From Texas to Tucson

Looking at the map of Texas (880 miles across the state1) and realizing that we still had the bulk of the trek ahead of us, we got an early start from Austin and headed west. The drive was remarkably scenic- not your typical stark western scenery. We drove through the Hill Country again and made it to Van Horn, Texas by the end of the day. We stopped at a KOA just off the freeway (with an ostrich farm in the back) and settled in for the night.
The following day, we drove through New Mexico and got into Tucson and Beaudry RV Resort. What a pleasant surprise! In addition to the service center (Lazy Day’s major competitor), where we had a scheduled appointment on Monday AM, the RV park was gorgeous- large concrete pads with a concrete patio with furniture and lots of space between the sites.

We set about exploring Tucson. At 7 AM on Saturday morning, we were at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. With shades of our Australia desert museum experience (and having learned from that experience that a desert museum is best experienced in the early morning-rather than mid-day), we headed off with our tour guide. A good idea- since temperatures were in the 100’s and the sky was cloudless. The museum had over 300 native animals and 1300 plant species. 90% of the exhibits and enclosures are constructed of artificial rock. We walked the two miles of trails- seeing prairie dogs, coyotes, coatimundis and hundreds of varieties of birds (including a hummingbird aviary).

Everywhere was the flowering Saguaro cactus. These cacti are very slow growing- by the end of a year, the seedling only measures ¼ inch. After 15 years, they are barely a foot tall. At about 30 years, they begin to flower and produce fruit. By 50 years, they can be as tall as 7 feet. At about 75 years, they spout their first “arms”. By 100 years, they can reach 25 feet. They may live as long as 150 years and can tower as high as 50 feet. They are the largest cacti in the US. We took a drive through the Saguaro National Park to see the cacti in bloom.

On Sunday, we drove north to see the Biosphere. The structure was built and completely sealed off from the "Biosphere 1" (the earth). It's a 3 acre glassed dome that has five different "biomes"- a rainforest, desert, savanna, marsh and ocean. In 1991, eight 'bionauts' entered for a 2 year tour of duty. They were physically cut off from the outside world- and had to grow all of their own food. It was a bit of a disaster (the dome leaked gases)....and really never had a clear purpose. It was operated by Columbia University for a few years- and they bailed out. Now it appears that it's going to be sold to land developers and dismantled. It's too bad—it was really a fascinating place.
When we returned, we were having a glass of wine when we heard a loud booming noise. Always curious, we headed out with our wine (along with all the rest of our neighbors). As we walked across the street, we walked were stunned to see E.J. come around the corner of his motorhome! E.J. and Sharon were only a few motorhomes away from us – and the sound of his airbag exploding brought us together. Time for wine!

On Monday, after dropping off our motorhome to the service center, we went to the Tucson Missile Musum. It was a little bit of the Cold War preserved for generations to come (of course, most of them haven't a clue that there ever was a Cold War). We actually got to see the nuclear warhead- and go down to the underground launch site.

It was a very "Dr Strangelove" moment....

Our last day in Tucson and John wanted to take in the Pima Air and Space Museum. I knew I was in trouble when I saw 4 huge hangars and what looked like 1000’s of aircraft-old planes, helicopters, bombers, cargo planes, seaplanes- parked outside. We had to be back at Beaudry by noon, so we could only take the outdoor aircraft tour – a 45 minute tour in an open trolley car. The guide, an helicopter pilot who was in Vietnam, was extremely knowledgable – but after 30 minutes of driving VERY slowly in 100 degree heat in an un-airconditioned trolley -past every aircraft – complete with a description of almost every one of the 160+ planes, I was at the end of my rope. I handed a note to John saying, “you owe me”.

Dinner with E.J. and Sharon – margaritas (too many of them) at el Charro Café in downtown Tucson –excellent food…excellent company!

Keep Austin Weird

We were off to Austin – a city that everyone told us that we would love. And, they were right. We got into the campground and immediately took off for a look at downtown Austin. We grabbed a burger at the Waterloo Ice Bar Restarant – then took a walk through Whole Foods across the street. What an amazing place. Covering a full city block- on two floors, it was filled with every possible food and drink. The produce section was a work of art with every fruit and vegetable artfully displayed. There were fresh meat and fish counters going on forever, a full wine shop and a walk in cooler for every imported beer known to man. The bakery had well over 20 different kinds of fresh baked bread (4 versions of sourdough). And, interspersed throughout the store were little places to pick up prepared foods- everything from Italian pasta stations to organic food markets to salad bars to international food bars.

Wanting to get a better sense of the Austin community, we took a half day private tour on Sunday. The guide, a public radio host and “good ole boy”, Howie Richey-The Texas Back Roads Scholar, showed us the best of Austin. We got a tour of the State Capitol building, the LBJ library and the wonderful parks around the city. After that introduction and our discovery of the excellent restaurant scene, Austin became another return destination for us.

Remember the Alamo!

Monday morning we took off for San Antonio with Brenda and John. We pulled into the KOA mid-afternoon and within no time, we were on the city bus heading for the Riverwalk. We walked up and down looking at the river and the restaurants and settled on dinner at Rio Rio.
With only a few days to see the city, we hit it hard on Tuesday. We saw the IMAX theater movie, Alamo, which gave us a bit of historical perspective on the Alamo- although it was definitely a case of the victors writing the history. Davey Crockett, Jim Bowie and the rest of the rebels came across as freedom fighters – fighting for Texas independence from the cruel, heartless Mexican General Santa Anna.

From there, we took a trolley tour which took us to 2 of the missions- San Jose and Mission Concepcion- and around the city for a general orientation. We stopped for drinks in the Menger Hotel – a beautiful old hotel directly across from the Alamo. The bar was reminiscent of a British pub and was evidently the hotel where Teddy Roosevelt recruited his Rough Riders.

Our package tour/IMAX experience also included a Boat Trip down the Paseo del Rio through the Riverwalk area. It was THE way to see the river. The city has a European flavor – and the Riverwalk restaurants are packed – every day of the week. We tried to have dinner at the Buckhorn Saloon- but got there just as it was closing. The manager let us in for a look-see. What a bizarre place- filled with animal heads—a taxidermers delight. We walked through the Esquire- the “longest bar in Texas” (the bar top can hold 5,973 longneck bottles of Lone Star beer). It’s also the oldest running bar- open since the end of Prohibition. But it was smoky and filled with a lot of the locals. We stopped for dinner at Casa Rio- the oldest restaurant on the Riverwalk. We got a table right on the river and had a great and cheap dinner with excellent margaritas.

Rally in "The Valley"

After a quiet New Years Eve celebration- a bit too much wine and an overnight at Mom’s, we spent New Year’s Day recovering from a hangover. We opted to extend our stay in Florida to mid-January to give us a bit of plunk time.

After our VW fiasco in December, we had hoped that our car troubles were over. No such luck. John took the car to get a newspaper one morning—and the gear shift stuck. So, we called Royal VW and they arranged for a tow truck to take the Jetta back to Orlando. Fortunately, they also got us a rental car so we had some means of transportation while the VW was in the shop.

We were due at the January Cruisin Cajun Rally in Patterson, LA on Thursday, January 12th, but the car part didn’t arrive until Tuesday. So, on Wednesday, we made the trip to Orlando to pick up the car (2 hours out and 2 hours back). We got back in time to return the rental car and meet Mom and E.D. for a Bratwurst dinner. After dinner, we invited them back to the coach for a glass of wine. When we got there, about 9 PM, John tried the keypad to unlock the door…no luck. So, I pulled out the keys. Again, no luck. Our last chance, we tried the key fob. No luck. At this point, we told Mom and E.D. to head home while we carried the picnic table over to the emergency exit window. Fortunately, our emergency window had been left unlocked. So, John slid the screen, opened the window and released the emergency lock on the window. He crawled through and I went to the door expectantly. I heard him trying to move the lock back and forth- and realized that we were not only locked out- but John was locked in. So, John pulled out the dining room chair- passed it to me out the window and I climbed through the window. After some fiddling with the lock, John finally got it to open from the inside.

The next morning, our first call was to the factory. They arranged for us to stop in Pensacola at Leisure Tyme to have them look at the lock. Our plans for a Thursday arrival at the rally were crushed. We headed out and made it to Pensacola at 5 PM. They got us a hook-up for the night and got the lock fixed the following morning. By the time they finished the lock, the skies started to pour- torrential rain and winds. Rather than head out on the road, we opted to spend the night and get an early start on Saturday.

We finally got to Patterson- a one night rally for us. It was great to see everyone again. And, the one night rally worked out pretty well, since we were heading to the Valley on Sunday for a week of Cajun-Mex festivities. There were two groups leaving on Sunday- those departing at 5 AM and doing the entire trip in one day – and our group- leaving at a more reasonable time and driving to Edna, Texas the first day. The drive was LONG. I-10 in Louisiana is probably the worst road in the country and we were bounced and jostled for the first few hours. When we hit Texas, the roads improved. We made it through Houston with no traffic jams or problems and got onto the best roads we’ve seen in a long time. No people, no houses, no businesses- but brand new two lane highways, smooth as glass. A long string of influential Texas pol’s in D.C. evidently got a fair amount of federal highway funds.

We got to Edna and pulled into the RV park. We were in a long string of motorhomes waiting outside the office. Turns out that someone had called and cancelled our reservations- and the park was full. So, the owners let us dry-camp for the night. We got settled and went to the function hall for a pot-luck dinner.
In the morning, we headed for Mercedes. There were about 75 coaches at the Encore Park and we were all put together in the park. We got settled and immediately headed for the Mexican border. It was only a 10 minute drive to the International Bridge. Parking was $1.50 and entry into Mexico cost 25 cents. The bridge crossed the Rio Grande River and you could hear the calls for money coming from the people standing under the bridge. The tourist part of the town of Progresso was only a 4 or 5 block long section of stores, bars, and street vendors.
Every other business was a dentist or pharmacy. The influx of snow-birds from the north has spawned an industry providing cheap medications and medical care. We stopped at Pharmacia Progresso – and met Linda, the pharmacist. The Cajuns have been coming to Linda for 15 years and she had virtually every medication possible- all with no prescription required. We got some basic meds– for a fraction of the cost you could get them in the States. Unfortunately, they didn’t have Tamiflu….

On our first afternoon, we resisted the temptation to shop- and instead tracked down our group. They were in a bar hidden in the back of a large department store. They were already several rounds of margaritas ahead of us and tried to get us to chug our frozen beauties. Brain freeze stopped us from doing a total chug. (Note- Cheryl got into the spirit- dancing on the table!)

After a few rounds there, we walked down the street to another bar in the Galleria. This bar had a larger dance floor- something essential when Cajuns are present.

On Day 2, Peaches had a get-together at her coach- with seafood jambalaya. Everyday, someone would sponsor a dinner and the entire group would pitch in with pot-luck.

Day 3 and we headed back to Progresso for some serious shopping (John and John had margaritas and made friends with a young shoe-shiner.). From there, we went to Pepe’s – a bar/restaurant on the Rio Grande river. We arrived to find that the Cajun’s had taken over the dance floor once again.
We closed the bar down (they quit playing at 5 PM) and went back for another pot-luck jambalaya dinner at the park.

On Thursday, Mary Jane had arranged for a one day tour into Mexico. At 7:15 AM, we were on the bus and heading west through McAllen to the Mexican border town of Roma (where the movie, “Viva Zapata” was filmed). The tour company owned a restaurant as well, so we stopped in Miguel Aleman for breakfast at their place. It was a strange combo of Mexican puffy bread and mini-tacos.
Back on the bus, we drove to the town of Ciudad Mier. We got a bit of history on the town- the site of the Black Bean Battle of the Mexican American War. The town also had a family owned boot factory. With the Cajuns and the Texans on board, this was destined to be a long stop. We got a tour of the factory- got a tutorial on the various skins used (eel, ostrich, snake, cow, cow entrails, even frog), and saw the boot making process. And- of course- there was the “shopping” experience. Imagine 90 people in a small shop area all trying to find the perfect boot. Huey came out with new ostrich boots.

We finally got everyone back on the bus and drove to El Sainal, Mexico’s smallest national park. It was filled with 800 year old Cyprus trees. The look was reminiscent of the bayous of Louisiana- but the trees were gargantuan. Next to the natural beauty were the miniature replicas of the “Seven Wonders of the World”…well, sort of. It looked a bit like a miniature golf course transported to the park. The 7 Wonders included an igloo, the Golden Gate Bridge, a mosque…not exactly the historical 7 Wonders. The tour company served a au-natural lunch of something they called fajitas, a watered-down margarita and micro-beers. The only edible part of the lunch were the tortillas.

It was ‘back on the bus’ and another drive on two land roads designed to handle one lane of traffic. The trucks and cars passed dangerously close to our bus. With little comment, we were driven into a limestone quarry. The group had been told we were going to a mine- the women, hoping for a silver mine and small gift shop. Instead, we drove through what appeared to be an extremely large gravel pit. With the limestone dust flying through the air, there were only a few takers to get out of the bus for photos. Katie got out and got a rock. After all of the excitement of the quarry, it was back on the road to head back to Mercedes.

What luck- we were re-tracing the same roads. It was about a 3 hour drive back to the campground. We got to the border and were told to expect anything. As we sat in line with the other cars and trucks crossing, we noticed 3 small boats crossing the river just down from the bridge we were on. As we waited, each of the boats quickly made it across and unloaded their human cargo of illegal immigrants. It turns out that the Mexicans had timed their crossing to coincide with the shift change of the border patrol. Meanwhile, they made our entire bus of senior citizens get off the bus and started to examine all of our bags! Once they determined that we were no threat to the U.S – no drugs, guns, bombs – they let us get back on the bus. But, they weren’t done with Raul, our poor bus driver. They questioned him for 30 minutes, reviewing all of his paperwork, licenses, etc. We were livid—watching our “Department of Homeland Security” letting illegals cross the river while they tormented a bus of seniors. We got back to the campground about 7 PM and the Romero’s had saved their spaghetti and meatball dinner for us.

On Friday, lunch was a fish fry for the group complete with band. As we stood in line, it was funny to see this group. It was a bit like the scene from The Full Monty when the guys were waiting in the unemployment line and started doing their dance steps to the music. As the music played and the Cajuns stood in line, they were all doing a little dance step in place….they just can’t help it. After eating- again- it was back to Progreso for more dancing and margaritas at the Galleria.
Saturday was our last day to cross the border. It was a dark, rainy day, but that didn’t stop us. Brenda and I headed over with our shopping bags and sent John to meet the group in the Galleria. With a 10% savings negotiated by some of the other women, we met with Caesar and started shopping. Brenda did some major damage- about $260 worth of pewter and dishes. Caesar volunteered to carry the box back to our car-so we did a double border crossing.

On Sunday, we opted to ship mass and enjoy our Sunday morning. We met everyone at Pepe’s in the afternoon. With $2 margaritas and no lunch, I was pretty looped. We called Jean in Scotland and had a great time dancing and drinking. Monday morning- things were a bit slow in mudville!

The Big Texan Steak Ranch, Amarillo Texas

Somewhere west of OKC, the Wild West starts. As John said, "The women are short and stocky and the men are all beanpole thin with their eyes too close together. And all the men drive pickup trucks and wear tight jeans and cowboy hats". Fortunately, our trek through the Texas part of the journey was short- we drove from Oklahoma City through the Texas Panhandle to Amarillo.

Here, we found another city with only a few highlights. The first one was the "Cadillac Ranch". An eccentric Texas businessman and art patron contracted with some "artists" to create a monument in the middle of his wheat field. They came up with a tribute to the car- saying that what makes America great is the car....So, they buried 10 Cadillacs (the ones with big fins) hood first in the wheat field and let people take spray paint to them. Imagine the Texas landscape- miles and miles of nothingness with wheat fields and barbed wire fences- with 10 up-ended Cadillacs as the only thing on the horizon.

The only thing that could top the Cadillac Ranch was the "Big Texan Steak Ranch". Just a few blocks from our campsite was the site of the Big Texan -a restaurant that advertises for miles and miles via huge billboards "Free 72 oz Steak" (and in small letters, "If eaten in one hour".). And, of course, you also have to eat the salad, shrimp cocktail, baked potato and roll....We couldn't resist taking a peak in the restaurant- and found the list of successful diners-- they all weighed at least 260 pounds- some as much as 360!