February 25 We spent the night at Villaneueva State Park in northern New Mexico. It is a lovely wooded park at the end of a 14 mile rough road, but worth the effort. Since we were non-residents we had to pay $14.00/night instead of $4.00. Our trip is winding down. We should get home sometime today. February 24 We continue on our trek toward home. We are taking the quickest if least interest trip home. We took I10 east to I25. As we drive I follow our route on my tablet, but this route is pretty dull. Fortunately, we are listening to an interesting book. It's Alistair Cook's story of his travels through the US as a Foreign Correspondent in 1943-1944. He writes well and is an excellent interviewer. He manages to pick out people to tell him their stories of the war, so far. We are overnight at the Golden Eagle Campground in Eagle Nest, New Mexico. It is free! February 23 We drove through Saguaro National Park this morning. It is amazing. We drove on a road that had many curves and seemed to be going steadily down hill. Driving through a forest of Saguaros was a unique experience. I didn't know there was such a thing as a forest of Saguaros, but that's what I thought of it. Jan had told us how beautiful the campground was so we drove through it a couple of times and must agree with her. It is a lovely spot; each site appearing to have its own
garden surrounding the concrete. It would be awkward for a tenter, but great if you have a vehicle you can sleep in. Continuing on our way. Around supper time we stopped at a reststop W of Deming New Mexico. There was a big sign at the entrance saying it was illegal to stay more than 24 hours. That sounded like an invitation to us; we drove around to a covered picnic table and a distance from anythin else and "pitched our tent" so to speak. Monday, February 22 Heading home. Stopped at the Solar shop in Quartsite and bought a folding solar panel which fits into a padded case and fits behind the couch in the Van whether it is a couch or a bed such that we wont have to move it unless we want to set it up. I love it! I am so happy that we'll have some additional power without having to plug in all the time. Robert bought a number of LED bulbs that he hopes to use as replacements for the incandescent bulbs in the Van. That would be so great. Lights are our primary use of electricity. We stopped overnight in another grungy but cheap ($12.00) RV park. We were too late to go to Saguaro for the night. Sunday, February 21 We left Robyn and Jan to go to Quartsite but the Solar Shop was closed. We forgot it was Sunday. Saturday, February 20 We spent a lazy day with Robyn and Jan. Had another great dinner cooked by Robyn and Jan.
Friday, February 19 Alyssum left Joshua Tree heading for Santa Barbara. We are back at Robyn's. Thursday, February 18 Aspen was happy to see us again as were Robyn and Alyssum. They all went somewhere to picnic and hike, but the wind was blowing and cold; I stayed behind. It was a welcome chance to put my feet up and read. Wednesday, February 17 We drove through the park and stopped at General Grant's Grove. The trees are huge, not terribly tall, but 4 feet in diameter, if you can imagine such a tree! We left the park about noon; we stopped for lunch about 2 PM. and then on to Joshua Tree. It rained and rained. Robert drove on through rain, detours and with a zillion trucks. We arrived at Joshua Tree National Park about 11:30 PM. Robyn had reserved two sites in Many Rocks Campground. As we drove through the campground I spotted Robyn's big green Van. We parked the Van in front of it and very soon went to bed. Tuesday, February 16 We drove to Sequoia Tree National Park. We stayed at an RV campground outside the park so that we would have electricity and water and a dump. We wanted to get ready for a few "dry" days in Joshua
Tree National Park. Monday, February 15, Honeysuckle Lane in Paradise, California Priscilla drove us to New Clairvoux Monestary. It is being rebuilt as a replica of a1200 Spanish Monestary. Many of the stones in the new building are stones from the 1200 monestary. These were brought to the United States many years ago and were dumped near the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco. It is a going to be a lovely chapel. They have a winery there, too, and make and sell an excellent wine. Sunday, February 14 Left the ranch and drove to Paradise. Saturday, February 13 This afternoon Barbara stopped by to see how her patient was doing. Robert is fine and so reported and gave her a substantial monetary gift of appreciation. Robert and I moved the Van and Robert dug a hole so we could dispose of both black and grey water. Friday, February 12 We did "do" the Sheep Drive yesterday. I thought we were going to watch, but the community didn't turn out for the drive; Alyssum and Hazel were the lone drivers. Robert immediately was drafted as a third driver. Aspen and I were "keep with the others and off the road" drivers. After it was all over a couple of cars went by with young people in them. Where were they when they were needed?
Later in the day when Robert and Alyssum were back working on her electric system, Robert was sitting on the edge of a tub and without thinking he leaned back and fell into the tub cutting open his head. He and Alyssum hurried to Barbara (a nurse as well as good friend). She was able to stop the bleeding. Alyssum came to get me since I hadn't responded to her cry of "Robert needs help." I hadn't heard the words. I should have realized she wouldn't yell and keep going under normal circumstances. Thursday, February 11 Still at the ranch. Aspen in Pre-school in Sebastopol. Alyssum dropped her off and stayed in town until it was time to pick her up again. We all are going to a sheep drive this afternoon. Wednesday, February 10 At 5 AM. I got up and went to Alyssum's so she could go to work. I slept in her bed until 7 AM. when Aspen woke up. We went to the Van, I got dressed, made the bed, and got breakfast for the three of us. Aspen and I were busy. At first we didn't know what to do so walked down to visit the sheep. A lady came to fill the now empty water containers. She was upset because someone hadn't watered them the day before. Barbara has many grandchildren and has a fantastic play room. She kept all of her kids toys. When her front door is open then Aspen may go and play there. Aspen loves it and kept quite busy until her mom came home.
Tuesday, February 9 We went with Alyssum and Aspen to the laundrymat and then to the library. Tuesday as story time at the library and Aspen loves it. After story time Aspen and I were waiting for Alyssum and Robert to return from the hardware store. There is a lovely frozen yogurt store in front of the laundrymat so Aspen had a frozen yogurt. When the shoppers returned we picked up the laundry and then went to lunch at a Mexican restaurant nearby. Not surprising Aspen was not very hungry. Monday, February 8 We all went to the beach in the Van. It was breezy at the beach, but Aspen didn't mind. She loves digging in the sand. Sunday, February 7 We stopped in San Jose to get Propane. It was available at Marine Company. R. thought it would be the wrong kind of propane, but they had what we needed. Then, on the fringe of San Francisco we found a Safeway and I stocked up for the next few days of our trip. And then on to the "ranch" to spend a couple of days with Alyssum and Aspen. Saturday, February 6 Our journey continued uneventfully. We located a US Government RV park along the coast. It was Plakette campground we were looking for and found it sometime after 5 PM. We found the camp host and he showed us where to park..the last available site. She came to collect our rent for the space.
Friday, February 5 It is warm and sunny! Yea! As we continue are way south. We stopped at Santa Barbara, but the friends we had hoped to visit were no longer there. She had died a few years ago and since we had lost contact with them we didn't know. I found an Obit on the Internet when I was looking for a phone number for them. The Obit also said that Sam, her husband had disappeared. I'm not sure I know quite what that means, but in any case he is no longer in Santa Barbara. We arrived at Sunrise RV park where we could spend the rest of the day and night. Thursday, February 4 We left Robyn and went to Joshua Tree Nat'l Park. It was cold and windy. We stayed overnight and continued south in the morning. Tuesday, February 2. Janis packed a picnic lunch and we went off to explore Midland, a former mining town and now a ghost town. Unfortuantely the cold and wind has continued. But we wandered around and discovered a barrel full of photo albums and diaries describing life in Midland. It appears that the former residents come back once a year and have a reunion to touch base with their former neighbors. It was very interesting.
