Across New Mexico and Into Oklahoma!

Sorry you haven't heard from us the past few days.  No internet, and not much to report ... the drive across New Mexico was uneventful and with apologies to New Mexican's, very forgetful.

We did have two nice campgrounds in New Mexico however. The South Forty in Las Cruces was quite nice and we almost wish we could have stayed an extra night. Great owners and very clean facilities. The little Oasis State Park in Portales, NM (in the middle of nothing) was also quite nice with excellent facilites that somehow manged to eat our soaps and shampoos. Either that or we just forgot them.

After leaving Portales it was a short drive to Texas and a longer one to leave it. This was our longest drive yet at about 325 miles. It wouldn't have been too bad if Oklahoma saw fit to place some signs on the road. It only took 2 u-turns, but with a 23 foot trailer behind you they can be exciting to perform.

Today, Saturday, we spent the day at the Wichita Mountain National Wildlife Refuge, Fort Sill, OK. The Refuge was first established in 1901 as a forest reserve by William McKinley. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt re-designated the area as the Wichita Forest and Game Preserve.

This is a truly magnificent place to spend some time. Bison, Elk, Deer, playful Prairie Dogs and wonderfuil vistas are everywhere you look. The only problem during our visit was some serious heat, 103F today as we tried to get in some bird watching. We did manage to see the endangered Black-Capped Vireo, Mississippi Kite, Black and White Warbler, Western Meadowlark, Scissor-tailed Flycatcher and a few other species while driving around. There are 470 species located here in Oklahoma, not bad for such a small state. Much like the Grand Canyon, this place should be on your bucket list.

Tomorrow we leave the Ft. Sill campground and have a short drive to my home town of Shawnee, OK after a brief stop in Oklahoma City for some needed trailer supplies. Little to no internet access means not much activity on the blog for a month or so but keep an eye open for the occasional post on our travels. We still have Dallas, TX and Sarasota, FL to do before starting our return trip.

See Ya - Phil & Lydia

A busy few days and no access again!

Wow, we have had an exciting few days. We arrived in Scottsdale for a visit with Barry and Cathy. It didn't take us too long to remember why we call them friends. In fact this whole trip so far is about seeing old friends and family.

We had an absolute ball with Barry and Cathy, spending time with them in their home and visiting new places in the Scottsdale area. It was a good thing we did have friends here as our air conditioner blower decided to go into failure mode on us in 90+ degree weather! We ended up spending an extra day there getting it repaired.

Off to the Botanical Garden our first evening and what a treasure it was. A pleasent walk with cactus and desert plants all around, mixed with wonderful conversation. Sometimes we tend to forget what a pleasant conversation can be worth to us.

This is Barry and Phil at the little RV park in Scottsdale. It was small but very nice.

And Cathy, Barry's wonderful wife and a dear giving friend.

Our next foray into the desert heat was to one of the coolest places we have ever been. The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix will be one of the high points of our trip. The museum is just what the title says, all musical instruments from around the world and the ages. At every display and country there was information about the exhibit as well as recordings/videos to listen to via headphones they provide. You could spend a week in this place.

Again we saw some great birds in Scottsdale, including:
Gila Woodpecker, Abert's Towhee, Inca Dove, White-Winged Dove, Nighthawk and both Black-Backed and Green-Backed Lesser Gooldfinch. While we don't have a lot of time to bird, we are both adding some life birds to our list as we go. Thank you to our special friends Barry and Cathy for taking such good care of us.

After Scottsdale it was off to Tucson, AZ and yet another friend Celia.

We spent a truly great day with Celia driving us around Tucson. First we went to the Tucson Tamale Factory and I had my first Green Corn Tamale!! Man that was so good we bought some frozen ones to help us finish the trip.

Then it was off to the International Wildlife Museum. I can't belive we got to go to two museums in one week! What a treat. This one is hard to describe simply because it defies description. Think heads, hides and horns for a moment. It was all of that and more. Mounted (taxidermied) species from all over the world were on display in great settings.

Another very informative and exciting place to visit if you ever make it to Tucson.

We left Tucson this morning and had a rather uneventful drive into Las Cruces, NM where we are all settled in for the night. Lydia is planning on posting all of our photo's on her Facebook page so you can see even more of where we have been and what we have done.

Thanks for reading and traveling along with us.

Phil & Lydia

The Grand Canyon certainly is!

The drive to the Grand Canyon was very interesting. We arrived in Williams, AZ to be greeted by a small blizzard, almost an inch of snow blowing sideways. We stopped for a bite to eat and see what was going to happen.

After about an hour the snow stopped and we decided to continue onward to the Grand Canyon only to be snowed, sleeted, hailed and rained on all the way there. Once we finally arrived at our campground everything but the wind and a little rain was all the weather we had. Oh, it was also just above freezing. Fearless as we are, off to see the cnayon we went. Did I forget to mention that we didn't bring any warm clothes!!!! We layered up and off we trecked.

Even with the weather the views were spectacular. If you haven't been there yet then start making plans and go as soon as you can. Our main wish was that we were had more time to hike some of the canyon trails.

The campground was a little rustic but very nice. We had lots of wildlife including Mule Deer, ground squirrels visit us. We also saw Mountain Chickadees, Great-Tailed Grackle, Scrub Jays, Ravens, Crows, Red-Backed Dark Eyed Junco and Pinyon Jays. I do believe there was a Raven convention going on while we were there, we have never seen more Raven at one time in our lives.

One of our favorite stops at the rim was the Dorothy Kolb House at Hermits Rest. We are actually sitting in the fireplace here warming up before heading back to the campground. There just are not enough words to describe the views of this remarkable place. We also came across people from everywhere on the planet during our stay. We heared Japanese, German, French, Turkish, British, Brazilian Portuguese and even Canadian being spoken while there.

As hard as it was to leave we had to get on to Scottsdale and more friends. Before we leave, one last video of the Canyon at Yaki Point.

We arrived in Scottsdale to a sligth change in the weather. Low 90's and about 8% humidity. When we got out of the truck my first thought was that someone broke the atmosphere. For us Northwestern people this is quite a change!

More to come.

Phil & Lydia

Bakersfield to Needles

What a nice drive this turned out to be. A lot of up and down hill driving but quite pretty in its own way. We took a short break on Route 66 for a quick lunch at a very dilapedated old restaurant where the food was surprisingly good.

The RV park we are in is mainly park model mobile homes with some RV spaces thrown in for good measure. The Colorado River is running full and quite beautiful. We did manage a few pictures there on an early walk.

Off to the Grand Canyon tomorrow but no internet access so you can expect a long blog after we leave there on Friday. The weather promises some excitement while we are at the canyon, almost freezing at night (they are getting snow tonight) and thunderstorms and wind during the day!! We are having fun now.

More after the Grand Canyon trip.

Phil & Lydia

Fun time in Novato, CA

We finally made it to Novato after some harrowing experiences on Hwy 101 coming down the coast. Landslides at one point completely blocked the North bound lanes so we had the opportunity to share our South bound lanes for a while. Lots of construction underway on 101 and it certainly needs it. It is still a beautiful drive and was a memorable one for Lydia and I. Fun is not a big enough word for our trip so far.

Our friends John and Barb took us on a fabulous trip through Napa, Sonoma and Calistoga Valleys to see some great wineries, had a remarkable burger, at another one of Guy Fieri's favorite spots, and then they took us to a tremendous little olive oil pressing operation that also had some wonderful Italian cheese and meats. What a treat!!! This will be a high point of our trip I am sure.

We also had a fun visit at the Beringer Winery. The architecture of the house was magnificent and you could have spent hours going from room to room just looking at the wood and stained glass, etc. The grounds were gorgeous with landscaping and we had a wonderful time walking around.

Our visit with John and Barb was a special time well spent and we will treasure it for years to come. Good friends are a true pleasure. Good conversation and a wonderful introduction to the healing properties of a well made Manhattan cocktail.

Today we drove to Bakersfield, CA and tomorrow off thru the Mojave to Needles, CA on our way to the Grand Canyon and more friends in Arizona.

See more of you all soon..

Phil & Lydia

Made it to Novato, CA

Here we are just North of San Fransisco in Novato, CA. Another very nice RV Park and more friends to visit today. We are taking a side trip with our friends to Napa today and visiting a small family owned olive oil making operation as well as other sites.
We stopped in Santa Rosa on the way here for some fabulous Mexican food at a restuarant called La Texanita. It had been featured on a TV show called Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, and it was well worth the stop and it more than lived up to its reputation. If you are ever in Santa Rosa you have to check this place out and try their Chiles Rellanos!

The drive down 101 South was supposed to be better than North of here but the road was pretty much a mess with major construction going on. Obviously the infrastructure here in N. California is in need of some help.

We did a minor side trip on the Avenue of the Giants and got to see some of the last old growth Redwoods left in the world. If you have never been up this way it is a must do trip just to see these magnificent trees. The info center had some amazing facts about the redwoods, size (tallest 364 feet), age (one over 2200 years old), etc and had one display that showed the oldest record of Redwood fossils at over 2 million years old. Very interesting displays and a nice break from the driving.

We are now seeing how and why some people do full time RV'ing. This is a blast!

More to come..

Phil & Lydia

Two days in Arcata, CA

Well, we survived another day of twisty narrow roads coming down the California coastline. Hwy 101 was beautiful through the Redwood forests. Not a bad trip at all until we got to Arcata, CA. The town has two strrets named Janes Rd and they are nowhere near each other. AAA, Good Sams and the GPS never knew where to take us so we got supremely lost in the local farm country on some of the worst two lane road imaginable! After winding around for almost an hour we finally got back on track and made it to the campground, Mad River Rapids RV park. It is another very nice park with great ammenities.

Just before we got to Arcata we passed a large field full of Elk! One very large bull, several smaller males and a harem of females all around the field. What a sight it was! We will try and get the pictures of them uploaded later today.

Today we are off to visit the local marshes and check out the bird life in the area. This retired life is pretty darned nice I must say.

Hello to Wesley, Anna and R.J. in Florida, see you soon..

Phil & Lydia

Made it into California

Hwy 199 between Grants Pass, OR and Crescent City, CA is not one for the faint of heart or in a hurry! It was a long 65 mile drive to get here but a beautiful one. The campground is another very nice one at Hiouchi River and we wish we could stay longer. Stellers Jays, Scrub Jays, California Quail and tons of Robins to watch and listen to.

Off to Arcata now to visit another friend for a few days. Lots of Redwoods to see on the way, so here we go.

Phil & Lydia

A Fun Day in Salem

We had a great day with Suzy B. We went to Ankeny National Wildlife Refuge and saw many birds including Scrub Jay, swallows of all varieties, Yellow Warblers, Yellow Rumped Warblers, Northern Shovelers, Osprey, Scarlet Tanager, hundreds of Canada Geese (with babies) and the list goes on.

Had fun at Jake's (Suzy B's adorable son) T-ball game and he got a couple of hits while we were there.

Off to Crescent City, CA in the morning and into the Redwood forest.

Phil & Lydia

1st leg

Well, hello all of you followers. The first leg ouf our journey went quite well. At times it rained like it was never going to rain again and then the clouds would part and it was a gorgeous drive. A little over 300 miles the first day and the truck and RV behaved quite well. Off to pick up a few items that neglected to find their way to the trailer and then see our friend Suzy B for the day. Retired life is GOOD!!

Phil

All hitched up and ready to go!

Here is a new picture of our truck and trailer ready for the road. It is hard to believe that we are almost ready to leave home for 3 months! The flowers are starting to bloom and the fruit trees are all blossomed out. We will miss spring and summer here at home for sure.

The birds have been wonderful here on Whidbey this spring. Hummingbirds galore and a flock of evening grosbeaks have kept us entertained for months now. The goldfinches are here in force and the chickadees have started the nest building already. We will be sorry to miss the chicks this year.

On the other hand, we are off to see some birds that are pretty rare for us in the Northwest corner of the USA. Cardinals, Bluejays and maybe even some real rarities in southern Arizona.

Things ahve kind of blown up here at the house just before we leave. First it was the lawn mower dieing a rather undignified death, then the microwave went and last but no least a major sewage/septic problem to deal with. We are both getting too old to be digging up septic tanks!
Two more nights at home preparing to depart and we can't wait.

Ready to hit the road!

The RV is parked in front of the house and the fridge is cooling down nicely. We are busily packing things and arranging where everything seems to work the best. Sunday we start the first leg of our travels heading to Salem, OR to see a good friend and her young son. Can't wait to finally get on the road and get some travel time on our new rig. See you all soon.


Phil