Sunday, October 28
After 15,850 miles and 112 days on the road, we have finally arrived home. It feels good to be home, but that means returning to work is just around the corner. Oh well, you can’t be on vacation forever…….or maybe that is called retirement. We averaged 142 miles per day and spent approximately 288 hours in the car (12 of the 112 day trip). In hindsight, that is probably more than we should have. We did feel a little pushed for some of the trip. On the other hand we sure covered a lot of ground. The next sabbatical will have to be on a beach in Fiji for 4 months straight! We probably won’t be posting to this for some time. We may turn it into the family blog….Thanks for everyone who followed our trip, we hope you got to vicariously enjoy it with us!
Monday, October 29, 2007
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Shuttle Launch
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Blast off!!! Today we got to see the space shuttle launch at 11:38 am as planned. We arrived 4 hours early just to get a spot and it’s a good thing we got one since the lady nearby was frustrated that the folks in the front weren’t sitting down at the time of the launch. The shuttle packs a powerful punch, and from where we were (about 11 miles away), the sound was pretty incredible. It was delayed about 50 seconds because of the distance, but still pretty neat. Levi took a pretty neat picture that I have placed to the right. In fact, he actually snapped a picture when the booster rockets came off, which was totally unplanned. We met with a family from our church in Winchester so it was nice to share the experience with someone we knew. After the launch we just chilled out at the campground and spent some time in the pool.
Blast off!!! Today we got to see the space shuttle launch at 11:38 am as planned. We arrived 4 hours early just to get a spot and it’s a good thing we got one since the lady nearby was frustrated that the folks in the front weren’t sitting down at the time of the launch. The shuttle packs a powerful punch, and from where we were (about 11 miles away), the sound was pretty incredible. It was delayed about 50 seconds because of the distance, but still pretty neat. Levi took a pretty neat picture that I have placed to the right. In fact, he actually snapped a picture when the booster rockets came off, which was totally unplanned. We met with a family from our church in Winchester so it was nice to share the experience with someone we knew. After the launch we just chilled out at the campground and spent some time in the pool.
Monday, October 22, 2007
On the road again!
Sunday, October 21
After 14,022 miles and 106 days on the road we spend the last 6 days at our house in Berryville. We caught up on weeding our flowerbeds, doing laundry, cleaning the RV, and having fun. However, today brought a new direction. We headed out once again on our adventure, so I’ll call today day 107. Today was a long driving day as we covered about 450 miles and made it to southern South Carolina. For our 106 day trip, I can’t think of one significant item we forgot. However, for this 7 day trip, we have managed to forget some important items. First and foremost is baby wipes. Nobody should go on any roadtrip without babywipes regardless of whether or not you have someone in diapers. Just think of the hassle years ago when people had to carry water and papertowels and make their own wipes on an as needed basis. The second item we forgot was towels. We discovered this as the kids were going to the pool tonight at the campground. It might make showering interesting tomorrow…… I told Bailey that she may not want to go to the pool because she wouldn’t have a towel. Her comment was, "I’ll just dry off in the sun". That was only made funny by the fact that it was 8 pm at night and the sun had gone down over an hour earlier. The third item we forgot is Bailey’s baby doll. You see, we carried that baby doll with us all across the US and it provided needed comfort each night. However, Bailey was sad tonight to learn that her favorite baby doll is sleeping at our yellow house (Bailey’s term for our fixed home-the one on the concrete pad). Tomorrow we’ll travel to Titusville, Florida, which is our home base for the Space Shuttle launch. By the way, at least one family took us up on joining us down for the shuttle launch and possibly a second family that resides in Florida that we meant in Maine. Oh, I almost forgot. One noteworthy event for the day was listening to a Bill Cosby cd that we picked up from Sheri’s Dad’s collection. I almost had to pull over I was laughing so much. The whole family was laughing like crazy at his comedy sketches.
After 14,022 miles and 106 days on the road we spend the last 6 days at our house in Berryville. We caught up on weeding our flowerbeds, doing laundry, cleaning the RV, and having fun. However, today brought a new direction. We headed out once again on our adventure, so I’ll call today day 107. Today was a long driving day as we covered about 450 miles and made it to southern South Carolina. For our 106 day trip, I can’t think of one significant item we forgot. However, for this 7 day trip, we have managed to forget some important items. First and foremost is baby wipes. Nobody should go on any roadtrip without babywipes regardless of whether or not you have someone in diapers. Just think of the hassle years ago when people had to carry water and papertowels and make their own wipes on an as needed basis. The second item we forgot was towels. We discovered this as the kids were going to the pool tonight at the campground. It might make showering interesting tomorrow…… I told Bailey that she may not want to go to the pool because she wouldn’t have a towel. Her comment was, "I’ll just dry off in the sun". That was only made funny by the fact that it was 8 pm at night and the sun had gone down over an hour earlier. The third item we forgot is Bailey’s baby doll. You see, we carried that baby doll with us all across the US and it provided needed comfort each night. However, Bailey was sad tonight to learn that her favorite baby doll is sleeping at our yellow house (Bailey’s term for our fixed home-the one on the concrete pad). Tomorrow we’ll travel to Titusville, Florida, which is our home base for the Space Shuttle launch. By the way, at least one family took us up on joining us down for the shuttle launch and possibly a second family that resides in Florida that we meant in Maine. Oh, I almost forgot. One noteworthy event for the day was listening to a Bill Cosby cd that we picked up from Sheri’s Dad’s collection. I almost had to pull over I was laughing so much. The whole family was laughing like crazy at his comedy sketches.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
HOME! ........for a week
Sunday, October 14
After over 14,000 miles we docked at the home base today. We decided to make a stop near Christiansburg to see the McClennahans, who used to live in Berryville. After a 3 hour visit with them we headed home and arrived at 10 pm. To the kids, it was like Christmas morning. They were so excited to see their rooms and toys they had forgotten they had. Bailey was the cutest as her room was like a new place to her. The kids were so hyped up, we couldn’t get them to bed until 11:30. Brandon and Seth were the two kids that couldn’t wait to get their own bed. However, when they realized how far away from Mom and Dad they would be they both asked if they could sleep together. Bailey also had trouble. For 4 months she went to bed seeing Mom and Dad and having a brother by her side. To sleep by herself was scary. However, everyone did just fine. This week we are taking it easy and getting some chores done around the house. Next Sunday we leave for Cape Canaveral to see the shuttle launch!
After over 14,000 miles we docked at the home base today. We decided to make a stop near Christiansburg to see the McClennahans, who used to live in Berryville. After a 3 hour visit with them we headed home and arrived at 10 pm. To the kids, it was like Christmas morning. They were so excited to see their rooms and toys they had forgotten they had. Bailey was the cutest as her room was like a new place to her. The kids were so hyped up, we couldn’t get them to bed until 11:30. Brandon and Seth were the two kids that couldn’t wait to get their own bed. However, when they realized how far away from Mom and Dad they would be they both asked if they could sleep together. Bailey also had trouble. For 4 months she went to bed seeing Mom and Dad and having a brother by her side. To sleep by herself was scary. However, everyone did just fine. This week we are taking it easy and getting some chores done around the house. Next Sunday we leave for Cape Canaveral to see the shuttle launch!
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Visting Family and Friends as We Return
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Today was a day for visiting my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle Dan (my Dad’s brother) played football in college so we took the opportunity to play football with kids. Seth and my Uncle played against me and Levi. Brandon was on whichever team had the ball. Unfortunately Levi and I lost. But we did have a ton of fun playing. All three kids made plays, but Brandon surprised me as he caught and threw the ball several times. We also made a visit to my Aunt’s father (no direct relation to me) who lives four houses away. He tells a great story of escaping Hungary during the 1950s when the Russians were invading the country. The day before they were going to cross the bridge into Austria, it was blown up. In order to cross the river he gathered some wood and made a makeshift raft, which allowed he, his wife, and his 2-year old daughter to pass into Austria. Eventually, they made it to the US, where my aunt was born. As any surrogate grandparent would do, he gave the kids plenty of candy. Seth also enjoyed a chess match with "PaPa". Tonight is our last night in the RV as we will be back home tomorrow…….until we take off for Florida to see the space shuttle launch in one week!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Day 104. Today was the longest driving day so far on our trip at 7 hours. We drove from Prattville to Charlotte. We are so close to home that we decided to push a little more to get there by Sunday. However, we reserved Saturday for meeting with my Aunt and Uncle and tonight we met up with Sheri’s best friend from Elementary school, both of whom live in the Charlotte area.
Thursday, October 11
We made our way from the beaches of Florida to Prattville, Alabama today. My first two years of employment after college were for International Paper in Selma, Alabama. We lived in Prattville and I commuted each day. Levi spent the first two years of his life down here and Seth was born in a hospital in Montgomery, which is only 15 minutes from Prattville. We drove by our old house and church and then spent the evening with some friends that we have stayed in touch with. They have two boys that are the same age as our kids, so much fun was had.
Wednesday, October 10
Today was nice because it was a shark-free day. We spent about 2 hours at the beach this morning and despite yesterday’s scare, Levi wasn’t afraid to go in the water. I, on the other hand, did nothing but scan the water the entire time. It really takes the fun out of the ocean.
After playing at the beach we spent the afternoon/evening with a family that had lived in Winchester, Virginia in 2000-2002. They moved down to Fort Walton Beach because the husband re-joined the Air Force. Unfortunately, he went to Iraq and died in a plane crash. We had a great visit with fhe family (wife, 2 boys and a girl). The kids played well together. I think it was best summed up by their 10 year old son who stated, "I’m having fun playing with friends I didn’t even know I had".
Today was a day for visiting my Aunt and Uncle. My Uncle Dan (my Dad’s brother) played football in college so we took the opportunity to play football with kids. Seth and my Uncle played against me and Levi. Brandon was on whichever team had the ball. Unfortunately Levi and I lost. But we did have a ton of fun playing. All three kids made plays, but Brandon surprised me as he caught and threw the ball several times. We also made a visit to my Aunt’s father (no direct relation to me) who lives four houses away. He tells a great story of escaping Hungary during the 1950s when the Russians were invading the country. The day before they were going to cross the bridge into Austria, it was blown up. In order to cross the river he gathered some wood and made a makeshift raft, which allowed he, his wife, and his 2-year old daughter to pass into Austria. Eventually, they made it to the US, where my aunt was born. As any surrogate grandparent would do, he gave the kids plenty of candy. Seth also enjoyed a chess match with "PaPa". Tonight is our last night in the RV as we will be back home tomorrow…….until we take off for Florida to see the space shuttle launch in one week!
Friday, October 12, 2007
Day 104. Today was the longest driving day so far on our trip at 7 hours. We drove from Prattville to Charlotte. We are so close to home that we decided to push a little more to get there by Sunday. However, we reserved Saturday for meeting with my Aunt and Uncle and tonight we met up with Sheri’s best friend from Elementary school, both of whom live in the Charlotte area.
Thursday, October 11
We made our way from the beaches of Florida to Prattville, Alabama today. My first two years of employment after college were for International Paper in Selma, Alabama. We lived in Prattville and I commuted each day. Levi spent the first two years of his life down here and Seth was born in a hospital in Montgomery, which is only 15 minutes from Prattville. We drove by our old house and church and then spent the evening with some friends that we have stayed in touch with. They have two boys that are the same age as our kids, so much fun was had.
Wednesday, October 10
Today was nice because it was a shark-free day. We spent about 2 hours at the beach this morning and despite yesterday’s scare, Levi wasn’t afraid to go in the water. I, on the other hand, did nothing but scan the water the entire time. It really takes the fun out of the ocean.
After playing at the beach we spent the afternoon/evening with a family that had lived in Winchester, Virginia in 2000-2002. They moved down to Fort Walton Beach because the husband re-joined the Air Force. Unfortunately, he went to Iraq and died in a plane crash. We had a great visit with fhe family (wife, 2 boys and a girl). The kids played well together. I think it was best summed up by their 10 year old son who stated, "I’m having fun playing with friends I didn’t even know I had".
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
Shark Bait in Destin Florida
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
2:30 am I awaken. An unusual event. The entire trip I typically wake up around 5 am but fall asleep again quickly and wake up with the rest of the family around 7 am or so. Not today. I tossed and turned for an hour before finally deciding that enough is enough. If I was up, I might as well do something. So I unhooked the RV and got on the road at 4 am (leaving New Orleans). I had only done this once before and I think it was more like 6 am. Waking up early turned out to be really beneficial because we were able to arrive at Destin, Florida by 10 am. Casting aside some problems finding an RV place (really the first time that has happened), we were at the beach by 12:30 pm. Destin beach is beautiful and the water is clear and of an aqua blue color. I’d almost say it is the perfect beach….except for the sharks. As we arrived onto the beach today folks promptly told us to be very cautious as 9 sharks had been sighted. After talking to some locals I discovered that bull sharks have been pretty aggressive in the last several years in the fall months. I watched the water like a hawk as the kids played around me for 3 hours. We didn’t enter the water more than 15 feet from the shore and I could see the bottom the entire time. After 2-3 hours of fun, I decided to leave and take Seth, Brandon, and Bailey to the pool and Sheri and Levi decided to stay back and play in the ocean some more. I had told Levi before leaving that I kind of wanted to see a shark from a distance. Sheri and Levi were out in about knee depth water and a shark (about 6 feet long) swam within 10 feet of them in water about waist deep. Thankfully, he wasn’t hunting them, or they probably would have been struck. Within minutes (after all the folks around had exited the beach) another one came in the same location. I never would have thought sharks would have swam in such shallow water, but a local gentleman had told me they are frequently spotted in 3 feet of water. For that reason, today goes down in the Mayo family history as one of the most frightening day of Sheri’s and Levi’s lives. I’m not sure we will enter the water tomorrow, but sand castle building is in order…….Oh, I’ve got to update some mileage. We entered Louisiana at 12,425 on Sunday. Today we entered Mississippi at 12,700, Alabama at 12,775, and Florida at 12,839.
2:30 am I awaken. An unusual event. The entire trip I typically wake up around 5 am but fall asleep again quickly and wake up with the rest of the family around 7 am or so. Not today. I tossed and turned for an hour before finally deciding that enough is enough. If I was up, I might as well do something. So I unhooked the RV and got on the road at 4 am (leaving New Orleans). I had only done this once before and I think it was more like 6 am. Waking up early turned out to be really beneficial because we were able to arrive at Destin, Florida by 10 am. Casting aside some problems finding an RV place (really the first time that has happened), we were at the beach by 12:30 pm. Destin beach is beautiful and the water is clear and of an aqua blue color. I’d almost say it is the perfect beach….except for the sharks. As we arrived onto the beach today folks promptly told us to be very cautious as 9 sharks had been sighted. After talking to some locals I discovered that bull sharks have been pretty aggressive in the last several years in the fall months. I watched the water like a hawk as the kids played around me for 3 hours. We didn’t enter the water more than 15 feet from the shore and I could see the bottom the entire time. After 2-3 hours of fun, I decided to leave and take Seth, Brandon, and Bailey to the pool and Sheri and Levi decided to stay back and play in the ocean some more. I had told Levi before leaving that I kind of wanted to see a shark from a distance. Sheri and Levi were out in about knee depth water and a shark (about 6 feet long) swam within 10 feet of them in water about waist deep. Thankfully, he wasn’t hunting them, or they probably would have been struck. Within minutes (after all the folks around had exited the beach) another one came in the same location. I never would have thought sharks would have swam in such shallow water, but a local gentleman had told me they are frequently spotted in 3 feet of water. For that reason, today goes down in the Mayo family history as one of the most frightening day of Sheri’s and Levi’s lives. I’m not sure we will enter the water tomorrow, but sand castle building is in order…….Oh, I’ve got to update some mileage. We entered Louisiana at 12,425 on Sunday. Today we entered Mississippi at 12,700, Alabama at 12,775, and Florida at 12,839.
Monday, October 8, 2007
New Orleans
Monday, October 08, 2007
Day 100!! Today we traveled to New Orleans from our campground. The campground offers a free shuttle service to Jackson Square. Even better, the shuttle driver (a KOA employee) has trained as a tour guide and gave us a great tour both coming and going (he took different routes). He even stated that it would be useless to do the Grayline City Tour because he was taking us on most of the route. Today marked the first day of our entire trip where rain actually got in the way of our activities. The locals tell us that the rain this time of year is typically a brief shower, but today was a soaker. We were somewhat fortunate because we took a 3 hour Grayline tour of the Hurricane affected area during the heaviest rains so we were in a bus for most of the soaker. We saw some pretty depressing sights. The driver was a New Orleans native who lost her house in the floods and gave us some first hand stories of what happened during Hurricane Katrina. We drove through neighborhoods where every house was still unoccupied. Spray paint still marked the house from the first responders who searched each one. Most news clips showed the lower income neighborhoods that were destroyed, but we even saw some wealthy neighborhoods that are still unoccupied.
There are still trailers in lots throughout the town and many of the homes had trailers parked in front of them. Even the KOA we are staying at, which was not in the flooded area and about 15 miles from downtown, has about half of its sites occupied with FEMA trailers. The sight that I will remember the most is the view from the bus as we went from the neighborhoods over the canals. You have to drive up over the water level. You look back and clearly see the neighborhood significantly lower than the water level in the channels. Living in a bowl below the surrounding water level seems risky to me. On the other hand, it worked for many years.
Sunday, October 7
Today we traveled from Houston to New Orleans. We arrived at the campground early enough to enjoy swimming in the heat of the day. Poor Seth has been a little bummed out today. We purchased him a new pair of shoes at Wal-Mart a week ago because his shoes were simply worn out. However, while playing at the indoor Martian play area at the space center some kid mistakenly took his new shoes and left him some pretty poor replacement shoes. To make matters worse we had placed Seth’s second pair of shoes (not the worn out ones) outside overnight to dry. The rain soaked them. Another reminder that we aren’t in the desert anymore.
Day 100!! Today we traveled to New Orleans from our campground. The campground offers a free shuttle service to Jackson Square. Even better, the shuttle driver (a KOA employee) has trained as a tour guide and gave us a great tour both coming and going (he took different routes). He even stated that it would be useless to do the Grayline City Tour because he was taking us on most of the route. Today marked the first day of our entire trip where rain actually got in the way of our activities. The locals tell us that the rain this time of year is typically a brief shower, but today was a soaker. We were somewhat fortunate because we took a 3 hour Grayline tour of the Hurricane affected area during the heaviest rains so we were in a bus for most of the soaker. We saw some pretty depressing sights. The driver was a New Orleans native who lost her house in the floods and gave us some first hand stories of what happened during Hurricane Katrina. We drove through neighborhoods where every house was still unoccupied. Spray paint still marked the house from the first responders who searched each one. Most news clips showed the lower income neighborhoods that were destroyed, but we even saw some wealthy neighborhoods that are still unoccupied.
There are still trailers in lots throughout the town and many of the homes had trailers parked in front of them. Even the KOA we are staying at, which was not in the flooded area and about 15 miles from downtown, has about half of its sites occupied with FEMA trailers. The sight that I will remember the most is the view from the bus as we went from the neighborhoods over the canals. You have to drive up over the water level. You look back and clearly see the neighborhood significantly lower than the water level in the channels. Living in a bowl below the surrounding water level seems risky to me. On the other hand, it worked for many years.
Sunday, October 7
Today we traveled from Houston to New Orleans. We arrived at the campground early enough to enjoy swimming in the heat of the day. Poor Seth has been a little bummed out today. We purchased him a new pair of shoes at Wal-Mart a week ago because his shoes were simply worn out. However, while playing at the indoor Martian play area at the space center some kid mistakenly took his new shoes and left him some pretty poor replacement shoes. To make matters worse we had placed Seth’s second pair of shoes (not the worn out ones) outside overnight to dry. The rain soaked them. Another reminder that we aren’t in the desert anymore.
Saturday, October 6, 2007
Houston Space Center
Saturday, October 6, 2007
While I travel to Houston quite a bit for work, I don’t take the time to see the sights. The Houston Space Center is one that I’ve always thought would be fun to see. Today, that desire was fulfilled. The Johnson Space Center is quite large with many different buildings. They have a tour that allows access to the control center for the shuttle missions and a spaceship mock-up building where they have life size models that the astronauts use for training. Did you know that NASA plans to send more folks to the moon by 2020? They plan on putting a space station there to explore long term life studies in preparation for putting astronauts on mars by 2030. They mentioned on the tour that kids ages 3-20 are the age group that will likely be setting foot on mars. Scary to think that our kids will be the ones with that responsibility!
We learned something neat today….The Space Shuttle is launching on October 23 at Kennedy Space Center. I saw the shuttle launch when I was a kid and it is something unforgettable. I have told Sheri that one of my goals for the family was to let the kids see a launch before the shuttle retires in 2010. With the sabbatical, brings spontaneous opportunities. Sheri and I are seriously considering returning to Berryville for a week and then taking a trip to Florida for the launch. If any of you are interested in joining us, we think a caravan road trip is order. I know most of you have to work, but for those who aren’t, feel free to join us.
Friday, October 5
Day 97 – We drove from San Antonio to Houston today. Not really much to say about the trip. The Houston KOA will be remembered by the significant precipitation they received while we were there. I travel enough to Houston to know that they can get some good rain showers and this was nothing out of the ordinary. However, we had become acclimated to the desert climate….. Sheri and I think that the last time we saw rain was in California. People keep asking us if we are excited or looking forward to coming home. Sheri and I have discussed this. On one hand, we enjoy being on the road and seeing places that we never have. On the other hand, it will be nice to have space again. The kids are looking forward to being in their own beds. I won’t have to connect to electricity, water, and sewer every day, so that’ll be nice. Going home signifies one more thing… returning to work. I personally have enjoyed the time with the family. One cannot possibly live life as we have, except perhaps in retirement. I’ve got many years before that can happen, so I must return to work. While I enjoy my job, there is certainly much less stress living the life we have lived for the last 3 months. So returning home has less to look forward to than one might think.
While I travel to Houston quite a bit for work, I don’t take the time to see the sights. The Houston Space Center is one that I’ve always thought would be fun to see. Today, that desire was fulfilled. The Johnson Space Center is quite large with many different buildings. They have a tour that allows access to the control center for the shuttle missions and a spaceship mock-up building where they have life size models that the astronauts use for training. Did you know that NASA plans to send more folks to the moon by 2020? They plan on putting a space station there to explore long term life studies in preparation for putting astronauts on mars by 2030. They mentioned on the tour that kids ages 3-20 are the age group that will likely be setting foot on mars. Scary to think that our kids will be the ones with that responsibility!
We learned something neat today….The Space Shuttle is launching on October 23 at Kennedy Space Center. I saw the shuttle launch when I was a kid and it is something unforgettable. I have told Sheri that one of my goals for the family was to let the kids see a launch before the shuttle retires in 2010. With the sabbatical, brings spontaneous opportunities. Sheri and I are seriously considering returning to Berryville for a week and then taking a trip to Florida for the launch. If any of you are interested in joining us, we think a caravan road trip is order. I know most of you have to work, but for those who aren’t, feel free to join us.
Friday, October 5
Day 97 – We drove from San Antonio to Houston today. Not really much to say about the trip. The Houston KOA will be remembered by the significant precipitation they received while we were there. I travel enough to Houston to know that they can get some good rain showers and this was nothing out of the ordinary. However, we had become acclimated to the desert climate….. Sheri and I think that the last time we saw rain was in California. People keep asking us if we are excited or looking forward to coming home. Sheri and I have discussed this. On one hand, we enjoy being on the road and seeing places that we never have. On the other hand, it will be nice to have space again. The kids are looking forward to being in their own beds. I won’t have to connect to electricity, water, and sewer every day, so that’ll be nice. Going home signifies one more thing… returning to work. I personally have enjoyed the time with the family. One cannot possibly live life as we have, except perhaps in retirement. I’ve got many years before that can happen, so I must return to work. While I enjoy my job, there is certainly much less stress living the life we have lived for the last 3 months. So returning home has less to look forward to than one might think.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
San Antonio, Texas : Days 94 - 96
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Day 96 - We had a fun day in San Antonio today. Good old RV got a rest as we used the public bus system accessible at the KOA campground. Our first stop was the Alamo, an impressive landmark and historical story. Although the 200 Texas fighters lost the battle and every man was killed in battle or killed as a captive, the story serves as a reminder of courage and sacrifice for freedom. Ultimately, the Mexican army was defeated in another battle (or I might be in a northern province of Mexico at this time). From the Alamo we went to an IMAX presentation of the story. Then we went to San Antonio’s "El Mercado", which is supposed to be the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico. I’ve been to the Mexican markets in Mexico and this one doesn’t really rival them. The Mexican markets operate on a barter system. These shops all had prices marked and haggling wasn’t accepted. After the marketplace, we went to the riverwalk and took a little boat tour down the river. If you are ever in downtown San Antonio, you should see the riverwalk, although it would be okay if you missed the river tour. Today marks the first day we have forgotten to take our camera. We did purchase a disposable so we will have a lasting imprint of our face in front of the Alamo, but I won’t be able to post them for a while.
Wednesday, October 3
Today we drove to San Antonio. Not much to write about since the trip was about 5.5 hours. We did arrive with enough time to play in the pool upon our arrival. I must say that this trip has afforded more hours in the pool in a 4 month period than in any other time in the kids' lives. Brandon and Bailey have showed remarkable improvement in the water, particularly Brandon.
Tuesday, October 2
Today we decided to get the RV’s antifreeze leak fixed. It turned out to be a pleasant experience. The Ford dealer drove me back to the campground and we spent the day swimming in the pool. After the repair was made (around 3:30), we drove to Fort Stockton, about 2.5 hours away. West Texas was another reminder of the vast open desert. There is so little traffic out here they post a 80 mile per hour speed limit. No worries, I don’t take the RV that fast. At about 78 mph, the RV starts to rattle and I think that is a precursor to the rear axle dislodging itself. The loss of the rear axle is not worth the extra speed.
Day 96 - We had a fun day in San Antonio today. Good old RV got a rest as we used the public bus system accessible at the KOA campground. Our first stop was the Alamo, an impressive landmark and historical story. Although the 200 Texas fighters lost the battle and every man was killed in battle or killed as a captive, the story serves as a reminder of courage and sacrifice for freedom. Ultimately, the Mexican army was defeated in another battle (or I might be in a northern province of Mexico at this time). From the Alamo we went to an IMAX presentation of the story. Then we went to San Antonio’s "El Mercado", which is supposed to be the largest Mexican market outside of Mexico. I’ve been to the Mexican markets in Mexico and this one doesn’t really rival them. The Mexican markets operate on a barter system. These shops all had prices marked and haggling wasn’t accepted. After the marketplace, we went to the riverwalk and took a little boat tour down the river. If you are ever in downtown San Antonio, you should see the riverwalk, although it would be okay if you missed the river tour. Today marks the first day we have forgotten to take our camera. We did purchase a disposable so we will have a lasting imprint of our face in front of the Alamo, but I won’t be able to post them for a while.
Wednesday, October 3
Today we drove to San Antonio. Not much to write about since the trip was about 5.5 hours. We did arrive with enough time to play in the pool upon our arrival. I must say that this trip has afforded more hours in the pool in a 4 month period than in any other time in the kids' lives. Brandon and Bailey have showed remarkable improvement in the water, particularly Brandon.
Tuesday, October 2
Today we decided to get the RV’s antifreeze leak fixed. It turned out to be a pleasant experience. The Ford dealer drove me back to the campground and we spent the day swimming in the pool. After the repair was made (around 3:30), we drove to Fort Stockton, about 2.5 hours away. West Texas was another reminder of the vast open desert. There is so little traffic out here they post a 80 mile per hour speed limit. No worries, I don’t take the RV that fast. At about 78 mph, the RV starts to rattle and I think that is a precursor to the rear axle dislodging itself. The loss of the rear axle is not worth the extra speed.
Tuesday, October 2, 2007
Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico
Monday, October 01, 2007
Today was dedicated to visiting Carlsbad Caverns National Park. However, prior to reaching that location, I stopped by the Carlsbad Ford dealership to get their opinion of my leaking antifreeze problem. They agreed that it looked like the water pump was leaking. I scheduled it to get fixed on Tuesday because they didn’t have the part on-site. It had to be shipped in from Albuquerque. So tomorrow will be a day of getting the engine fixed. Carlsbad Caverns was a great experience. For all of you Virginians, if you have been to Luray Caverns it has some similarities but some major differences. The cave is huge and deep. If you enter the natural entrance, you walk about 1 mile down a twisty trail that descends 880 feet. The bottom has something they call the "Big Room", which is the largest cave room in the western hemisphere. People don’t come to Carlsbad for just the cave, they come for the bats. The cave is home to a colony of 300,000+ mexican free tail bats. These bats exit the cave each evening and it looks like a cloud of black dots rising into the sky. We couldn’t take pictures because the camera equipment messes with them, but trust me, it is a sight to see. The bats exit at about 5,000 per minute and they don’t stop for over an hour. If you do decide to see the bats be sure to find out if they are around. The bats migrate to Mexico in the winter (mid-October), we almost missed them ourselves. I hear that the real treat is watching the bats descend back into the cave in the early morning hours. Neat fact for the day: in the 1920s folks made good money hauling bat poop (guano) out of the cave for fertilizer. They estimated that they recovered 100,000 tons of it. Personally, I don’t know how the bats could stand it. You’d think the pile would reach the ceiling eventually.
Sunday, September 30
Today we migrated to Carlsbad. Once again, we traveled over some very uninhabited areas of New Mexico. The kids were excited to arrive at the KOA and enjoy the pool. Bailey has really improved her swimming with the assistance of her flotation device. Today had a roadrunner sighting which was our wildlife encounter for the day. We wrapped up the day with marshmallow roasting.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Today was really a travel day and not much more. We went to WalMart to stock up on some things, particularly antifreeze. The old RV has still got a small leak. However, in the 4 hours of driving today, it only lost about 1 quart of antifreeze. Since tomorrow is Sunday, we are planning to drive to Carlsbad and get it fixed there. I think I have observed it leaking from the water pump, Sheri’s brother suspects a seal has cracked. We drove from Durango, Colorado to Albequerque. Along the way we hit some of the worst winds we have seen. It was so bad it unrolled our awning while we were driving and without the awning coming out. Thankfully a local gentleman and his wife stopped and helped us. I’m not sure we could have fixed it without his help. We entered NM at mile 11,029.
Today was dedicated to visiting Carlsbad Caverns National Park. However, prior to reaching that location, I stopped by the Carlsbad Ford dealership to get their opinion of my leaking antifreeze problem. They agreed that it looked like the water pump was leaking. I scheduled it to get fixed on Tuesday because they didn’t have the part on-site. It had to be shipped in from Albuquerque. So tomorrow will be a day of getting the engine fixed. Carlsbad Caverns was a great experience. For all of you Virginians, if you have been to Luray Caverns it has some similarities but some major differences. The cave is huge and deep. If you enter the natural entrance, you walk about 1 mile down a twisty trail that descends 880 feet. The bottom has something they call the "Big Room", which is the largest cave room in the western hemisphere. People don’t come to Carlsbad for just the cave, they come for the bats. The cave is home to a colony of 300,000+ mexican free tail bats. These bats exit the cave each evening and it looks like a cloud of black dots rising into the sky. We couldn’t take pictures because the camera equipment messes with them, but trust me, it is a sight to see. The bats exit at about 5,000 per minute and they don’t stop for over an hour. If you do decide to see the bats be sure to find out if they are around. The bats migrate to Mexico in the winter (mid-October), we almost missed them ourselves. I hear that the real treat is watching the bats descend back into the cave in the early morning hours. Neat fact for the day: in the 1920s folks made good money hauling bat poop (guano) out of the cave for fertilizer. They estimated that they recovered 100,000 tons of it. Personally, I don’t know how the bats could stand it. You’d think the pile would reach the ceiling eventually.
Sunday, September 30
Today we migrated to Carlsbad. Once again, we traveled over some very uninhabited areas of New Mexico. The kids were excited to arrive at the KOA and enjoy the pool. Bailey has really improved her swimming with the assistance of her flotation device. Today had a roadrunner sighting which was our wildlife encounter for the day. We wrapped up the day with marshmallow roasting.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Today was really a travel day and not much more. We went to WalMart to stock up on some things, particularly antifreeze. The old RV has still got a small leak. However, in the 4 hours of driving today, it only lost about 1 quart of antifreeze. Since tomorrow is Sunday, we are planning to drive to Carlsbad and get it fixed there. I think I have observed it leaking from the water pump, Sheri’s brother suspects a seal has cracked. We drove from Durango, Colorado to Albequerque. Along the way we hit some of the worst winds we have seen. It was so bad it unrolled our awning while we were driving and without the awning coming out. Thankfully a local gentleman and his wife stopped and helped us. I’m not sure we could have fixed it without his help. We entered NM at mile 11,029.
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