Great Day in Old Town

Have you ever heard of Old Town? In San Diego? Me either, until yesterday. But a friend sent a text and we looked it up. It is a neat little area. Lots of shops and restaurants and some history thrown in, especially in the area that is part of a "state park".

But for us the best part of Old Town today was that we got to meet up with our friend, Ken Hoffman, from Palm City, Florida. Ken, the sweetest guy you would ever want to meet, flew into San Diego to play golf with some of his previous working buddies in Temecula, CA. But before heading north, he and we spent the day shopping, eating Mexican food, catching up on our lives and sipping margheritas. Minus the shopping, which everyone knows I hate, it was a great day. But I did buy a leather backpack but only because Larry hates my purse. But that is not the important part is, we were so glad to see Ken and so sorry Janet wasn't with him.

Who saw Duke beat Kentucky last night? Not us because we don't watch our email and don't have phone service. I am trying really hard not to pull for Duke, but old habits die hard. ..

Good night from Cal I FOR NI a

MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT

We spent last night in another Wal-Mart just north of Tucson. Yesterday, we checked our Weatherbug app and saw that it would be quite cool and perhaps snowy at our destination, Cottonwood, AZ. I called the ranger there. He assured us that the RV park was lower than the three or four thousand feet where snow was predicted. However, we also saw that the nighttime temperatures would be in the upper 20's. 

Long story short (when have I ever done that)...We are now in California. That means we missed the Grand Canyon and our mule ride. I am REALLY disappointed. Larry says we will come back next fall, but I will have to see it to believe it. Stay tuned.

So now we are headed to San Diego. Again I must get my big camera downloaded to show pictures.

In Arizon we passed one humongous field of solar panels. That made me feel good. And in California we have passed irrigated beds of something...broccoli, strawberries, lettuce...I can't tell. But I'm sure it's something I can eat.

We are 95 miles to the RV park. Oh well you can't mess with Mother Nature, I guess. And Larry will get to the zoo in San Diego.

We spent last night November 8 at Deming, NM at the Wal-Mart parking lot with about 15 other RV's and 10 tractor-trailers. As we were pulling up to the edge of the lot to park, a young man came racing up with lights flashing in a security truck. He hopped out smiling and asked us if we were planning to spend the night. I thought, "Oh, crap. Now Wal-Mart is charging to stay in the lot." I knew it was allowed because there were already too many rigs there. He just told us we needed to move to the other side of the lot where the RV's were. That kept us away from the diesel engines on the trucks which I have learned in an earlier, not pleasant, experience are loud. So here was Wal-Mart, offering free overnight parking and helping us have a quiet night. That was damned decent. I will have to cut back on bad-mouthing them.

Now we are driving on the straightest, flattest road you can imagine. Along the side are a few scrubby green bushes, brown grass, and a few cows. I cannot imagine how they stay alive.

We have been warned about high winds and dust storms today on our Weatherbug app (a great little app, btw) and we are getting a little spit of rain. We have seen a couple of rainbows. So here we are going through the desert and getting rained on. Don't know if that is good or bad. Just hope the winds don't get too bad.

 

We are seeing what I assume are gas wells, some bigger than others, but quite a few. Haven’t seen any oil wells.

 

We have seen at least a dozen trains, and I heard them all night in Deming. Most of them are quite long and have mostly double-decked containers. I was talking to Doug this morning. He said that he sees a lot of trains through Knoxville but never with double decks. I figure these are trains from Southern California that have been unloaded from China and Japan. By the time they get past Bentonville, Arkansas they don’t need to stack the containers. Right, Kelly? I have seen the same names on containers, Hanjin and Cosco, on containers in Wilmington. I know lumber used to go back to China, (when the Bernhardts and Broyhills decided they could make more money if they closed down furniture plants in Lenoir, greedy b-----ds), although I doubt that was in containers, but maybe. I’m curious if most of these containers go back empty. Just a commentary on life in the world.

 

It continues to rain as we travel I-10. We are probably 90 miles from Tucson. When we first crossed in to Arizona, the road got really rough, but it has smoothed out considerably, thank goodness. The temperature is dropping. I don’t know if that is because of the rain or increasing elevation. I think it’s the rain.

 

We have seen some really poor places. I thought Appalachia was poor, but it’s nothing like some of the things I saw in El Paso and now in Arizona. In El Paso I could have sworn I was looking at Mexico. If people are willing to risk death to come here and live like that, I can’t imagine what life must have been like for them there.   Yes, I am a bleeding heart, always have been, and most likely always will be. I know we are blessed to live in this country. What I don’t understand is the curse of being born in another.

 

Too much time to think today. I wish I had more to tell. It’s just flat and brown with amazing peaks in the background. I will have more pictures when I get my big camera downloaded.

 

 

Medina to Balmorhea

This trip was 355 miles of new and old scenery. We went through Kerrville and got on I-10. From there is was a straight shot to Balmorhea. From the interstate I was sorry we did not get to visit Fredricksburg. There were some interesting things there. But there was plenty to see just riding.

These are buffalo in a pasture just before getting to Kerrville. 

 

Near here is a place called Camp Verde where for a short time a camel train operated to and from California on a trade route.

 

 Below is a picture from the Kerrville Museum. Great cowboy art gallery.

We passed oil and gas wells aplenty. But the most wonderful sight was the windmills on mountaintops. We saw probably 200 and figured our view of many was obstructed by the hills. I wish we would see more of these. I don't like that they are made in China, but maybe this country will get there.



 

 

 Some lovely vistas along I-10.

WINDMILLS!!!  U S A...U S A

 

Bandera

 

I have mentioned Bandera several times, so I must get down what we liked about it.

It is a small town that seemed to have tried to maintain some of the Old West feel. It was the collecting point for longhorns in the cattle drives to the rail road in Dodge City, Kansas and beyond.  Anyway it still has a feeling of the Old West. Visiting in September would be good, I think, because they have a re-enactment of a cattle drive. Not exactly sure how that would work, but I did find this picture.

Celebrate Bandera 2010

And wouldn't you know, he is riding a longhorn. I wouldn't get within a 100 feet and two fences of those horns.

OUR VISIT

After stopping at the small city square to see the little play, we decided to wander around the central part of town. I found a fabric shop, and Larry high-tailed it off the other direction. (I love shopping with cell phones. We are never together and never apart. Makes for a happy marriage, I think.) Anyway, I couldn't afford their fabric even at 25% off so I headed back out on the street. I spotted Larry headed in a virtual trot in the other direction. He had located the 11th Street Bar, complete with live music and a boatload (bad metaphor?) of Harley riders. Apparently this group of bikers had been on a poker run and this was the end of the run. The bar was open air with tables and a dance floor. It was really cool.

 

Did you know that Harley drivers always hug when they greet each other? I'm way liberal but seeing bearded men in leather jackets hugging, A LOT, was a little off-putting.

 

      That was Bandera. We talked several times about going back to the Friday night dance or the Wednesday night steak night. You bring your own steak or chicken and throw it on their grill. They provide the fixin's. I may try that at home or own the road if we ever get among people again. Sorry to say we didn't make it.

  

      Before we left Medina we visited Kerrville. We went to the museum that concentrates on cowboy art. Another neat experience.

 

            Again these small towns are much better in our opinion than the big towns of Houston and San Antonio. I have to say I would probably prefer to live near the big towns because finding a grocery store out in the country is a 30-mile drive if you are lucky. But for visiting purposes, these small towns have kept their Texas identity. I think that is a good thing.

Tips From Me on San Antonio

If I were visiting this part of Texas again, I would spend half a day, one day tops in San Antonio. Riverwalk is fine, Alamo is a necessity, and the Tea Garden is lovely. Here are some pics from there.

 

 

I guess I had heard so much about the Riverwalk that I really wanted to be dazzled. Maybe it is better at night.

But we did find a gem or two, not in San Antonio. We went to Bandera which is about 40 or 50 miles west of San Antonio. It is the closest thing we have found to an old Texas town, one that could have had saloons and gunslingers and cowboys. We were headed to an eatery about 20 miles past Bandera that was featured on the very first Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. (Again, I watch too much TV.)_Mac and Ernies is one of two eateries waaaay out in the country. On the way there we were passed by about a dozen motorcycles. (Yes, we drive slow. Texans, you can GET OVER IT.) When we arrived, lo and behold, there was the motorcyle gang...all women, each with a prominent piece of purple clothing. Cool, huh?

 

O and some lovely young ladies came by on horseback. Yes, this is TEXAS.  I liked that, a lot.

 

  One of the featured items at Mac and Ernies (I keep wanting to call it Mcanerney's) is the cabrito burger. Who knows what a cabrito burger is? Did you guess yet? If you knew, you must post it. There is a prize. It's doe meat. (Too late, I get the prize.) In NC wouldn't we call that venison? Anyway we ordered that and a catfish dinner which we had eyed on someone else's plate as we went through the tiny dining area. And then shared with each other. The cabrito burger was very good, very lean as you would expect. The catfish was good, but it was like every other good catfish.

Ok, that was Mac and Ernie's. Cool local place. We always try to find local places. You can eat at Olive Garden any time. But who else serves a cabrito burger.

 

 

Then we went back to Bandera. It was on the way home. On the way we saw the longest horns on

longhorns I have ever seen.Those are some horny cows or maybe bulls.  I didn't check for that part. But horny, you betcha. (Hey, Warren. You liked that one, didn't you?) 

 

 We saw a lot of cars parked near the pasture where they were and thought we might get a closer look. It appeared that there was something special going on. We slowed down and were ready to park and go up to the small house. The gate (Every ranch, house, mobile home, outhhouse in Texas has a gate. Go figure.) was closed. We figured out it was a family thing. Good thing we didn't approach. I think maybe Texans still carry sidearms, though to tell the truth, I haven't seen any. But anyway, longhorn cattle are cool animals. We used to have some horns that we bought when we lived in Oklahoma. Wonder what happened to those???

 

But I digress. We drove on into Bandera. We were driving by this tiny little city park and saw cowboys and saloon girls. Whoa, Larry, stop this car. We gotta see this. It was a little play being presented by some locals about the "days of the Wild West" complete with gold (from a tooth) and a shoot out.

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the first pic, Bandera was the starting point for the cattle drive to Kansas City and even on to Omaha. Makes me think of Gunsmoke. Didn't they have cattle coming through there once in awhile.

 

OK, I'm tired of this and so are you, no doubt. Next the 11th Street Bar and Harley people. I promise to do better.

 

Love to all. Please figure out how to post here. I need to hear from you.