Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 12-13

Day 12 Pagosa Springs to Moab Log 205 Miles, 2610 Miles Total


Today we move from the higher altitudes of the San Juan mountains to the lower more arid area of Moab Utah.  We warm up considerably.  Our stay for the next couple of days is the OK RV Park located next to the Canyon Land Stables and Arena.  This is a neatly maintained oasis which we rate high.

Day 13 Jeep Roads Moah Utah

We spend the day crawling over rocks in our jeep.  Our first off road trail was the Gemini Bridges road.  This road goes up to the end of Bull Canyon, which is between Moab and the North access to Canyon Lands National Park.  As you may have guessed, the road goes to the two natural bridges named Gemini.  Bridges are similar to Arches, but formed somewhat differently.

After driving through Dead Horse Point State Park and Canyon Lands National Park, we find another jeep road that promises to be an exciting short cut back to Moab.  Short yes, quicker no.  Our road is named the Long Canyon Trail or Pucker Point Road.
We quickly find out why it is so named.

Traveling from West to East this road goes down into the canyon with steep walls on each side of you.  We encounter a spot where a gigantic fallen boulder makes an arch over the road.  Believing that the trikes would not clear, we lower the rack until we pass through.

As we arrive back in Moab, Willie spots what she thinks is a C-Dory boat behind a motel on a trailer.  I turn around to check it out because we may know them as they are a close knit group.  When I see it, it is actually a Ranger Tug.  We drive up to it and find that it is "Gabriella" owned by a neighbor of ours from Port Isabel.  Small World.

Many more exciting pictures of our adventures today are found here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Grand Tour Summer 2010 Day 10-11

Day 10 Angel Fire NM to Pagosa Springs CO Log 175 Miles, 2405 Total

Before leaving Angel Fire, we missed the best photo of the trip.  This little rabbit came hopping down the road while Jake was tethered outside.  He spotted Jake and stopped for a closer look.  Then the rabbit ventured even closer until he and Jake were nose to nose about 6 foot apart.  Willie was struggling to get the shot from inside the coach.  Not successful.  Jake merely sat looking at the rabbit without moving or getting up from the position you see in the next picture.
 

We must have disturbed the rabbit as he broke and ran, then Jake jumped up and acted like he was going to chase him.  Hilarious, but then I guess you just had to be there to appreciate it.

Here is a shot of the Rio Grande from the Royal George Bridge about 6 miles West of Taos.  Hard to believe that this river makes it all the way to Brownsville, Texas.  We have enjoyed crossing it several times on our trip.



We end our day at the Happy Camper RV Park just West of Pagosa Springs.  Our Passport rate makes us very happy campers.

Day 11 Pagosa Springs

We spend our day enjoying the sights, sites, scents and flavors of Pagosa Springs.  Pagosa Springs has built a very nice park and walk path along the San Juan River.  We took full advantage of it.



Tomorrow we pack up and move on to Moab UT.  More pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Grand Tour Summer 2010 Day 9

Monte Verde RV Camp, Angel Fire New Mexico


Today we treated ourselves to breakfast at Michael's Kitchen in Taos.  A nice drive in the jeep from Angel Fire.  Driving around we pass many shops with lots of trophies that Inez and Myrna could have bagged.  They may disown Willie since she passed them up to have a nap.

Back in Angel Fire, we rest up before returning to the Segar's home for happy hour and spaghetti dinner.  We have really enjoyed our visit here and appreciate them welcoming us into their family for the past two days.  But after two days, it is time to move on.

Tomorrow we break camp and motor on to Pagosa Springs for a couple of days.  Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 8

Raton to Angel Fire New Mexico, Log 74 Miles 2230 Miles Total.


After three nights of boon-docking, we take advantage of the 50 amp service and full hookups.  We do a few loads of laundry and catch up on our other household chores.

The day starts cool and crisp.  What a difference a few thousand feet in altitude makes.  Although not as cool as it will be further up in the mountains, low 50s make for some nice sleeping without running the air conditioner.

Finally around 11AM MDST, we departed for the 74 miles to Angel Fire.  We have been really confused about the time today.  Our cell phones changed automatically, but our atomic clocks needed to be told that they changed time zones.  But what really threw us off was the TV.  Last night we fired up the satellite antenna for the 10PM(??) news.  Which runs on the East cost feeds at 11PM their time. Wilma actually got up and turned the coffee pot on at 4AM because she thought it was 5 and was not set properly.  Anyway we must have gotten enough sleep as we made the day fine.

The drive from Raton to Angel Fire is a very neat fun road that we always enjoyed on the motorcycle.  All I can say is that in the motorhome it is exciting to say the least.  We pass by a campsite in the Cimarron Canyon State Park that we stayed at in a tent.  We laugh about now about the bear that visited us the next morning.  At the time it was plenty exciting also.  We see a great view of the valley and lake at Eagle Nest as we come down the hill.

Arriving in Angel Fire, we pull into the RV park and are shown to a site with great few of the mountains.  Plenty of rough grass for Jake to play and exercise.  After setting up, we go over to our Joe and Pearl's home.  A nice visit and a great dinner with them and several other friends finishes off another great day.

Pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 7

Emporia KS to Raton NM Log 411 Miles, 2042 Miles Total.


After restocking a few supplies at our SuperWally overnight stop, we continue our Westward journey.  Plenty of rain has swollen the rivers and streams to flood stage and beyond in Missouri and other states along the Mississippi River.

Appropriate to the Independence Day weekend, we pass through many "Amber Waves of Grain".

Today we also follow parts of a motorcycle trip taken by Herb and Sam several years ago passing through Dodge City and SE Colorado.  The Cimarron and Comanche National Grasslands are Located in this area.  Pretty wide open spaces.  We see many signs posted along the way stating that this property is  NOT for sale to the Army.  Interesting, wonder what that is all about.  As we travel, the elevation rises to over 3500 feet.  We do not really notice that we are continually climbing.

SE Colorado is pretty desolate, so we motor along a little further than we like.  We gain an hour as we change time zones, so it all works out.  We find a full hookup facility in Raton, NM to catch up on laundry and empty and refill our tanks.

Tomorrow a short day to Angel Fire to visit our friends Joe and Pearl.  As usual more pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 6

St. Louis to SuperWally Emporia KS Log 311 Miles, Total 1596 Miles

We waited at Dwight and Nancy's until Heather arrived with the "Twins".  They are Heather's children.  They got a grand tour of the motor home and had a great time playing with Jake.  Izzy learned quickly how to get Jake to drop his toy.  She threw another toy and of course he could not resist to go retrieve it, dropping his other toy.  She played switch with him until he gathered both together and stood over them.  He does not share his toys....he only likes to show them to you.

We finally hitched up and drove out about 10am.  Heading West on 64 and then 70, we picked out a Super Wal-mart in Emporia KS for our destination for the day.  Arriving there, just before the sky opened up with a downpour.  We have our reserved spot near the garden center against a curb with grass and a line of trees to block the outer street.

Tomorrow we plan about another 300 miles toward Angel Fire.  We will stay somewhere West of Dodge City.  Herb remembers fondly a time on the motorcycle when he and Sam had a great steak in Dodge City on their way to Napa Valley to meet Willie and Inez for an Elderhostel tour.

A link to our tour album is here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 5

A Day with family in St. Louis.

Today was spent with Wilma's brothers family in St. Louis.  We all went down the swim club in their sub-division.  They spend a lot of time there in the summer.  There were games for the kids of all ages and lots of sun.  

Again happy hour on Dwight and Nancy's back patio.  Jake spied a couple of rabbits and then gave chase.  No problem for the rabbits.

A beautiful fireworks display capped off the day.  I left my reading glasses and could not find the correct exposure setting to get proper pictures.  I posted a couple that were a little artsy if not accurate.

Tomorrow we are back on the road again.  Heading West.

More pictures are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Summer 2010 Grand Tour Day 4

Grizzly's RV Park Blytheville Arkansas to St. Louis.  Log 225 Miles, 1221 Miles Total.

Today we checked out two nearby Wal-marts as we scouted out a place to park for a couple of days.  Wilma's brother said we could park in front of his house.  I was a bit leary as we had been there previously and remembered narrow streets and large trees.  But with just a little surgery, we made it work and have a very nice shady spot to enjoy our time with family.

After happy hour we enjoyed a nice rib dinner prepared by our hosts.  After dinner we made plans for the next day.

A link to our photo album for the trip is here.

Grand Tour Summer 2010 Day 1-3

Day 1 we traveled to Georgetown Texas, spending the night at Berry Springs RV Park.  One of the best we have found in a while.  They are across the road from a county park with miles of paved trails and paths for walking or bicycling.  The sites are gravel, but the roads in the RV Park are paved.  Our Passport America rate was $12.50 per night with 50 amp service.

Day 2 we made it to Texarkana and the big Super Wally RV Stop at the corner of US 59 and I-30.  Our nights stay only cost us $16 to stock up on Arizona Diet Green Tea.  I have become addicted to the stuff.  A quiet night as we ran the generator and AC most of the night only turning it off in the early morning.

Day 3.  A beautiful sunrise greeted us through the broken cloud cover in Texarkana.  Today we traveled to Blytheville Arkansas to Grizzly's RV Park.  Nice grassy area for Jake to romp and play.  There are three pull-throughs here.  They were long enough to accommodate us with the jeep and trikes on the back.  Again a $12.50 no surprise Passport America rate with 50 amp service.  Tomorrow we go to St. Louis to visit Wilma's brother.  Hopefully we now can stop evacuating and start touring and vacationing.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Hurricane Alex

Tuesday June 29, 2010
Hwy 77 North of Raymondville

We stopped for breakfast as we evacuate Port Isabel.  We have been preparing to leave early since Thursday.  Willie's Tug is on the trailer in the garage.  Also everything loose is stowed away.  Let 'er blow.  The Port of Brownsville is expecting an 8-12 surge in the ship channel.  I hope they are wrong.  At any rate a lot of rain is coming that will inundate low lying residential areas.  These folks are still recovering from Dolly's rains.

We just started our Trek to the Pacific Northwest a few days earlier than we planned.  We will miss the 4th of July parade and fireworks.  Also the social at the LMYC.  The commodore is furnishing steaks for the event.  Really hate to miss it.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Jake Fell in the Canal

We left Jake home on our last boating adventure.  Yesterday I moved the boat to the trailer to garage it until Alex makes up its mind which way it is going to go.  Jake had determined that he did not like being left behind, so he  followed my friend Jerry and me out to the boat.  As we were boarding, Jake decided he would also.  The boat was swinging on the lift slightly and he slipped down between the boat and the dock.  Luckily it was high tide and I called him over the low dock and pulled him out by the scruff of the neck.  He is pretty salty right now and due a bath.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

LMYC Outing to Arroyo Colorado

June 19-20, 2010

Willie and Walldog loaded up the boat for our first overnight on it.  Jake stayed home.
As usual we packed lots more than we needed and missed a few things we did need.  We motored out of the canal and met 6 sailboats out in the bay in front of Pirate's Landing.  It was really inspiring to watch the beautiful sails working to catch the wind.
We started out in the middle of the group and got passed by two of the boats.  Our little Tug putting along at about 6 to 7 mph was being left behind, but not too far.  Lots of traffic out on the water this Father's Day weekend.  We met a large tug from New Orleans pushing a work barge.  He was moving quite a bit of water and had a couple of dolphins running in front.



As we got to the turn off into the poorly marked channel for the Arroyo Colorado, we saw a sail boat that appeared to be aground.  He was pointed out toward the ICW, so I assumed that he was not with us.  How wrong I was.  It was one of our own.  I will omit telling tales and let him fill you in on the details.  The channel got really shallow on the North side, but once we passed the turn it was nice deep and wide.

Expecting to see a sail boat ahead of us, we continued on to the restaurant, but we arrived first.  Followed shortly by Miles and Arlette on Tenacious.  A bit later Keith arrived on Movnright Sue followed by Rocky and Linda on Night Magic and then Larry and Chrisanne on Tucan .  This rounded out the group and after all were sucured to the docks, we immediately retired to the restaurant for happy hour.

Dinner was great, service excellent for such a large group.  We had quite a few drive down to join us for dinner.  Happy hour and dinner turned into Sundowners on Tucan's spacious cockpit.  A great time was had by all.

On the way home, Willie commented that "next time" we need to arrange the vee berth differently.  I was just glad she did not say "never again".

More pictures can be seen at the album located here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake.

Laguna Madre Yacht Club

Tonight was the monthly social at the Laguna Madre Yacht Club here in Port Isabel.  It started with happy hour at 6 and pot luck salads at 7.  A great time was had by all.  Willie and I are new members and look forward to many other socials in the future.  The Club plans an outing to Arroyo Colorado next week.  We will meet at the causeway and ICW and boat to the Wharf Restaurant in Arroyo City.  We will overnight in the river and return Sunday to Port Isabel.  It will be our first night out on our little Ranger Tug.  Willie is a bit apprehensive.  This is from someone who traveled across the country on a motorcycle with a tent.  At least we have a comfortable berth and a cabin in which to sleep.  No shower and how to make coffee is still being considered.
July 4th a boat parade is planned to go up the beach and return to the bay for the spectacular fireworks display.

Walldog, Willie, and Jake (stayed home)

Another Day in Paradise

We spent most of the day out on the water of the beautiful Laguna Madre.  We took a picnic lunch and anchored out in Barracuda Cove, watching the boat traffic and families out for the day on Boca Chica beach.  A pleasant day.  On the way home we topped off our diesel, took 2.8 gallons.  We have been out on the bay at least 4 times for this amount....$7.03 at $2.45 per gallon.  We do not go fast, but we go for little dollars.

The Admiral took the helm for a while:

Jake the boat dog watching for dolphins:

These were taken with my Droid...as we forgot the chip for the real camera, not too bad.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Boat ride with Jake

Walldog and Jake took a ride today to check out the installation of the cut down mast.  We took 27 inches out of the mast so that we could leave it installed and still fit in our boat house.  We also installed new cushions made by Kathy's Upholstery of Arlington WA.  She made them from the original patterns for the Ranger Tug.

We got boarded again by the US Coast Guard.  I think they just wanted to look us over.  Now we have two "Good as Gold" papers that keep us from inspections for at least 6 months.  I wonder how many more we will get during the next 6 months.  Nice folks, so we did not mind at all.

We went out to the first buoys past the jetties.  Not many people on the Boca Chica side as the road is still closed from Brownsville by the gas well leak.

Coming back in to my slip, I pass as close as I can to the bulkhead without grounding out on the oyster shell rocks.  I am lined up with my boat house and I hear a fishing boat trying to pass between me and the bulkhead.  I do not know what he planned to do after he hit the rocks, but I waved him off and told him that I was docking there.  Maybe too much cerveza.

We spent the afternoon at a real Louisiana Crawfish Boil.  The mudbugs were properly cooked and excellent....I should know.  A real treat.

More pictures of the boat ride are here.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Tenaha Timpson Bobo and Blair

On our last trip through East Texas, we took a route that we have not traveled in a long time.  Staying on US59 North of Nacogdoches, you pass through these small towns Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair not necessarily in that order.  Going from North to South, you pass through Tenaha, then Bobo, then Timpson, then Garrison.  So the conductor on the old train took a little license with the order of the communities.  Tex Ritter wrote a song about the area.  He was from Panola County.

On the HE--WT line,
Old East Texas sure looks fine
Drop me off just anywhere (near)
Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair

Here those drivers pound the rails,
Takin' me back to Texas trails,
Bought my ticket, paid my fair,
Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair

Whooooo, waiting for the whistle,
Whooooo, when you hear the whistle,
It means that the stations not so far,
From where we are,

Let'er highball, engineer,
Pull that throttle, track is clear,
There's a gal just waitin' there,
Tenaha, Timpson, Bobo, and Blair.


I used to drive the road a lot during my early days in Texas.  Not being familar with Tex Ritter's song, I would chant Tenaha, Bobo, Timpson, Blair and Garrison as I returned from my trips.  My brother would correct me.


Tenaha and Timpson are still small towns, Bobo has a marker for its location but not much more.  Blair has faded into obscurity having started as a switch location on the old railroad.


Just my day for trivia and memories.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Nearly Home

Walldog, Willie and Jake are en-route back to Port Isabel from Northeast Texas.  Here is where we stayed last night.

Entrepreneurship is alive and well....at least in Mexico.  These guys buy these wrecked cars at auction, temporarily repair them enough to drive and tow another back to Mexico.  Then they are repaired and sold for a profit.

Back in Paradise today, God willing, and the creek does not rise.  Actually from all the rain flood warnings are in effect for this area through the weekend as rivers and tributaries are rising past flood stages.

Walldog, Willie and Jake

Horses, Beaches, and Boats

March 14, 2010

Our granddaughter is spending her Spring Break with us.  She was sold by the billboards advertising horseback riding on the beach.  So finally the schedules allowed a visit here and a trip to the North Beach for a horse ride. After church and a great lunch at Pirate's Landing, she and her mother saddled up and headed out.  Of course proud grandmother was there to document the event.

They returned from the ride with just enough time for what else......but a pleasant boat ride in our beautiful Laguna Madre.

This pirate yelled that we came too close and he was going to run us down, but we cranked up our 18 hp and out ran him and his motley crew.

Jake does not seem too unhappy sharing his seat even though it includes "THAT DOG".

Father and daughter on Spring Break

Back in home port and a dinner of lunch leftovers.

Walldog, Willie and Jake.

Happy Hour Cruise

March 10, 2010

We are getting to know our new little tug.  Today we cruised out to the jettys for happy hour.













Jake was really enjoying "his spot" before THAT dog comes to visit.








We tried out the anchor in a little cove off the ship channel and watched the dredge working.  One of the tender boats was a tug by the name of Bayou Blue.  Listening to the crew work on vhf channel 7, it was obvious of their South Louisiana heritage.




On the way back we were treated to a partly cloudy sunset and the lights of the bay.

Pier 19's new spot light was showing the way to a good place to eat.  All the Navigation lights worked and we slipped our little tug back into its berth for the night.



Walldog, Willie and Jake

Tir Na Nog

It has been a very interesting and exciting week.  Friday a week ago, we decided to adopt a little tug boat from our new friends Brian and Jennifer in Wilmington, NC.  So Saturday morning we load the truck and strike out for the East Coast.  Our plan was to arrive in Wilmington on Monday, see the boat on Tuesday, load it up Wednesday and start back.  Well, we arrived on Monday around noon, checked into our motel, and went directly over to see the tug.  We found it exactly as advertised, a very nicely maintained and equipped 1997 Ranger Tug model R21.

Brian and Jennifer invited us to dinner Monday evening.  Their daughter Megan was a little upset that her parents were letting HER boat go to a new home.  Jake visited with Truman in their nice back yard, while we tried to convince Megan that we would treat Tir Na Nog well.

So Tuesday morning we hitched up and headed South because the weather was predicting snow for later in the day at Wilmington.  We felt that we wanted to avoid the hilly North Georgia route we traveled on to North Carolina.  Jennifer sheds a tear as we leave. 

Along the way back, we attracted much interest in our little tug.  We had to answer questions at the hardware store even before we got out of Brian and Jennifer's neighborhood. We had two offers of outright trades as we traveled.  One was a dealer hauling two new bass boats and the other was a guy with a Zodiac type jet boat....no thanks one SeaDoo is enough.

We arrived back in Port Isabel shortly after noon on Friday.  After unpacking, we headed over to the city boat launch in Modern Venice and floated our little Tug.  Our friends Sam and Dave came in from fishing (no small sacrifice) to assist.  We idled around to our house and docked it outside the slip.  After a thorough checkout of all systems, we went for a short turn out into the bay.

Then it was back to see if she would fit into her new home. We have decided to name our boathouse the "Tug House"  Here we are threading the needle.

Yes it fits, hooray!!

We have looked at many boats over the past year, but this one seems to fit us at this time.  We were able to afford this one as we only spent just a little more than what we got for our SeaDoo.  If we decide to do more extensive cruising in the future, we may need a larger boat.  But as a wiser person than me once said, "Buy it smaller, buy it cheaper, but buy it now so you can enjoy it now."  Walldog, Willie and Jake went out for a longer ride Saturday.  The Coast Guard checked us out and gave us a free pass for a year.  The dolphins really welcomed a new hull as they played all around us near the causeway bridge.  It seemed like they were glad to see us in their waters.

Walldog, Willie and Jake