We left Gulf Shores, AL the morning of December 8th with our good buddies, Tim & Trish. Our first stop was to the Stennis Space Center at the MS/LA border to tour the base and museum. Very interesting exhibits about the space mission. Unbeknownst to us, we discovered that evening that John Glenn had passed away that day.
After a couple nights in New Orleans, we arrived in TX ready to start a few sightseeing adventures. The first one, on Dec. 12th, was to tour the Natural Bridge Caverns in San Antonio.
We always say it's great to travel with friends, which really proved its point on Dec. 13th when the Mather's called us on their walkie-talkie that they had to pull over to change a truck tire. Tom walked "all the way back there" (wink, wink SVC!) to help out. Thank God it wasn't a blow-out as Tom and I have had a one of those and they're not fun. Then, on the 14th, Tim calls us again on the walkie-talkie to let us know our stabilizer is hanging out on the right side of our rig. Good grief! He and Tom braced it up so we could get back on the road.
If you ever get a chance, the Carlsbad Caverns, in southern New Mexico, are really something to see. We took a tour on Dec. 14th, with an interesting guide taking us through this huge cavern that actually has over 100 caves deep down into the bowels of the earth along this Chihuahuan Desert.
On the 15th, we spent the night in Ft. Davis, TX to go see the Marfa Lights. What a bust! After planning around this stop to see the eerie dancing lights, and not finding them, Tom discovered that there's really only a few times a year that you can actually see this mysterious phenomenon. But, the stars, Milky Way, etc. were absolutely beautiful, so not a total waste of time.
OK, Pat. Remember how you and I were white-knuckled going through Beartooth Pass? Well, we experienced another harrowing road on Dec. 16th when heading down to Big Bend National Park TX. The GPS (love her most of the time) took us on a road from Prescott to Terlingua with a 15% downward grade. Thank God Tom was driving as I never would've made it. Lots of praying through the narrow winding up and down road. That 15% grade made me sweat and hold on for dear life. Found out later that, if we'd gone the alternate route the GPS would've taken us, it was a much better road. Go figure, huh?
Anyway, Big Bend NP was a neat place to check out, along with the Ghost Town of Terlingua. However, this is 1 of those places where I'd say "Been there, done that", so don't feel the urge to go back. Behind us on the left is Mexico and on the right is USA.
On Dec. 19th, we stayed at a beautiful State Park called Hueco Tanks in El Paso that is known for its depressions that hold water and petroglyphs. They have had trouble with vandalism so they only allow 70 people a day access to the 1 of the areas with the petroglyphs, the other 2 areas are by guides only. Then moved over to Silver City NM for a couple days. It has a neat little historical downtown with museums, restaurants and lots of artsy stores. However the original main street is known as 'the Big Ditch' because a flood destroyed it and is now about 20 feet below the rest of the town.
Spent Dec. 22-25 in Tucson and had fun exploring the Titan Missile Museum,
Arrived in Yuma AZ on Dec. 26th as a hold-over until settling in at the Casa Grande RV Resort on January 1, 2017. This was the first time we've missed Kenley's birthday on the 27th, but we were able to call and sing Happy Birthday to her. On Dec. 28th, we crossed the border into Los Algodones Mexico and Tom found his new "red" stained glass window.
