog run near our site and Pepsi learned to crawl through tunnels and was coaxed to try the seesaw. She is a motivated and fast learner.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 30, 2015
Luling, Texas to Junction, Texas

San Antonio was our main focus of the day.

We found a good shaded parking lot but decided to take Pepsi along for our tour of the city. This was definitely a problem for our Alamo visit. A very nice security guard, escorted Ruth and Pepsi off the park area premises and across the street. Martin had a brief visit but then we decided to do a quick walk around the city. An agent for one of the double decker tour bus companies told us that Pepsi was very welcome to take a bus tour with us and that’s exactly what we did.

We learned a lot about San Antonio, its Spanish heritage, the great number of German immigrants that moved into the area in the 1920s, the beautiful architecture and that it had been the capital of Texas before Austin. Unfortunately, the upper level of the bus was too hot and it wasn’t possible to take (good) pictures from the lower level.

After the tour we decided against a visit to the famous Mexican market but to do the riverwalk instead. A young architect created a plan of channeling the river with walkways on the left and right. Today there are beautiful bridges and great restaurants and bars on either side of the river. We saw a Bavarian biergarten serving Hofbräu beer and had lunch at the pet-friendly Lone Star Cafe.

After lunch we walked along the river some more.

Tired and thirsty we walked back to the van in 43C heat, gulped lots of water and then left for Junction, a small town about 200km northwest of San Antonio where we are staying at the Morgan Shady RV Park, right next to a river.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 29, 2015
Houston, Texas to Luling, Texas

It’s not rocket science (Oh wait, yes it is…)

The Houston Space Centre is the location where most manned space missions were controlled. We took a tour of the Mission Control Centre that handled 10 Gemini, 10 Apollo and 21 Shuttle missions.

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” and “Houston, we’ve had a problem” were received here. The configuration of the room is as it was for Apollo 11.

Also on the tour was rocket park where the main attraction was the HUGE Saturn V rocket that took men to the moon.

Time for lunch at the main building. It really had a space-like atmosphere. The food, thank God, wasn’t de-hydrated astronaut food.

After lunch we visited several more exhibits and presentations, including a shuttle mockup, a history of rockets and the various manned missions up to the present day.

Pepsi didn’t want to visit the space centre so she checked herself into the Tailwaggers Pet Resort for the day. When we picked her up in the afternoon and asked how her day was, she said “What happens at Tailwaggers, stays at Tailwaggers…”. She gave the owner a quick good-bye and dashed to the door.

It was time to go and get some more miles under our tires. We had picked up a Texas BBQ Trail brochure at the Welcome Centre and Luling, one of the towns on the trail, was on our route so we were excited to be able to have dinner there and look for a campground in the vicinity. Unfortunately, it was closed by 6:30PM as was most of the rest of the town with the exception of the Dairy Queen.

We decided to have Ruth’s delicious rice-tuna-pea salad for dinner at the Riverbed RV Park and Campground and called it an early night.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 28, 2015
New Iberia, Louisiana to Houston, Texas

It was a hot and spicy morning…

This morning we visited the Tabasco pepper sauce factory on Avery Island, Louisiana. Tabasco brand sauce has been manufactured by the McIlhenny family since its invention by Edmund McIlhenny 1868.

To get on the island, one needs to pay a toll of $1.00. This is collected by a gentleman in a small toll booth with a wooden stick which he uses to collect the $1.00 from your vehicle and then to hand you your receipt.

We paid our toll but couldn’t get the van over the speed bumps because we bottomed-out. We left the van by the toll-house and a friendly staff drove us the 1/4 mile to the factory.

The tour consists of free-samples, a video, a walk by the production lines and some displays with further information.

Following the tour, we visited the Country Store, sampled everything there was to sample, and bought several varieties of sauces, dips and jellies.

Just outside of the store there is a small food wagon where we bought some Tabasco inspired lunch.

Soon we were on our way, heading for Texas. We had our usual afternoon torrential rain which made it almost impossible to drive. The good news is it rapidly brings the temperature down from 37C to 27C. The bad news is that the temperature goes right back up as soon as you drive past the downpour area.

We stopped at the Texas Welcome Centre and received plenty of tips of what to see and eat while in Texas. There is a BBQ route which we needs to be tested in detail. The other food that needs sampling is the Mexican variety and we started with that right away by visting Elena’s in Beaumont, Texas.

Martin, with his yellow shirt, fit right in with the decor.

Our home for the evening is the Palms RV Park in Houston which is near the Johnston Space Centre which we plan to visit tomorrow.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 27, 2015
New Orleans, Louisiana to New Iberia, Louisiana

Today was an especially exciting day for Ruth. She wanted so much to visit the plantations along the Great River Road between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Ten plantations are in close proximity but we only had time to visit two of them. Prior to the civil war, more than half of America’s millionaires lived between New Orleans and Natchez, their fortunes tied to the soil of the Mississippi river.

The first plantation we visited was the Laura Plantation, named after Laura Locoul (1861-1963), the last decendant of the Duparc family to own this Creole plantation. The building looks modest compared to some other plantations which is typical for Creole families who saw their plantation as a business.

Their main home was in New Orleans. Inside, the rooms are fairly modest. It was built by slaves who learned to be carpenters using only wooden nails and bricks they made themselves.

Some of the slave houses are still on the property. Plantation kitchens were always outside of the main building because they had a tendancy to burn down. We were also able to see the retirement home of Laura’s grandmother, Elisabeth Duparc, who was known for standing on the balcony and pointing out all the mistakes that were being made.

We had a fabulous tour with Ethan, a trained actor, who showed lots of knowledge and enthusiasm.

At the gift store we purchased the memoirs of Laura, a Creole cookbook and a small bottle of rum made from local sugarcane.

The second plantation we visited is called Oak Alley plantation. It is known for its quarter mile alley lined with 28 three hundred year old oak trees. We had a fabulous lunch at the restaurant on the premises.

The majestic mansion is worth seeing both from the outside as well as the inside.

We especially liked the self-guided exhibit on slavery at the Oak Alley plantation. The guided tour of the interior of the house definitely wasn’t as good as the Laura tour.

A short video on sugar production promising to show both historical and current methods of sugar processing turned out to be not much more than a promotional film by the sugar producers extolling the virtues of sugar and seemed to encourage visitors to eat more cupcakes with lots of sugar icing.

We left the historic sites of the plantations and continued West to New Iberia where we are camping the the KOC Campground.

© OpenStreetMap contributors

July 26, 2015