There's a reason...

 

If you said, "A song by Wet, 2018," you are more with-it than I am - you get 30 bonus points.  If you said, "A song by the Cascades, 1962, " you may be older than I am, and you get 20 mercy bonus points.  If you said, "The Cascades?  Didn't they do Rhythm of the Falling Rain?" you get another 20 bonus points.

We got our second Covid booster shots yesterday, along with pneumonia shots.  We intentionally waited until we got home and were moved in before getting those shots.  We both had a bout of body aches and generally feeling lousy after the previous booster shot.  Yep, by last night we were comparing: "All my joints ache - do yours?"  "I have a throbbing headache, going down to my neck and shoulders - any you?"

We both drug ourselves to bed last night.  This morning - yep, still achy, but not as bad as last night.  Fortunately, we have a plan: we ain't doin' nuthin'.  The last episodes of Ozark have been released, so we'll be binge watching.

See ya in a day or two.

 

Poked, civic duty, Rufus stuff, lawn care, and more...

 

Seems like it has been a full day, and it's only 1:30 pm.

I slept in today.  Really.  I didn't wake up until 7:30.  Of course, my internal clock is still getting over being on Arizona time, so it thinks it's 5:30.  But, the sun coming in around our window blinds was a give away before I ever looked at the clock.

With my morning tasks done (first order of business is getting Rufus his breakfast, unless you want him wrestling you to the ground), I got out for a bicycle ride.  Upper 70s and windy; gusting into the mid-20s.

When I got back from my ride, Joan asked if I wanted to make breakfast tacos on the griddle.  "Why, yes, I do."  That's a step up, because I made breakfast for one the other day.  Joan did the food prep while I got things ready outside.  The wind is coming right down the canal, so I had some concerns about keeping the griddle lit, but it did fine.  In the tacos: eggs, cheese, sausage, hash browns, tortillas.  I got going...

Joan and Steph were amazed that I wanted to do some cooking.  For decades, I have not liked cooking because I had to cook for myself when I was a kid.  And, anything Joan cooks tastes way better than if I cook the same thing.  Grilling has been the exception.  But, after Steph and Dan got their Blackstone Griddle, I wanted to give it a try.  Early on with this, we agreed that it would be best if Joan would do the prep, I would be the griddlemeister.

I am learning timing - I put the hashbrowns on first, then the sausage, and finished with the eggs, and put the tortillas on for a little heating.  Joan assembled the tacos inside.  I'm calling this a successful meal.  I cleaned the griddle while Joan started on the dishes.  Teamwork.

We showered and got ready for the rest of the day.  First stop was at Rufus's vet.  The Revolution stuff to keep fleas and ticks at bay has been in short supply.  And roughly doubled in price.  We picked up a 6-month supply.  The big furry boy like to go out for his walks, so he has to be protected.

Then to Walgreens where we filled out paperwork and got poked: the second Covid booster (that makes 4 shots now) and pneumonia shots.  We had appointments so got in ahead of the guy in front of us who took up all three chairs in the waiting area.  Kharma.

Joan winced when getting one of the shots (being the gentleman I am, I let her go first); I didn't hardly feel it.  Now, we have a couple days with nothing on the agenda... we both felt a general malaise after the first booster.

From there, it was off to vote: early voting in our county, with several proposals that will directly affect us, the main one being a bond issue to update the infrastructure (water, sewer, and roads) on our island... 18 million dollars.  There has been a lot of discussion about this in our island community, with people having very strong opinions both for and against.  There are between 300 and 400 people who are residents on our island and registered to vote... they (we) will make the decision on this bond issue that will affect 1,048 residences.

 

And finally, back home.  Waiting for us at our front door: an electric weed eater that Joan ordered.  "I though your lawn care was taken care of with your HOA dues?" you ask.  You are correct.  But, this time of year, the people doing the lawn service only get around to us every two to three weeks... the grass is fine, but the weeds grow... well, like weeds.  The weeds were tall when we got home on Monday; Joan was not happy with how that little bit of lawn we have looks, so she ordered this weed eater.  The lawn service just mowed this morning, so the weed eater won't get used today.

Just like the griddle is my domain, I am keeping hands off the weed eater - that is all Joan.  One of the big draws for moving here years ago was not having to do any lawn care myself.  And if the lawn service would use some weedkiller, there would be no reason to buy a weed eater.  But, Joan seems happy with her new tool, and that's what counts.

Rufus, however, was upset this morning when we went out for our walk and he saw that they had moved the grass (including the weeds)... "They ruined it!  I missed my grass while we were in Arizona, and they cut it all down!  Whaaahh!"  I assured him it would grow back... really fast with that rain we had on Tuesday.  "But, I want it NOW!"

In the words of the philosopher, Mick Jagger: "You can't always get what you want..."  Rufus said, "He can kiss my furry cat as-"

"Rufus - be a good boy!"

I thought I might take the CTX out for a ride this afternoon... maybe I'll do a nap instead.

--------

Back to the griddle for supper: Joan marinated steak bites today.  I put them on the griddle along with some mushrooms and a bit of garlic butter; Joan made a side of a cheesy potato bake to go with it.  Tasty!

 I'm feeling a griddling video may happen one of these days.  ;-)

I will probably top of this day by taking Ruf for a walk... if he's up to going out in the wind.

 

Nice puppies...

 

No, we did not get any young dogs.  Nor am I referring to a slang term for mammary glands.  I am talking about Grip Puppies: a foam tube that slides over the grips on the handlebar on a motorcycle, essentially giving the grips a bigger circumference and adding some cushion.  I have used them in the past, on the BMW and V-Strom I had before moving to scooters.  Joan had them on her PCX and currently has a set on her Xmax.  I decided to put a set of them on the CTX.

First step: trim them to the length of your grips.  Second step: coat the inside of them with soapy water, and put some on your grips.  Third step: slide them on.  It was that third step that made me work this morning... by the time I was done getting them on, my hands were aching.  Yeah, that seems to be counter-productive.  ;-)

I also put on the new license plate, and used a "memory jog" to imprint that number in my brain.  The last 3 digits are S4L... "shit 4 luck."  Whatever works.

Then, out and about to enjoy a ride.  Upper 70s, wind out of the southeast at 19, typical humidity - yeah, that seems like good conditions for a ride.  I had a "destination" in mind today: to the large parking lot at the Convention Center on SPI; it gives me a chance to ride by my favorite mural (one of Wyland's Whaling Walls, featuring Orcas), then go practice some slow speed maneuvers in that big empty parking lot.

The CTX is bigger, longer, and heavier than the Vespa.  It carries the weight low, though, so low speed maneuvers are not difficult.  Within a couple trys, I could u-turn the CTX in two normal parking spaces... and never scraped a floorboard.  After that, I stopped to get a photo of the CTX in that parking lot...

 Cropped in close to see one of those Grip Puppies...

The Grip Puppies are comfortable, but my hands still ached from putting them on.  And for grins, I made this stylized image of the logo on the side of the tank...

I enjoyed the ride.  The chop on the water on the Laguna Madre was starting to build as I came back over the causeway... but, it still has that pretty turquoise look, for now.  Some things look different in the past couple months: the area where Pier 19 was (it burned to the water in a fire) is just a few bits of pilings above the water; sad.  Some new construction on the island (noticeable: Chaos, which used to be a mall of sorts, then became a spring break dance club, then was gutted.  There is siding and new windows on the building, and a "Restaurant for lease" sign out front.).  Not a lot of people out and about; this is generally a pretty quiet time... before the crush of summer visitors comes rolling in.

I rode around our island on my bicycle earlier today - pretty quiet here, too.  That will change soon.

Is she pregnant?

 

I was once told: unless you see a baby coming out of a woman, do not ever ask if she is pregnant.

Rufus and I were out for a walk early last evening.  A couple in a golf cart slowed down as they got close to us - I assumed they were going to comment about Rufus.  The guy said, "What a beautiful kitty!"

"Thank you," I said.

"Is she pregnant?" he asked.

I laughed and said, "Well, no, because he is a male.  A large male."

"Oh," the guy said, "I thought it was a female because it is such a pretty cat."

I said, "We tell him that he is ruggedly handsome.  He is beefy, but the vet says he isn't overweight; he is a large breed."

"Yes, he is a very handsome boy."

That was a first.  Well, not the first time that someone thought Rufus was a girl, but certainly the first time anyone asked if he was pregnant.  ;-)

He went for a nice walk.  I am especially vigilant right now, as it is sand-burr season.  They start as little yellow flowers and then turn into those nasty burrs.  I have to closely look over any grassy area before letting Rufus get close to it.  We both enjoyed our walk.

And all is right with the world...

 

"Um, Jim, haven't you heard: war in Ukraine, Covid, people still fighting over masking, inflation, supply chain issues, dirty thieving gas prices, the stock market is worse than any roller coaster, issues at the border... shall I go on?"

Well, yeah, that stuff is bad.  All of it.  Real bad.  But, on the bright side: today, I brought my CTX home.  Now I can feel like we're moved back in.

Joan made a run to H.E.B. this morning; normal groceries plus stuff to put on the griddle.  That's fun.  When she got back, we unloaded the car and firmed up our plans for the day: go to PetSmart to stock up on Rufus's food (they have what we want in stock), get an early lunch at Chick-fil-A, then head to the storage unit to get the rest of our stuff (mostly hanging things we couldn't fit in the car or cargo trailer on the last run).  

With the car loaded up with the last of our stuff from the motorhome, I rolled the CTX out of the storage unit.  I am heading to the Texas State Inspection place in Rio Hondo to get the CTX inspected so I can get this bike licensed.  With that done, we started the trek back to the coast.

Oh, I almost forgot: on the way to Harlingen, taking a back road, an ocelot ran across the road in front of us!  In all our years here, that is a first for us.  Impressive cat!  There is a wildlife refuge nearby, and this whole area is a wildlife corridor where ocelots migrate to and from Mexico.  We have "Save Texas Ocelots" as our specialized license plates.  We like cats... wild ones, tame ones, all shapes, sizes, and temperaments.

Back to the day: the guy at the Inspection place questioned me about a title (from Arizona), license plate (from the Vespa)... I showed him the Bill of Sale and that satisfied him that it was all legit.

It was a great ride home: warm and windy.  Well, pushing 80º, wind out of the east at 13 to 15 mph.  So, actually, a pretty nice day for a ride.  Mostly to partly cloudy, with a 30% chance of precip... but, I stayed dry.

I did my "wind tunnel testing" (something I do with a new windshield, laminar lip, new bike, etc), where I keep the bike at a steady speed and move my hand all around to see where the wind is flowing.  This combination of fairing, windshield, and extension is perfect for me: it puts me in an area of nearly still air, with the wind flowing to just the top of my helmet (allowing air in the vents), keeps the wind blast off my torso, and gives just a bit of airflow below my arms (allowing air in my mesh shirt/jacket).

Do you miss the Vespa?  Thanks for asking - sure, it was a great scooter.  I wish I had room for both bikes, but our current situation doesn't allow that.  I have discussed this before, but the CTX has a Dual Clutch Transmission - it is like the best parts of the engine/transmission on a scooter and a motorcycle.  It still makes me smile as I pull away from a stop - no clutch lever, no shift lever, but it pulls stronger and more immediate than the CVT on a scooter.  So, kind of like a big scooter that looks like a motorcycle, and has the ability to switch to sport mode and get all the performance of a similar size motorcycle.  But, I digress.  No regrets on choosing the CTX over the Vespa.

Back to our island, we (Joan was behind me in the Equinox) had to wait for the bridge to close.  Me out in the now mostly sunny, and Joan in air conditioned comfort... I think we were both happy.  We stopped at the Welcome Center to get a windshield transponder for the CTX that will open the security gate.  Joan went in to do the paper work, I had a minute or 6 to get a couple photos...

 Once home and changed out of my gear, we went to our county office to get the title, registration, and license taken care of.  Not an inexpensive outing, but that's it.  We are done with the moving back in stuff.  Probably.  What's that... why more photos of the bike?  I happen to think it's a good looking motorcycle.  Kinda like photos of Rufus - you can't have too many.  :-)

Kaboom!

 

Nothing to do with the shower, tub, and tile cleaner.

Thunderstorms were predicted overnight and all day today.  I heard the pitter-patter of rain during the night, but nothing heavy.  Then, around 5:30 am - Kaboom!  A lightning hit that sounded and felt close!  I tried to get back to sleep, but Rufus got right up by my face, wanting some reassurance that everything is OK... I rubbed his neck and he was soon purring away.

I got up around 6:00 and turned on the TV to get some local news... flash flood warnings in Brownsville.  Power outages around the area.  All good here.  Apparently, we had a couple inches of rain overnight.  I say "apparently" because we can't see out... yet; the hurricane shutters are all down still.  We must have had a lot of blowing dirt while we were gone - the siding and shutters have a layer of dirt on them, and I don't like to roll them up until they're clean.  That was on the to-do list for today.

I went outside to look around the house - yep, it's raining.  Mother Nature did some of the work for us, rinsing off the shutters on three sides of the house.  The deck off the back of the house is covered, so those windows and the 3-panel glass doors are still dry and grubby.  I came back in and rolled up shutters that had been rinsed.  The main ones off our living room will have to wait.  But, at least now we can see outside.

69º and rain.  Still lightning in the area.  Back inside, Al Roker on the Today Show is talking about the rain and lightning in Brownsville, with more of the same lasting throughout the day.  Welcome home.

Sitting together this morning, I have a big furry "cat pillow" to rest my head...

--------

A bit later, I was trying out some of my guitars.  Rufus came running...

"This one doesn't sound right,"... Rufus prefers acoustic guitar.

Joan went out when the rain let up a little and cleaned off the deck, including the hurricane shutters.  I rolled them up - we have nice natural light in the living room again.

Later, when the rain quit, we set up the new griddle...

No, we didn't fire it up - there are leftovers that need to get eaten.  But, tomorrow there will be griddling!

Sense of humor and a twinge...

 

Me?  Yeah, I do try to find the humor in most situations.  Mother Nature?  She has a twisted sense of humor.

We did our tank flushing this morning; including taking extra long showers (to help fill the gray water holding tank)... seems kinda decadent.  Shortly after 10:00 am, we hit the road.  The wind was lighter than yesterday, but Mother Nature thought it would be fun to make it more easterly, making it a crosswind all the way south.  Then, to really add to the joke, she gave us 30 seconds of rain.  Twice.  Just to make sure the coach was good and dirty before we put it away...

The palm trees are the first notification that you are approaching 26º latitude and the Tropical Tip...

Until a few years ago, there used to be scads of palm trees in the median from Raymondville south to Harlingen... when the plan to make Expressway 77 part of the Interstate system (I-69) started, they removed all those lovely palm trees in the median.  There are some around entrance and exit ramps, but it isn't the same feeling.

Speaking of feeling: I did mention "twinge" in the title to this post.  Nothing to do with intestinal distress, thanks for asking.  Years ago, I used to tell Joan that I would get a twinge in my belly (anticipation) as we got close to home after being gone for a while.  I knew our time up north was coming to an end when the last few years of living there, I didn't get that twinge.  Instead, I got it as we got close to our home in the Tropical Tip.  I get it when we get close to Hart Ranch the last few summers.  And, I had it today as we rolled south.  I guess I am excited about being home.  For a while.

We stopped to fuel up both vehicles in Raymondville, about 20 miles or so from our storage unit.  I like to put the coach away with a full tank... just in case there is a need to bug out.  The gas station used to be with a Walmart, but they closed that store... but kept the gas station open.  As a Murphy USA station, they generally have a competitive price.  It is snug, but if I am fortunate enough to get an end pump, I can get the motorhome and trailer in and out of there without much hassle.  Joan topped off the Equinox, too, as it will be towing the cargo trailer from our storage unit to home (about 40 miles to the coast).

We got to the storage unit, unlocked the gate, opened up the unit, and put the coach in... out of the sun (although it was partly cloudy most of the day).  Plugged it in and turned on the air conditioning.  Swapped the cargo trailer from the coach to the Equinox.  Then, the really hard work: gathering stuff to go from the coach to home and putting it in the cargo trailer.  No way all that stuff would fit in there with two bikes, so we rolled the Honda out to allow that side of the trailer to hold the homeward bound stuff...

We will be coming back to the storage unit soon, as there is more "non-critical" stuff to come out of the motorhome.  Then, I will ride the Honda back home.

The drive from the storage unit to home started uneventful.  Rufus was being a good boy - he is generally not a fan of riding in the car.  "Started"?  Yeah... about 5 miles outside of Laguna Vista, we came up on a Work Convoy...

Double yellow line, so we couldn't pass them.  They were spraying for weeds along the side of the road... driving 9 miles per hour.  Do the math: 9 miles per hour for over 5 miles took us about 35 minutes to cover that distance.  Painful.  Apparently, the weed sprayers were working in conjunction with Mother Nature.  I did not see the humor in them backing up about a mile of traffic behind them.

Once out from behind them, it was less than 8 miles home.  We cross the bridge onto our island, backed the cargo trailer into the driveway, unhooked it from the car, and started the unloading process.  During the hottest part of the day.  With 12,000% humidity.  I kid, of course - it's that sense of humor thing.  After being in single digit humidity in Arizona, it only feels like 12,000%... I'm sure it is more like only 9,000%.

We made about 400 trips from the car and trailer to the house.  I am rounding off on that number - it was actually 418.  The first trip is is Rufus, followed by his litter box and food.  Then, everything else.  Schlepping stuff in the humidity - maybe that was the source of "the twinge"?  My ass is dragging.  My muscles ache.  It is a lot of damn work to go off and have fun.  ;-)

One of the last things I put away was the Emerald guitar I took along on this trip.  Well, I didn't "put it away," I got it out of its case and hung it on the wall.  Emerald does make some beautiful guitars...

No, that isn't the one that went with us to Arizona.  But, it sure is pretty.  After putting guitars on the walls again, I was interested to see which guitar I would pull off first to play... interestingly (to me), it was one of my Taylors.  The carbon fiber guitars were all still in tune, after being put away for a couple months... the wood ones, not so much.

Yeah, it's good to be home.

 

Like Stink...

 

That isn't a statement as in: "I like stink.  Do you like stink?"  No, the wind is blowing... like stink.  The plan for today was to cover 276 miles to get us to an RV park that is a couple hours from our storage unit so we can dump tanks and start packing things up.  We knew it was going to be windy... but the weather weasels didn't predict just how windy it was.

We were out around 8:30 this morning.  One last look at the site we were in last night...

 The air felt heavy.  It has been two months since we felt humidity.  Nothing like jumping in with both feet.  Junction is what I would call the far west edge of Texas Hill Country, so we knew there would be some significant hills to contend with today.  The sky was gray when we got out onto the Interstate...

And then the hills...

Look close in that photo above and you can see some of the wildflowers in the median; getting late in the season for that.

The wind was gusting into the upper 20s out of the south, while we were heading east... making it a crosswind.  We made our way through the traffic of San Antonio (busier than I expected), then turned south, almost directly into the wind.  Knowing what to expect, I stopped for fuel... 8.5 miles per gallon with a mostly crosswind, quartering towards headwind.  It is going to be significantly less than that as the headwinds continued to build.

We stopped for lunch.  I backed the coach and trailer back in the truck parking while Joan went through the drive-up...

About 100 miles to go from this point, and the wind got even gustier.  Our direction put it as a direct wind, with curves in the road changing it from either side.  Check out the windmills in this photo...

At times I was down to 50 miles per hour... oh, the coach could go faster, but it was shuddering in the wind that was gusting into the 30s.

When we got to the RV park, the office was closed.  I had left a message this morning on their voice mail, letting them know we were coming in... new policy that isn't on their website: closed on Sundays.  I was about to pick a site and settle in so we could be off the road when a guy came up to tell us they are closed on Sundays.  Yep, we got that.  He said he could open the office, but didn't want to have a sale on a Sunday which would result in more paperwork for them.  I let him know we have stayed here regularly on our way north and south and that we would come in tomorrow morning and check in before we leave.  He asked my name and went into the office... a short time later he came back with all our information, just like I told him.  I guess we passed the truth test, so he pointed us towards a site that I had already scoped out... with another RV to the south of us to block some of that wind.  Even with that, we didn't put our slides out; we'll do that later this evening when the wind dies down into the upper teens.

In the meantime, I hooked up all our utilities so we could fill and dump holding tanks.  It will be nice to roll into our storage unit with freshly rinsed tanks.  We have a plan for tomorrow, and the wind is forecast to be less.  Sure hope so, 'cause the coach is drinking a lot of fuel.  Speaking of which: when I fueled up just south of San Antonio, the price was exactly $1 per gallon less than what we last paid in Phoenix.  "Well, I bet Arizona has higher gas taxes," you say?... 18¢ per gallon in Arizona, 20¢ per gallon in Texas.  So, that's not it.  Gouging, maybe?

I look at gas prices.  Joan is more philosophical about it: "I fuel up when I need gas; you have to have it."  I mostly agree with that, but I'd rather pay less for the same gas when it is convenient.  Diesel prices have been crazy expensive, averaging $1.00 to $1.40 per gallon more than regular unleaded.  Whew!

"And, Rufus?"  Thanks for asking.  He spent much of today's ride on my lap... he noticed the wind, since he would occasionally look up at me and say, "Can you keep this thing steadier?  I'm trying to nap!"  But, he's a good boy.  ;-)

El Paso Passage...

 

We left Las Cruces early this morning...

 We stopped to fuel up at the Flying J at Exit 0 in Texas.  Well, I stopped to fuel up the coach, Joan went to the drive up at the Mickey D's across the street and brought us breakfast.  We ate while rolling.  Not our usual style, but we are looking to get through El Paso early and make some miles today.

It was before 8:00 (on a Saturday) that we started the trek through El Paso.  It is a big city, right on the US/Mexico border, and the drivers here are insane.  Well, not all of them... but enough of them that it is uncomfortable pushing this rig through the melee.  This morning, however, was easy.  The traffic was light, and I only saw one person in a Jeep go from the far left lane across 4 lanes of traffic, cutting in front of me, to make it to an exit ramp.  In the past, we have seen way too much "lane hopping" and stupid driver tricks.

Once on the other side of El Paso, it is west Texas: miles and miles of nothing but miles and miles.  There is some greenery in the desert right now...

... and not much else.  About 80 miles in, you come to the west Texas mountains...

Traffic was light.  A lot of big truck traffic, way fewer RVs than I expected, and quite a few motorcycles... makes me miss getting out on mine.  Soon.

With us driving separate, I am Rufus's only person; on my lap...

On his pad on the co-pilot seat...

And napping...

And not much else to report.  We had originally planned to stop in the Fort Stockton area, but wind forecast and getting there around 1:00 pm urged us to press on.  At a quick lunch and fuel stop, we made a reservation for an RV park in Junction, TX; that will make it about a 500 mile day.

The winds went from a nice tailwind (got 10.53 miles per gallon on that portion) to a less than nice cross wind.  No idea what this tank will be, but according to the fuel gauge, certainly less.  In the Equinox, Joan gets close to 4 times better mileage than the motorhome.

In this part of Texas, there are some scrubby trees along the Interstate that do offer a small bit of a wind break from the ugly south winds (as we head east)...

We rolled into the RV park around 5:00... and then I got to spend almost another hour with the maintenance guy trying to get their cable at our site to work.  In the end, he ran a long cord from a site about 100 feet from ours.  Whatever - we have some only slightly snowy reception... better than nothing.

After messing with the cable, when I came inside, Joan told me that the neighbor (who is a nice guy) has been letting people use his house and dock again... and I guess they think that means that they can use ANY dock on the island, including ours.  We have enough video from our security cameras to make a feature film of the trespassers.  Yes, we let the neighbor know.  Yes, he seems appalled that his guests would do that.  Yes, we have had this conversation with him before.  No, nothing changes.  It is the reason we installed security cameras all around our place.  At least this time, they aren't doing anything destructive - just letting kids run on the dock (I let him know that HE is responsible if anyone gets hurt trespassing on our property) and adults use the dock as their "short cut" to get to the bridge (that they aren't supposed to fish from)... which means they are walking on our other neighbor's property, too.

Yeah, I know: "Get off my lawn ya damn kids"... I sound like a curmudgeon.  Just trying to protect myself from stupid people getting hurt.  Let's cut to just a bit of the video...

I miss the good ol' days when people respected each other's property.  Apparently, our neighbor talked to them.  Didn't help last time, because these people are too damn lazy to go to the street to get to where they can illegally fish.  In the grand scheme of things this is more annoying than anything else.  I guess we will have to put up locked gates on either side of our dock.  I see stupid people.

--------

I took Rufus for a walk around sunset.  He walked good, but wasn't in any kind of hurry to get back to the motorhome.  Me, on the other hand - I had this blog post to get done.  But, I took the Equinox to get it fueled so we can roll first thing in the morning, before calling it an evening.  This day got long... may have something to do with 2 time changes since we left Arizona.  Not often you get "jet lagged" with an RV.  ;-)

Out for our morning walk...

 

This is going to be an "all about Rufus" post.

The wind is supposed to be ugly across west Texas today... ugly, as in: gusts between 50 and 60 mph, sustained winds in the 30s.  Since we are in a decent RV park, we decided to get another day here, wait out the winds, and head out again tomorrow.  It was a unanimous decision... Rufus likes this place, so he wanted to explore a bit more this morning.

The sites here are a hard pack sand and very small gravel...

It reminds me a bit of the clumping kind of litter, so I was concerned he night think this is a good place for a big ol' poop.  He didn't.  Because he's a good boy.  We discovered grass in an area close behind us (in front of the office) - he didn't have to walk all the way to the dog run to enjoy some greenery...

We spent some time there, including a couple nose-to-nose encounters with dogs.  One lady with an older big dog said that no cat has ever wanted to get close to her dog.  I told her, "Rufus likes dogs, so it might be a good introduction."  Her dog didn't look remotely aggressive, so I let Rufus walk up to it... they touched noses.  No, I didn't have the camera out, but it was cute.

Some of the sites here (including the one we're in) are landscaped with large rocks.  Rufus seemed to really enjoy exploring a couple different rocky areas...

And trees...

He had a good walk.  The parks we've been in since leaving Goodyear have been more conducive for Rufus walking.  He has encountered more dogs and seems to be back to his social self, wanting to visit with the dogs.  No issues.

A chilly start to the day - in the low 60s while Rufus and I were out.  It felt good.  It will be close to 90º this afternoon, so this was refreshing.  Since we don't have to pack up and hit the road today, we plan to do some exploring around Las Cruces later this morning - it has been 25 years since we've done more than just drive by this area.

Sometimes we get our head into just getting across New Mexico and west Texas, so this Mother Nature inspired day off the road isn't a bad thing.  The ugly forecast winds across west Texas would be a crosswind today; tomorrow they are supposed to be lighter (still in the upper teens), but more of a tailwind component.  Nice to be able to pick the travel days... and, of course, give Rufus more outdoor time.

--------

We ran a couple errands, topped off the Equinox, then out for a real sit-down lunch.  Joan wanted to see the Mesilla area.  It was the original settlement here, and for a short time served as the capital of the Confederate Territory of Arizona.  These days, it is mostly shops, art galleries, and coffee shops.

 

Thanks to the wind, it was a drive-by.  As expected the wind came up before noon and has been building all day... currently 27 mph, gusting to 40, and expected to continue building.  Taking the day off the road was a good move.  One other thing I'd like to see in this area is Slot Canyon, which is supposed to be "an easy 2.7 mile hike."  That is just a ways north of Las Cruces, but I expect it would be an unpleasant (blowing dirt) hike in this wind.  Another time.

The wind is forecast to stay up until midnight.  By tomorrow morning, it should be single digits until 10:00 am or so.  The plan is to get out early.

That's more like it...

 

We are down for the day, mid-afternoon.  Just under 300 miles and a relatively easy (and uneventful) drive.  I did stop at every rest area along the way, to check tires and peek inside the cargo trailer - everything made the ride in the trailer, just like it is supposed to, and the tires are all good.

Across Arizona on I-10...

 That's the Texas Canyon Rest Area, with the view of giant boulders.  Mostly high desert scenery on this route; elevation topped out around 4,600 when we crossed the Continental Divide...

Wind wasn't much of an issue today, but there are high wind warnings in this area for tomorrow - I think we'll get down the road reasonably early for tomorrow's drive.  We're in Las Cruces, New Mexico, for the night, at a nice RV park (Hacienda RV Resort).  We've been by it a bunch of times in our travels to and from Arizona, but this is our first time staying here.  From the Interstate, it looks like it has paved sites... nope; hard pack sand/gravel, so they are able to get in on the Annual Blowing Dirt Festival (Jan 1st through Dec 31st).

About 40 miles to the NM/TX border, then close to 900 miles to get home.  We'll take a few days to cover that.

Driving separate, we communicate by phone when necessary.  We only do that as we go through population centers (like leaving Tucson today), or if one of us (usually me) feels the need to talk about something... like the billboard for Crystal Diamond for Senate... sounds like a stripper name to me.

Plenty of RVs on the road today.  This time of year is usually a bit slack for that, but we are seeing a lot of younger (relative) couples full-time RVing and working from the road.  We got one of the last pull-through sites in this RV park, but they do have a bunch of folks coming in for an RV rally.  We were able to make our first reservation for the summer - 60 days out and there are fewer site options than any other time in the past.  It is going to be a busy summer for those in the RV park business... regardless of gas prices.  And, speaking of gas prices, we filled up the motorhome this morning at a convenience store close by where we stayed the last two nights.  I had concerns about it being busy, because their gas prices were about the best we saw in Tucson (other than Costco, where we filled up the Equinox when we were out running around), but our timing was good.  For the record: $4.15 is what passes for "a good gas price."  I did see one place in New Mexico that was $3.99... you notice the price when you have to fuel up the tank on the motorhome.  Well, I do.

Like everything these days, the prices keep going up.  We used to be able to find an RV site for $20 to $25 per night while traveling; more like $45 to $60 currently.  We passed an "economy" motel that was advertising "one bed: $24 per night, two beds: $28"... yeah, I'd rather be staying in my own accommodations that are clean, cozy, and pet friendly... and we know who slept in that bed last night.  ;-)

Tonight's RV park...

 

One of us had a nice relaxing day...

--------

This photo popped up on my FaceBook Memories today...

That's us on the Honda PCX scooters that kept me riding as my hip continued to deteriorate.  I will always have a soft spot in my heart and my memories for those capable little scoots.